The Forty-Two Gang

This chapter looks at the history of the Forty-two Gang and its role in the continued development of organized crime in Chicago. The Forty-two Gang was a group of teenage boys and young men responsible for an endless series of crimes in Chicago's Near West Side between 1925 and 1934. Although they concentrated on auto theft, the group committed almost every other form of crime, from coin-box looting and smash-and-grab burglary to armed robbery and murder. During Prohibition the gang also furnished cars for their elders in the alcohol and bootleg rackets, and even robbed Mrs. William H. Thompson, the wife of the Chicago mayor. Some members of the Forty-two Gang went on to establish various adult gangs in Chicago, including Bugs Moran, Joseph “Red” Bolton, and Al Capone. The chapter examines how the Forty-two Gang contributed to the emergence of the Chicago Outfit as well as the social conditions that fostered the syndicate's recruitment of slum youth. Finally, it considers the factors that led to the end of the Forty-two Gang.