Al Capone and His American Boys : Memoirs of a Mobster's Wife

"When her husband was murdered on the orders of Chicago mobster Frank Nitti, Georgette Winkeler--wife of one of Al Capone's 'American Boys'--set out to expose the Chicago Syndicate. After an attempt to publish her story was squelched by the mob, she offered it to the FBI in the mistaken belief that they had the authority to strike at the racketeers who had killed her husband Gus. Discovered 60 years later in FBI files, the manuscript describes the couple's life on the run, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre (Gus was one of the shooters), and other headline crimes of that period. Prepared for publication by mob expert William J. Helmer, Al Capone and His American Boys is a compelling contemporary account of the heyday of Chicago crime by a woman who found herself married to the mob." -- Product description, Amazon.com. Al Capone and His American Boys......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Foreword by John Winkeler......Page 12 Foreword by Rose Keefe......Page 14 About This Book......Page 18 Acknowledgments......Page 22 A Note on Georgette and Gus Winkeler......Page 25 “A Voice from the Grave”: The Memoir of Georgette Winkeler......Page 30 1 The Seventh Child......Page 32 2 “For Better or for Worse”......Page 37 3 Heist Guy—Egan’s Rats and the Cuckoo Gang......Page 49 4 The Bad Pennies......Page 55 6 Fugitives on the Lam......Page 58 7 Workhouse Widow......Page 63 8 Gratitude—and Murder......Page 66 9 Flight from St. Louis......Page 69 10 Meet Al Capone......Page 74 11 The Toledo Killing......Page 86 12 Frankie Yale......Page 95 13 Murphy’s Tough Skull......Page 101 14 The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre......Page 104 15 Hiding Out......Page 117 16 On the Run......Page 122 17 “Killer” Burke and the Policeman’s Murder......Page 125 18 New Face and New Fingerprints......Page 134 19 “Killer” Burke on the Lam......Page 138 20 The Car Crash......Page 148 21 Capone to the Rescue......Page 156 22 The Greatest Bank Robbery......Page 160 23 Chicago’s “Secret Six”......Page 164 24 Enter Father Dwyer......Page 173 25 The Shooting of Frank Nitti......Page 177 26 Nitti’s Revenge......Page 183 27 “The Informer”......Page 188 28 The Boom Days......Page 192 29 A Promise Kept......Page 196 30 Gus and the Planted Gun......Page 199 31 Legal Beer at Last......Page 203 32 Gus Winkeler and the New North Side......Page 208 33 The Kansas City Massacre......Page 211 34 Gus and the “Miller Massacre”......Page 221 35 Beginning of the End......Page 225 36 The Syndicate Closes In......Page 230 37 The Police Called It Suicide......Page 235 38 “They’ve Taken Him to the Morgue”......Page 240 39 Gus Goes Home......Page 244 40 Who Killed My Husband?......Page 248 41 The Widow and Her World......Page 252 42 “The Gas Lisped Its Song of Death”......Page 257 43 Rebirth and Revenge......Page 261 44 End of the Empire......Page 264 45 “Do You See This Gun?”......Page 269 46 Confronting the Mob......Page 273 47 On the Spot......Page 276 48 Resolution......Page 279 Georgette Talks to the FBI......Page 283 Biographies and Historical Notes......Page 319 Index......Page 387 Musical identity raises complex, multifarious, and fascinating questions. Discussions in this new study consider how individuals construct their musical identities in relation to their experiences of formal and informal music teaching and learning. Each chapter features a different case study situated in a specific national or local socio-musical context, spanning 20 regions across the world. Subjects range from Ghanaian or Balinese villagers, festival-goers in Lapland, and children in a South African township to North American and British students, adults and children in a Cretan brass band, and Gujerati barbers in the Indian diaspora A thrilling journey into Gangland America in the 1930s