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{{Short description|American criminal (1893-1957)}}
{{Unreferenced|date=February 2008}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox Criminal
{{More citations needed|date=October 2010}}
| subject_name = George Clarence Moran
{{Infobox criminal
| image_name = Bugs Moran.jpg
| image_size = 200px | name = George "Bugs" Moran
| image_name = Bugs Moran.jpg
| image_caption =
| caption = Moran in 1930s
| date_of_birth = {{birth date|1891|08|21}}
| birth_name = Adelard Leo Cunin
| place_of_birth = ], ]
| date_of_death = {{death date and age|1957|02|25|1891|08|21}} | birth_date = {{birth date|1893|8|21|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = ], U.S.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}
| place_of_death = ], ], ]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1957|2|25|1893|8|21|mf=yes}}
| charge = Bank robbery
| death_place = ], ], U.S.
| conviction_penalty = 10 years
| resting_place = Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary Cemetery, U.S.
| conviction_status = Deceased
| other_names = George Gage, George Morrissey, George Miller
| occupation = ], ]
| spouse = | predecessor = ]
| children = | allegiance = ]
| charge = ] and conspiracy to counterfeit checks and cash in $62,000 worth of American Express checks
| illegitimate children =
| sentence = 10–20 years at ]; 5 years at Leavenworth Prison
| nickname = Bugs
| occupation = ], ]
| children = 1
| spouse = Evelyn Herrell (first wife)<br />{{marriage|Lucille Logan Bilezikdijan|1922}}
}} }}
'''George Clarence Moran''' (born '''Adelard Cunin''' on August 21, 1891 - February 25, 1957), better known by the alias '''"Bugs" Moran''', was a ] ]-era gangster born in ]. Moran, of ] descent, moved to the north side of Chicago when he was 19, where he became affiliated with several gangs while being incarcerated three times before turning 21. On February 14, 1929, in an event which has become known as the ], seven members of his gang were gunned down in a warehouse, supposedly, by Moran's rival ].<ref>http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/moran_george_bugs.htm</ref> He has been credited with popularizing the act of driving by a rival's hangout and spraying it with gunfire, now referred to as a ].<ref>http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Moran+&GSfn=George&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=730&</ref> '''George Clarence''' "'''Bugs'''" '''Moran''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|r|ɑː|n}}; born '''Adelard Leo Cunin'''; August 21, 1893&nbsp;– February 25, 1957) was an American ] ]-era ]. He was incarcerated three times before his 21st birthday. Seven members of his gang were gunned down and killed in a warehouse in the ] of February 14, 1929, supposedly on the orders of his rival ].


==Early career== ==Early life and career==
Moran was born Adelard Cunin to a French immigrant father, Jules Adelard Cunin, and a mother of Canadian descent, Marie Diana Gobeil, in ]. He attended ], a private Catholic school in Saint Paul, but he also joined a local juvenile gang and left school at age 18. He was later caught robbing a store and was sent to the ], and was put in jail three times before he turned 21. He then fled to Chicago where he was caught trying to rob a warehouse, taking part in a horse-stealing ring, taking part in robbery involving the death of a police officer,<ref>, odmp.org. Accessed January 12, 2023.</ref> and robbing a freight car, for which he received a variety of prison and jail sentences. That is when young Adelard Cunin first adopted the name George Moran; it was the first name he thought of when police asked him who he was. George Moran was a violent and unstable man who got the nickname "Bugs" because everyone thought he was nuts or "buggy".

It is believed that Moran became a criminal as a teenager. When he was 19 years old, he moved into Chicago. He was jailed three times when he was only 20 years old.

Moran's fierce temper became generally known in the world of feuds and guns. His temper earned him the nickname "Bugs," gang slang for "completely crazy." One possibly apocryphal story relates that he first attained the name after arriving at a tailor shop to pick up a suit he had ordered. When told the price of the finished suit, he became enraged and left the shop after breaking the tailor's arms and legs.


