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Chicago Gangster Louis "Two Gun" Alterie.

     Louis "Two Gun" Alterie, a California street cowboy moved to Chi-Town as a young hoodlum. His first action was to join the infamous Irish North Side Gang bossed by Dion O'Banion. This dude got his nickname because he holstered a pair of Colt 45's.
     He soon earn the reputation of being a reliable hitman with the added talent of an extortionist. O'Banion gave him the clear way to "do what it takes" to officials from several different unions, so he could get control of them. That meant using a baseball bat if necessary.
     It didn't take long before Louis's "skim" reached $50,000 grand a month, not including the money he passed on to his boss, O'Banion. His appetite for the finer things in life grew as fast as the money poured into his pockets.
     The first big buy this "would be" cowboy did was to buy a 3,000 acre ranch outside of Gypsum Colorado. His thirst for material things including "great looking dolls" didn't stopped there, he also opened nightclubs to supply his female itch, fancy restaurants, theaters and apartment buildings.
     Now, O'Banion's cash flow added-up to plenty of ready money to buy judges, police officals, which included: captains, lieutenants, street cops and politicians (nothing's changed to this day). The payoffs even flowed all the way up to the mayor, "Big Bill" Thompson.
     Mobs fought over beer and booze territories constantly, "Two Gun" is said to have whacked over twenty rival gang members. When his boss, O'Banion, was gunned down (the famous "handshake murder") by two of Capone's boys and Mike Genna, he reportedly boasted, "If those cowardly rats have any guts they'll meet me at noon at State and Madison and we'll shoot it out."  This mobster wanted a gunfight Wyatt Earp style.
     "Two Gun" had a very bad temper and regarded his mobster pals highly. When his pal "Nails" Morton got accidentally kicked to death by a horse (while doing his pal a favor by going horseback riding), he got so upset that after the funeral, he went back to the stable, punched the horse in the snout and shot him with both Colts. To top that, later that day after a few drinks, he called the horse's owner to say, "I taught that damn horse a lesson, if you want the saddle, go and git it."
     Well, his "bravado" was too much. It caused quite a big stir between gangs, so he was told by the new boss of O'Banion gang, Earl "Hymie" Weiss to leave town till things quieted down.  He reluctantly left, going to his Moonridge Colorado ranch. O'Banion's killing started one hell of a gang war between the three gangs (Capone's and the Genna's) that lasted five years.
     In 1933, homesick, he returned to Chicago and kept a low profile.  However, he luck ran out in 1935 when he was arrested, by the Feds (they had kept their eye on him), on a trumphed-up charge of vagrancy and was forced to testify against "Scarface's brother, Ralph "Bottles" Capone in a tax evasion case the government had made against him.
     On July 18th, that year, when leaving his north side apartment with his wife (fortunately, she was behind him) a sniper's bullet ended this hitman's career. Ironically, he was shot by his own favorite technique of killing. Throughout the gangster world he was known as the "ambush killer". His murder, as many others during that era, was never solved.
     He was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. Plot: Whispering Pines L-912--grave #6. Some say the cemetery's directory list him buried under the name Leland Verain.

Go softly into the night. mgf   Join the "Merry Gangsters".

Go softly into the night. mgf

Posted by mikegf on 2007-10-18 16:42:12 | Rating: