Broughton Quarterly - Spring 2009 - (Page 28) GODFATHERS OF GRIT With Tommy guns blazing and kitsch to burn, Chicago’s Untouchables Tour puts an ironic spin on the city’s notorious past. BY ELIzABETH ARRIGHI BORSTING PHOTOS BY COLLIN MARTIN O PRAH AND OBAMA MAY BE THE FACES OF today’s Chicago, but there was a time when names like George “Bugs” Moran, Frank “Tight Lips” Gusenberg, and Johnny “The Fox” Torrio trilled off the tongues of frightened citizens. And while these mobsters of yesteryear have been swimming with the fishes for decades, the Windy City’s marriage to the mob simply can’t be silenced. The proof lies behind the folding door of an old black, and somewhat dilapidated, school bus belonging to The Untouchables Tour. After I had seen all of Chicago’s usual suspects—the John Hancock Building, Michigan Avenue, the Rush Street pubs—I decided it was time to delve into the city’s underworld, or what was left of it. I boarded the bus, faux bullet holes and all, to follow in the footsteps and foibles of the infamous mob. Our guides were a couple of thugs clad in pinstripe suits, tilted fedoras, and vintage spats with phony “gangsta” names and wise guy dialects to match. A little kitschy, perhaps, but it certainly set the stage for a quirky, unconventional afternoon. So off we went to do a little time traveling from within the confines of our hoodlum-style bus, back to the dry days of Prohibition. Our two-hour trek took us from the Sicilian south side, where made men from the Italian mafia wreaked havoc, to the Irish-operated Gold Coast and Lincoln Park areas on the north side. In between, there would be no Geraldo Rivera fiascos of would-be buried treasure or surprise discoveries of forgotten bootleg, only a few fleeting a-ha moments as we visited the dozen or so notorious 28 broughton Quarterly SPRInG 2009
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