==Prohibition== ==Prohibition==
] was established in 1920 with the enactment of the ], which banned the distribution of ], resulting in ]. Among the involved gangs were ] and his mostly Irish group, including Bugs Moran, who became known as the ] and Al Capone as the leader of the Italian mob on the South Side. These two rivals fought violently, resulting in what is known as "The Bootleg Battle of the Marne".<ref name="1929HT">Feb 14 1929: The St Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago. History Today 59, no. 2 (February 2009), p. 10.</ref>


==Battling Al Capone==
] was established during the 1920s with the enactment of the 18th Amendment, which banned the distribution of alcoholic beverages. Subsequently, criminal enterprises sprang up to smuggle liquor. They manufactured or stole it and sold it for great profit.
The bootlegging operation of ] and Bugs Moran continued to pose a significant challenge to Capone's ]. Moran and Capone then fought a turf war with each other that cost them both. Moran's hatred of Capone was apparent even to the public. Moran was disgusted that Capone engaged in prostitution. He would not engage in prostitution rings because of his ] religion. ]'s gang killed Dean O'Banion, and in an attempt to avenge him, Bugs Moran and Earl "Hymie" Weiss made an attempt on Torrio's life. Later they went on to make a failed attempt on Al Capone's life at his headquarters, the Hawthorne Inn in ]. More than one thousand shots were fired at the inn and at a nearby restaurant in their attempts to kill Capone.<ref name="Salem, Press, p. 388">Salem, Press, p. 388</ref> In retaliation, Weiss was killed by Capone's gang, and Moran became the new boss of the North Side Gang.
The popularity of alcohol and lack of legal competition ensured an endless supply of customers. This smuggling of alcohol was called ]. Soon, the criminals and gangsters were enjoying profits beyond anything the basic rackets had ever provided to them, including ] and his group of mostly Irish thugs, who became known as the "North Side Gang."


According to Paul Maccabee, a historian of ] ], Bugs Moran had a close friendship with ]–based ] boss ]. Following Hogan's murder by ] on December 4, 1928, Bugs Moran personally stood guard outside the Hogan family residence at West Seventh Street in St. Paul, "apparently to protect the Hogan family from further underworld attacks."<ref>Paul Maccabee (1993), ''John Dillinger Slept Here'', ] Press, pp. 17–18.</ref>
] and his lieutenant, ], moved to the ], absorbed the territory and pushed the Southside O'Donnells (an Irish group of brothers that held a piece of the Southside and claimed it as their turf) out of the way. They gathered followers quickly and were the "Italian family" of Chicago since a majority of their group was Italian. Torrio, who did not like violence, quickly moved to establish a borderline for each gang's territory.


Responding to Weiss's death, Moran tried to kill a member of Capone's gang, resulting in an attack, allegedly by Capone, known as the ].<ref name="Salem, Press, p. 388"/>
Torrio tried to establish a partnership between himself and O'Banion, and it worked for quite some time. But the ] (a Sicilian group of brothers who owned a piece of the Southside territory and were partners of Torrio and Capone) wanted to extend their interests into other territory. They moved their liquor into O'Banions territory and sold it for half as much as what O'Banion sold it for. He was being cheated in his own territory.
He quickly went to Torrio and requested help. Torrio managed to talk the Gennas down in the interest of peace. But O'Banion wasn't pleased and decided to strike back instead. He started hijacking the Gennas shipments and selling them himself.


==The St. Valentine's Day Massacre==
He then would provoke the Italians even more by directly insulting them, calling them "greaseballs" or "dagos." This angered the Italians even more.
On February 14, 1929, seven members of Moran's gang died in what came to be called the ]. Moran was offered a truckload of ] at a bargain price, which he had ordered to be delivered at 10:30&nbsp;a.m. to the garage of the S.M.C. Cartage Company on North Clark Street, where he kept his bootlegging trucks.<ref name="1929HT"/>


Two gunmen—dressed as ]s and two others in ]—lined up Moran's people against the wall in the warehouse and shot them. Bugs Moran, the main target of the assassination, was not present, arriving late; when he saw the approaching police car, he turned around going to a nearby café instead. Another North Sider, Al Weinshank, was misidentified as Moran by one of the lookouts who signaled for the attack to begin.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}
Moran and O'Banion also insulted Capone to the press, usually by calling him "Scarface" or "the Behemoth."


