(Earl Weiss)

Born: 1898
Died: October 11, 1926

As a member of Charles Dion O’Banion’s North Side gang, Earl “Hymie” Weiss was involved in the longstanding territorial disputes between Chicago’s North and South Siders. Weiss was killed by the familiar mob method of ambush from a second-story apartment.

The perfume burglar

When Polish-born Earl Wajciechowski moved to the United States with his family as a boy, he took the name of Earl “Hymie” Weiss. He was still just a boy when he was arrested, in 1908, for robbing a pharmacy. Weiss spilled perfume on his clothing during the robbery. When reporters wrote about the incident, they referred to the ten-year-old criminal as the “Perfume Burglar.”

By the time Weiss was a teenager, he had become a skilled car thief and burglar. Labor unions hired him to provide muscle...