I don't get it.


Capone and Torrio are making millions a month and O'Bannon wants him to buy him out for $500,000? He's gotta be making millions too. Sounds AWFUL cheap. Think he'd be suspicious? DUH!

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You have to put yourself in Dean O'Banion's shoes.
First, Dean is Illinois born and raised - Chicago was HIS city.

Born in central Illinois in 1892, then moving nearby to Aurora, Illinois for a bit, he finally settled here in Chicago, after his mother's death in 1901, at 9 years old. They settled in "Little Hell," a heavily Irish area on the North Side that's notorious for crime.

(Just to put that in perspective, Capone was born in Brooklyn in 1899.)

So Dean was in Chicago,developing many politician and police connections for nearly 20 years before Capone even arrived. Alphonse would have remained an accountant/bookkeeper (ironically enough) in Baltimore if it weren't for Torrio relocating here and asking Al to come out.

O'Banion also felt he was invincible, that he had a lot more muscle, connections, and 'roots,' being born here (compared to guys like Torrio and Capone from Brooklyn.)

Then you have the cultural aspects; as an Irish American gangster, he feels he's tougher, smarter, and better than Italians. While neither were regarded very highly back then -the only large groups here that were looked down upon as 'lower' were the Polish and African American in Chicago here during that time period. However, between the two, each side felt the same and, overall, the Irish were seen as slightly 'better' than the Italians. Now Dean feels superior, smarter, and that the Italians were lucky to even control what little they began with on the Southside.

Specifically looking at it through the time when being tough and street-status meant it was earned with fists in "Little Hell," along comes the Italians picking up scraps on the Southside and Torrio (who's the Godfather of the mafia-company structure) wants to avoid warfare at all costs.
Instead of bloodshed, like O'Banion craved, Torrio and Capone run business like a fortune 500 company. They say murder is bad for business. They want to sit down and work out a deal.
As much as that's true, it's a sign of weakness, especially when Torrio leaves a young Capone to run home to Italy. OB knows this 'businessmen attitude' and took full advantage with the sale of his brewery.


Now why the 500k only ? Feeling as the superior, all powerful, O'Banion learned that the police were planning to raid that brewery on a particular night. Before the raid, O'Banion approached Torrio and told him he wanted to sell his share in the brewery, because

(and the show skipped these details) :

"the Gennas scared him and he wanted to leave the rackets."


The Gennas were the small Italian brothers who hit Dean's shipment ( the one that OB was convinced Torrio snd Capone were behind.) Dean was also killed by Frankie Yale, the same out-of-town-gun-for-hire that hit "Big Jim" Colosimo, making way for Torrio to enter the Prohibition business.

This was actually a perfect plan to hit the Italians.
Torrio was a businessman and OB's story was convincing to the greed of taking over the city. So Torrio agreed to buy O'Banion's share and gave him half a million dollars. It was definitely low - but for reasons the show left out, again.

On the night of O'Banion's last shipment, the police swept into the brewery. O'Banion, Torrio, and numerous South Side gangsters were arrested.

O'Banion got off easily because, unlike Torrio, he had no previous Prohibition-related arrests.

Torrio had to bail out himself and six associates, plus face later court charges with the possibility of jail time.

O'Banion also refused to return the money Torrio had given him in the deal.

Torrio realized he had been double-crossed, lost the brewery, $500,000, had been indicted and humiliated.

And STILL, Torrio was willing to overlook this insult in order to maintain peace in the Chicago underworld.
For a time...

Not only did he get away with that but he went on a vacation to Colorado where O'Banion purchased a large supply of Thompson submachine guns in Denver.

His one mistake was the false sense of security in the North HQ and flower shop.

But he was ready for war.

That false security, his lifetime in Chicago, police connections (as seen with the raid), and his belief the Italians were 'below' him is what got him murdered soon after his return to Chi - before he had a chance to use his new Thompsons on Torrio and Capone.

But you can see why he was so confident, playing to the business side of Torrio.
And Ready for War.
He was just caught slippin' at the Northside gang headquarters, which were above the flower shop.

So many little things went right for Capone - or he would have ended up a broke accountant on the east coast (well, broke compared to the millions prohibition in Chicago brought him.

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Thank you for explaining that. Show did leave some out. Now I don't feel so dumb! LOL!

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I immediately thought the same thing, but remember Torrio and Capone were 'bringing in' millions. That doesn't mean it was all profit. Out of that income goes expenses and cash to buy more supplies to sell. So maybe the buyout is accurate. What they are buying is the territory which includes buildings and what else?

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