Police response was delayed when witnesses saw the two "police officers" exit the scene. There were six corpses and another man near death when police arrived on the scene. The survivor, ], following the gangsters' ], refused to identify the killers before dying. When Moran learned of the carnage, he broke the gangster code, accusing Capone of the murders. No one was convicted. Capone was in Florida on the day of the massacre.<ref>{{cite book|last=Reppetto|first=Thomas|title=The "Get Capone" Drive: Print the Legend|year=2004|publisher=H. Holt|location=New York}}</ref> He denied involvement in the massacre, though he was twice summoned to court, which he avoided by claimed illness.<ref>Boyle, William. "Valentine's Day Massacre." Salem Press Encyclopedia (January 2015).</ref>
Two events would trigger the assassination of O'Banion. The first was between O'Banion and the Gennas. Torrio was on vacation and left Al Capone in charge of the operations. O'Banion came to collect a $30,000 debt from Angelo Genna, the Genna family leader.


There is some evidence implicating Chicago police officers in the killings. Prior to the massacre, some officers were stealing bootleg liquor from the gang's trucks and were allegedly disciplined by the chief of police, but no substantiation is available.
Capone explained to O'Banion that Angelo could not pay the debt and maybe he should pass it on as good faith to keep the peace. O'Banion refused and later telephoned Genna and stated that he had better pay the debt in a week.

The next event would be the setting up of Torrio in a police raid. O'Banion contacted Torrio and stated he wanted to retire from the business and sell some of his profits to Torrio. Torrio, excited that there would be no more problems between them, jumped at the idea and met O'Banion at the warehouse. They started talking and shared a few jokes, but then the police burst in and arrested both men for Prohibition-related charges. O'Banion started to laugh, but Torrio panicked. He knew that this was his second offense and thus, he would likely do jail time.

Both men posted bail and got out. Torrio then learned O'Banion had known about the raid all along, and it was a setup. "I guess I rubbed that pimp's nose in the mud," O'Banion stated.

The Italians therefore passed a vote to kill O'Banion. They hired independent killers to do the job and waited for ], the leader of the ], to die because Merlo who was also a man of peace refused to allow O'Banion to be killed.

The killers were ], along with ] and ] (colloquially known as the "Murder Twins"). They tracked O'Banion to his flower shop and entered. O'Banion, expecting flowers for Merlo's funeral to be picked wasn't suspicious of the men or their intentions.

Yale outstretched his hand for O'Banion to shake. O'Banion obliged. Scalise and Anselmi then drew their pistols and shot O'Banion to death.

The killers got away. The North Side gang members had lost their commander. Capone and Torrio thought that O'Banion's death might end their troubles.

Moran and the rest of the group went to O'Banion's lavish funeral. Capone and Torrio also attended the funeral, and Moran vowed to take revenge.

==Battling Johnny Torrio==

] took control of the ] and Moran became underboss. They were ready to strike back.

On January 25, 1925, Weiss and Moran waited for Torrio outside his home. It was their intention to take him by surprise and kill him. Torrio arrived with his wife after doing a little boozing. With Drucci at the wheel, Moran and Weiss leapt out of the car and began shooting at Torrio. Torrio was hit several times and slumped to the ground. Moran walked up to Torrio and attempted to deliver the final shot to his skull. However, his gun either malfunctioned, or Moran was out of ammunition (reports differed), saving Torrio's life. An angered Moran was forced to flee the scene with Torrio still alive, but unconscious. After this abortive hit, the terrified Torrio elected to retire and pass the operations of the Chicago Outfit to his protégé, ].

==Battling the Gennas==

Now that Torrio was gone, it was time to go after an old rival—], who were the cause of O'Banion's and Torrio's broken partnership.

The Northsiders first went after Angelo. The Gennas had killed their commander: it was time for Moran and his gang to do the same. Moran (along with Weiss and a few others) ambushed Angelo and engaged in a dangerous car chase with the Sicilian leader. After Angelo crashed into a building, their car pulled to a halt next to Angelo's and the Northsiders blasted away, killing the crime leader. This was a terrible setback for the Gennas. Much of their power and influence had died with Angelo.

The Gennas mourned the loss of the brother and realized their business was going downhill. Next, Mike Genna engaged in a fierce gun battle with the Northsiders, but failed to kill his rivals. Not long after, he himself was gunned down by police in a vicious shootout.

Then, ], a Genna family backer, was gunned down by ].

Finally, Tony Genna was shot to death. However, it was rumored that it was Capone, not the Northsiders, who ordered the death of Genna. Capone allegedly ordered Genna's murder to destroy finally the weakened Genna Family.

