Edward O'Hare: The Man and the Myth

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You probably have seen this story many times! About Edward O'Hare, who was a St. Louis lawyer, and later Chicago business partner of Al Capone. In 1939, he was killed by shotgun blasts sent via the Capone gang. This was for his supposed cooperation with the government in taking down the Capone gang which sent Al off to prison. The claims are that Edward did this heroically to save his family name and honor. Some also claim he did this in order to help leave his son, later to become war hero Butch O'Hare, a pristine legacy. There is even a mention that it was done to help Butch get into Annapolis Naval Academy. Unfortunately, most of this is utter nonsense. Edward J. O'Hare did not feed the government information on Capone as a good citizen in order to rid the world of evil gangsters. He did it for several convienient and selfish reasons.

1) To save his own skin from the IRS

2) To have full reins back on the racetrack business

3) To have a respectable image, to marry his sweetheart Sue Granata, this once the vatican granted him permission from his previous marriage.

4) To remove the tarnishing gangster association from his children's legacy.

This other generally accepted hero story is romanticized in many blogs, magazines, and now even in youtube videos. Each year, the story get's bigger and more heartwarming by proclaiming that good overcomes evil by the sole purpose of a selfless sacrifice.

I would compare it to placing many carpets on top of a pebble. After hundreds and hundreds of carpets, the pebble now becomes a huge mountain! The accepted O'Hare story would be awesome, that is, if any of it were true! So let's look at the facts!

Edward J. O'Hare was a St. Louis resident who worked at his dad's restaurant. He went to school and passed his bar exams and became a lawyer and making his initial riches defending St. Louis criminals. O'Hare also dabbled in politics for a short while in St. Louis. After that, he went into the transport business which he held onto while later heading to Chicago.

His drive was making himself prosperous to enjoy nothing, but the finer things in life. To achieve his goal, he courted the underside of society in defending murders, killers and bootleggers. He also got tips on making money the fast way. He wasn't afaid of stepping on anyone's toes in order to achieve these goals! For O'Hare, this behaviour of courting gangsters was an art. One friend once told him "You better watch out, you could get yourself killed hanging around with that lot". O'Hare's answer was that he knew exactly what he was doing, and knew just how to manipulate these gangster types.

November 9,1939 Chicago Tribune annonces that Edward O'Hare Sr. is shot and killed.

O'Hare was educated and refined. He was very intelligent and neither drank nor smoked. He also fit in the high society circles of St. Louis, and then Chicago. Before all of that, O'Hare made his first big money during the start of prohibition in St. Louis. He knew both the criminals and the police, so this opportunity made him play on both sides of the fence. In 1924, he was charged with trying to withdraw medicinal whiskey from a government bonded warehouse in order to make profit for sale to gangsters. Famous fellow ex lawyer, bootlegger and now murderer George Remus, who was in prison at the time for bootlegging, was going to testify against O'Hare in this whiskey case. O'Hare had aligned himself with Remus' wife, whom Remus later himself killed in 1927. Mysteriously, Remus did not testify and it was assumed that O'Hare had paid Remus a huge amount of hush money. Convicted in Indianapolis, O'Hare's conviction was eventually overturned and struck off the record, leaving him squeaky clean.

O'Hare's association with criminals helped him make his fortunes. With these fortunes he delved into other businesses both legal and illegal.

He also made his money in representing the rights to the mechanical rabbit that ran around the railing of the tracks. This made the race dogs chase it in order to complete the race without a hitch. O'Hare was close to the original owner of this mechanical rabbit and once the owner passed away he maintained the business partnership with the owner's widow.

O'Hare kept a secret apartment in a building he owned in Rogers Park. He was always seen entering the building accompanied with people and rarely went in alone. His basement apartment was shuttered with blinds and bars to avoid anyone peering inside.

Days after his murder the Tribune exposed O'Hare's deal with the Government.

