History in Chicago Lawn

Alberto Anselmi and Giovanni Scalise were vicious mob executioners and cop killers who worked for Mike Genna and then Al Capone during the heart of the Prohibition Era.  They were born in Sicily, though Anselmi was much older than Scalise and basically served as his mentor.  They were reputed to be the hit men who killed northsider Dean O’Banion at his flower shop, and they were also allegedly involved in the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, when seven members of Bugs Moran’s gang were iced in a volley of gunfire at a Clark Street garage.

On June 13, 1925, Anselmi and Scalise were speeding south with Mike Genna following a gunfight with Bugs Moran and Vincent “The Schemer” Drucci.  The police were fast approaching and overtook them near 60th Street and Western Avenue.  Shots rang out in all directions and, before long, two members of the Chicago Police Department were dead.  Mike Genna was dead too.  He was shot in the leg as was fleeing the scene, and he was apprehended after crawling through the basement window of the home at 5941 South Artesian Avenue in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood of Chicago.  He died later that day.  Meanwhile, Anselmi and Scalise were tried, found guilty of manslaughter, imprisoned, awarded a new trial, and then acquitted on June 23, 1927.  Their defense was that they shot the police officers in their own self-defense.

Scalise was indicted for participating in the February 14, 1929 St. Valentine’s Day massacre, but never lived to see trial.  He, Anselmi, and another mobster named Joseph Guinta were killed on May 8, 1929, and dumped in a field in Hammond, Indiana.  It was at first believed that Bugs Moran was behind their deaths, as Moran would naturally be seeking revenge for the St. Valentine’s Day massacre.  Later, the popular view was that Al Capone beat them viciously with a baseball bat and then had them killed for secretly plotting to take control of the Chicago Outfit.

Alberto Anselmi and Giovanni Scalise were vicious mob executioners and cop killers who worked for Mike Genna and then Al Capone during the heart of the prohibition era.  They were born in Sicily, though Anselmi was much older than Scalise and basically served as his mentor.  They were reputed to be the hit men who killed northsider Dean O’Banion at his flower shop, and they were also allegedly involved in the st. valentine’s day massacre, when seven members of bugs moran’s gang were iced in a volley of gunfire at a clark street garage.

On June 13, 1925, Anselmi and Scalise were speeding south with Mike Genna following a gunfight with Bugs Moran and Vincent “The Schemer” Drucci.  The police were fast approaching and overtook them here, at the intersection of 60th Street and Western Avenue in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood of Chicago.  (One source says the police caught them at 59th Street after they swerved to avoid a truck and slammed into a light pole.)  Shots rang out in all directions and, before long, two members of the chicago police force were dead.  Anselmi and Scalise were tried, found guilty of manslaughter, imprisoned, awarded a new trial, and then acquitted on June 23, 1927.  Their defense was that they shot the police officers in their own self-defense.

Scalise was indicted for participating in the February 14, 1929 st. valentine’s day massacre, but never lived to see trial.  He, Anselmi, and another mobster named Joseph Guinta were killed on May 8, 1929, and dumped in a field in Hammond, Indiana.  It was at first believed that Bugs Moran was behind their deaths, as Moran would naturally be seeking revenge for the st. valentine’s day massacre.  Later, the popular view was that Al Capone beat them viciously with a baseball bat and then had them killed for secretly plotting to take control of the chicago outfit.

Thomas “Terrible Tommy” O’Connor was a legendary Chicago criminal who was sentenced to hang for gunning down Detective Sergeant Patrick J. O’Neill.  O’Connor was wanted on other charges, and on March 23, 1921, the police had him surrounded inside a house owned by his brother-in-law, William Foley, at 6415 South Washtenaw Avenue.  O’Connor burst through the back door and fired at Detective O’Neill, who collapsed on the ground and died at a hospital a short time later.  O’Connor managed to escape, but authorities apprehended him later.  On December 21, 1921, four days before his scheduled rendez-vous with the gallows, he and three other prisoners overpowered their guards and escaped from the Cook County Jail on Hubbard Street.  O’Connor was never found.

Mary Ellen Burbach was a multi-talented dwarf from Chicago who entered show business at the age of 18, working as a roller skater, contortionist, and Mae West impersonator with Rose's Parisian Midget Follies.  She also travelled with the Henry & Dolly Kramer Midget Troupe and Nate Eagle’s Hollywood Midgets.  In 1946, she played a leprechaun in the 1946 film “Three Wise Fools.”  The following year, she met Parnell Elmer St. Aubin, who played a dwarf in “The Wizard of Oz” and was the smallest of the Munchkin soldiers.  Parnell had come to see the midgets in the toy department of Goldblatt’s on State Street, where Mary Ellen worked during the holiday season.  They married within six months and, later in 1948, they opened a bar called the Midget Club at 6356 S. Kedzie Avenue, which was custom-built for people of similar physical stature.  (At 43 inches, Mary Ellen was taller than Parnell.)  The pay-phone in the back was installed only a couple feet off the floor, the bar stools were miniature-sized, and a large mural of “The Wizard Of Oz” was painted behind the bar.   The Midget Club later moved to this address, but ultimately closed in 1982.   Today the second incarnation of the Midget Club has been replaced by the West Lawn branch of the Chicago Public Library.

After Parnell died on December 4, 1987, Mary Ellen continued to work as a secretary for a charity for the disabled.  Although not a Munchkin herself, she was considered an "MBM," or "Munchkin By Marriage" and continues to make appearances at “Wizard Of Oz” events, such as this one.  The St. Aubins’ never had children.