Hymie Weiss(1898-1926)
Born Henry Earl J. Wojciechowski in Poland in 1898, his family emigrated to the US and settled in Chicago. Nicknamed "Hymie"--despite his Jewish-sounding last name, he was actually Catholic--became friends with Irish gangster Charles Dion O'Bannion. Weiss, O'Bannion and another Irish gangster, George "Bugs" Moran, established the North Side Gang, which eventually controlled all bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, illegal drugs and other rackets in the northern area of Chicago. On October 11, 1926, Weiss and three companions were crossing the street to enter their headquarters on State Street when two gunmen with machine guns shot them down. Weiss and one of his men were killed and the other two were wounded.