(Chicago Tribune November 16,1939)

OHare's Licoln Zephyr careened into a pole at Rockwell street and Ogden avenue after he was hit by two shot gun blasts.

(Myalcaponemuseum Collection)

O'Hare hit the steering column with such great force as his car slammed into the utility pole. He suffered gunshot wounds to the head and neck and was instantly killed. In his car was a freshly oiled pistol that was totally useless for defense against Capone hit men. How ironic is it that one of the gun shot holes in the window is the shape of a heart.

(Myalcaponemuseum Collection)

The cleaned up non bloody, missing body version in the newspaper.

(Chicago Tribune November 9,1939)

Eddie O'Hare morals were shoddy at best as he had no problem raking in his personal fortune by stepping on the little guy, and associating himself with Capone. He was not Capone's lawyer as often erroneously mentioned in books and articles. He was his business partner in a race track situated in Cicero. He was brought in because of his shrewedness managing other businesses. He became the race track's front and president for several years and gained power and influence through the Capone ties. Having found love and preparing to marry this politician's sister named Sue Granata, he now suddenly wanted to disassociate himself with the Capone gang, and keep the profits for himself. He also did it to save his own skin from going to prison because he knew that he was next in line to fall in the income tax trap by the government. This would quash his plans for his new life with Sue. To avoid all these problematic hurdles, he convinced himself to turn on the Capone gang by becoming an informant. By doing this, he figured to save himself from prison time or any investigation, so made a deal with the government.

O'Hare had no problems stepping on the regular guy to get ahead. His problems began when he started stepping on the toes of the Outfit!

Eddie J. O'Hare was killed by two shot gun blasts, and not machine gun bullets as read in books, articles and videos seen on youtube. He was killed for his betrayal, his mounting power, and for his dismissal of helping to pay for Capone's final release from prison. He no longer gave Capone his cut. O'Hare figured Capone was gone to prison and was no longer a threat to him. Big mistake!

It was suggested that the killing went hand in hand with Capone's prison release 8 days after O'Hare's murder.

It was a supposed gift from Nitto and the boys. The truth was that regardless of Capone's release, the outfit had to get rid of O'Hare. They had to rid of him because he was going to be informing on the rest of the gang and not just on Al Capone. He was publicly complaining about getting rid of gangsters from his racetrack ventures. He was constantly arguing with Capone gang emmisary Johnny Patton about profits.

Another pressure point was the IRS. Like the mob, once they have you in their grips they do not let go. After Capone, the government was not finished with O'Hare. They wanted more. After being released from several stints in prison, Nitti was paranoid and wanted to avoid prison at all costs. He killed off anyone who could send him off to prison. Annette Caravetta, Nitti's new main squeeze was also O'Hare's secretary. She probably fed Nitti info on O'Hare and the communications he was having with the government. In 1942, She became Nitti's wife. So throwing O'Hare under the bus was probably no problem at all!

The signs were there! Others just like him had been killed by gangsters before. People like newspaper reporter Alfred 'Jake' Lingle who was dancing on both sides of rival gangs for self profit.

Others elliminated by orders of Frank Nitto and the Outfit.

All thought things would be fine, and they could just carry on as they please without permission or consequences.

O'Hare should have known better.

Edward squawked like a canary to authorities about Capone and his gang. That's basically what got him killed! Frank Nitto made sure of that because Nitto's main squeeze at that time was O'Hare's secretary! It was as simple as that!

This is not to say Edward O'Hare was not a good man. He was just like Al Capone was good to his family and those who he called friends. Both O'Hare and Capone were different, and yet still the same. Speak to any family members on both sides of the fence, and you will hear about the kindness that both were bestowing on others during their brief lives.

After a shoddy investigation and inquest, no one was ever arrested in connection with Edward J. O'Hare's murder.

In 2010, 71 years after O'Hare's assaasination, renewed interest in the cold case came via a Chicago Alderman by the name of Edward Burke. He had read a Capone biography which suggested that O'Hare was killed because he did not give the Capone family money to release Al from prison. The biographer later suggested that the Capone brothers had O'Hare killed. Burke wanted a street named or a plaque put up for the murdered O'Hare.

