In this Book
- Al Capone and His American Boys: Memoirs of a Mobster's Wife
- Book
- 2011
- Published by: Indiana University Press
When her husband was murdered on the orders of Chicago mobster Frank Nitti, Georgette Winkeler -- wife of one of Al Capone's "American Boys" -- set out to expose the Chicago Syndicate. After an attempt to publish her story was squelched by the mob, she offered it to the FBI in the mistaken belief that they had the authority to strike at the racketeers who had killed her husband Gus. Discovered 60 years later in FBI files, the manuscript describes the couple's life on the run, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre (Gus was one of the shooters), and other headline crimes of that period. Prepared for publication by mob expert William J. Helmer, Al Capone and His American Boys is a compelling contemporary account of the heyday of Chicago crime by a woman who found herself married to the mob.
Table of Contents
- Title Page, Copyright
- pp. iii-iv
- About This Book
- pp. xvii-xx
- Acknowledgments
- p. xxi
- 1 The Seventh Child
- pp. 8-12
- 2 “For Better or for Worse”
- pp. 13-24
- 4 The Bad Pennies
- pp. 28-30
- 5 Affairs with the Police
- pp. 31-33
- 6 Fugitives on the Lam
- pp. 34-38
- 7 Workhouse Widow
- pp. 39-41
- 8 Gratitude—and Murder
- pp. 42-44
- 9 Flight from St. Louis
- pp. 45-49
- 10 Meet Al Capone
- pp. 50-61
- 11 The Toledo Killing
- pp. 62-70
- 12 Frankie Yale
- pp. 71-76
- 13 Murphy’s Tough Skull
- pp. 77-79
- 14 The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
- pp. 80-92
- 15 Hiding Out
- pp. 93-97
- 16 On the Run
- pp. 98-100
- 17 “Killer” Burke and the Policeman’s Murder
- pp. 101-109
- 18 New Face and New Fingerprints
- pp. 110-113
- 19 “Killer” Burke on the Lam
- pp. 114-123
- 20 The Car Crash
- pp. 124-131
- 21 Capone to the Rescue
- pp. 132-135
- 22 The Greatest Bank Robbery
- pp. 136-139
- 23 Chicago’s “Secret Six”
- pp. 140-148
- 24 Enter Father Dwyer
- pp. 149-152
- 25 The Shooting of Frank Nitti
- pp. 153-158
- 26 Nitti’s Revenge
- pp. 159-163
- 27 “The Informer”
- pp. 164-167
- 28 The Boom Days
- pp. 168-171
- 29 A Promise Kept
- pp. 172-174
- 30 Gus and the Planted Gun
- pp. 175-178
- 31 Legal Beer at Last
- pp. 179-183
- 32 Gus Winkeler and the New North Side
- pp. 184-186
- 33 The Kansas City Massacre
- pp. 187-196
- 34 Gus and the “Miller Massacre”
- pp. 197-200
- 35 Beginning of the End
- pp. 201-205
- 36 The Syndicate Closes In
- pp. 206-210
- 37 The Police Called It Suicide
- pp. 211-215
- 38 “They’ve Taken Him to the Morgue”
- pp. 216-219
- 39 Gus Goes Home
- pp. 220-223
- 40 Who Killed My Husband?
- pp. 224-227
- 41 The Widow and Her World
- pp. 228-232
- 42 “The Gas Lisped Its Song of Death”
- pp. 233-236
- 43 Rebirth and Revenge
- pp. 237-239
- 44 End of the Empire
- pp. 240-244
- 45 “Do You See This Gun?”
- pp. 245-248
- 46 Confronting the Mob
- pp. 249-251
- 47 On the Spot
- pp. 252-254
- 48 Resolution
- pp. 255-258
- Georgette Talks to the FBI
- pp. 259-294
- Biographies and Historical Notes
- pp. 295-362