Their power destroyed, the rest of the Gennas fled Chicago.

The bootlegging operation of Earl Weiss and Bugs Moran continued to pose a significant challenge to Capone's South Side Gang. Moran and Capone then led a turf war with each other that cost both of them their friends and cost Capone his freedom. Moran's hatred of Capone was apparent even to the public: he told the press that "Capone is a lowlife." Moran was also disgusted that Capone engaged in ]. Believing himself a better Catholic than Capone, Moran refused to run ]s.

Moran and his gang made two attempts to strike back at Al Capone. The first was an attempt on Capone's life. Moran (possibly with Drucci and Weiss) was driving around town searching for Capone. They found his car parked alongside the curb and saw Capone getting out. They let loose a volley of shots. Capone and his men jumped to the ground while their driver was injured and the car pelted with bullets. Although startled, Capone survived the attack and would be driven around in an armored car after that.

Second, Moran would himself eliminate Capone's personal security. He kidnapped one of Capone's most trusted bodyguards. He then tortured him with wire and cigarettes before finally executing him and dumping the body.

On September 20, 1926, Moran again attempted to kill Capone, this time in ], the base of Capone's operations. A fleet of cars, with Moran in personal command, drove by the lobby of Capone's hotel. Capone and his bodyguard were drinking downstairs when the Moran gang began shooting into the lobby with their ]s. The attack left Capone unhurt but badly frightened, and his restaurant was reduced to shreds. Although Capone escaped unharmed, the hotel attack traumatized him: he called for a truce. However, the truce did not last long.

Weiss was then gunned down weeks later after the Hawthorne attack. The two sides then traded more murderous violence before everyone decided enough was enough. A peace conference was held to hopefully sort everything out. Moran appeared grudgingly, along with Capone and the rest of the gang bosses. Capone stated "they were making a shooting gallery of a great business" and Chicago "should be seen as pie and each gang gets an individual slice." Everybody agreed and peace had finally arrived.

For the first time in years, there wasn't any gang warfare. Drucci himself was killed as a result of an altercation with the police. Both Capone and Moran attended his funeral. Moran now realized that his friends (O'Banion, Weiss, and Drucci) were gone and he was the sole commander of the gang. Capone realized this too, which is why he didn't attack first because he knew a war with Moran would result in great bloodshed.

Both sides kept a close watch on each other after that. Moran would regularly annoy Capone by having his shipments hijacked and selling them for profit. Capone retaliated by burning Moran's dog track. Moran had one of Capone's clubs burned soon after.

Moran also killed numerous friends and gang members of Capone, which both angered and saddened him. It also frightened him into having 15 (or more) bodyguards around him. Moran further wore down Capone, both physically and mentally, by agreeing to truces, only to break them within hours. Capone eventually stated that regretted he ever came to Chicago. "If I knew I was gonna deal with this, I'd never would've left ]," he stated.

Moran then decided to order the death of Antonio Lombardo and ] . Both men were personal friends of Capone as well as the head of the ], the base of Capone's power. Capone went into mourning after their murders and his hatred for Moran grew even more. Moran also decided to escalate the war further by hijacking Capone's shipments. The ], supposedly allies of the South Siders, were suspected of supplying liquor to Moran.

In 1929, Capone tried to strike a decisive blow against Moran with the notorious ]. Gunmen dressed as police lined up a number of Moran associates against the wall in a Chicago warehouse and executed them. However, the main target of the "hit," Moran, narrowly eluded death. Moran spotted the squad car outside the warehouse and, believing a raid was in progress, doubled back to a coffee shop with his bodyguards. Another North Sider, Al Weinshank, was misidentified as Moran by one of Capone's lookouts, who signaled for the attack to begin. Though appalled by the massacre, Moran would continue a turf war with Capone (but to a lesser extent) and also manage to thwart a territory takeover by ], wounding him in a gun battle.

Contrary to popular belief, Moran managed to keep control of his territory and what remained of his gang through the end of Prohibition and through the early 30's. But with the repeal of the ] (the very thing that put the gangsters into power) the North Side gang declined along with many other gangs and Moran decided to leave Chicago after a few years. However, Capone did not go unpunished either. After the massacre, the government and the public expressed a new level of outrage with gangland killings and shootouts. With the government coming at him from all sides, Capone himself started to decline. The government managed to convict Capone of ] and send him to prison in 1932.