Burke put pressure on the Chicago police to re-open the case seeking the angle mentioned in the biography. Put on the spot in the news, Deputy Chief Al Wysinger placated the alderman and said he would.

Burke turned over inquest and autopsy records over to the police.****

**** It is no wonder why when I contacted Cook County Medical Examiner's office for the FOIA records of his autopsy and inquest they replied after a month that they didn't have any records for Edward J. O'Hare murdered on November 8, 1939! According to a Chicago Sun Times report in 2010, Burke had the records and handed them to police.

When this investigation first hit the news, O'Hare's granddaughter was elated. Victoria Palmer Heinecke is the daughter of O'Hare's daughter, Patricia O'Hare 'Rocky' Palmer. Although she knew of Burke's plan to revist the case, she had unfortunately already passed in 2009, just months before this new investigation revelation was divulged. Victoria stated that her mom would have been delighted!

The months passed! No news!

The story quietly went away. Wysinger stated that everyone connected to the case is now dead.

Another useless attempt into the investigation! Alderman Burke was convicted, and Wysinger retired in 2015.

The case is still unsolved! Until now!

COMING SOON in 2027!

Stay tuned for a new book on Edward J. O'Hare

Where his killer will be finally revealed!

This web page is dedicated to a true American hero!

Edward O'Hare's son. Edward Henry 'Butch' O'Hare.

Edward Jr. did not need his father's help at all.

The younger O'Hare was upstanding and a true American war hero!

All this was accomplished by his own hard work and honesty.

O'Hare's son Butch did not need his father's help to become the war hero he was! Edward Jr. accomplished his heroism all on his own! The straight and honorable way! The only partly good thing Edward Sr. did was to avoid being imprisoned in order to save his son's legacy from shame.

This page is also dedicated to the memory of Patricia O'Hare 'Rocky' Palmer who simply wanted the truth!


