The devil's crowd: The John Looney syndicate and organized crime during prohibition-era Illinois 1900-1925

The son of an Irish immigrant who encouraged him to work honestly to achieve success, John Patrick Looney instead became the most notorious criminal of Western Illinois in the Prohibition Era. Looney made Rock Island synonymous with organized crime, meanwhile scandalizing the city's upper class. Looney stands out from several other notable gangsters of the era. He was a lawyer and journalist -- he owned and edited the tabloid Rock Island News -- as well as a hoodlum, using violence and populist appeal to take revenge on anyone who thwarted his political ambitions and search for social acceptance. This thesis compares him to other Illinois gangsters: Johnny Torrio, Charlie Birger, the Shelton Brothers, and Kelly Wagle. It also reassesses the circumstances of John Looney's sudden downfall, showing he met his demise at the hands of Rock Island's well-to-do, although not through political defeat but the execution of his son Connor by a well-funded citizens' posse. This thesis locates Looney on a spectrum of Illinois's organized criminals in an era of general lawlessness in the state. It analyzes his rise through populist appeal and slander of opponents and obsession with rising above his working-class origins, enabled by corrupt government of the day, and provides new evidence about the nature of his sudden fall from power. It thus explains how organized crime developed and shows its diversity in Illinois in the era of Prohibition, more than has been previously recognized.