In April 1930, ], chairman of the ] had compiled a "]" list of 28 people he designated as corrupting Chicago. Capone topped the list and Moran ranked sixth. The list was published widely and ensured Moran's notoriety.


==After Prohibition== ==After Prohibition==
Moran managed to keep control of his territory and what remained of his gang through the early 1930s, but the North Side gang never fully recovered its power or former place in Chicago's underworld as the chief rival to Capone's Italian mob. Moran eventually left the area, quitting the gang entirely—though not the criminal lifestyle. He reverted to committing petty crimes, such as ] and robbery.
In 1936, ], who helped orchestrate the ] for Capone, was found murdered on February 15, seven years and one day after the massacre. A valentine was left in the lobby of the bowling alley where he was murdered, which included a rhyming joke. Since Moran treasured pranks, a legacy of his mentor ], it was commonly assumed Moran committed the murder in retaliation for the slaughter of his gang, though others point to Frank Nitti as the force behind the killing, as McGurn had become a drunken loudmouth, and a genuine liability to the South Side mob. Either theory is considered equally plausible by crime researchers.


On April 30, 1939, Moran was convicted of conspiracy to cash $62,000 worth of American Express checks. He was freed on appeal when he posted a bond; he fled but was captured and not released until December 21, 1944.<ref name="Salem, Press, p. 388"/> He was almost penniless by the 1940s, only 17 years after being one of the richest gangsters in Chicago. On July 6, 1946, he was arrested for his involvement in the robbery of a ], Ohio, tavern on June 28, 1945, and received a sentence of 20 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1946/07/07/page/21/article/u-s-agents-nab-bugs-moran-in-10-000-holdup|title=U. S. AGENTS NAB 'BUGS' MORAN IN $10,000 HOLDUP (July 7, 1946)|date=15 July 2023 }}</ref> He was paroled in 1956, but was immediately arrested for his role in the 1945 robbery of a bank in ].<ref>Keefe, Rose (2005). ''The Man Who Got Away: The Bugs Moran Story: A Biography''. Cumberland House Publishing. p. 176. {{ISBN|1581824432}}.</ref><ref>Keilman, John "", ''Dayton Daily News''. Retrieved December 5, 2019.</ref> He was found guilty in 1957 and sentenced to 10 more years in prison.
The majority of published researchers of the Chicago gangland era and those who have studied Moran's life have come to the conclusion that Moran's biggest liability as a gang boss was Moran himself - he was simply not very smart in the ways of long-term survival as a mob leader. While Capone was a master at planning out moves and feints several steps in advance, Moran's approach was more that of an ordinary street brawler: cause-and-effect reactionism. Having been gradually squeezed out of Chicago after the end of Prohibition, he reverted to his earlier life and resumed committing common crimes like mail fraud and robbery. Just seventeen years after being one of the wealthiest gangsters in Chicago, Bugs Moran began spending almost all of the remainder of his life in prison, essentially penniless. In July 1946, Moran was arrested in ] for robbing a bank messenger of $10,000, a paltry sum compared to his lifestyle during the Prohibition days. He was convicted and sentenced to ten years in the ]. Shortly after his release, Moran was again arrested for an earlier bank raid. Moran received another ten years and was sent to the ]. Only a matter of days after arriving there, most of which were spent in the prison hospital, Bugs Moran died of ] on February 25, 1957. He was estimated to be worth about $100 at his death, and he received a pauper's burial in the prison cemetery.


==Death in prison==
==Account of one of Moran's arrests==
Moran died of lung cancer a few months into his 10-year sentence at ] in ] on February 25, 1957, at the age of 63.<ref>n.d. "Moran, George." Britannica Online Britannica Online</ref>


==Personal life==
Taken from a historical record written about Henderson, Kentucky and derived from ''The Gleaner'' (a local newspaper):
Moran married Lucille Logan Bilezikdian, with whom he had a son, John George Moran. She left him because of his criminal lifestyle.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} In 1922, he married Evelyn Herrell.