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About Edward O'Hare, who was a St. Louis lawyer, and later Chicago business partner of Al Capone. In 1939, he was killed by shotgun blasts sent via the Capone gang. This was for his supposed cooperation with the government in taking down the Capone gang which sent Al off to prison. The claims are that Edward did this heroically to save his family name and honor. Some also claim he did this in order to help leave his son, later to become war hero Butch O'Hare, a pristine legacy. There is even a mention that it was done to help Butch get into Annapolis Naval Academy. Unfortunately, most of this is utter nonsense. Edward J. O'Hare did not feed the government information on Capone as a good citizen in order to rid the world of evil gangsters. He did it for several convienient and selfish reasons. 1) To save his own skin from the IRS 2) To have full reins back on the racetrack business 3) To have a respectable image, to marry his sweetheart Sue Granata, this once the vatican granted him permission from his previous marriage. 4) To remove the tarnishing gangster association from his children's legacy. This other generally accepted hero story is romanticized in many blogs, magazines, and now even in youtube videos. Each year, the story get's bigger and more heartwarming by proclaiming that good overcomes evil by the sole purpose of a selfless sacrifice. I would compare it to placing many carpets on top of a pebble. After hundreds and hundreds of carpets, the pebble now becomes a huge mountain! The accepted O'Hare story would be awesome, that is, if any of it were true! So let's look at the facts! Edward J. O'Hare was a St. Louis resident who worked at his dad's restaurant. He went to school and passed his bar exams and became a lawyer and making his initial riches defending St. Louis criminals. O'Hare also dabbled in politics for a short while in St. Louis. After that, he went into the transport business which he held onto while later heading to Chicago. His drive was making himself prosperous to enjoy nothing, but the finer things in life. To achieve his goal, he courted the underside of society in defending murders, killers and bootleggers. He also got tips on making money the fast way. He wasn't afaid of stepping on anyone's toes in order to achieve these goals! For O'Hare, this behaviour of courting gangsters was an art. One friend once told him "You better watch out, you could get yourself killed hanging around with that lot". O'Hare's answer was that he knew exactly what he was doing, and knew just how to manipulate these gangster types. November 9,1939 Chicago Tribune annonces that Edward O'Hare Sr. is shot and killed. O'Hare was educated and refined. He was very intelligent and neither drank nor smoked. He also fit in the high society circles of St. Louis, and then Chicago. Before all of that, O'Hare made his first big money during the start of prohibition in St. Louis. He knew both the criminals and the police, so this opportunity made him play on both sides of the fence. In 1924, he was charged with trying to withdraw medicinal whiskey from a government bonded warehouse in order to make profit for sale to gangsters. Famous fellow ex lawyer, bootlegger and now murderer George Remus, who was in prison at the time for bootlegging, was going to testify against O'Hare in this whiskey case. O'Hare had aligned himself with Remus' wife, whom Remus later himself killed in 1927. Mysteriously, Remus did not testify and it was assumed that O'Hare had paid Remus a huge amount of hush money. Convicted in Indianapolis, O'Hare's conviction was eventually overturned and struck off the record, leaving him squeaky clean. O'Hare's association with criminals helped him make his fortunes. With these fortunes he delved into other businesses both legal and illegal. He also made his money in representing the rights to the mechanical rabbit that ran around the railing of the tracks. This made the race dogs chase it in order to complete the race without a hitch. O'Hare was close to the original owner of this mechanical rabbit and once the owner passed away he maintained the business partnership with the owner's widow. O'Hare kept a secret apartment in a building he owned in Rogers Park. He was always seen entering the building accompanied with people and rarely went in alone. His basement apartment was shuttered with blinds and bars to avoid anyone peering inside. Days after his murder the Tribune exposed O'Hare's deal with the Government. (Chicago Tribune November 16,1939) OHare's Licoln Zephyr careened into a pole at Rockwell street and Ogden avenue after he was hit by two shot gun blasts. (November 8,1939) (Myalcaponemuseum Collection) November 8,1939 O'Hare hit the steering column with such great force as his car slammed into the utility pole. He suffered gunshot wounds to the head and neck and was instantly killed. In his car was a freshly oiled pistol that was totally useless for defense against Capone hit men. How ironic is it that one of the gun shot holes in the window is the shape of a heart. (Myalcaponemuseum Collection) The cleaned up non bloody, missing body version in the newspaper. (Chicago Tribune November 9,1939) Eddie O'Hare morals were shoddy at best as he had no problem raking in his personal fortune by stepping on the little guy, and associating himself with Capone. He was not Capone's lawyer as often erroneously mentioned in books and articles. He was his business partner in a race track situated in Cicero. He was brought in because of his shrewedness managing other businesses. He became the race track's front and president for several years and gained power and influence through the Capone ties. Having found love and preparing to marry this politician's sister named Sue Granata, he now suddenly