Bugs Moran

George Clarence "Bugs" Moran, born Adelard Leo Cunin in Saint Paul, Minnesota, was a prominent Chicago gangster during Prohibition. His father was a French immigrant, and his mother was of Canadian descent. He attended a Catholic school but joined a local juvenile gang and left at 18. Before turning 21, he was incarcerated three times, including for robbing a store.

Fleeing to Chicago, he was caught for warehouse robbery, horse theft, a robbery involving a police officer's death, and freight car theft, receiving various prison terms. When arrested, he gave the name George Moran on the spot. He earned the nickname "Bugs" because others considered him crazy or "buggy."

Prohibition

Prohibition began in 1920, fueling bootlegging. Moran joined Dean O'Banion's mostly Irish North Side Gang, which rivaled Al Capone's Italian South Side mob. Their violent conflict was called "The Bootleg Battle of the Marne." After O'Banion was killed, Moran and Hymie Weiss attempted to kill Johnny Torrio in revenge. They later failed to assassinate Capone at his Cicero headquarters, firing over a thousand shots.

Battling Al Capone

Weiss was then killed by Capone's men, and Moran became the North Side boss. He refused to engage in prostitution, disgusted by Capone's involvement, citing his Catholic faith. Historian Paul Maccabee noted Moran's close friendship with St. Paul mob boss Danny Hogan; after Hogan's murder in 1928, Moran guarded the Hogan family home.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

On February 14, 1929, seven of Moran's men were killed in the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. Moran had ordered a truckload of cheap whiskey delivered to a garage. Gunmen, two dressed as police, lined up the victims and shot them.

Moran arrived late, saw the police car, and went to a café instead. A lookout misidentified another North Sider as Moran. Witnesses saw the fake officers leave.

One victim, Frank Gusenberg, refused to identify the killers before dying. Moran broke the gangster code by publicly accusing Capone, who was in Florida and denied involvement. No one was convicted. Some evidence suggested Chicago police involvement, with officers allegedly stealing bootleg liquor before the massacre.

After Prohibition

Moran kept control of his territory into the early 1930s, but the North Side gang never regained its power. He eventually quit the gang but continued petty crimes. In 1939, he was convicted for conspiring to cash $62,000 in American Express checks.