Al Capone Part 8 of 36

r. l . V.92' 92 I J 1 I q ¢ . _ Pssqaaliao Lolardo, successor to tony Iiombardo, as no was team! la his apartment after entertaining than "mun." Iota the Iourbon and the rum. When the police were summoned to the Lolsrdo home to answer the door-bell being rung by her sister-in-law, after an uncommonly long time,they found the Maa King's Mrs. Joseph Lolardo, wife of the well-known body guard. body lying in a luxurious front room. His face had been shot away and he could hardly be recognized. Except for Anna Lolardo,the sister-in-law,telephoned a funeral ar- a beautiful velvet pillow which she had tenderly shoved lor for an ambulance and the attendants came, took one lnook under his head the body, said the widow, had not been at Mr. Lolardo and summoned the police. During the ques- touched. She did not talk very much, but the little table tioning of Mrs. Lolardo it was nally extracted from her in the center of the room with its half-empty glasses of that she had really got a good look at the lest visitors and, when a picture of Joe Aiello was pushed in front of her whisky spoke eloquently on the circumstances of the mans death. face, she nodded that one of the visitors was he. Thile she was still in custody an effort was made to nd Mr. With his wife Lolardo had returned to their home from Aiello but it was unsuccessful, although eighteen or twenty a loop shopping tour at 3 ocloclc in the afternoon. At of his henchmen were gathered together from the dives, the entrance to the stairway leading to their at, a cheap pool-halls and bakery on the North Side. All were paraded and dismal looking place outside, they were met by three before the widow but she recognized none of them as her men whom the widow said she had seen many times for husbands guests. Resolute attempts were made to solve several years. She did not, however, know their names. this murder, and it will be important to remember that All went upstair and Mrs. Lolardo spread a lunch for wires were tapped at several places and that Mr. Joseph the three men who departed at about 3 o'clock. Five Lolardo was heard to say that he would get even with minutes later however there was a knock on the rear a certain mob. The murder was never technically solved, door. Mrs. Lolardo was in the kitchen ironing at the time aithough ii: was established that Hr. Lolardos visitors were not all Italians. and she did not get a good look at them, she said, when they were admitted by her husband. For half an hour The death of Lolardo again brought moving day to the or more the visitors made whoopee and there was much Capone alky cookers on the Near North Side. It also clinking of glasses, joking and loud laughing. And then brought control of the Unione Siciliane to Joe Aiello and at 4 o'clock, according to Mrs. Lolardo, the gun-play started. what appeared to be a rosy future for his allies. It also There was a scramble for the door and when Mrs. Lolardo brought a erce and deadly determination to the hearts walked into the front room she found herself a widow. of the Circus mob to avenge themselves. A few weeks The pillow was slipped under his head and the widow went later the Valentine Massacre happened. g "2 two ofthem are in the uniform of policemen. Each carries 'a large box-like contraption wrapped roughly with news- '9 1%? . papers. Curious young Brichet thinks at he is about to witness a raid, the first one he has ever seen in his life, and he races around to the front entrance, just in time to see what appears to be another squad car stop in front of the garage. Another group of armed men enter. Young Brichet pauses. He would like to "bust" right in after them, but the chauffeur of -the big Cadillac growls at him to move on. Hurrying northward the youth selects a spot i ;3l§P.E!é.; 92 several hundred feet away _from_ where _he_ca.n at least T steal glimpses and, maybe, when the "pinch" is made there will be a crowd and he can slip up to the entrance again We come now to the bloody exercises in which Gang- when the cops bring em out. End of scene two. ' land graduates from murder to massacre. The exercises Inside the glprage six men are all busily engaged in a are to be held in an unpretentious little brick garage at conversation. we of them sit on a. little bench in the 2122 North Clark Street behind whose well-concealed front corner. Four are standing a few feet away. Johnny May, entrance George Bugs Moran has established a whisky the mechanic, is down there under the truck tightening depot in charge of which he has placed two of his toughest its bolts. High-ball, the great police dog, is leashed to a l and most capable lieutenants, Frankie and Peter Gusen- wheel of the truck and, from the six or seven feet of free- I berg. Whisky trucks are kept here when not in use. dom thus accorded him, he barks and leaps playfully Johnny May, a rst-class automobile mechanic, toils over around. - them when they are off the road keeping them in tip-top The telephone rings sharply in the little oice which shape mechanically. The garage is an ideal place in which is built directly in front of the_window, thus obstructing to hold Gangland's graduating exercises, a fact which had the rear view from people passing along the street. One been established months before, and, since that time the of the men turns and walks rapidly into the oice. Presently gentlemen who are to perform the exercises have been he comes back again, saying that Al Weinshank is wanted awaiting the signal which will inform them that the most on the wire. Weinshank speaks rleipeatedly into the mouth- important North Side gangsters are on the spot and their piece, but there is no answer. e clicks the instrument l time has come. impatiently and, nally the operator informs him that the Since December 18 the observers who are commis- party hung up. Weinshank, a little mystied, returns to the l sioned to make this signal have sat patiently behind tat- oor. Gangland has placed seven men on the spot, and tered lace curtains in two front rooms of the boarding the graduating ceremonies are about to commence. house upstairs immediately across the street. It is now A door-knob turns. The men in conversation turn to February 14, 1929, and nally one of the many ruses look. Two policemen, one holding a large package, walk employed by the masters of ceremonies has succeeded for easily toward them, followed by two men in street garb- the big shots of the North Side gang are assembling in probably dicks think the men who are on the spot. A the whisky depot. _Pete and Frank Gusenberg are rst to cw seconds later and the rear door swings open and two slip into the little door. Johnny May, the mechanic comes more men enter. Hard-boiled Pete Gusenberg begins to a few minutes later. Adam Heyer and James Clark turn snarl. Frankie makes a wise-crack. Just another goddam into the door with Dr. Reinhardt H. Schwimmer, the raid by some punk coppers. Howd they get here. Some- physician with the hoodlum complex. The "observers" body is going to get a swell ride for this bum rap. Oh, glance nervously at their watches, mumbling a few words well fortunately there's nothing in the joint now. That's I l perhaps about the failure of George "Bugs Moran to one good break. keep this rendezvous. At this time they bend forward to The intruders quickly tear newspapers from their see still another caller entering the garage. He is Al Wein- packages revealing two machine-guns, and now, perhaps shank, the small-time bootlegger who has stepped in to buy for the rst time it dawns upon these six men here that some goods for his "respectable" little speakeasy at this is no time for deant words or wise-cracks. It may 4207 Broadway. Al has his big police dog, High-ball with be even that Frankie and Pete or one of the others recog- him. The observers are chagrined because George "Bugs" nize some of these men beneath their coppers caps and has not arrived, but believing that he will be along at any uni'foIrms,1_and_ that with_recogni92r_.ation comes swift and moment, decide to make the long-awaited signal. One of awllll I'92'!lil.l.Zill-IUII. I-llal-I Llllilr ll-UNI llll CUIIIH KL llliib. them slips away to a telephone. End of scene one. There is a command from one of the intruders, empha- l It is now shortly after 11 o'clockabout fteen minutes sized perhaps by a choice bit of blasphemy. Deantly the l since the telephonic signal was made. A youth, George A. two men who have been sitting on the bench rise slowly Brichet, loitering at the mouth of the alley behind the to their feet. All turn round, hands raised heavenward, garage, observes a squad car glide noiseless up to to the wall.

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