Bugs Moran

Roger Corman, we love him.

His dramatization of the 1929 Chicago gang war between Al Capone and Bugs Moran organizations.

Now, one of my favorite movies out there of this era, Something Like It Hot in 59, the opening section takes place in 1929 Chicago.

including the St. Valentine's Day Massacre inspired sequence before Tony Curtis and Jacqueline flee the city.

New York, between them.

Yeah, this is Bugs Moran, Lucky Luciano, and Al Capone, but with child abuse.

Mm-hmm.

No,

Plus, Al was, like, super spiteful.

Even though Dean was dead, he knew that Dean's gang had booked him and Johnny over, and he wanted revenge, okay? And Al had his sights set on one guy in particular, and his name was Bugs Moran.

What a great name.

Bugs Moran was originally part of Dean's gang.

Now, after Dean died, another dude took over, and Al Capone had that guy killed, right? Bye.

Just a lot of violence was happening during Prohibition, let me tell you.

So he realized he had to secure his territory so Al couldn't touch him.

Now, to do this, Bugs started working closely with other smaller gangs in the area and building up an army of, like, mafia alliances.

America first and last and always.

If you want to keep the American flag from bowing down before King George of England, I'm your man.

If you want to invite King George and help his friends, I'm not.

America first.

The American who says America second speaks the tongue of Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr.

Aiello and Lombardo had been profitably associated as powers in the Unione Siciliani and the cheese import, bakery and brokerage commission, liquor cooking and other businesses for years.

Political contention within the Unione had damaged their relationship and it was wounded beyond recovery when Lombardo won the presidential election.

Determined to eliminate Lombardo and Capone, Aiello formed an alliance with the North Side Gang, now captained by George Moran, and with West Side Gangs under Billy Skidmore and Barney Burge.

Uh, shoot seven guys.

All seven were killed in that garage on the north side of Chicago by Al Capone's guys trying to kill Bugs Moran, but, uh, never mind that.

And my grandfather was a friend of Bugs Moran.

My mother knew Bugs Moran when she was a little girl, but that's not important now.

Uh, 38 people shot in Chicago over the weekend.

Only three killed.

Yes, Chicago.

Al Capone is in the game and Bugs Moran.

It's a two-player trick-taking game.

You're playing as one of the two, and this is a game that includes cards and dice.

Yeah, this St. Valentine's Day Massacre was a real event, as you're saying.

It took place on February 14th, naturally, 1929, when members of Bugs Moran's Chicago gang were gunned down by four armed men in a downtown garage.

Mm.

Nobody took the wrap for it, but it's widely believed that the hit was ordered by one Alphonse Capone in the war for control of Chicago's bootlegging rackets.

So seven men were killed.

Mm.

Five of them were part of Bugs Moran's gang, one was an opposition, and the other was a mechanic working at the garage.

Bootleggers.

Bugs

Moran, the famous gangster, the famous sort of prohibition era gangster, Bugs Moran.

It was his birthday.

His birthday, yeah.

He was convinced that Capone's luck could only hold out for so long, but little did he know, Capone was thinking the same thing about him.

Not long after the two attacks on Michigan Avenue, Jaime and George Moran launched a quickly planned assault on the Fort Deuces, Capone's now seldom used hideout on South Wabash.

They'd gotten some intel that he planned to be there, and it had been right, and they narrowly missed him.

Capone somehow escaped unheard, but his driver, Tony Ross, died behind the wheel.

A group of his childhood friends from St. Malachi's school served as his pallbearers, but with the last rites of the church denied to him, he was buried in unconsecrated ground at Mount Carmel Cemetery.

The only good news was that at least he wasn't far from the resting place of his best friend, Dino Banyan.

The floral tributes for Jaime's send-off were far below the usual gangland standards, and the only underworld figures in attendance were Vengeance Drucci and George Moran, who now ran the gang together, and Max Eisen, the fish and meat market racketeer.

No one else showed up.