WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.359 Um, you know, there is this very specific rhythm 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:05.860 to modern travel that I think we all just sort 00:00:05.860 --> 00:00:08.220 of accept now. Oh, absolutely. The rushing, the 00:00:08.220 --> 00:00:10.019 waiting. Right. Yeah. You're rushing through 00:00:10.019 --> 00:00:11.880 the terminal. You're constantly checking your 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:13.480 watch. You're desperately looking for a place 00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:16.379 to charge your phone. And, uh, if you fly through 00:00:16.379 --> 00:00:19.519 Chicago, you see this one thing everywhere. You're 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:22.339 talking about the letters. Yes. It's stamped 00:00:22.339 --> 00:00:26.679 on your luggage tag. O -R -D. It's on the highway 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:30.690 signs. It's painted on the walls. O 'Hare. I 00:00:30.690 --> 00:00:32.670 mean, it is one of the busiest airports on the 00:00:32.670 --> 00:00:35.329 planet. Something like 80 million passengers 00:00:35.329 --> 00:00:38.189 pass through there in a typical year. It's essentially 00:00:38.189 --> 00:00:40.710 a city within a city. Exactly. And I would bet 00:00:40.710 --> 00:00:43.570 that 99 % of those 80 million people never really 00:00:43.570 --> 00:00:45.710 stop to think about the name. It's just a word 00:00:45.710 --> 00:00:48.070 to them. You know, I'm flying into O 'Hare. But 00:00:48.070 --> 00:00:50.390 if you do happen to ask someone, hey, who is 00:00:50.390 --> 00:00:52.789 this O 'Hare guy? They usually have a vague idea. 00:00:52.789 --> 00:00:55.130 They'll say, oh, it's named after a war hero. 00:00:55.590 --> 00:00:58.289 And well, they wouldn't be wrong. The airport 00:00:58.289 --> 00:01:01.149 is named after. Edward Butch O 'Hare. He was 00:01:01.149 --> 00:01:03.429 a naval aviator who won the Medal of Honor in 00:01:03.429 --> 00:01:06.849 World War II. A completely legitimate, bona fide 00:01:06.849 --> 00:01:09.730 hero. Right, but here is the twist for today's 00:01:09.730 --> 00:01:13.530 deep dive. That is not why we are here, because 00:01:13.530 --> 00:01:16.290 behind that war hero there is a much darker, 00:01:16.549 --> 00:01:19.250 honestly much more complicated story. We are 00:01:19.250 --> 00:01:21.829 diving into a biographical overview today, not 00:01:21.829 --> 00:01:24.569 of Butch, but of the man who made him. We're 00:01:24.569 --> 00:01:27.290 talking about his father, Edward J. O 'Hare. 00:01:27.469 --> 00:01:29.370 also known in the history books by a very different 00:01:29.370 --> 00:01:32.750 name, Easy Eddie. Easy Eddie. I mean, the name 00:01:32.750 --> 00:01:35.030 alone sounds like a character straight out of 00:01:35.030 --> 00:01:37.489 a noir film. It really does. And looking at the 00:01:37.489 --> 00:01:39.090 source material you've pulled together for this 00:01:39.090 --> 00:01:42.159 deep dive, his life really was a noir film. We 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:44.319 are talking about a guy who lived a double life 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:46.900 in the truest sense of the word. It's the absolute 00:01:46.900 --> 00:01:49.859 definition of a double life because on the surface, 00:01:49.859 --> 00:01:52.859 he's this high flying, very wealthy lawyer. He's 00:01:52.859 --> 00:01:55.099 making an absolute fortune in the Greyhound raising 00:01:55.099 --> 00:01:57.400 business. He's a pillar of his community in St. 00:01:57.500 --> 00:02:00.379 Louis and later in Chicago. Right. But just below 00:02:00.379 --> 00:02:03.840 that surface, he is the attorney and a key business 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:06.420 partner for arguably the most famous gangster 00:02:06.420 --> 00:02:09.939 in American history. Al Capone. And that is the 00:02:09.939 --> 00:02:12.199 hook for me. That is the mission of our deep 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:14.939 dive today. How do you go from being a lawyer 00:02:14.939 --> 00:02:18.000 for the Chicago mob to being the secret undercover 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.520 informant who helps bring the entire outfit down? 00:02:20.889 --> 00:02:23.129 because that is where the story goes. He helps 00:02:23.129 --> 00:02:25.550 the feds destroy Capone's empire. And he pays 00:02:25.550 --> 00:02:27.689 the ultimate price for doing it. So we have a 00:02:27.689 --> 00:02:29.949 lot to unpack here for you today. We've got the 00:02:29.949 --> 00:02:31.969 mob. We've got mechanical rabbits. The rabbits 00:02:31.969 --> 00:02:34.069 are the best part. They really are. It's my favorite 00:02:34.069 --> 00:02:36.849 detail. And we have this deeply tragic father 00:02:36.849 --> 00:02:39.810 son dynamic. But let's rewind a bit. Before the 00:02:39.810 --> 00:02:42.250 giant international airport, before the mob hits, 00:02:42.650 --> 00:02:45.050 who was Edward J. O 'Hare? So his story starts 00:02:45.050 --> 00:02:47.349 a big south of Chicago. He was born in St. Louis 00:02:47.349 --> 00:02:50.969 in 1893. And it's a fairly classic American origin 00:02:50.969 --> 00:02:53.069 story for that time. He had first generation 00:02:53.069 --> 00:02:55.289 Irish -American parents. And by all accounts 00:02:55.289 --> 00:02:57.530 in the sources, he was just incredibly ambitious 00:02:57.530 --> 00:02:59.969 from day one. He passes the Missouri bar exam 00:02:59.969 --> 00:03:03.349 in 1923 and immediately joins a law firm. OK, 00:03:03.409 --> 00:03:05.650 so that's a standard lawyer track so far. He's 00:03:05.650 --> 00:03:08.659 grinding. He's passing the bar. But this is where 00:03:08.659 --> 00:03:10.939 I got completely stuck in the notes. Because 00:03:10.939 --> 00:03:13.240 usually, when you hear the phrase mob lawyer, 00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:15.520 you assume the money came from bootlegging or 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:18.159 protection rackets right out of the gate. But 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:20.879 Eddie's first fortune actually comes from a rabbit. 00:03:21.259 --> 00:03:23.360 A mechanical rabbit, yes. Please explain this 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:25.639 to me because it sounds absolutely ridiculous. 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:27.780 It does sound funny to us now, but you have to 00:03:27.780 --> 00:03:30.479 put yourself back in the context of the 1920s. 00:03:30.900 --> 00:03:33.159 This was basically high tech stuff back then. 00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:36.699 O 'Hare represented an inventor named Owen P. 00:03:36.780 --> 00:03:39.259 Smith, and Smith was the High Commissioner of 00:03:39.259 --> 00:03:41.379 the International Greyhound Racing Association. 00:03:41.620 --> 00:03:45.360 Wow, that is a very lofty title. It is. And Smith 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:48.020 held the patent on the mechanical rabbit. You 00:03:48.020 --> 00:03:49.759 know, the little lure that zips around the track 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:51.879 that the dogs chase. Wait, so before this invention, 00:03:52.020 --> 00:03:54.610 did they just use a real rabbit? Often, yes. 00:03:54.969 --> 00:03:57.310 Or the racing was just much more chaotic and 00:03:57.310 --> 00:04:00.349 harder to organize. The mechanical lure completely 00:04:00.349 --> 00:04:03.289 revolutionized the sport. It made greyhound racing 00:04:03.289 --> 00:04:06.189 a massive scalable industry. You could suddenly 00:04:06.189 --> 00:04:08.830 run races on a strict schedule night after night 00:04:08.830 --> 00:04:11.110 without fail. And because O 'Hare represented 00:04:11.110 --> 00:04:14.310 the inventor, when Smith died, O 'Hare ended 00:04:14.310 --> 00:04:15.930 up representing the administration of the estate. 00:04:16.069 --> 00:04:18.009 Which means he essentially controlled the patent. 00:04:18.310 --> 00:04:20.730 Correct. He controlled the rights to the core 00:04:20.730 --> 00:04:23.069 technology that made the entire sport possible. 00:04:23.180 --> 00:04:26.339 This gave him a massive foothold in the industry. 00:04:26.980 --> 00:04:30.040 So by 1925, O 'Hare isn't just a lawyer anymore. 00:04:30.439 --> 00:04:33.379 He is actively operating dog tracks in Chicago, 00:04:33.540 --> 00:04:35.660 Boston, and Miami. And we aren't talking about 00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:37.660 just Paying the bills money here, we are talking 00:04:37.660 --> 00:04:40.740 about serious wealth. Oh, absolutely. The biographical 00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:42.959 overview paints a very vivid picture of the O 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:45.379 'Hare lifestyle in St. Louis before they made 00:04:45.379 --> 00:04:47.420 the full move to Chicago. They live in the Holly 00:04:47.420 --> 00:04:49.040 Hills neighborhood. They had a brand new house. 00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:52.019 And get this, the house featured a swimming pool 00:04:52.019 --> 00:04:54.439 and a private skating rink. A private skating 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:57.199 rink in the 1920s. Yeah. That is a level of wealth 00:04:57.199 --> 00:04:59.319 that is just hard to comprehend for that era. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:02.189 It was a life of extreme privilege. To escape 00:05:02.189 --> 00:05:04.449 the St. Louis humidity in the summers, they spent 00:05:04.449 --> 00:05:06.970 their time at these sprawling river camps on 00:05:06.970 --> 00:05:10.110 the Meramec and Gasconade rivers. They had servants, 00:05:10.350 --> 00:05:13.050 luxury cars, the whole works. He was living the 00:05:13.050 --> 00:05:15.759 American dream. turbocharged. But here's the 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:17.519 thing that strikes me about his personality. 