Volume 18 , Issue 14

1925 Gangsters And Chicago Police Battle, 3 Dead

Let us take a look at the "gangsters" of the 1920's. We researched the gangsters in The Hutchinson News, Hutchinson, Kansas, dated 13 June 1925, Saturday, page 1: "Gangsters And Chicago Police Battle, 3 Dead," while two factions shoot it out at close range. Bandits opened fire on officers after their car had been stopped.

Found on Newspapers.com

Chicago, June 13 (1925) (AP) -- Gangsters and police shot it out at close quarters in a river battle resulting in the death of two police sergeants and of Michael Genna, one of the attacking gang, and the wounding of a third policeman and two companions. Genna was believed to have been a brother of Angelo Genna, gangster recently assassinated, and the killings were believed to presage a bitter police war against gunmen and beer runners. Superintendent of Police Morgan A. Collins declared the police fillers should be indicted and hanged before the day ended. Two of the wounded men were expected to die. Shortly before noon the death list stood at three:

Police Sergeant Charles Walsh, almost instantly killed in battle.

Michael Genna, gangster, died of wounds.
The wounded: Sergeant Michael Conway, shot near the heart; may die. John Scale, gangster. Albert Amalie, gangster.

The battle burst after a chase of nearly a mile and half on Western avenue, after the police squad of four sergeants from the detective bureau saw a large automobile speeding south. The police car turned and pursued. The gangsters increased the speed of their car and at Sixteenth street their driver lost control and the car crashed into an iron fence.

The detective sergeant squad came to a stop a few feet away as the gangsters jumped from their car with revolvers and shot guns ready for action. A hail of bullets was launched at the police squad. The first deadly volley dropped Sergeant Olson when a slug crashed through his mouth and shattered his jaw.

A fusillade of slugs and bullets riddled Walsh, killing him almost instantly.

More than 50 shots were fired, the crashing of firearms alarming the neighborhood. As the police sergeants fell under the severe fire of the gangsters, Genna and his confederates started to flee.

Sergeant William Sweeney, the fourth member of the police squad, virtually singlehanded, shot and captured the entire gangster crew.

He pursued Genna into the basement of a private residence as they made targets of one another their revolvers barking and spitting bullets at every step. As Genna reached the basement, one of Sweeney's bullets dropped him and he fell dying, through a window.

Spurred by the shooting of his three companions, Sweeney left the dying Genna where he fell, and gave chase to the other two as they leaped on the running board of a street car. Signaling the conductor of the car, Sergeant Sweeney leaped aboard, felled one of the gunmen with a blow of his fist, and the other, bleeding from a leg wound, surrendered without further fight.
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