1930s Chicago history

In 1930s Chicago it was strongly associated with gangsters, the mafia and speakeasies-(where they'd get alcohol).

During the Great Depression, a lot of people were unemployed and were force to rely on food handouts. - Because of this, a lot of people turned to crime to help themselves to get through it. That's why there was so many gangsters and mafia in the city. 

Gangsters; 

Al Capone was one of the most well-known Chicago gangsters. He was in a gang- Five Points Gang, then when the leader Torrio retired, Capone took his place and became a "major crime boss"!

He ran gambling, prostitution, bootlegging rackets-(to do with alcohol) and "expanding his turf", by murdering his rivals.

People say Capone was "worth $100 million" in the late 1920s.

In the 1930s Capone was sent to prison where he had to serve for all the bad he had done. His health went downhill after that and died in 1947.

Dion O'Banion's real name was Dean.

He was born near Chicago, then actually moved there when he was a young child, when he was a little older, he became a singing waiter at McGoverns Saloon and Cabaret- a mobster hangout.

This is where O'Banion met a fellow Irish-American man; Gene Geary, a well-known gunman.

Geary took O'Banion on, taught him how to use guns and rackeering. Not too long after all that, O'Banion because leader of the North-Side Gang in Chicago.

O'Banion's biggest rival was Torrio-(Capine's mentor). 

After a double-cross at O'Banion's flower shop-(to disguise his bootlegging operation), 

Torrio was sent to prison.

Bugs Moran was jailed 3 times by the time he was 20. He moved to Chicago at 19. 

Moran became friends with O'Banion, and after O'Banion died, Moran took his place as leader for the North-Side Gang.

Moran was known for not being afraid of having a bloody shoot-up. As Moran was so jokey and didn't care what he said to the press, he'd lay their stories with insults to Capone. Which led to the Valentines Day Massacre, where loads of Moran's best men died, but not him, himself. 

I think these three gangsters could help give inspiration to those who are playing gangsters in the show.

Because they can look into their lives and use Stanislavski's technique of creating a back-story for each of characters. Even though a lot of their characters are based off real people, they can gather up information about the real gangsters 

From the time period and maybe that could also help with their gests, as the characters are based of Nazi supporters and so on, but not actual gangsters.

Speakeasies; 

In the Great Depression, alcohol was illegal. 

However, Chicagoans "refused" to stop the alcohol from flowing. 

So, as a result in this, speakeasies started popping up all round the place. Hidden, of course. They were mainly ran by gangsters, hitmen etc. 

the speakeasies would be hidden in basements, back rooms and soda shops.

There were some speakeasies that were not quite as discreet as others. 

Like Green Mill Cocktail Lounge- in Uptown, where music and alcohol flowed openly, this place had Al Capone's support and was partly owned by the gangster, Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn. 

Bugs Moran ran another speakeasie, Halligan's. Down the road from there, Marge's Still was making Gin in the upstairs bath.

The Great Depression; 

It started in 1929 and finished 1939. 

It started when Wall Street went into panic and wiped out millions of investors, shortly after the stock market crash in October 1929.

After that, millions of people start losing their jobs and becoming unemployed because companies started laying off workers.

By 1933, 13-15 million people were unemployed!- and nearly half of the banks had failed all over America.

It wasn't until just after 1939, when WW2 kicked off and that was got American's industry sorted out.