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Personal
Journal
Behind
the Scene: The making of RIP:Chicago's Gangster Graves
By Christina Schulthoff
Steve
and I - naïve little reporters that we are - thought it would
be an easy assignment to report on gangster graves. But we learned
an important lesson: Chicago's notorious gangsters like to rest
in peace.
Mount
Carmel was built in 1901, which means you can find plenty of old,
spooky mausoleums as well as statues and photos of the deceased.
Upon
arrival at the cemetery, Steve and I realized that finding the
gangster graves would be a bit more difficult than we had thought.
We had to walk to the office at Queen of Hearts Cemetery on the
other side of Mount Carmel.
While looking for the office, Steve and I saw a building that
we thought was a massive church. When we finally found the entrance,
we figured there had to be some nice people inside who could help
us. We were wrong.
Inside was nothing but eerie silence. Steve and I started walking
down the hallway. Suddenly Steve turned around and whispered:
"Christina, do you realize - that there are dead people in
these walls?" We looked at each other and swallowed. Creepy.
Definitely very creepy. But we had to find the dead gangsters.
"There has to be an office somewhere in here," Steve
said. There wasn't. Only more hallways. And more dead people.
We
left the building and finally found the office on the other side
of the cemetery. When we asked where to find the gangster graves,
the friendly lady there smiled at us and said: "I'm sorry,
we are not allowed to give out that information." What?!
That cemetery was huge. And we had already spent two hours wandering
through graveyards and the most gigantic mausoleum we had ever
seen. No way were we going to find those graves by ourselves.
At least the office lady could tell us where to find Julia
Petta, the "Italian Bride". And when Steve and I
were about to leave, she suddenly turned to us with a secretive
look in her eyes. "If you ask the caretakers in the graveyard,
they'll be able to tell you where to find the gangster graves,"
she whispered and winked at us. Al right! Score for the reporter
duo.
Back
at Mount Carmel, we flagged down a caretaker on a lawnmower
and asked him for Al Capone's
gravesite. "Al Capone? Si!" he said, nodding his
head enthusiastically. He went on in rapid Spanish and pointed
his fingers in several directions. Steve and I glanced at
each other with puzzeled faces. The caretaker finally realized,
that we were just not getting it. He waved his hand for
us and said: "Come. I show you." Steve and I raced
after his lawnmower. Unfortunately, Al's grave is on the
opposite side of the cemetery. A few minutes and a hell
of a run later, we read the inscription on the gravestone:
"Alphonse Capone 1899 - 1947 My Jesus Mercy".
Ha! We had found his grave.
We
were just as excited about Salvatore Giancana's
grave. According to Crime Magazine.com
This gangster was friends with Frank Sinatra, introduced Bobby
and John F. Kennedy to Marilyn Monroe and was supposedly involved
in JFK's murder. How juicy could a story get?
With
the help of some other caretakers, Steve and I found the rest
of the gangster graves, including those of Dion
"Deany" O'Banion and "The
Terrible Genna Brothers."
The
scariest grave we saw was Julia Buccola Petta's.
Steve and I stood in front of the grave, looking at the tall statue
of Julia in her wedding dress. Then we got closer to take a look
at her photo. It looked peaceful, as if she was sleeping. She
had been dead for six years when the picture was taken.
While we were filming the grave, a police car slowly crept by,
the policeman inside was staring at us. Were we doing something
wrong? "Ok. I'm just gonna stand here and not move,"
said Steve. "I'm scared, I whispered." The police car
drove on and finally continued around the corner. We sighed in
relief. But ten seconds later, the car was back. This time, the
policeman parked right next to us. He sat and stared at us. Didn't
open his window. Didn't talk to us. Just stared. It was enough
to make us nervous. "Ok, let's get out of here," I said.
We got in the car and drove out of the cemetery. But if the policeman
was so naïve to think we had actually left, he didn't know
anything about reporters. We simply drove around the cemetery
and went back in from the rear entrance - right where Al
Capone's grave is located.
Steve
and I filmed for about ten minutes. Suddenly, a pick-up pulled
up and a guy who looked like the fat version of Barbie's Ken leaned
out of the window. He wore mirrored sunglasses and had a fake
bake. "Absolutely not!," he exclaimed. "You need
the family's consent to film here." Steve and I looked at
him with guilt-stricken expressions on our faces. "Sorry
Sir, we didn't know." We quickly got into the car and drove
off - only to get back in at the front entrance. Ha! He was too
late, we had already taken plenty of shots of Al's grave.
In
the interest of avoiding conflict with the Hillside Police or
the graveyard guard, Steve and I decided to film only one more
site: The Bishops' mausoleum.
The mausoleum is Mount Carmel's biggest
attraction (if only because they try to "hide" the gangster
graves). When Cardinal Bernardin died in 1996, about 50,000 mourners
came here to mourn.
If you think this part of the cemetery is gangster-free, think
again. Cardinal Cody, who was buried here
in 1982, made many Mafiosi look harmless.
After
the mausoleum, Steve's and my work was finally finished. We left
exhausted, but felt we had achieved a glorious victory. We had
gotten our video footage and photos despite being chased around
the cemetery.
Mount
Carmel is certainly worth visiting if you like to be spooked by
ghosts, gangsters and corrupt men of God.
The cemetery is located at Harrison and Hillside Avenues in Hillside,
Illinois.
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If you are interested in more information about
this topic, check out these books: Secret Chicago: The Unique
Guidebook to Chicago's Hidden Sites, Sounds and Tastes (around
$14) and Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art and Lore
of Cook County Cemeteries (around $12)
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