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Monday, September 19, 2011

"C" stands for Cemetery, Chicago, and Capone - Part 2

To read Part 1 of this post, click here.

Continuing my post about Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, IL, and that it is filled with gangsters (24), religious figures (7) and baseball players (3), here is the beautiful Bishop's Hall, where five archbishops and two bishops of Chicago are buried.

side view
front view

Back to the gangsters.

From 1921-1925 a part of Chicago called "Little Italy" was run by a Sicilian Mob - The Genna Brothers, known as "The Terrible Gennas". There were six of them:  Angelo "Bloody Angelo", Antonio "The Gentleman", Mike "The Devil", Peter, Sam, and Vincenzo "Jim". (I like how many of the gangsters had nicknames!)

Angelo "Bloody Angelo"

Antonio (Tony) "The Gentleman"
Vincenzo "Jim"
Mike "The Devil"
Peter
Sam
The Genna gang was involved in bootlegging and were selling their alcohol outside of their territory for cheaper prices. This pissed off the Irish gang (of course!) Dion O'Banion, the Irish gang leader, went to the head of the Unione Siciliana, Mike Merlo, and John "Johnny the Fox" Torrio, head of the Chicago Outfit, to get them to stop the Genna's from doing this. John Torrio refused. This pissed of O'Banion even more. His gang started hijacking the Genna brothers shipments of whiskey. This was a big NO-NO.

John Torrio ordered the Gennas to murder O'Banion, and so it was to be. November 10, 1924 was the last day O'Banion walked on this earth. After his murder, all hell broke loose and started a five year gang war.

What I find ironic is that many of these gangsters who were enemies are all buried at the same cemetery!

This is the Genna family mausoleum.



A close up of the door. Notice the Italian flag!


I peeked in the window and took a picture of the beautiful stained glass window along the back of the mausoleum.



This is the O'Banion family grave site. These photos are from www.findagrave.com


Newspapers gave him the name of "Dion", but his real name was Dean.
On the way home from our big cemetery visit, my sisters and I stopped at one of our favorite hot dog joints, now famous for being named "BEST HOT DOG IN THE COUNTRY" (listed in Rachel Ray's magazine March 2010). We just know that we've been going there most of our lives, especially during our high school years, because it was not too far away from our school!


Hot dog with everything!
You will not find ketchup here.....in fact there is none available in the store! Customers have to go to the local McDonald's if they want ketchup!


SIDE NOTES:

We have moved locations and are now in central IL. The wi-fi here is very iffy. I can spend up to 8 hours trying to comment on blogs AND post on my blog. It is VERY frustrating! So just know that I am reading your posts, but may not comment as often as I like because I CAN'T!!

I stumbled across a "Cemetery Tour" of the two cemeteries I have spoken about - Mt. Carmel and Queen of Heaven. It will be on 10/1/11. I have made reservations for four: my daughter and I will drive up (about 2 hours) and my sister and aunt will meet us there. We will actually get to go inside Bishop's Hall (not open to the public), and see some other graves. The tour includes breakfast and lunch. Then the four of us plan to go BACK to the cemeteries and do our own exploring. I can't wait!


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

that second pic is breathtaking! the al copone history, amazing the food, yummers :)

have a great one my friend

KaLynn ("MiMi") said...

What a cool history lesson! and what is the green stuff on that hot dog? looks like relish and green beans! Tell me it isn't green beans!

Brian Miller said...

this is fascinating stuff...it is ironic they are all together now...now about that hot dog...can i get one on the tour?

Country Gal said...

Cool history thanx for the info the food looks yummy. awesome photos ! Have a wonderful day !

DesertHen said...

Enjoyed reading through this post on my lunch break. More fascination history! That hot dog looks yummy!

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

What a wonderfully fascinatin' story. I totally enjoyed the read and have missed ya over the summer.

Lucy...I've got allot of catchin' up to do.

God bless and have a terrific day sweetie!!!

Unknown said...

Fascinating!

Rita said...

Glued! This is so interesting--and funny they are buried in the same cemetery. Could you hear anyone rolling over in their grave as you passed by? LOL!

I can't help but wonder why no ketchup?

Anonymous said...

Funny to see "my hometown" through someone else's eyes! I grew up on the NW side. My grandfather's older brother knew Capone. Great Uncle J. was...a busy man. *lol*

labbie1 said...

Hey! While you are there, say hi to my relative. Her name is Pat Cherrington. She was the moll to Red Hamilton, right hand man to Dillinger. Her husband, Arthur Cherrington was in Leavenworth and then Alcatraz at the time she was with Dillinger. Arthur's partner in crime was the husband of Billie Flechette, moll to Dillinger. Strange how these things work out. :) Have a great time on the tour.

About the Wi-Fi--my hubby and I got a hotspot from Verizon and we have found it to be great when camp wi-fi's are iffy...

SquirrelQueen said...

It is sort of ironic that they wound up in the same cemetery. The Cemetery Tour sounds really interesting, can't wait to hear about it. I do a lot of genealogy so I don't think it's at all gruesome.

Maude Lynn said...

This is fascinating!