wanted to disassociate himself with the Capone gang, and keep the profits for himself. He also did it to save his own skin from going to prison because he knew that he was next in line to fall in the income tax trap by the government. This would quash his plans for his new life with Sue. To avoid all these problematic hurdles, he convinced himself to turn on the Capone gang by becoming an informant. By doing this, he figured to save himself from prison time or any investigation, so made a deal with the government. O'Hare had no problems stepping on the regular guy to get ahead. His problems began when he started stepping on the toes of the Outfit! Eddie J. O'Hare was killed by two shot gun blasts, and not machine gun bullets as read in books, articles and videos seen on youtube. He was killed for his betrayal, his mounting power, and for his dismissal of helping to pay for Capone's final release from prison. He no longer gave Capone his cut. O'Hare figured Capone was gone to prison and was no longer a threat to him. Big mistake! It was suggested that the killing went hand in hand with Capone's prison release 8 days after O'Hare's murder. It was a supposed gift from Nitto and the boys. The truth was that regardless of Capone's release, the outfit had to get rid of O'Hare. They had to rid of him because he was going to be informing on the rest of the gang and not just on Al Capone. He was publicly complaining about getting rid of gangsters from his racetrack ventures. He was constantly arguing with Capone gang emmisary Johnny Patton about profits. Another pressure point was the IRS. Like the mob, once they have you in their grips they do not let go. After Capone, the government was not finished with O'Hare. They wanted more. After being released from several stints in prison, Nitti was paranoid and wanted to avoid prison at all costs. He killed off anyone who could send him off to prison. Annette Caravetta, Nitti's new main squeeze was also O'Hare's secretary. She probably fed Nitti info on O'Hare and the communications he was having with the government. In 1942, She became Nitti's wife. So throwing O'Hare under the bus was probably no problem at all! The signs were there! Others just like him had been killed by gangsters before. People like newspaper reporter Alfred 'Jake' Lingle who was dancing on both sides of rival gangs for self profit. Others elliminated by orders of Frank Nitto and the Outfit. August Winkeler Ted Newberry Louis Cowen Jack McGurn Louis Alterie George Barker Albert J. Prignano All thought things would be fine, and they could just carry on as they please without permission or consequences. O'Hare should have known better. Edward squawked like a canary to authorities about Capone and his gang. That's basically what got him killed! Frank Nitto made sure of that because Nitto's main squeeze at that time was O'Hare's secretary! It was as simple as that! This is not to say Edward O'Hare was not a good man. He was just like Al Capone was good to his family and those who he called friends. Both O'Hare and Capone were different, and yet still the same. Speak to any family members on both sides of the fence, and you will hear about the kindness that both were bestowing on others during their brief lives. After a shoddy investigation and inquest, no one was ever arrested in connection with Edward J. O'Hare's murder. In 2010, 71 years after O'Hare's assaasination, renewed interest in the cold case came via a Chicago Alderman by the name of Edward Burke. He had read a Capone biography which suggested that O'Hare was killed because he did not give the Capone family money to release Al from prison. The biographer later suggested that the Capone brothers had O'Hare killed. Burke wanted a street named or a plaque put up for the murdered O'Hare. Burke put pressure on the Chicago police to re-open the case seeking the angle mentioned in the biography. Put on the spot in the news, Deputy Chief Al Wysinger placated the alderman and said he would. Burke turned over inquest and autopsy records over to the police.** ** It is no wonder why when I contacted Cook County Medical Examiner's office for the FOIA records of his autopsy and inquest they replied after a month that they didn't have any records for Edward J. O'Hare murdered on November 8, 1939! According to a Chicago Sun Times report in 2010, Burke had the records and handed them to police. When this investigation first hit the news, O'Hare's granddaughter was elated. Victoria Palmer Heinecke is the daughter of O'Hare's daughter, Patricia O'Hare 'Rocky' Palmer. Although she knew of Burke's plan to revist the case, she had unfortunately already passed in 2009, just months before this new investigation revelation was divulged. Victoria stated that her mom would have been delighted! The months passed! No news! The story quietly went away. Wysinger stated that everyone connected to the case is now dead. Another useless attempt into the investigation! Alderman Burke was convicted, and Wysinger retired in 2015. The case is still unsolved! Until now! COMING SOON in 2027! Stay tuned for a new book on Edward J. O'Hare Where his killer will be finally revealed! This web page is dedicated to a true American hero! Edward O'Hare's son. Edward Henry 'Butch' O'Hare. Edward Jr. did not need his father's help at all. The younger O'Hare was upstanding and a true American war hero! All this was accomplished by his own hard work and honesty. O'Hare's son Butch did not need his father's help to become the war hero he was! Edward Jr. accomplished his heroism all on his own! The straight and honorable way! The only partly good thing Edward Sr. did was to avoid being imprisoned in order to save his son's legacy from shame. This page is also dedicated to the memory of Patricia O'Hare 'Rocky' Palmer who simply wanted the truth!