Show 4 THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE MORNING SUNDAY APRIL' 8 1938 fAM ' That Gaudy Gangster Funera Is ArePasse' "fe— Ml - ssTtyi Hi' i Cr- - v Z&d'’ H' r t ' 5 t iiiljm ! Jh'tJ - w r ilvk CVf I " £$ fv I iiVa sf1 I S'iWwiSWIWWWIWfiMlWtid'' I pMW i wiis4 jNHtwwwweiih Li£i '&A' y " ! irs4 VJ r w'''i ' K4yy k'J LUik f$ vrtJL vj The Grand Old Days of Gangdom Have Fizzled Out— Gorgeous Burials Are Extinct! And if You Want Proof of the Decayed State of Gangland Gaze Upon "rtiis Drab Picture of “Machine-Gunner- ” Jack McGurn’s Plain Hearse Backed Up in Front of the Undertaking Parlor Where Oh Where Are the Elaborate “Floral g Tributes” — the Parade of Armored Cars — the Tough “Heeled” ‘Mourners of Yesteryear? ’ V V $ 1 l Wi 4 y G i V sr' f K 'N - w Mile-Lon- TSu V34 '$Swv‘ In the Good Old Day When Gangiter Funeral Were Resplendent Pageants Tony Lombardo Chicago Gunman Was Followed to His Grave by a Mob of 5000 and Floral Offerings Amounting to Many Thousands of Dollars A Glimpse of the Fetching Funeral of the “Spot” Victim Is Shown Above Inset—Murdered Joe Massaria Is Buried in a Casket Costing a Cool $15000 and With a Long Parads of Flower-Lade- n Cars " " gun jackmcgurn favorite killer ana Machine the bloodiest thugs in the scarlet history of Chicago’s underworld died in the best traditions of his species bowling session in During an the Windy City’s tough district more than a dozen pctol slugs were pumped into his slim wiry body Three unknown men probably remnants of the Capone gang motivated by Jack’s unwillingness to split profits on a recent job strolled into the bowling alley as though to observe the game Without warning they whipped out guns and ail-nig- ht v fired A cheap valentine (Jack was murdered a couple of days after St Valentine’s day) soaked in his blood was ’ found on Jack’s body It read: “You’ve lost your job You've lost your dough Your jewels hnd cars and handsome houses But things could stilj be worse you know You haven’t lost your trousers" There was a sinister significance in this doggerel Seven years before almost to a day seven gangsters had been lined up against the wall of a Chicago garage and mowed down by rival ma- chine guns It was the notorious St Valentine’s Day massacre and Jack McGurn was believed hv the police to have done the grisly job’ A pretty blonde girl Lduise Rolfe however saved his skin by testifying that at the moment he was with her in a hotel Subsequently Jack married his “blonde alibi” And now Jack was shot down in the same way All the trimmings of the typical gang vengeance shooting were there — tne treachery the cowardice the swiftness and the butcher-lik- e shedding of blood He died in the best traditions — But of his unpleasant species a The similarity ends there When they took him away for burial gangland realized once for all that the old days are over as surely as A1 Capone is behind the walls of Alcatraz For — There were no blankets of flowers — no long procession of resplendent bulletproof cars — no frenzied mob of thousands It was a simple funeral A mere baker’s dozen of cars followed the slain killer to his grave His widow blonde Mrs Louise Rolfe McGurn weeping copiously was there so was A1 Capone’s mother and a scattering of friends and associates The only elaborate floral offering was sent by Mrs McGurn It was a huge bleeding heart of red roses pierced with a white dagger of white roses A1 Capone had sent a simple wreath inscribed: “ From AlM Yet a dazzling funeral cortege costing as much as $50000 was as much a e gangster’s life and part of any death as the gat he carried in his holster - l while driving through the district in his new automobile The total cost of the flowers was V s $37000 Floral pieces either bore such bminous inscriptions as: “We’ll tee — them Kid’’ or sentimental “Sympathy Friend" “Lovephrases ‘jx Pal" “Good-b- y Old Timer" Many of these were paid for out of contributions from the “boys” who knew it was good policy to come across Donations ranged between $100 and $200 As time went on gangster funerals became more and more elaborate each one seeking to surpass the last On Feblie was buried in a silver coffin said to ruary 3 1931 Joseph Catania known as “Joe the Baker” a Bronx racketeer e have cost $15000 There was a bootlegger and bookmaker was shot as the streets of through firocession Frankie had been kingpin he emerged from a tobacco store on Belmont Avenue He was buried four days autoamong racketeers Thirty-eiglater in a coffin of solid bronze with silmobiles bore flowers alone! It was in the course of this funeral ver drop sides Cost: $15000 The flowthat an innovation was made which was ers gxceeded those at the Uale funeral They cost $40000 and filled three vacant to become a regular fedture of gang funerals It was a perfectly gorgeous