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:20.000 You see this guy with the skating rink and the 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:22.560 country clubs, and you think, OK, he is spoiling 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:25.600 his family. He's the fun, rich dad. But the notes 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:27.660 on his parenting style suggest something totally 00:05:27.660 --> 00:05:29.579 different. He wasn't just writing checks and 00:05:29.579 --> 00:05:32.519 ignoring his kids. No, not at all. And this is 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:34.639 crucial to understanding the future war hero 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:38.639 Butch. E .J. was absolutely obsessed with discipline. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:41.120 There is this famous anecdote in the sources 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:43.699 about his relationship with his son, Butch. It 00:05:43.699 --> 00:05:46.079 is often referred to as the lazy incident. Yeah, 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.819 I loved this part. It is so relatable, yet his 00:05:48.819 --> 00:05:52.399 reaction is just so extreme. Right. So one day 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:55.639 in the 1920s, E .J. comes home after a long day 00:05:55.639 --> 00:05:58.459 of lawyering and track management, and he finds 00:05:58.459 --> 00:06:02.019 his son, Butch, sprawling on the couch. Now, 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:03.699 Butch is reading books which you would think 00:06:03.699 --> 00:06:06.589 a lawyer dad would appreciate. But he's also 00:06:06.589 --> 00:06:08.850 just stuffing his face with banana layer cake 00:06:08.850 --> 00:06:11.750 and donuts. I mean, to be fair, reading books 00:06:11.750 --> 00:06:13.850 and eating donuts sounds like a pretty ideal 00:06:13.850 --> 00:06:16.610 Saturday to me. Oh, to you or me, sure. But to 00:06:16.610 --> 00:06:19.589 a driven man like EJ, a guy who is clawing his 00:06:19.589 --> 00:06:22.430 way up the ladder of wealth and power, this looked 00:06:22.430 --> 00:06:24.829 like the end of the world. He saw it as a massive 00:06:24.829 --> 00:06:27.870 sign of weakness, laziness. He looked at his 00:06:27.870 --> 00:06:29.810 son and thought, he's getting soft. So what does 00:06:29.810 --> 00:06:31.889 he do? Does he ground him, take away the banana 00:06:31.889 --> 00:06:34.230 cake? He goes nuclear. He decided right then 00:06:34.230 --> 00:06:36.360 and there that he wasn't having it. He immediately 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:38.439 enrolled Butch in the Western Military Academy 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:40.600 in Alton, Illinois. Just because he was eating 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:42.939 donuts on the couch. Because he was too comfortable. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:46.079 E .J. wanted to toughen him up. And ironically, 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:49.060 that military school is where Butch started to 00:06:49.060 --> 00:06:51.000 develop the intense discipline that would define 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:53.560 him later in the Navy. It wasn't really a punishment 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:56.439 in E .J.'s eyes. It was a necessary course correction. 00:06:56.920 --> 00:06:58.759 There is another connection here between father 00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:00.759 and son that I think is vital for you to know 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:03.379 because the airport isn't named O 'Hare just 00:07:03.379 --> 00:07:05.800 because the dad was a wealthy lawyer. It is because 00:07:05.800 --> 00:07:09.500 the son was an incredible pilot. But that obsession 00:07:09.500 --> 00:07:13.079 with flying that started with the dad. It did. 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:16.100 E .J. was completely fascinated by aviation. 00:07:16.500 --> 00:07:18.800 You have to remember this is the golden age of 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:22.230 flight. Lindbergh. The whole world was looking 00:07:22.230 --> 00:07:24.750 up at the sky. And E .J. actually hitched a ride 00:07:24.750 --> 00:07:26.810 in a mail plane with Charles Lindbergh at one 00:07:26.810 --> 00:07:28.910 point. That is a serious claim to fame, flying 00:07:28.910 --> 00:07:30.829 shotgun with Charles Lindbergh. And he didn't 00:07:30.829 --> 00:07:33.110 just ride along. He even took a job for a while 00:07:33.110 --> 00:07:35.490 as the lead pilot for an airmail route operated 00:07:35.490 --> 00:07:37.850 by Robertson Aircraft Company. Wait, pause. So 00:07:37.850 --> 00:07:40.430 he is a lawyer. He runs multiple dog tracks. 