Ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated with gangster culture of all sorts. This is why the Gangsters & Grifters book has peaked my interest…compiled from the vast Chicago Tribune archives, it features pictures of photographs of infamous criminals, small-time bandits, smirking crooks, pickpockets, hoodlums and wise guys at crime scenes and in courtrooms. These photos were taken from the early 1900’s to the 1950’s…Now peep a bunch of well-dressed hoods wreaking havoc!
John Dillinger, center, handcuffed to Deputy Sheriff R.M. Pierce during Dillinger’s murder trial hearing in Crown Point, Indiana. Though his trial was scheduled for March 12, 1934, Dillinger would escape from the Crown Point prison on March 3.
An undated photo shows Al Capone, center, in a Chicago courtroom.
Defense attorney Clarence Darrow argues for life sentences for Richard Loeb, 18, and Nathan Leopold Jr., 19, on trial for the murder of 14-year-old Robert “Bobby” Franks. In hopes of avoiding the death penalty, Darrow pleaded both defendants guilty.
Coroner Herman N. Bundsesn, right, and Lt. Col. C.H. Goddard, look at machine guns allegedly used in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, in which seven men with supposed ties to organized crime were gunned down in a Chicago garage.
Lts. Frank Ballou and Samuel Peterson test out a new metal bulletproof shield. The shield’s inventor, Elliot Wisbrod, is the man holding it.
Joseph Schuster, center, a paroled convict, stands in a police lineup. Schuster was identified by robbery victims as the shooter in the killing of off-duty policeman Arthur Sullivan.
Mary Wazeniak, a 34-year-old mother from Poland, was the first women in Illinois convicted of selling fatal moonshine. Her moonshine, which she sold from her home-turned-saloon, is known to have killed one person, earning her the nickname “Moonshine Mary,” with the press.
Diver James P. Bodor, 23, finds a shotgun on Aug. 5, 1949 after dragging the bottom of a channel at 107th Street and Archer Avenue.
