UNDERWORLD VENDETTAS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20251, 10 May 1929, Page 11

UNDERWORLD VENDETTAS.

CRIMINALS IN CHICAGO.

THREE MEN FATALLY SHOT.

ALLEGED ACT OF REVENGE

Australian and N.Z. Press Association. CHICAGO, May 8,

Three gunmen, two of whom were " captains" in the gang of the underworld leader Al. Capone, known as "Scarface," were fatally shot to-day in a stolen motor-car.

The police found the bodies riddled with soft-nosed bullets. They suspect members of " Bug" Moran's gang of the shooting. The eight men who were killed in the garage massacre on February 14 were members of Moran's gang.

One of the most cold-blooded crimes in the history of Chicago was perpetrated on February 14 last. Two motor-car loads of gangsters entered a garage—tho headquarters of an alleged cartage company—and, posing as police officials, lined up eight men against tho wall of a back room and murdered them all with machine-guns and saivn-off shot-guns. Only one victim was not killed outright, and lie died in hospital within two hours. Tho police expressed the opinion that the assassinations were the outcome of Chicago's " beer war," which had recently been revived, and which always caused tho most intense hatred between the rival factors struggling for the control of the illegitimate trade. The authorities also asserted that the so-called cartage company was nothing but an organisation of beer runners. The citizens were roused by the crime, and tho highest officials promptly rushed to the scene. Among them was tho Police Commissioner, who described the outrage as the "last straw." lie said: The gangsters have now declared open war on the police. We accept the challenge. I have ordered the immediate arrest of every known gangster and hoodlum in Chicago.

All the murdered men were identified as members of a North Side gang of bootleggers. They were ostensibly employed by the S.M.G. Garago Company, North Clark Street. The New York correspondent of the Daily Mail, writing on March 10 said: Al. Capone, the " Tsar" of Chicago's underworld and Ace of American gangsters, is a prisoner of fear in his palatial home at Miami, Florida, living hourly in apprehension of death. The Chicago police believe that the recent cold-blooded murder of eight men in a Chicago garage was the work of Al. Capone's gunmen, and that vengeance has been sworn against the murderers. Whether these direful oaths are responsible for Capone's fears only lie himself knows, but it is a> fact that when he has had a drink or two he confesses to his intimates that " sooner or later someone will get me."

Capone's Miami castle of Spanish design is situated on an island, which can be rea'ched only by routes strongly protected by his private bodyguard. His luxurious motor-car is steel-lined and bullet-proof, and when he takes a ride his great fear is that a tyre will be punctured and that during the enforced halt he will be assassinated. Capone is ageing rapidly under the strain. His athletic figure is losing its firm lines, and his hair is thinning and greying with sleepless nights. Ho was once ai moderate drinker, but now it is reported that he drinks too freely. But Capone's days are not all misery. Sometimes he starts from his morose lethargy and gives a party to the elite of Palm Beach. He is a lavish host and his invitations are eagerly sought. He will sometimes spend more than £IOOO on a single evening's entertainment. He never accepts a return invitation because of his fear of a trap. Even when his guests assemble they are always under the watchful eyes of their host's young guards. These are as well dressed as the guests, but beneath their smart evening clothes are automatic revolvers ever ready to spit fire.