00:07:40.629 --> 00:07:42.990 He has a private skating rink in his house. And 00:07:42.990 --> 00:07:45.250 he is flying commercial airmail on the side. 00:07:45.610 --> 00:07:48.310 He was a man of many, many talents. And he made 00:07:48.310 --> 00:07:51.329 sure Butch had those talents, too. He got butch 00:07:51.329 --> 00:07:53.589 flying lessons long before most kids would ever 00:07:53.589 --> 00:07:56.529 be near an airplane. He gave him a .22 rifle 00:07:56.529 --> 00:07:58.589 to practice shooting at floating cans in the 00:07:58.589 --> 00:08:01.610 river to improve his marksmanship. He was essentially 00:08:01.610 --> 00:08:04.560 engineering a hero. He was building the exact 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:06.579 skill set that Butch would later use to earn 00:08:06.579 --> 00:08:08.500 the Medal of Honor. It is almost like he was 00:08:08.500 --> 00:08:10.519 preparing him for a war he didn't even know was 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:13.759 coming. But while he is building this perfect, 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:17.199 disciplined son, his own life starts to pivot 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:20.379 into the shadows. Because in 1927, everything 00:08:20.379 --> 00:08:23.379 changes. He divorces his wife, Selma, and moves 00:08:23.379 --> 00:08:25.639 to Chicago full -time. And this is where the 00:08:25.639 --> 00:08:28.199 Easy Eddie persona really takes over. When he 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:30.279 gets to Chicago, the Greyhound business naturally 00:08:30.279 --> 00:08:32.019 brings him into orbit with the people who can 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:35.179 gambling in the city. And in late 1920s Chicago, 00:08:35.299 --> 00:08:38.240 that means one person, Al Capone. The Chicago 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:41.279 outfit. Correct. The outfit ran everything. The 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:43.799 rackets, the bootlegging, the gambling. O 'Hare 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:45.720 and Capone start collaborating. It wasn't just 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:47.779 that O 'Hare was his lawyer, they became actual 00:08:47.779 --> 00:08:49.879 business partners. So this is his second fortune. 00:08:50.139 --> 00:08:53.080 First the mechanical rabbit, now the mob. Exactly. 00:08:53.419 --> 00:08:55.320 And this is where he earns the nickname Easy 00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:57.879 Eddie. He was slick, he was highly effective, 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:00.240 and he made legal problems simply go away for 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:02.500 the mob. He knew the law better than the gobs 00:09:02.500 --> 00:09:05.320 did. But I want to pause on his personal life 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:07.600 here for a second because there is this wild 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:10.360 contradiction that I think really explains who 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:12.500 he was. Oh, you're talking about the engagement. 00:09:12.840 --> 00:09:16.419 Yes. So in Chicago, he gets engaged to a woman 00:09:16.419 --> 00:09:19.279 named Ursula Sue Granada. She is a secretary, 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:22.759 but she is connected. Her brother was a mob -affiliated 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:25.159 Illinois state representative, so he is dating 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:27.659 directly into the life, too. But the engagement 00:09:27.659 --> 00:09:30.379 lasted for seven years. Seven years? He is a 00:09:30.379 --> 00:09:32.200 wealthy mob lawyer. He can do whatever he wants. 00:09:32.299 --> 00:09:34.480 Why would he wait seven years? Religion. O 'Hare 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:36.960 was a devout Catholic. Hold on. Let me get this 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:39.539 straight. He is actively working with Al Capone. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.580 He is arguably helping to cover up murders, extortion, 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:45.419 racketeering. But he is worried about church 00:09:45.419 --> 00:09:48.059 doctrine regarding marriage. People are complicated, 00:09:48.340 --> 00:09:51.179 and O 'Hare was more complicated than most. The 00:09:51.179 --> 00:09:52.940 Catholic Church wouldn't recognize his divorce 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:55.830 from Selma, so he was actually waiting. hoping 00:09:55.830 --> 00:09:58.850 for a special dispensation from the Vatican so 00:09:58.850 --> 00:10:01.129 he can marry Ursula legitimately in the church. 00:10:01.570 --> 00:10:03.970 That is quite the mental compartmentalization. 00:10:04.049 --> 00:10:06.710 I can launder money for a ruthless crime boss, 00:10:06.710 --> 00:10:09.330 but I cannot get married without the pope's permission. 00:10:09.649 --> 00:10:12.110 It creates a fascinating psychological profile. 