Easy Eddie, Al Capone and...

[Walt's Daughter]

Al Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.

 

Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was his lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.

 

To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but also, Eddie got special dividends. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.

 

Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little

consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.

 

Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education.

 

Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong.

 

Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was. Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son; he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example.

 

One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name,and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great.

 

So, he testified. Within the year, Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street. But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he would ever pay.

 

Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine.

 

The poem read:

 

The clock of life is wound but once, And no man has the power To tell just when the hands will stop At late or early hour.

Now is the only time you own.

Live, love, toil with a will.

Place no faith in time.

For the clock may soon be still.

 

 

 

STORY NUMBER TWO

 

World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific. One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank.

 

He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship. His flight leader told him to return to the carrier.

 

Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.

As he was returning to the mother ship he saw something that turned his blood cold: a squadron of Japanese aircraft were speeding their way toward the American fleet. The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn't reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger.

 

There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet.

 

Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber's blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another.

 

Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent.

 

Undaunted, he continued the assault.

 

He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible and rendering them unfit to fly.

 

Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction.

 

Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch's daring attempt to protect his fleet.

 

He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft.

 

This took place on February 20, 1942, and for that action Butch became the Navy's first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.

 

A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29.

 

His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.

 

So, the next time you find yourself at O'Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch's memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It's located between Terminals 1 and 2.

 

 

SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?

 

Butch O'Hare was "Easy Eddie's" son.

 

------------------

 

Marion's note: This story was supplied to me by James Hennessey and IS A TRUE STORY! Read more about it here:

 

http://www.acepilots.com/usn_ohare.html

[j3rdinf]

Marion: This has been on the web before and I cant realize why the 2 stories shouod be shown instead of just his heroism story. Also here is one rebuttal from another site:::

 

Quote: "Okay, no, the garbage about Butch O'Hare's father is not true. He was NOT Capone's lawyer. While it is true he was murdered, and probably by members of a Chicago gang, he never testified against Capone.

 

And the description of the action in which O'Hare was credited with shooting down 5 G4M bombers, for which he was, indeed, awarded the Medal of Honor, does not come close to what actually happened.

 

I could pick apart the stories piece by piece, but I just don't feel like it.

 

Suggest you get your hands on a copy of John Lundstrom's and Steve Ewing's "Fateful Rendezvous" if you want the real story of Butch O'Hare, and, for that matter, his father.

 

Rich"" Just maybe it is the true story. Kinda makes one wonder about the "Captain Kangaroo/ Lee Marvin and the Mr. Rodgers" bit of falacy again.

[Walt's Daughter]

If you did notice, I did print the link for the ACE PILOTS SITE. IT quotes the book and informs the readers. Yes, I realize that the little story floating around doesn't match exactly, but I think most can figure that out when they visit the site.

 

Quote from the site:

 

In November, his father was gunned down by Al Capone's gunmen, most likely because he had given the government information useful in its prosecution of Capone. The gangland-style murder made big headlines, and the newspapers printed numerous speculations on the circumstances of the murder. Many of these were less than flattering and implied that E.J. was involved with the mob. (Ewing & Lundstrom's excellent biography, Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O'Hare, covers these events in great detail.) Returning to Pensacola after the funeral, young O'Hare moved up to flying more advanced biplanes like the Vought O3U, the Corsair SU, and the Vought SBU-1 scout bomber (top speed 205 mph). In early 1940, he completed the required flying in patrol planes and advanced land planes.

[chambers]

I looked it up on www.truthorfiction.com and it says it's true.

 

Taken from the site:

 

The Truth

Lt. Commander Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare is the subject of many articles that document his outstanding service as a pilot during World War II. He was presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions against the Japanese and defending the U.S.S. Lexington. According to the official citation of his Medal of Honor, he won the recognition "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in aerial combat..." It says he was the section leader of Fighting Squadron 3 on February 20, 1942. According to an article on aviation-history.com, six Wildcats were sent into the air to protect the Lexington from Japanese bombers. O'Hare and his wingman spotted the enemy planes first. The wingman's guns jammed, however, and the other four planes were too far away, so O'Hare faced 9 twin-engine Japanese bombers alone. He shot down five of them and damaged a sixth before other U.S. fighters arrived. No enemy bombs made it to the Lexington. The Medal of Honor citation calls it "...one of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation..." O'Hare was killed in November of 1943 during the battle for the Gilbert Islands in the South Pacific. He was accidentally shot down by another American plane during a night mission. It is true that Chicago's O'Hare airport is named after him and there is a restored airplane on display there similar to the one that O'Hare flew.

 

Butch's father, Eddie O'Hare, was an attorney and business partner of the famous gangster Al Capone. He helped run Capone's horse and dog track operation in Chicago. He was described as being devoted to his son. There was a point when Eddie decided to secretly become an informant for the Internal Revenue Service and it was with his help that the government convicted and imprisoned Capone for income tax evasion. Some have said that Eddie became an informant because of a change of heart and a desire to go straight. Others have said it was merely his way of saving his neck in the face of potential prosecution. It was an article in Collier's magazine in 1947 about Eddie O'Hare's work as an informant that helped win public favor for him and the eventual naming of Chicago's airport after his war-hero sun. The article was written by Frank J. Wilson, the Treasury Department investigator with whom O'Hare had worked on the case. The article was titled "Undercover man: he trapped Capone." Wilson called O'Hare one of his best undercover men.