A walk on the wild side

MENTION Chicago anywhere in the world, and those who don’t think of the wind will probably more than likely whip a Tommy gun from their hip and rain you with imaginary bullets.

The Illinois State Capital is not amused. In fact, so such is the dim is the view held by the Chicago Historical Society now holds of the city's gangland past, there is nary a brochure nor exhibit on the Prohibition Era to be found in its entire library.

Why so? Simply put, "romantic" hoodlums are one thing, but gangs continue to peddle violence throughout Chicago today. Largely due to the drug trade, the city's murder rate is often more than 10 times that of 1926, the height of the gangster era, when 75 mobsters were killed.