00:10:12.690 --> 00:10:15.309 He had these stripped moral codes in some areas 00:10:15.309 --> 00:10:18.409 like parenting and religious marriage and complete 00:10:18.409 --> 00:10:20.929 total flexibility and others like organized crime. 00:10:21.450 --> 00:10:23.350 But eventually those compartments collide. You 00:10:23.350 --> 00:10:25.399 can't keep them separate forever. Which brings 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:28.100 us to the pivot, the moment the movie would be 00:10:28.100 --> 00:10:32.080 based on. In 1930, Yeezy Eddie decides to turn 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:34.740 on Al Capone. It is a massive decision. You have 00:10:34.740 --> 00:10:36.639 to understand the stakes here. You don't just 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:39.320 quit the Chicago outfit, and you certainly don't 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:41.440 become an informant against them. Do the sources 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:45.340 tell us why? Was it a sudden crisis of conscience? 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:47.879 Was he trying to protect Butch's future? The 00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:50.100 sources don't give us a diary entry where he 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:53.809 spills his soul, unfortunately. But we can strongly 00:10:53.809 --> 00:10:56.389 infer that he wanted to clean up his legacy, 00:10:56.750 --> 00:10:59.730 perhaps specifically for his son. He realized 00:10:59.730 --> 00:11:01.570 he couldn't be the father of a distinguished 00:11:01.570 --> 00:11:04.289 military man if he was the lawyer for a villain. 00:11:04.889 --> 00:11:06.830 But he didn't just walk into a police station. 00:11:07.070 --> 00:11:09.490 He was smart about it. He reached out to a reporter, 00:11:09.509 --> 00:11:11.929 John Rogers from the St. Louis Post -Dispatch, 00:11:11.990 --> 00:11:14.649 to set up a secret meeting with the IRS. The 00:11:14.649 --> 00:11:16.490 IRS, because that was the ultimate strategy, 00:11:16.649 --> 00:11:18.970 right? Capone was too slippery for murder or 00:11:18.970 --> 00:11:20.769 bootlegging charges, so they were going after 00:11:20.769 --> 00:11:24.100 his money. Precisely. Tax evasion. Rogers set 00:11:24.100 --> 00:11:27.320 up a meeting between O 'Hare and IRS agent Frank 00:11:27.320 --> 00:11:30.200 J. Wilson. And once O 'Hare was on board, he 00:11:30.200 --> 00:11:32.620 didn't hold back at all. Agent Wilson later said, 00:11:32.679 --> 00:11:34.820 and I quote from the source, on the inside of 00:11:34.820 --> 00:11:36.639 the gang, I had one of the best undercover men 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:39.759 I have ever known, Eddie O 'Hare. That is incredible 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:41.620 praise coming from the people whose job it was 00:11:41.620 --> 00:11:43.580 to put you in jail. But what was he actually 00:11:43.580 --> 00:11:45.659 doing? Was he wearing a wire? Did they even have 00:11:45.659 --> 00:11:48.700 wires back then? Not a wire. He was providing 00:11:48.700 --> 00:11:51.460 something much deadlier to an accountant context. 00:11:51.460 --> 00:11:54.200 He showed the feds exactly where the bodies were 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:56.960 buried financially speaking first He directed 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:00.179 agent Wilson to the specific bookkeeper who ultimately 00:12:00.179 --> 00:12:02.419 became the key witness of the trial and more 00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:05.340 importantly He helped the feds break the outfits 00:12:05.340 --> 00:12:09.000 codes the codes Yes Capone's bookkeepers used 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:11.759 coded entries in the ledgers to hide where the 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:13.919 money was actually coming from to an outsider 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:16.879 even a highly trained federal accountant it just 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.240 looked like gibberish. O 'Hare translated for 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:21.559 them. He showed them the money trail. He would 00:12:21.559 --> 00:12:24.120 point and say, this entry here, that's gambling 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:26.700 income. This entry here, that's bootlegging. 00:12:26.899 --> 00:12:29.720 So he is literally the decoder ring for the federal 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:32.679 prosecution. Yes. But his absolute His biggest 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:34.940 contribution was even more dramatic. It plays 00:12:34.940 --> 00:12:37.240 out exactly like a scene from The Untouchables. 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:39.279 Oh, wait. Is this the jury -tampering incident? 