Since Uptown's mobster past is so well-known, it's fitting that reputed Outfit killer Frank 'The German' Schweihs died yesterday in this very neighborhood, at Thorek Hospital.
If you ever saw Casino (corrected) and shuddered at the fictionalized cornfield hit on the Spillotro Brothers, well, you've got Frankie Schweihs to thank for your nightmares.
Um, allegedly.
I for one am proud that Uptown can serve as the place to die for scumbags of this caliber. Pardon da pun.
ReplyDeleteMay more mobsters die in our hospitals.
The cornfield hit was portrayed in the movie Casino, not Goodfellas.
ReplyDeleteI've got to say it. Is this guy Daley's doppleganger or what?
ReplyDeleteMy kind of gangster. Dead.
ReplyDeleteNot that much has changed. I find the story of his buddy Richard Cain fascinating.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cain)
Now these are the guys i would think twice before standing up to in court.
Public fascination and identification with gangsters is alive and well in Chicago. Note Johnny Depp's heralded reception while recently filming scenes in Uptown for "Dillinger."
ReplyDeleteDepp's an icon, and if his movie delivers the goods (in terms of audience-pleasing gratuitous violence), there's a good chance his Johnny D character will eventually take the place of the many Al Pacino "Scarface" T-shirts and posters sold (seemingly at every other booth) at Sunday's Canal St. (formerly Maxwell St.) Market.
If I recall my glorified mob history correctly, the Spilatro brothers were found in a shallow grave in an Indiana cornfield with their dismembered members, so to speak, stuffed into their mouths.
ReplyDeleteGreat post but there's an error.
ReplyDeleteThe photo is actually Shiller's office manager. They Photoshopped out the baseball bat.
Secretsquirrel: Thanks to the fact-checking veracity made possible by the modern wonders of "Google Search," I visited several sites that report on the Spilotro brothers' Mob takedown: Not one mentions them being found with ANYTHING in their mouths.
ReplyDeleteNo need to say "allegedly;" libel laws don't apply to the deceased. :-)
ReplyDelete