Chicago in the 1920s was a battleground of mob violence over prohibition. No mobster was as successful as Al Capone.
And no mob boss was a greater target of law enforcement, such as it was, than Capone.
His partner and lawyer in those early days was known as Easy Eddie, who was
smart and who managed to keep the notorious Scarface Al out of jail while he ran Chicago's bootlegging and prostitution, and murdered whoever got in his way.
Easy Eddie was key to Capone's survival outside of jail. A shrewd judge of character, Capone knew how important Easy Eddie was to his crime kingdom.
He enabled Easy Eddie to build a lavish mansion, complete with servants, swimming pool, skating rink and all the luxuries of modern life. Easy Eddie thought he had the best job in Chicago and was untroubled by the way he earned a living. Every man for himself!
Easy Eddie was not a crook. He just manipulated the law to enable crooks to continue being crooks. In doing so, he tainted himself. He had a so-so marriage and a son he adored. As the boy grew up, Easy Eddie wanted his son to be a somebody, and not to be known as the son of Capone's lawyer.
How to cleanse his name so as his son need never feel ashamed of his dad?
Although the FBI never gave up in trying to nail Capone, Easy Eddie thwarted most legal assaults. As if realizing he'd have to do something radical to clear his name and be an example for his son, Easy Eddie volunteered himself to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to bring Capone to justice.
He worked from inside the mob to gather evidence to bring Capone to justice.
In 1931, Capone was sentenced to 11 years for tax evasion, was paroled in 1939, suffered from syphilis, died from a stroke in his Florida mansion in 1947 with his mind reduced to that of a 12-year-old.
In 1939, a week before Capone was paroled from Alcatraz, Easy Eddie was gunned down in Chicago while driving his car. A salvo of shotgun blasts from a passing car ended the storied life of Easy Eddie, but he was remembered as the man who brought justice to Al Capone, and brought some respectability to the family name.
As a kid, Butch O'Hare became a crack shot with a .22, but was something of a layabout. His father enrolled him in a military academy and persuaded a local congressman that Butch deserved to go to Annapolis Naval College, from which he graduated into the US Navy in 1932. Assigned to various ships, he became a navy pilot in 1939. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, Butch O'Hare was already a skilled fighter pilot and ready for war.
It was while on a mission from the aircraft carrier USS Lexington in 1942 that O'Hare spotted nine Japanese bombers headed for the Lexington. His Wildcat was the only aircraft available, and he headed straight into the Japanese formation. His skill as a marksman paid off. In repeated attacks he shot down five Japanese bombers. Observers on the Lexington recalled with awe that three of the downed Japanese planes were falling from the sky at the same time.
The Japanese formation broke contact and the remaining four bombers headed for home. Not one bomb hit the ship.
O'Hare became the first navy flier to win the Medal of Honour in World War 2. His citation reads in part: "One of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation - he undoubtedly saved his carrier from serious damage."
Butch (he insisted all ranks call him that) O'Hare became something of a folk hero. Handsome, modest, articulate, he was used on war bond drives. A year later in 1943 in the Battle for Tarawa, his plane was caught in a crossfire and he was never seen again. He was 29.
In 1945 the US named a destroyer in his honour - the USS O'Hare.
Then, in 1949, Chicago Orchard Park was renamed O'Hare International Airport. His statue is between Terminals 1 and 2.
Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare was Easy Eddie's son