July 6, 1946

On this day in history in 1946 George "Bugs" Moran was arrested.

Who was "Bugs" Moran?

George "Bugs" Moran during the days of Prohibition

George "Bugs" Moran was one of the biggest organized crime figures of the Prohibition era, working primarily in the Chicago area. He grew up in a life of crime and was arrested three times before he turned 21. Moran was part of Dean O'Banion's gang known as the "North Side Gang," which was mostly Irish. Their rival was Al Capone who led the Italians on the South Side. Moran's feud with Capone was only accelerated when Capone's men killed O'Banion.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

A newspaper recounting events of the St. Valentine's Massacre

On February 14, 1929 seven members of Moran's gang died in what became known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Moran himself missed the shooting by only minutes even though he had likely been the main target. Moran accused Capone of the deadly shootout but he was alibied as being in Florida at the time.

Moran's mugshot from his second arrest in 1956

"Bugs" Arrest

After Prohibition ended Moran eventually left Chicago and quit his gang as they never fully recovered its power after the massacre. Though he quit the Chicago crime scene he did not leave his criminal life behind. When he was finally arrested on July 6, 1946 it was for his part in a robbery in Dayton, Ohio. At the time he was almost penniless and far from the riches he had enjoyed almost twenty years earlier as a gang leader of Chicago. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the Dayton robbery. After being paroled in 1956 he was arrested again for his role in a 1945 robbery, also in Ohio, and sentenced to another ten years. He died in prison on February 25, 1957 at 63 years old from lung cancer.