How I went about doing this:
Actions taken:
I deleted:
DAGE
APPTIME
EXCTTIME
OFFDEATH
HOSPNAME
PLBUS
VDPLBUS
RESIDNCE
PUBPLACE
MEDICAL
MURDSUIC
VDRELAT
PRECINCT
DEMPLOY
DEMPTYPE
DMEDICAL
DVFAMILY
CONFESS
TCARRST
CRSCENE
DCORONR
COROUT
BAILSET
DGRJURY
INDICT
DSTRIAL
DSENT
TJUDGE
LCOURT
TOUTCOME
WSENT
LSENTNC
SENTCOMP
RETRIAL
JUDGEREV
COURTREV
EXECUTE
DEXECUTE
TEXECUTE
COMMUTE
DCLEMENCY
JURTRIAL
TYPLEDEC
AMNTBAIL
JUDGENAME
SECTRIAL
JUDGESEC
OUTCOMES
TIMESO
CIRCCORR
POLCORR
DEATHSEN
CIRCUMUN
SPECFOR
HOWFED
VEMPLOY
VEMPTYPE
VOWNBUS
VDFAMILY
KINDMAN
PROHIB
ORGCIRCUM
VICTPROP
VICTPERS
VLAWENF
NONFAM
KINDWEAP
MCLOCCRM
MCKINDACC
KINDACC
POLICE
DEFPROP
DEFPERS
DLAWENF
DOWNBUS
ARRDATE
LOCARRST
Changes:
VMETHOD 12 to Run Over By Car or Truck
VMETHOD blanks to unknown
RELVD 1 to Spouse
RELVD 2 to Intimate (Sexual Relationship)
RELVD 3 to Family
RELVD blanks to N/A
VICBEG 1 to Did not Initiate
VICBEG 2 to Initiated
VICBEG blanks to unknown
TYPHOM blanks changed to unknown
TYPEFELM blanks to N/A
EXCVIOL to N/A
CHILDAGE blanks to >17
DCHARGE blanks to unknown
CIVILUNR blanks changed to no
KINDCIVI blanks to N/A
LOCCRIME blanks to N/A
ALCOLCIR blanks to N/A
ORGCRIME blanks to N/A
VAGE blanks to Unknown
VNAME blanks to Unknown
VGENDER blanks to unknown
VRACE blanks to unknown
VETHNICITY blanks to unknown
VOCCUP blanks to N/A
VEHICLE blanks to N/A
ACCIDENT blanks to No
ALCOHOL blanks to N/A
CIRCUM blanks to N/A
NMURDER blanks to N/A
DCRIMNL blanks to N/A
CHARHOM blanks to N/A
Things I did to sort:
Removed all listed accidental deaths first.
Removed anyone victim under the age of 16. *I did this because I find it unlikely that anyone under 16 is involved in organized crime.*
I then sorted away the defendants who were not charged.
Then I removed self defense, family quarrels, bar room brawling, labor strikes, domestic violence, and “fights.” I also removed other because none of the motives sounded like organized crime, usually murder suicide.
At this point I was left with 82 entries to sort.
I went to relatives and removed all spouse and family entries.
I forgot to mention, I was only looking at cases where the defendant was Irish, I was looking for Irish organized crime specifically.
I then removed all defendants who were law enforcement, leaving me with 54 entries.
By this point I was pretty sure that my data was pretty good, there were two cases I manually sorted out because they were most likely not organized crime. One being someone pushed from a fence, and another being a murder suicide between a man and woman. I was pretty happy I even got the Moran murders with the net I cast, so I was at least in some way getting relatively accurate data.
Here’s my narrative on what I found:
Chicago was, and is, home to a wide array of gangs, groups of trouble makers, and criminal syndicates. From the 1880s to the 1930s there was a distinct group of people involved in these various bands and flavors of organized crime, that being the ever enigmatic Celtic people – specifically the Irish. Homicide records kept by the Chicago Police Department show just what these people were up to. 52 men were charged for various crimes related to organized crime, for instance, John McGurn was charged for the Valentine’s Day Massacre. Obviously, not all the Irishmen involved in crime were in as brutal displays like that one, most were as minor or petty as murder can be. An Eastern European immigrant beaten to death here, an officer shot while trying to escape there. Surprisingly, extremely violent crime is relatively rare. Besides the Valentine’s Day Massacre, there are a few entries like a man being assaulted with a baseball bat by 3 men and robbed, or a handful of men gunning another down, but the vast majority of the crimes are not nearly as sensational, they are lone men shooting their victim to death. Very little has seemed to change in our time, ironically. Looking back on the mafia one tends to envision great bloodbaths, and sure there were a few, but it is highly unusual.