==In popular culture==
George "Bugs" Moran remained a notorious criminal through the ] years. He continued to elude capture and eventually was put on the FBI most-wanted list. At this time Richard and Mary Lynn Stites were living at 514 Center Street, Henderson Kentucky, having bought the home in 1937. Mr. and Mrs. Stites were admired and loved by all who knew them as models of rectitude, and yet it was they who for several months gave shelter to the Bugs Moran and his female companion, renting to Moran the third floor apartment of their dwelling. This came about purely by chance.
{| cellpadding="2"
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{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! style="width:8%;"| Date
! style="width:20%;"| Title
! style="width:10%;"| Country
! style="width:53%;"| Notes
! style="width:5%;"| IMDb
|- valign="top"
|1958
|'']'' ''Seven Against the Wall''
|US
|Portrayed by ]
|
|- valign="top"
|1959
|'']''
|US
|Portrayed by ]
|
|- valign="top"
|1959
|'']'' – ''The George "Bugs" Moran Story'', ''Arsenal'', ''The Eddie O'Gara Story'', and ''Doublecross''
|US
|Portrayed by ], ], and ]
|
|- valign="top"
|1967
|'']''
|US
|Portrayed by ]
|
|- valign="top"
|1975
|'']''
|US
|Portrayed by ]
|
|- valign="top"
|1987
|'']''
|US
|Portrayed by Sean Moran
|
|- valign="top"
|1993
|'']'' – ''Pilot'' (Parts 1 and 2), ''Chinatown''
|US
|Portrayed by ]
|
|- valign="top"
|2000
|'']'' – ''Everybody Goes to Rick's''
|US
|Portrayed by ]
|
|- valign="top"
|2017
|'']''
|US
|Portrayed by ]
|
|}


==References==
Moran, looking for a quiet place to hide out for awhile came to Mr. Stites, introduced himself as George Moran and asked to rent the rooms Mr. Stites had advertised. Stites agreed, since Moran seemed to be a quiet and agreeable person, as was the well spoken lady with him, his wife Evelyn Herrell. Moran said he would return in a few days and move in, but before he came back FBI agents came to Mr. Stites, told him who Moran was, and asked Mr. Stites to go ahead with the rental plan since FBI agents wanted to keep Moran under observation secretly. Mr. Stites, who worked as a dispatcher and desk officer for the city police, a post he held until the mid 1980's, said he would cooperate with the FBI. However nervous the Stites's may have been at first, they reported later that Moran and his wife were ideal renters, even more courteous and quiet than the average law-abiding citizen.
{{Reflist}}
{{cite book|last=Boyle|first=William|title=Valentine's Day Massacre|publisher=Salem Press EncyclopediaResearch Starters}}


==Sources==
After several months of observation, the FBI moved in to arrest Moran. Stites let the agents into the house through his own entrance. The agents moved quietly upstairs to the third floor and crashed into the Moran's apartment. Fearing that Moran might have a gun under his pillow, the agents reached under the covers at the foot of the bed, grabbed the former gangster by his ankles and dragged him off the foot of the bed and onto the floor. There was no further violence and Moran was led away.
* at ]

*George "Bugs" Moran, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left. 1957. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, whereabouts unknown. Accessed 22 Mar. 2015. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95511458/
==References==
*George "Bugs" Moran, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front. 1930. Library of Congress, whereabouts unknown. Accessed 22 Mar. 2015. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93511625/
<references/>
*"FEB 14 1929: The St Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago". History Today 59, no. 2 (February 2009): 10. Corporate ResourceNet, Accessed March 23, 2015. EBSCOhost.
Salem Press. American Villains. Pasadena, Calif: Salem Press, 2008. 386–389. Accessed March 22, 2015. EBSCOhost.


==External links== ==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*
* at My Al Capone Museum
* {{findagrave|730}}


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Latest revision as of 02:50, 31 October 2024

American criminal (1893-1957)

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George "Bugs" Moran
Moran in 1930s
BornAdelard Leo Cunin
(1893-08-21)August 21, 1893
Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
DiedFebruary 25, 1957(1957-02-25) (aged 63)
USP Leavenworth, Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S.
Resting placeLeavenworth Federal Penitentiary Cemetery, U.S.
Other namesGeorge Gage, George Morrissey, George Miller
Occupation(s)Gangster, bootlegger
PredecessorVincent Drucci
Spouse(s)Evelyn Herrell (first wife)
Lucille Logan Bilezikdijan ​ ​(m. 1922)​
Children1
AllegianceNorth Side Gang
Criminal chargeRobbery and conspiracy to counterfeit checks and cash in $62,000 worth of American Express checks
Penalty10–20 years at Ohio Penitentiary; 5 years at Leavenworth Prison

George Clarence "Bugs" Moran (/məˈrɑːn/; born Adelard Leo Cunin; August 21, 1893 – February 25, 1957) was an American Chicago Prohibition-era gangster. He was incarcerated three times before his 21st birthday. Seven members of his gang were gunned down and killed in a warehouse in the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre of February 14, 1929, supposedly on the orders of his rival Al Capone.

