Weird Chicago Creates Al Capone Tour, Chicago Gang Tour

Chicago is known for its pizza, gourmet popcorn, Pres. Barack Obama's previous residence, the birthplace of rappers Common and Kanye West, and sometimes brutally windy weather. But it's also known for less positive reasons like corrupt politicians and world renowned gangster Al Capone.

Even with most of the Capone buildings torn down and rebuilt as other types of businesses, some still remember the Capone days. And if you don't but you want to, Weird Chicago Tours has it covered. Weird Chicago Tours started its first The Haunting of Al Capone Tour at 7 p.m., on Fri., Apr. 9.

Friday night's guests met the owners of Weird Chicago Tours, Troy Taylor (pictured right) and Ken Melvoin-Berg (pictured left). The two aren't usually on the same tour at the same time so this was a pleasant surprise for any regulars.

Taylor, an author of 73 books, talked about the history of Chicago gangs and locations where gangs used to own property, bootlegging and violence over money. Prohibition was a consistent theme in the violent issues with Chicago Italian and Irish gangs during the 1920s. Names involved in the crime-ridden Capone days were people like Johnny Torrio, the Genna brothers, Dean O'Banion, Samuel "Nails" Morton, Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci, Hymie Weiss, Frank the Enforcer, former mayor William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson and more.

Other tour topics included prostitution in the Red Light District, "white slavery," the inaccuracies and best parts of the 1987 film "The Untouchables," Capone's speakeasy Room 21, Congress Plaza Hotel and Four Deuces. At the end of the tour, Taylor gave the full story about Capone's time in prison; the brother-in-law of George "Bugs" Moran, James Clark, who haunted Capone; and the possible reasons why dogs hate the neighborhood where the St. Valentine's Day Massacre occurred.

This tour ended at 9:50 p.m. Weird Chicago Tours began in September 2006. Additional Capone tours may visit other locations. Visit their Web site to find out about other Weird Chicago tour topics.

Additional Notes from Shamontiel:

Taylor shoots off facts about the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and Chicago gangs the way a coach talks during a timeout in the last minute of a game. He knows his stuff. I didn't hear too much from Melvoin-Berg, but he was personable and quick with amusing jokes. Both owners balanced each other's styles well. However, since Mayor Daley had most of the Capone locations torn down that Taylor talked about, we had minimal visuals. Unlike the Weird & Haunted Chicago Tour where we got off the bus repeatedly and could imagine some of the horrific Chicago history, this tour was a bunch of pointing and "look to your right (or left)" where landmarks used to be. I think it would've been more effective if there were photos being passed around. Even when a couple photos of gangsters were pointed out, if you weren't sitting on that side of the bus, you couldn't get a visual of who he was talking about. Something as simple as a laptop with photos scrolling across the screen or 8 x 10 shots would've done wonders for the stories.

At one point, the Michigan native mother sitting next to me said, "When I read about this online, I thought it was supposed to be scary." I explained to her that the Weird & Haunted Chicago Tour could definitely play with your head. Her son and his friend sat on the back of the bus text messaging and talking, complaining about being bored. They did perk up after the son's friend won a book about prostitution during a Q&A session. But the Q&A session felt more like Gangsters 101 Pop Quiz time. The tour as a whole reminded me of a wacky university course. I learned a lot but my interest kept slipping because of the lack of visuals. My seat partner seemed more interested in hearing about the other tour that had more horror and interaction involved.

If I had to recommend one tour over the other, I'd recommend the Weird & Haunted Chicago Tour over the Al Capone Tour hands down. The information was fascinating, but I didn't need to be on a bus to learn it; reading about it on Weird Chicago Tour's Web site was more exciting because I could look up the photos while I read the Capone story. There were some interesting moments though, like the two guys who strolled out of the Room 21 building in long coats, top hats and something long that I couldn't see in their hands. Taylor was talking about gangsters at the time, and then these two came out. I don't know if it was staged or not, but it caught my attention. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre spot at the end was the best part, especially with the line on the roof to show where the garage of the SMC Cartage Company used to be. I'd give this tour 2.5 out of 5 stars.