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:41.620 It is. And actually, if you have seen the 1987 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:44.179 movie The Untouchables, this specific scene is 00:12:44.179 --> 00:12:45.779 in there, though they've shuffled the characters 00:12:45.779 --> 00:12:48.139 around a bit for Hollywood. So set the scene 00:12:48.139 --> 00:12:51.019 for us. This is the trial of the century. It's 00:12:51.019 --> 00:12:54.360 October 1931. The trial is just about to start. 00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:57.740 Al Capone is sitting in the courtroom, and he 00:12:57.740 --> 00:13:01.690 is smiling. He is completely relaxed. He is cracking 00:13:01.690 --> 00:13:04.070 jokes with his defense lawyers. He is confident. 00:13:04.169 --> 00:13:07.129 Why? Because he knows the fix is already in. 00:13:07.529 --> 00:13:09.629 He has successfully paid off or threatened the 00:13:09.629 --> 00:13:13.070 entire jury pool. He knows for a fact he is walking 00:13:13.070 --> 00:13:15.590 free. And O 'Hare knows this too. O 'Hare finds 00:13:15.590 --> 00:13:18.389 out about the bribe and he immediately pips off 00:13:18.389 --> 00:13:20.509 the government. He gets the word to the judge, 00:13:20.850 --> 00:13:23.970 James Wilkerson. So just before the trial officially 00:13:23.970 --> 00:13:25.990 begins, Judge Wilkerson walks into the courtroom. 00:13:26.090 --> 00:13:27.850 He looks at the jury box, then he looks at the 00:13:27.850 --> 00:13:30.350 bailiff. And he does something totally unprecedented. 00:13:30.690 --> 00:13:32.809 He orders the bailiff to switch the entire jury 00:13:32.809 --> 00:13:35.129 panel to another panel from a completely different 00:13:35.129 --> 00:13:36.750 federal trial that was happening right down the 00:13:36.750 --> 00:13:39.169 hall. I would pay very good money to have seen 00:13:39.169 --> 00:13:41.730 Capone's face in that exact moment. He must have 00:13:41.730 --> 00:13:44.370 been completely stunned. The color probably drained 00:13:44.370 --> 00:13:46.970 right out of him. He went from a guaranteed acquittal 00:13:46.970 --> 00:13:49.090 to suddenly facing a jury of total strangers 00:13:49.090 --> 00:13:52.230 he hadn't bribed and didn't know. And that was 00:13:52.230 --> 00:13:54.870 the nail in the coffin. Capone was found guilty 00:13:54.870 --> 00:13:57.700 and sent to federal prison. And Easy Eddie was 00:13:57.700 --> 00:14:00.759 the secret architect of that surprise. He effectively 00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:02.960 ended the reign of the biggest gangster in the 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:06.039 world. He did. But there is a very strict rule 00:14:06.039 --> 00:14:09.779 in that world. Snitches get stitches. Or in this 00:14:09.779 --> 00:14:12.059 case, much worse. Right. You don't betray the 00:14:12.059 --> 00:14:14.139 Chicago outfit and just retire to a beach in 00:14:14.139 --> 00:14:16.659 Florida? No. No, you do not. So let's fast forward 00:14:16.659 --> 00:14:19.720 a bit. Capone goes away to Alcatraz. O 'Hare 00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:21.980 keeps living his life, probably looking over 00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:24.299 his shoulder, maybe hoping enough time has passed 00:14:24.299 --> 00:14:27.919 that they forgot. But then we get to 1939. The 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:31.139 timing here is incredibly suspicious. It is November 00:14:31.139 --> 00:14:34.539 8, 1939. Al Capone is scheduled to be released 00:14:34.539 --> 00:14:36.860 from Alcatraz in exactly one week. One week, 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:38.840 so the boss is finally coming home. Exactly. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:41.559 The timing sends a very clear message. O 'Hare 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:43.960 is 46 years old at this point. He leaves his 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:46.480 office at Sportsman's Park Racetrack in Cicero, 00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:49.980 Illinois. He gets into his car, which is a 1939 00:14:49.980 --> 00:14:53.080 Lincoln Zephyr coupe. A beautiful, fast car. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:55.240 And he is driving down the street. He approaches 00:14:55.240 --> 00:14:57.500 the intersection of Ogden Avenue and Rockwell 00:14:57.500 --> 00:15:00.779 Street in Chicago. Suddenly, a dark sedan pulls 00:15:00.779 --> 00:15:03.519 up right alongside him. And this isn't a friendly 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:06.080 roll down the window and chat situation. I am 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:08.139 guessing not. There were two gunmen in the dark 00:15:08.139 --> 00:15:11.120 sedan. They were wielding shotguns. And they 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:13.559 didn't just fire regular buckshot. They fired 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:15.899 a volley of what the source material specifically 00:15:15.899 --> 00:15:19.460 calls big game slugs directly into the Lincoln. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:22.480 Big game slugs, like ammunition meant for hunting 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:26.100 bears. Yes. They were not taking any chances 00:15:26.100 --> 00:15:28.360 whatsoever. They wanted to completely shred that 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:32.220 car. O 'Hare died instantly. His car crashed 00:15:32.220 --> 00:15:35.139 into a roadside post. The killers just kept driving 00:15:35.139 --> 00:15:37.240 eastbound on Ogden Avenue and disappeared into 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:39.480 the Chicago traffic. That is just brutal. It 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:42.080 is a calculated execution. It was a message. 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:44.240 It was the mob loudly saying, we don't forget. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:46.200 And there is a detail in the police report that 00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:47.940 really gives me chills when I think about it. 00:15:48.259 --> 00:15:50.000 When the police investigated the crash site, 00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:52.120 they found something in O 'Hare's pocket. They 00:15:52.120 --> 00:15:55.879 did. He was carrying a Spanish -made .32 caliber 00:15:55.879 --> 00:15:58.799 semi -automatic pistol. and it was freshly cleaned 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:01.639 and oiled. Was that normal for him? Was he a 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:04.679 guy who was always packing heat? No, the sources 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:07.000 say it was highly unusual for him to carry a 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:10.000 weapon like that. It strongly suggests he knew. 00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:13.500 He felt the walls closing in. Maybe he knew that 00:16:13.500 --> 00:16:15.820 with Capone getting out in a week, the loose 00:16:15.820 --> 00:16:17.759 ends were finally being tied up. Did he ever 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:20.720 get to use it? No. He never even had a chance 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:23.100 to draw it. The shotguns were too fast. And did 00:16:23.100 --> 00:16:25.299 they ever catch the guys who did it? No arrests 00:16:25.299 --> 00:16:28.100 were ever made. It remains an unsolved murder 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:30.580 in Chicago, although everyone historically knows 00:16:30.580 --> 00:16:32.519 it was the outfit that's one of those open secrets 00:16:32.519 --> 00:16:34.879 of history. It is such a tragic end. He helps 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:37.360 put away the bad guy, and a week before the bad 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:40.019 guy gets out, he is erased. And yet his legacy 00:16:40.019 --> 00:16:42.960 is so much bigger than just that murder. And 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:44.639 this brings us right back to where we started 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:48.379 today, the airport. Right. Because while O 'Hare 00:16:48.379 --> 00:16:51.639 is dying in a Lincoln Zephyr in Chicago in 1939, 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:54.769 what is Butch doing? Butch is using the skills 00:16:54.769 --> 00:16:56.830 his father paid for and pushed him to learn. 00:16:57.850 --> 00:17:00.330 He is in the Navy. And just a few years later, 00:17:00.370 --> 00:17:03.370 in 1942, Butch O 'Hare becomes a national icon. 00:17:03.929 --> 00:17:06.230 He single handedly defends his aircraft carrier, 00:17:06.470 --> 00:17:09.089 the USS Lexington, against a wave of Japanese 00:17:09.089 --> 00:17:11.670 bombers. He shoots down five enemy planes in 00:17:11.670 --> 00:17:13.930 a single flight. Earning the Medal of Honor. 00:17:14.089 --> 00:17:16.349 And eventually having the massive international 00:17:16.349 --> 00:17:20.009 airport named after him. But you can't really 00:17:20.009 --> 00:17:22.299 separate the two men. The father's dirty money, 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:25.440 the father's obsession with aviation, the father's 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:27.559 strict discipline that forced Butch into military 00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:30.819 school. All of that paved the way for the son's 00:17:30.819 --> 00:17:32.880 heroism. It is almost biblical when you think 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:35.220 about it. The father sins so the son can be a 00:17:35.220 --> 00:17:38.000 saint. That is a very poetic way to put it. It 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:39.599 is like the father walked through the mud so 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:42.160 the son could fly. Without the Greyhound tracks, 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:44.480 without the mob connections, maybe Butch never 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:46.779 gets those expensive flying lessons. Maybe he 00:17:46.779 --> 00:17:48.500 is just a guy reading books and eating donuts 00:17:48.500 --> 00:17:51.549 on a couch in St. Louis. That is a wild thought. 