Early life and career

Moran was born Adelard Cunin to a French immigrant father, Jules Adelard Cunin, and a mother of Canadian descent, Marie Diana Gobeil, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He attended Cretin High School, a private Catholic school in Saint Paul, but he also joined a local juvenile gang and left school at age 18. He was later caught robbing a store and was sent to the state juvenile correctional facility, and was put in jail three times before he turned 21. He then fled to Chicago where he was caught trying to rob a warehouse, taking part in a horse-stealing ring, taking part in robbery involving the death of a police officer, and robbing a freight car, for which he received a variety of prison and jail sentences. That is when young Adelard Cunin first adopted the name George Moran; it was the first name he thought of when police asked him who he was. George Moran was a violent and unstable man who got the nickname "Bugs" because everyone thought he was nuts or "buggy".

Prohibition

Prohibition was established in 1920 with the enactment of the 18th Amendment, which banned the distribution of alcoholic beverages, resulting in bootlegging. Among the involved gangs were Dean O'Banion and his mostly Irish group, including Bugs Moran, who became known as the North Side Gang and Al Capone as the leader of the Italian mob on the South Side. These two rivals fought violently, resulting in what is known as "The Bootleg Battle of the Marne".

Battling Al Capone

The bootlegging operation of Hymie Weiss and Bugs Moran continued to pose a significant challenge to Capone's South Side Gang. Moran and Capone then fought a turf war with each other that cost them both. Moran's hatred of Capone was apparent even to the public. Moran was disgusted that Capone engaged in prostitution. He would not engage in prostitution rings because of his Catholic religion. Johnny Torrio's gang killed Dean O'Banion, and in an attempt to avenge him, Bugs Moran and Earl "Hymie" Weiss made an attempt on Torrio's life. Later they went on to make a failed attempt on Al Capone's life at his headquarters, the Hawthorne Inn in Cicero, Illinois. More than one thousand shots were fired at the inn and at a nearby restaurant in their attempts to kill Capone. In retaliation, Weiss was killed by Capone's gang, and Moran became the new boss of the North Side Gang.

According to Paul Maccabee, a historian of Twin Cities organized crime, Bugs Moran had a close friendship with St. Paul–based Irish mob boss Danny Hogan. Following Hogan's murder by car bomb on December 4, 1928, Bugs Moran personally stood guard outside the Hogan family residence at West Seventh Street in St. Paul, "apparently to protect the Hogan family from further underworld attacks."

Responding to Weiss's death, Moran tried to kill a member of Capone's gang, resulting in an attack, allegedly by Capone, known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

On February 14, 1929, seven members of Moran's gang died in what came to be called the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. Moran was offered a truckload of whiskey at a bargain price, which he had ordered to be delivered at 10:30 a.m. to the garage of the S.M.C. Cartage Company on North Clark Street, where he kept his bootlegging trucks.

Two gunmen—dressed as Chicago police officers and two others in plain clothes—lined up Moran's people against the wall in the warehouse and shot them. Bugs Moran, the main target of the assassination, was not present, arriving late; when he saw the approaching police car, he turned around going to a nearby café instead. Another North Sider, Al Weinshank, was misidentified as Moran by one of the lookouts who signaled for the attack to begin.

Police response was delayed when witnesses saw the two "police officers" exit the scene. There were six corpses and another man near death when police arrived on the scene. The survivor, Frank Gusenberg, following the gangsters' code of silence, refused to identify the killers before dying. When Moran learned of the carnage, he broke the gangster code, accusing Capone of the murders. No one was convicted. Capone was in Florida on the day of the massacre. He denied involvement in the massacre, though he was twice summoned to court, which he avoided by claimed illness.

