Customer Reviews

Guns and Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot before Al Capone

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Even though I have read numerous other books on Chicago's infamous past during the prohibition years I found Rose Keefe's effort entitled Guns and Roses to be another fascinating read which is primarily devoted to Al Capone's North Side rivals. O'Banion's loss of his mother at an early age and subsequent move to a seedy section of Chicago contributed to Dean's alliance with the city's criminal element. The warring parties were driven by greed in invading each other's assigned territory during the beer wars. After the assassination of O'Banion in his florist shop in 1924 a number of his friends (Weiss, Drucci, and Moran) all had short terms heading the North Side mob. Weiss and Drucci being shot and Moran having his gang virtually wiped out at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on February 14, 1929. If you have read other books on this subject you can prepare yourself to enjoy yet another offering on the subject with this book. In addition, this book has photographs I have not seen in other books. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

At long last! Finally! Bravo! This is what all biographies of underworld figures should be, and almost never are. Indeed, it's what all biographies should be. It will be the benchmark against which all subsequent books about organized crime figures are to be judged. Reading this book, I was in awe of Ms. Keefe's ability to journey back through the mists of time, and hack her way through the hoary legends, and urban myths, the lies and distortions and half-truths that infest far too many books like this, and succeed in transforming O'Banion from the merry, bloodthirsty stereotype he's been for so long into an actual flesh-and-blood human being. Thanks to the journalistic alchemy of Ms. Keefe, O'Banion comes alive in these pages in a way that he never has in any of the other books I've read on this topic. I'm astonished at the amount of new, illuminating information she's been able to unearth in her research. Am I gushing? I guess it's just that I've read so many flawed, poorly-researched underworld fantasies that masquerade as history or biography that coming across Ms. Keefe's work reminds me of why I started reading books like this in the first place. Her writing is as vibrant and exciting as the era she writes about. I'm currently reading her biography of Bugs Moran and can't wait for the next one. I hope she continues researching and writing for a long, long time to come...To sum it up, Ms. Keefe's books are an historical goldmine, and a thrilling read to boot. Buy 'em.

For too long the North Siders have been relegated to the shadow of Al Capone and Rose Keefe has now come forth to rectify this situation with a wonderful biography of Chicago's first celebrity gangster, Dean (not Dion) Charles O'Banion, whose death touched off five years of bloodshed known as the Chicago "Beer Wars." Her impeccable research, bolstered through interviews with elderly witnesses who actually knew O'Banion, uncovers both a complex and interesting man and one of the most colorful antiheroes of the '20's. The writing style is marvelous and this is both an impressive debut volume and a must for any crime library and this reviewer also looks anxiously forward to her followup work on George "Bugs" Moran.

This is the most comprehensive and thoroughly researched biography of Dean O'Banion and it has been justly recognized as definitive. Rose Keefe's greatest accomplishment is that her meticulous research has refuted dozens of journalistic half truths, embellishments and canards that have become commonly accepted as the truth simply because of constant repetition over eight decades. The actual Dean O'Banion is a far more complex and interesting character than his newspaper stereotype.

Many sources have characterized the Prohibition battles between the Northside Gang and the Capone/Torrio mob as simply a territorial battle between the Irish and those damned Dagoes. Keefe correctly points out that the Northsiders were, in fact, an exceedingly diverse group comprised of Irish, Italian, German, Jewish and Polish hoodlums. The reality was more complicated than the widely accepted conventional wisdom.

Although O'Banion could act in an utterly ruthless manner if circumstances warranted, more often than not he relied upon his quick wits. He possessed superior intelligence and had an engaging personality that inspired great loyalty from his comrades even long after his death.

Despite his humble origins, O'Banion had the ability to put people from various walks of life at perfect ease and to form lasting friendships that allowed him to move easily in political and social circles despite his criminal background. O'Banion was a contradiction: he was a devoted son and husband. One could envision the industrious O'Banion succeeding in almost any field of endeavor that he tried. The loss of his beloved mother to tuberculosis and a childhood accident that left O'Banion partially crippled with a permanent limp were traumatic episodes, but rather than contenting himself to be sidelined by his handicap or to endure a life of economic hardship and privation, O'Banion chose not to be pushed around as he hit back hard with both fists in order to survive in the rough and tumble, dog eat dog environment that was Chicago in the early years of the past century.

If you are living from hand to mouth, it always pays to be ambidextrous and O'Banion was, figuratively and literally: his custom tailored suits contained multiple pistol pockets which allowed O'Banion to draw concealed revolvers using either his right or left hand or both hands simultaneously. The same hands that O'Banion could and did use to fire pistols, crack safes, stuff ballot boxes or slug out rival newspaper hawkers would also cut flowers into lovely arrangements for weddings and funerals. As a bootlegger, O'Banion prided himself on selling quality products as opposed to the rot gut handled by his rivals.

Keefe relates the many occasions on which O'Banion performed acts of charity. Some of these kindly acts were calculated, however, since O'Banion was also interested in reaping votes come election time. By performing good deeds, he could call in favors when ballots were being cast by his neighbors. Unlike Al Capone who coupled brutality and with openly lewd and lecherous behavior (Scarface allegedly gained his trademark after making crude remarks about a woman's shapely posterior in the presence of her protective and knife wielding older brother), O'Banion was noted for behaving in a courteous and oftentimes chivalrous manner.

