Like most of these IOTD, it all starts with a chip and explodes into an entire story. In this case, it’s the “DS” chips at the end. As I started digging, some of the information was ringing familiar, and sure enough, after looking at some past work, Gene had made a couple posts about it. (I’ll link to them at the end).

Although Gene and I worked together on many IOTD, we did have some fundamental differences when it came to presenting. I like to summarize source material and tell a story, while Gene loved to post the raw articles. If you are like Gene, click the link at the bottom of this IOTD for more newspaper articles you can handle.

Enough of that…

Today’s IOTD takes us back to a place that keeps on giving – Chicago, Prohibition era. As most of you already know, Chicago and its suburbs was ground zero for the gang wars between Al Capone and everyone else. It was a time and place where money flowed freely for the gang able to control illegal liquor and gambling. Where there is big money to be made, there were those who would kill for it. Right in the middle of the action was the Chicago suburb of Morton Grove and a local gambler named Sam Hare.

This is his story.

SAM HARE – THE EARLY YEARS

Sam Hare was no stranger to vice in the Chicago area. His reputation goes all the way back to 1909 when he was charged with operating a house of ill-repute called “The Victoria” in Chicago. At the time, Hare was serving as a lieutenant in Big Jim Colosimo’s gang and ran the Victoria under his direct guidance. (Victoria being the name of Colosimo’s wife is probably no coincidence.)

In 1915, Sam Hare’s influence was on full display as he applied for a saloon license to reopen the Schiller Saloon on Thirty-first Street. The saloon had a reputation for solicitation and the previous owner had found it impossible to operate under constant police harassment. When Sam Hare wanted to reopen it, the district police commander insisted that he not be given a license because of both the reputation of the saloon and Hare. For his objections, the police chief was suspended and Sam Hare was awarded his license.

A later investigation into graft and city officials on the take would focus primarily on how Sam Hare could have gotten his license in spite of his awful reputation.

THE DELLS

The story of Sam Hare’s biggest club starts before he took over. Located along the notorious Dempster Street, the Dells had a history of vice and murder. In the early 1920s, the club was owned by Ms. Pearle Mae Pein and Felix Rachbauer.

Pearle Pein inherited her share of the club when her husband “accidently” died after taking a drink from a whiskey bottle that was being used to store undiluted insect poison. She and her partner in the business (and later the bedroom) ran the club until 1922. In mid-September, the partners got into a loud fight that was only settled after Pearle’s sister shot Felix in the chest four times. An investigation uncovered conflicting stories and a will leaving everything to his partner, and co-murderer, Ms. Pein. However, ten days after the killing, both women were exonerated.

The Dells was passed on to Richard Och, the former headwaiter, and probably not so coincidentally the witness who go the ladies off. The years under Och’s ownership were quiet, but things were about to heat up quickly.

On May 1, 1925, Sam Hare takes over the Dells, referring to it as “The New Dells” to show that management had changed and a new era was beginning.

It didn’t take long for the authorities and news to pick up on the activity in Morton Grove. Nicknamed “Little Bohemia”, the Dempster strip housed such vice hotspots as Club Rendezvous, Lincoln Tavern, Wayside Inn, Club Morton, Walton Club and the Dells. There was big money being spend in these clubs, and where there is big money, there is trouble.

In May 1926, bandits rushed into the Dells and stole a reported $12,500 from the vault. Harder to prove, and impossible to report, was an estimated $40,000-50,000 stolen from its gambling guests.

The above chips were ordered in 1928 and reportedly from the Dells.

By the end of the 1920s, the war between rival gangs was in full swing. Al Capone was now in sole control of the old Colosimo gang and his casinos were under constant threat from rival gangs. A bomb exploded on the Dells front porch in May 1929 and later an off hours fire was barely contained before getting out of control.

The heat was turned up in 1930 when Alfred Lingle, a local reporter, was murdered, execution style, in the Chicago streets. His exposes on local vice was thought to be the cause of the assassination, but a closer look turned up more than anyone had expected. Instead of the regular beat reporter Lingle had claimed, it was discovered that he was in fact a major mob go-between. It was Lingle who played a role on who was able to operate without the focus of the press, and also served as a neutral spokesman for the gangs. In investigating his hidden lavish lifestyle, it was shown he had taken many payments from various gang leaders, and this is what possibly got him killed. A loan of $20,000 from Sam Hare brought many questions, but few answers. Like so many investigations, this one eventually passed by Hare and the Dells.

Gambling at the Dells was confined to the second floor where roulette and slot machines were the patron’s favorite.

The above chips were both ordered in May 1931 for the Dells. The “TND” represents “The New Dells”.

The Dells operated during the better weather months of May through September. When the harsh Chicago winter arrived, Sam Hare did what a lot of people did, he went south to Florida. In the early 1930s, Sam Hare took over winter operations at Miami’s Roman Pools Casino.

The only thing hotter than the Miami sun was the Chicago gangland war.

On June 16, 1932, gunman for the rival Touhy gang busted into the Dells and shot Frank “The Cowboy” DiGenova as he was enjoying the show. The victim had been a close associate of Capone and his murder was intended to unhinge the gang currently reeling from its boss being sent to jail. If Touhy thought the Capone gang was unfocused, he would be mistaken. The next night, one of the suspected assassins was machine gunned down in the streets.

The real revenge would come the next year with the heavily publicized kidnapping of local gambler John “Jake the Barber” Factor. As he left the Dells one night, and in front of many witnesses, Factor was scooped into a van and hauled away. After a couple weeks of negotiations, a ransom was paid and Factor was released back to his family. He didn’t take long to identify his kidnappers as Roger Touhy and his associates. With this eye-witness, the courts found Touhy guilty and sentenced him, and some associates, to 99 years in prison. In one fell swoop, Capone rid himself of one of his biggest competitors.

Later, the true story was revealed. John Factor had really never been kidnapped at all. The entire thing was faked. Factor had been picked up by Capone’s men and housed on the grounds of the Dells in complete comfort. Upon “release”, the set-up was put into motion and Touhy and his men were made the patsies.

Side note: The true story would finally be revealed in 1959 and Touhy would be released from prison after serving 26 years. He was assassinated one month later.

The Dells proved wrong the adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity. With so much negative press around the club, state officials denied it its liquor license in 1934, dooming it for good. In October of that year, four men entered the closed club, dowsed it in gasoline and set it ablaze. Just like that, the once notorious club was gone.

AFTER THE DELLS

Sam Hare continued his work for the Capone gang after the demise of the Dells. He split his time between another Chicago club called the Café Winter Garden and the Roman Pools in Miami.

In 1939, he moved back into the suburbs in what at the time was Niles Center (literally the center of Niles Township - changed its name to Skokie in 1940). There he opened the Del-Shore Club on the western side of Dempster street and ordered the chips below.

With the end of Prohibition and Capone’s enemies more or less consolidated into his organization, things for Sam Hare settled down. Gone were the days of bombings and kidnapping for him. He was able to settle in and run his Del Shore Club in relative well-earned peace.

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If you’d like to see Gene’s earlier posts and some articles, you can find them here:

http://www.marlowcasinochips.com/links/genetrimble/illegaloftheday/TheDellsIL.pdf

http://www.marlowcasinochips.com/links/genetrimble/illegaloftheday/TheDellsIL2.pdf