There is some evidence implicating Chicago police officers in the killings. Prior to the massacre, some officers were stealing bootleg liquor from the gang's trucks and were allegedly disciplined by the chief of police, but no substantiation is available.

After Prohibition

Moran managed to keep control of his territory and what remained of his gang through the early 1930s, but the North Side gang never fully recovered its power or former place in Chicago's underworld as the chief rival to Capone's Italian mob. Moran eventually left the area, quitting the gang entirely—though not the criminal lifestyle. He reverted to committing petty crimes, such as mail fraud and robbery.

On April 30, 1939, Moran was convicted of conspiracy to cash $62,000 worth of American Express checks. He was freed on appeal when he posted a bond; he fled but was captured and not released until December 21, 1944. He was almost penniless by the 1940s, only 17 years after being one of the richest gangsters in Chicago. On July 6, 1946, he was arrested for his involvement in the robbery of a Dayton, Ohio, tavern on June 28, 1945, and received a sentence of 20 years. He was paroled in 1956, but was immediately arrested for his role in the 1945 robbery of a bank in Ansonia, Ohio. He was found guilty in 1957 and sentenced to 10 more years in prison.

Death in prison

Moran died of lung cancer a few months into his 10-year sentence at Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas on February 25, 1957, at the age of 63.

Personal life

Moran married Lucille Logan Bilezikdian, with whom he had a son, John George Moran. She left him because of his criminal lifestyle. In 1922, he married Evelyn Herrell.

In popular culture

Date Title Country Notes IMDb
1958 Playhouse 90 Seven Against the Wall US Portrayed by Dennis Patrick
1959 Al Capone US Portrayed by Murvyn Vye
1959 The Untouchables – The George "Bugs" Moran Story, Arsenal, The Eddie O'Gara Story, and Doublecross US Portrayed by Lloyd Nolan, Robert J. Wilke, and Harry Morgan
1967 The St. Valentine's Day Massacre US Portrayed by Ralph Meeker
1975 Capone US Portrayed by Robert Phillips
1987 The Verne Miller Story US Portrayed by Sean Moran
1993 The Untouchables – Pilot (Parts 1 and 2), Chinatown US Portrayed by Jack Thibeau
2000 Early Edition – Everybody Goes to Rick's US Portrayed by Kevin Fry
2017 Gangster Land US Portrayed by Peter Facinelli

References

  1. ODMP Bulfin 1917, odmp.org. Accessed January 12, 2023.
  2. ^ Feb 14 1929: The St Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago. History Today 59, no. 2 (February 2009), p. 10.
  3. ^ Salem, Press, p. 388
  4. Paul Maccabee (1993), John Dillinger Slept Here, Minnesota Historical Society Press, pp. 17–18.
  5. Reppetto, Thomas (2004). The "Get Capone" Drive: Print the Legend. New York: H. Holt.
  6. Boyle, William. "Valentine's Day Massacre." Salem Press Encyclopedia (January 2015).
  7. "U. S. AGENTS NAB 'BUGS' MORAN IN $10,000 HOLDUP (July 7, 1946)". 15 July 2023.
  8. Keefe, Rose (2005). The Man Who Got Away: The Bugs Moran Story: A Biography. Cumberland House Publishing. p. 176. ISBN 1581824432.
  9. Keilman, John "'Old man' Moran dies in obscurity", Dayton Daily News. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  10. n.d. "Moran, George." Britannica Online Britannica Online

Boyle, William. Valentine's Day Massacre. Salem Press EncyclopediaResearch Starters.

Sources

  • Bugs Moran at Encyclopædia Britannica
  • George "Bugs" Moran, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left. 1957. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, whereabouts unknown. Accessed 22 Mar. 2015. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95511458/
  • George "Bugs" Moran, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front. 1930. Library of Congress, whereabouts unknown. Accessed 22 Mar. 2015. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93511625/
  • "FEB 14 1929: The St Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago". History Today 59, no. 2 (February 2009): 10. Corporate ResourceNet, Accessed March 23, 2015. EBSCOhost.

Salem Press. American Villains. Pasadena, Calif: Salem Press, 2008. 386–389. Accessed March 22, 2015. EBSCOhost.

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Preceded byVincent Drucci North Side Gang Boss
1927–1935? 		Succeeded byN/A
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