The Chicago Crime Scenes Project

From the mid-1850s through the 1930s, the area bordered by Harrison St., Wood St., 16th St., and the Chicago River, was the toughest neighbo...

That is not Ralph Capone's 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan. That is, however, Ralph Capone's house behind it, at 1924 S. 49th Ct., in Cice...

Mafalda, named after an Italian princess , was the youngest Capone sibling and the only sister. Born 13 years after Al, she grew up spoiled...

448 W. Surf (above), and 2800 N. Pine Grove (below) were among the homes occupied at various times by the founder and leader of the North Si...

Harry Madigan ran an Al Capone-controlled bar called the Pony Inn at this location, 5613 W. Roosevelt, Cicero, in 1926. In Spring of that y...

In league with his younger brother, Ralph Capone ran a number of bars and speakeasies, the most famous of which was the Cotton Club, at thi...

Joe E. Lewis was a popular comedian and singer from New York, who became a favorite at "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn's speakeasy, ...

Having a wife around is such a pain in the neck for a serial killer. Henry Holmes, born Herman Mudgett, was the most famous Chicago criminal...

Besides his numerous other talents , Dion O'Banion was an excellent businessman. After the Torrio-Capone gang took over the Cicero cit...

The corner of Oak St. and Cleveland St. (previously Milton St.) was known as "Death Corner" for a reason. Situated in the heart o...

This is the location where the founder of the North Side Mob, the man who dared turn against Johnny Torrio and Al Capone, the great singer ...

John Sbarbaro's funeral parlor, at 708 N. Wells, was the parlor of choice for gangland royalty. After his death , Dion O'Banion ...

Dion O'Banion, the renaissance man of crime, was the founder of the North Side Mob. Besides floral arrangement , one of his other great...

After Annie Stewart's brush with the law , she retired from Madamhood and sold her interest in 441 S. Clark to Carrie Watson in 1868. I...

Michael McDonald, who started his career as a boy con artist and professional gambler, came to Chicago in the early 1860s, and reigned as th...

Francis Warren, a.k.a. "Waterford Jack," the so-called "millionaire streetwalker," operated out of this location at 120 ...

in the 1860s, Madame Lou Harper ran "The Mansion" at what was then 219 Monroe (now 228 W. Monroe), the finest and most elegant bro...

Wells St. was Chicago's oldest and longest-running red-light district. Prostitution was likely present in Chicago even before the city...

During the 1870s, a tough saloon operated at this location just west of State St., which would then have been 67 E. Van Buren. The bar is ...

Custom House Place ran south from Jackson St., and between the Great Fire of 1871 and 1903, was the largest and most depraved red light dist...

Whisky Row was the name given to the string of cheap and dangerous saloons that lined the west side of State St., south of Van Buren., in th...

The first great North side gangster was Dion O'Banion, who ruled from this location at 736 N. State St. O'Banion was the Renaissance...

After 1880, the area on the North side bounded by La Salle St., Division St., and the Chicago River became known as "Little Hell" ...

After the Great Fire (and long before the astronomical term was coined), the slum area around Washington and Halsted streets became known as...

"Gentle" Annie Stafford, the "fattest brother-keeper in Chicago," ran a brothel here at 155 N. Wells St., just north of ...

After Dion O'Banion's death , his gang passed through the hands of several leaders, including most famously, George "Bugs"...

One of the most notorious gambling spots in pre-Fire Chicago was Hairtrigger Block, which ran along Randolph St., between Clark and State. ...

The northeast corner of Monroe and Wells was the most notorious location in pre-Fire Chicago. From 1858-1868, Roger Plant ran a brothel and...

In the 1860s up until the Great Fire, this stretch of Clark St., between Monroe and Randolph, was the home of a number of notorious gambling...