Wicked City Chicago: From Kenna to Capone

What could be discounted as another Chicago gangster book, separates itself from the pack by the vivid detail with which it resurrects the flamboyant underworld characters, high-society capitalists and crooked politicians who ran The Windy City from 1880-1931 and established its notorious persona. Insightful parallels are drawn here between corrupt politicians, such as Michael ``Hinky Dink'' Kenna, gangsters like Al Capone, and great dynasts like Marshall Field and meatpacker Philip Armour, whose credo for success was `` . . . buy out or destroy any competitor whose products are better than your own.'' And while Johnson ( Nobody's Perfect ) and Sautter ( Expresslanes Through the Inevitable City ) sometimes bombard the reader with extraneous details, they make up for it in convincing reenactments of shoot-outs: ``Plaster and glass and splinters of paneling went flying, neat rows of bullet holes stitched themselves at waist level into walls.'' Portrayed here is a city in which politicians assisted bootleggers during prohibition and racketeers determined election results; a city that couldn't even keep its baseball team clean--witness the infamous 1919 White Sox. With cameo appearances by Babe Ruth, Al Jolson, Gloria Swanson and Mickey Mouse, this book has an all-star cast that may be cumbersome, but is never boring. Photos not seen by PW. (May)