Gary J Sibio
Hymie Weiss
Hymie Weiss was born Henry Earl J. Wojciechowski on 25 Jan 1898. He was born in Poland but, when he was 3 years old his family came to America. He grew up Catholic on the North Side of Chicago. Wherever he went he carried a rosary and a Bible.
Weiss’ criminal career started in his teens. He got his nickname “The Perfume Burglar” from the police after he knocked over a shelf of perfume during a botched burglary. Weiss and his friend, Dean O’Banion, teamed up with George “Bugs” Moran and established the North Side Gang. The gang grew to the point that they eventually controlled the bootlegging activities on the North Side. O’Bannion was the undisputed leader of the gang but Weiss was the brains.
The gang also worked as “salesmen” for the Chicago Tribune. While this sounds out of character for the gang, the position involved keeping the street vendors in line by trashing their shops and beating them with brass knuckles. This job lasted until Moses Annenberg offered them better pay if they would jump to the Chicago Examiner.
Annenberg recommended the gang to safecracker Charles Reiser who taught them the skills and soon they were doing jobs on their own. They moved on from intimidating newspaper vendors to intimidating voters for local politicians. They also got into automotive theft. They would steal the cars at gunpoint and sell them to Sam “Nails” Morton, owner of Morton’s Garage on Maxwell Street. He altered the cars and sold them to his customers.
