George “Bugs” Moran: American Gangster George “Bugs” Moran was born on August 21, 1893 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His real name was Adelard Cunin, with George Moran being one of his most famous criminal aliases(BugsMoran.net). While many believe he was of Irish descent, he was actually Polish. He was born into a family of Polish immigrants and while his mother was very kind to him, Moran’s father was very strict towards him. Moran’s criminal activity started early as he was sent to Juvie three times before the age of 21, all for petty crimes(BugsMoran.net). “Bugs” Moran moved to Chicago when he was 19 to further his criminal career. Dean O’Banion accepted Moran into the North Side Gang when he arrived to Chicago. At the time, O’Banion was the leader of the Irish-American Gang, and when the prohibition began O’Banion bought out many of the distilleries and breweries and continued making alcohol and illegally selling it to the public with a massive price hike. The prohibition lead to a significant rise in organized crime, and North Side Gang was no exclusion to that rise. They quickly became one of the most powerful gangs in Chicago, next to the Johnny Torrio and Al Capone’s gang, the Chicago Outfit. Torrio …show more content…
Valentine’s Day Massacre, the North Side Gang quickly tore apart. Moran was now struggling to keep the gang alive without his seven powerful men. Prohibition also ended, so he lost control of the alcohol market which lead to a significant loss of income for him. “Bugs” was then forced to commit petty robberies and bank robberies to keep up with his lifestyle. He was eventually caught and charged with attempted robbery of a bank and was forced to serve ten years in prison. However, when Moran was released after serving his ten year sentence, he quickly ended up in prison once again for attempting to rob yet another bank. After serving only one year of his second ten year sentence, George “Bugs” Moran died on February 25, 1957 due to lung