Guns and Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot Before Al Capone

Brilliant read, hard to put it down once I started, great knowledge of Chicago back in the day.

At long last! Finally! Bravo! This is what all biographies of underworld figures should be, and almost never are. Indeed, it's what all biographies should be. It will be the benchmark against which all subsequent books about organized crime figures are to be judged. Reading this book, I was in awe of Ms. Keefe's ability to journey back through the mists of time, and hack her way through the hoary legends, and urban myths, the lies and distortions and half-truths that infest far too many books like this, and succeed in transforming O'Banion from the merry, bloodthirsty stereotype he's been for so long into an actual flesh-and-blood human being. Thanks to the journalistic alchemy of Ms. Keefe, O'Banion comes alive in these pages in a way that he never has in any of the other books I've read on this topic. I'm astonished at the amount of new, illuminating information she's been able to unearth in her research. Am I gushing? I guess it's just that I've read so many flawed, poorly-researched underworld fantasies that masquerade as history or biography that coming across Ms. Keefe's work reminds me of why I started reading books like this in the first place. Her writing is as vibrant and exciting as the era she writes about. I'm currently reading her biography of Bugs Moran and can't wait for the next one. I hope she continues researching and writing for a long, long time to come...To sum it up, Ms. Keefe's books are an historical goldmine, and a thrilling read to boot. Buy 'em.

Because of his paradoxical character and personal flamboyance, Dean O'Banion has long presented an easy target for Prohibition-era commentators in search of a standing foil for Al Capone. And most of those commentators have been content to repeat, and embellish, the superficial tabloid legends that have framed his image over the years. Never the subject of a searching and serious biography (until now), O'Banion has typically been portrayed as the kind of stereotypical gangster psychopath so beloved by Hollywood screenwriters. But no one who inspired the loyalty, respect and affection of so many of his contemporaries could have been as psychologically impaired as the man portrayed in the existing literature. Now, at long last, without excusing or minimizing the violence and thievery at which O'Banion excelled, Rose Keefe has written -- in a beautiful and crisp journalistic style -- a carefully researched biography that catalogs his life in its full context. And along the way she provides a host of insights into other gangster notables who, along with O'Banion, formed the legendary North Side Mob. "Guns and Roses" is an important and long overdue contribution to the body of literature that deals with that fascinating time. Serious students of the period and gangster buffs, alike, should give it a careful read - both for the information it provides and the sheer enjoyment of the read. MORourke

Even though I have read numerous other books on Chicago's infamous past during the prohibition years I found Rose Keefe's effort entitled Guns and Roses to be another fascinating read which is primarily devoted to Al Capone's North Side rivals. O'Banion's loss of his mother at an early age and subsequent move to a seedy section of Chicago contributed to Dean's alliance with the city's criminal element. The warring parties were driven by greed in invading each other's assigned territory during the beer wars. After the assassination of O'Banion in his florist shop in 1924 a number of his friends (Weiss, Drucci, and Moran) all had short terms heading the North Side mob. Weiss and Drucci being shot and Moran having his gang virtually wiped out at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on February 14, 1929. If you have read other books on this subject you can prepare yourself to enjoy yet another offering on the subject with this book. In addition, this book has photographs I have not seen in other books. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

For too long the North Siders have been relegated to the shadow of Al Capone and Rose Keefe has now come forth to rectify this situation with a wonderful biography of Chicago's first celebrity gangster, Dean (not Dion) Charles O'Banion, whose death touched off five years of bloodshed known as the Chicago "Beer Wars." Her impeccable research, bolstered through interviews with elderly witnesses who actually knew O'Banion, uncovers both a complex and interesting man and one of the most colorful antiheroes of the '20's. The writing style is marvelous and this is both an impressive debut volume and a must for any crime library and this reviewer also looks anxiously forward to her followup work on George "Bugs" Moran.

I have so many gangster books, being a crime buff, that I didn't think I'd see anything new hit the light of day. I am so happy to have been proven wrong.Call me weird (others have), but every Al Capone bio that I read found me more interested in the North Siders, especially O'Banion. There wasn't much to be learned about any of them that had not already been in print for years. Rose Keefe's O'Banion bio contains interviews with people who actually knew him, and reading the book suddenly brought not only Dean but the other North Siders to colorful life. I learned for the first time about the fate of O'Banion's older brother, Hymie Weiss' serious illness, and Vincent Drucci's crazy sense of humor. I didn't just appreciate the book for all its new insights and tidbits of information: the lively writing style make it much more readable than books written in a scholarly vein (you know, the types that can create one-sentence paragraphs).This book has been long overdue.