apartments in Joe’s buildmg- His widow contributed a monolith of floral clock made of blue and white violets with gold hands set at 4:10— the exact moment when Frankie was shot 51 five-mil- ht ") ik)- old-tim- No more! Sadly Mrs Capone Mrs ‘ Mc- Gurn and other associates of gangland who had witnessed some of the “great” gangster funerals must have suffer' painful memories Because many of the old gangsters were of Sicilian origin and had the ancestral love of display and color and because in the old gang days they retained many loyal friends they were given almost incredibly ornate funerals surpassing those of statesmen and Hollywood stars The fashion was pfobably set by the funeral of Dion O’Banion Dion operated a flower shop in Chicago as a “front” for his multiple nefarious activities He was shot down in that shop and appropriately enough a king’s ransom in flowers smothered his coffin From then on Chicago became famous for its lavish gangster burials New York gangsters did not follow suit until 1927 when Frankie Uale was murdered Frankie had often expressed the wish to have a funeral rivalling O’Banion’s It was granted i i”' thu iv’-- ’ Jj 'AtUr A “BLONDE ALIBI” Clamorous Mrs Jack McGurn Formerly Louisa Rolf Who Saved Her Husband from Taking the Rap for tha St Valentine’s Day Massacre By Testifying That He Was with Her in a Hotel at the Time Here She Weeps at His Funeral red roses with ribbon streamers There scriptions bordered on the grotesque: was a vacant chair five feet and a half “Dear Pal" said one And another: ’’ high and five feet across made of red “Why did it have to be you Dannyt roses with the legs in Japanese lilies and the arras outlined in white and red carnations also a broken column of Easter lilies and roses nine feet high and a square pillow of Japanese lilies and foses Over the coffin was a blanket of white carnations with a cross of red roses in the center and orchids and sweet peas at the corner A few months after Joe’s death Masseria New York agent of A1 “Joe the Capone who was known-aBoss” was killed in a Coney Island speakeasy as he was playing cards with some friends Here again the coffin was saig to have cost $15000 There was no grand procession because his friends feared gunplay from his rivals But the flowers wqpe there in more profusion than ever requiring some 40 cars Even small fry had pretty swanky funerals It was only the lone wolf gangsters and the unpopular killers who rated no ultimate glory — men like Arnold Bothstein Larry Fay and “Legs” Diamond But little Daniel J Iamascia henchman of Dutch Schultz got all the fancy trappings — the $15000 coffin the floral clock indicating 6:10 the hour at which a detective’s bullet plugged him as he was leaving Schultz’s hideaway at 1212 Fifth Avenue Schultz sent a large bouquet shaped like a diamond and also a cross of red roses with a white stuffed pigeon attached to the middle of the cross and the ironic inscription: “Sympathy" There were 6000 at the funeral — 75 hired automobiles 50 private ones —and 35 cars filled with flowers The in six-fo- ot Gul-aep- pe s f The Magnificent Funeral of Gangster Dion O’Banion (Above) Set the Precedent (or This Sort of Thing Among the Gentry Who Lived— and Died—By the Machine-Gu- n Machine Conner Jack McGurn and His Wife Louise Pictured After Their Marriage Gangland Never Did Make Much Fuss Over Weddings — But Funerals— ! ! ! cnlfhl Ill s Kbi rtarw Syndicate Ui i Due to a certain nervousness lest some of Danny’s enemies cause trouble there were a number of eurious features about the funeral Admission to Danny’s home in the Bronx was by card only Three g youths stood by the d-story window curtains pulling them aside now and then to make sure there were no “undesirables” in the mob outside At the services in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel a few racketeers were present but the family had been advised not to attend The mausoleum was the most magnificent feature of all Danny had ordered long before his death a purchase of 20 plots— cdunt them twenty! — and the erection of a $20000 tomb Even such small fry as Tony Lombardo Chica'go gunman received a grand funeral for those days At Tony’s in 1928 a crowd of 5000 including A1 Capone attended and floral offerings ran into the tens of thousands Naturally since funerals were so very g frequent tne gaudy gangsters made as much of a social event but of them as an Irish wake But the day of the gangster is on the wane And those who are left have been struck by repeal depression And so Jack McGurn a big shot in his own sphere who a few years ago would ' have been buried with all the pomp and panoply of a minor monarch! went to his death without hullabaloo without great expense or large attendance By comparison it was almost a shabby funeral tough-lookin- secon- color-lovin- |