00:17:51.730 --> 00:17:54.089 And pop culture hasn't entirely forgotten Easy 00:17:54.089 --> 00:17:56.710 Eddie either, right? No, it hasn't. If you watch 00:17:56.710 --> 00:17:59.109 Boardwalk Empire on HBO, there's a character 00:17:59.109 --> 00:18:01.670 named Mike D 'Angelo in the final season. That 00:18:01.670 --> 00:18:04.490 character is heavily based on O 'Hare. They show 00:18:04.490 --> 00:18:06.970 him as an undercover agent helping to get Capone 00:18:06.970 --> 00:18:10.130 on tax evasion. And I saw a really weird reference 00:18:10.130 --> 00:18:12.930 in the notes. He is mentioned in a book about 00:18:12.930 --> 00:18:17.109 giant sharks. Yes. Meg, a novel of deep terror. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:19.859 Apparently, there's a chapter called Payback 00:18:19.859 --> 00:18:21.980 that recounts the story of Easy Eddie and his 00:18:21.980 --> 00:18:25.460 son. It is a very odd place to find a historical 00:18:25.460 --> 00:18:29.160 mob anecdote in a sci -fi book about a prehistoric 00:18:29.160 --> 00:18:31.799 shark, but it just shows how compelling the story 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.019 is. It sticks with people. And the case isn't 00:18:34.019 --> 00:18:36.319 entirely dead, history -wise. Even recently, 00:18:36.380 --> 00:18:38.980 people have been poking around. True. As recently 00:18:38.980 --> 00:18:42.319 as 2010, a Chicago alderman named Ed Burke actually 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:45.079 asked the police to reexamine the murder. There 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:46.980 was a book published called Get Capone that made 00:18:46.980 --> 00:18:49.539 some new allegations, and they wanted the Colquay 00:18:49.539 --> 00:18:51.759 Squad to take another look. It doesn't look like 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:53.900 it led to a definitive conclusion or any arrests, 00:18:53.900 --> 00:18:56.039 obviously, but people are still asking questions 00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:57.859 about who specifically pulled the trigger that 00:18:57.859 --> 00:19:00.380 day. So when we step back and look at the whole 00:19:00.380 --> 00:19:03.319 picture, what do we make of Edward J. O 'Hare? 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:06.500 Is he a villain? Is he a hero? I think the best 00:19:06.500 --> 00:19:09.539 word is duality. He was a man who operated illegal 00:19:09.539 --> 00:19:12.400 dog tracks. He served the mob. He was completely 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:14.549 comfortable with corruption. But he was also 00:19:14.549 --> 00:19:17.089 a man who deeply valued discipline, who clearly 00:19:17.089 --> 00:19:19.990 loved his son, and who ultimately risked and 00:19:19.990 --> 00:19:22.109 lost his life to assist the federal government. 00:19:22.369 --> 00:19:24.490 He is a reminder that history isn't usually black 00:19:24.490 --> 00:19:27.869 and white. It is mostly gray. Exactly. He did 00:19:27.869 --> 00:19:30.589 terrible things and he did one massive good thing. 00:19:30.750 --> 00:19:33.009 and he probably did them both for the exact same 00:19:33.009 --> 00:19:35.430 reason to provide for and protect his family. 00:19:35.730 --> 00:19:37.269 It leaves you with a really haunting crudden, 00:19:37.450 --> 00:19:39.930 doesn't it? When O 'Hare put that cleaned, oiled 00:19:39.930 --> 00:19:42.710 .32 pistol in his pocket that morning in November 00:19:42.710 --> 00:19:46.269 1939, do you think he knew his time had run out? 00:19:46.630 --> 00:19:48.450 And more importantly, do you think he felt that 00:19:48.450 --> 00:19:50.730 his contribution to jailing Capone balanced the 00:19:50.730 --> 00:19:52.970 scales of his life? That is the ultimate question. 00:19:53.349 --> 00:19:55.289 We will never know what he was thinking in those 00:19:55.289 --> 00:19:57.609 final moments, but we certainly know what he 00:19:57.609 --> 00:20:00.880 left behind. So the next time you are sprinting 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:03.619 through a terminal at O or D, maybe take a second, 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.500 look at the name on the wall and think about 00:20:06.500 --> 00:20:09.579 Easy Eddie. The man who bet on Greyhounds flew 00:20:09.579 --> 00:20:12.220 with Lindbergh and took down Al Capone. A truly 00:20:12.220 --> 00:20:14.599 fascinating slice of history hidden right behind 00:20:14.599 --> 00:20:16.740 an airport code. Absolutely. Thanks for taking 00:20:16.740 --> 00:20:18.019 this deep dive with us today.