Keefe's writing is factual and entertaining. The O'Banion who she describes in such great depth proves to be such a charming and larger than life personality that it is entirely possible to imagine his immortal soul awaiting forgiveness and redemption in Purgatory. I was reminded of the Warner Brothers crime melodrama "Angels with Dirty Faces" in which a priest played by Pat O'Brien called upon a group of juvenile delinquents to "pray for a boy that who couldn't run as fast as I could" after his childhood friend who failed to escape the corrupting influence of the mean streets died at an early age as a result of embarking upon a criminal career. If this sounds like a mere Hollywood screenwriting cliche, consider the fact that a Roman Catholic priest was disciplined and transferred for leading graveside prayers for Dean O'Banion despite orders from the Cardinal to deny Christian burial rites to known gangsters.

The only serious fault that I found with "Guns and Roses" is that the book lacks proper footnotes. There is a bibliography, but Keefe ought to have provided footnote attributions to the excerpted materials that were previously published elsewhere. There are also some minor geographical, historical and typographical errors that Chicagoans may catch in the text, usually on minor details, but the book is otherwise solid. Despite these shortcomings, this book is nevertheless a significant addition to the true crime history of Chicago during the Prohibition Era.

Because of his paradoxical character and personal flamboyance, Dean O'Banion has long presented an easy target for Prohibition-era commentators in search of a standing foil for Al Capone. And most of those commentators have been content to repeat, and embellish, the superficial tabloid legends that have framed his image over the years. Never the subject of a searching and serious biography (until now), O'Banion has typically been portrayed as the kind of stereotypical gangster psychopath so beloved by Hollywood screenwriters. But no one who inspired the loyalty, respect and affection of so many of his contemporaries could have been as psychologically impaired as the man portrayed in the existing literature. Now, at long last, without excusing or minimizing the violence and thievery at which O'Banion excelled, Rose Keefe has written -- in a beautiful and crisp journalistic style -- a carefully researched biography that catalogs his life in its full context. And along the way she provides a host of insights into other gangster notables who, along with O'Banion, formed the legendary North Side Mob. "Guns and Roses" is an important and long overdue contribution to the body of literature that deals with that fascinating time. Serious students of the period and gangster buffs, alike, should give it a careful read - both for the information it provides and the sheer enjoyment of the read.

MORourke

I have so many gangster books, being a crime buff, that I didn't think I'd see anything new hit the light of day. I am so happy to have been proven wrong.

Call me weird (others have), but every Al Capone bio that I read found me more interested in the North Siders, especially O'Banion. There wasn't much to be learned about any of them that had not already been in print for years. Rose Keefe's O'Banion bio contains interviews with people who actually knew him, and reading the book suddenly brought not only Dean but the other North Siders to colorful life. I learned for the first time about the fate of O'Banion's older brother, Hymie Weiss' serious illness, and Vincent Drucci's crazy sense of humor. I didn't just appreciate the book for all its new insights and tidbits of information: the lively writing style make it much more readable than books written in a scholarly vein (you know, the types that can create one-sentence paragraphs).

This book has been long overdue.

I'm so glad to see some really well-researched books coming out these days about the legendary figures of organized crime. Dean (not Dion) O'Banion was one guy I never expected to see a full-blown biography on, yet here it is. Rose O'Keefe must have done a lot of digging to come up with all of this material, and virtually none of it can be found in any other book; certainly none that I've ever heard of. She scores well as a writer, too, telling O'Banion's story in a way that will keep you turning those pages, eager to see what's coming next. There's a lot of context here about the various gangs of 1910s-1920s Chicago, and O'Banion's place in that jungle, which is helpful. If I had to name one small criticism, I'd have to say that the author's tone betrays a tiny lack of objectivity about her subject. He just seems like a vicious thug to me, though a fascinating one, but the book empathizes more with O'Banion than with his victims. But overall this is a must-have book for anyone interested in the history of organized crime in America. You'll be so entertained in reading it that you won't mind the education you're getting!

Beyond just being an engrossing biography of one of gangland's most flamboyant leaders, this book also takes the reader on a historical journey through Chicago's early underworld. From flashy brothel owners like "Big Jim" Colosimo to temperamental alky cookers like "Bloody Angelo" Genna to the crime kingpin who violently & methodically took over vice in the city after O'Banion's murder "Scarface" Al Capone. Mention of the corrupt politicians like mayor "Big Bill" Thompson who turned a blind eye except when his payoffs were due are also exposed here. In the 'Chicago Gangland Wars' it was the North siders Dean O'Banion and his loyal minions vs. the South siders Al Capone and his cronies in a fight for bootlegging territory. The conflict escalated during the roaring 20's and culminated in several murders including the most infamous 'St. Valentine's Day Massacre.' Get ready for "one-way car rides", cheap booze, blazing tommyguns and blood in the streets of old Chicago!

I've been waiting for a long time for someone to write a book solely on the Northsiders and their leader.I was not disappointed, as it was well worth the wait.I could not put this book down.I was really impressed with new facts from people who were interviewed by Keefe who actually went to school and worked with O'Banion, so you know it ain't made up as most authors seem to do.I'm finicky for detail + truth and Keefe certainly delivers.
Keefe has a style of writing that keeps the reader attached and interested in the book, and to me that's important.I have many books that i have tossed aside after a few pages.
Looking forward to her next book on Moran.It will definitely be another mind catcher.

Mario Gomes
Originator of the Al Capone museum online

"Guns & Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot Before Al Capone" by Rose Keefe is a long overdue crime book. This biography of Chicago's first celebrity gangster (he was a popular florist) is excellent and has numerous unpublished photographs. Dean's death started a five year run of killings and bloodshed. Keefe's writing style is very good and easy to read. I agreed with previous reviewers who have encouraged others to purchase this book.

Mike Koch, Author of "The Kimes Gang."