Day 296, 26 April 2013, Chicago, Illinois - The Original Gangster Tour - "Untouchables". Da wedder was gread, da tour was greadder... (with compulsory Chicago gangster accent of course -www.gangstertour.com)
Chicago - Al Capone - Bugs Moran - The St Valentine's Day Massacre - John Dillinger - Absolutely names to conjure with. 70 degrees in the shade today and very unseasonable weather for Chicago at this time of year - so it was a relief to settle into our old school bus, complete with bullet holes, with "South Side" and "Shoulders" our gangster guides. There was money - there was guns - it was a super cool tour showing the sites of massacres, murders, madams and mayhem during Chicago's Prohibition years. We even learned the origin of drink spiking - apparently the making of 'near beer' (a low alcohol bevvie) was legal - and so the breweries owned by Capone were churning this perfectly legal brew out by the barrelful. And then, once safely on the premises of the speakeasy, a massive hypodermic syringe would be used to pierce (or spike) the barrel and top it up with 180 percent proof ethanol alcohol. In fact, the gent who procured the making of alcohol was a big man in Little Sicily and used to sponsor poor Sicilians over to America - and they would use backyard stills to make up to 2 gallons of ethanol a day (water, sugar, hard corn, heat - Bob's your uncle - alky-hole). In fact, Prohibition is solely responsible for the creation of the cocktail. Apparently. Because ethanol is disgusting to actually drink, fruit juice was the first choice to take the edge off. Also Anise - a few seeds into a bottle of ethanol, sit it overnight - and Fanny's your aunt - Sambuca! We also learned a few handy Chicago (non-alcohol related facts). For instance, Michigan Avenue is not only a cool place to shop, see and be seen. It is called Michigan Avenue because 150 odd years ago it would have been 30 feet under the shores of Lake Michigan. It was only after the Great Fire of Chicago - when 150,000 homes were destroyed by a cow-kicked lantern - that the rubble was used as landfill. Voila! A quarter of a mile of extra land - now covered by Grant Park. In fact, the world's largest parking garage sits underneath it. Visitor parking our guides call it... locals don't like the occasional cave-in. I'm thinking we shouldn't take any of his stories to the bank. Speaking of... Why does anyone rob a bank? Well, in the immortal word's of John Dillinger, Public Enemy #1 - "That's where the money is". We passed the Biograph Theater in Lincoln Park where Dillinger was shot down. Still a theater - still looks the same. Even saw the alleyway where Johnny Depp (sorry... Dillinger) was shot - and bled to death. Again. Apparently. Once the autopsy results were found (incidentally 30 years after it was done...), they found the autopsied body was 60 pounds (30 odd kilos) heavier than Dillinger and also had suffered rhumatic heart fever. Doesn't really sound like a man fond of jumping bank counters does it? Probably drinking mojitos in Mexico. With Elvis. Super-duper tour. Still can't believe Untouchable Eliot Ness turned down $2000 a week (in 1920s money) to turn a blind eye to Capone's money laundering and bootlegging. Remember that the average annual income in America then was $150 per annum. Probably lucky we weren't in charge of the investigation...