On the morning of November 10, 1924, Dion O'Banion (photo) was clipping chrysanthemums in the back room of his flower shop across the street from Holy Name Cathedral. O'Banion legitimately did the flower arrangements at his shop, and in this case it was for the recently deceased union head Mike Merlo, but both men were known for much more.

O'Banion was a cold-blooded gangster and killer--and the leader of the North Side gang. The deceased was an influential gangster himself...the consiglieri of the Chicago Outfit led by Johnny Torrio and Al Capone.

On that fateful November day, Frankie Yale entered the shop with along with gunmen John Scalise and Albert Anselmi. When O'Banion attempted to greet Yale with a handshake, Yale clasped O'Banion's hand in a way that wouldn't allow him to escape. The gunmen pulled out their weapons and fired two bullets into O'Banion's chest, two in his cheeks, and two in his throat. He died instantly.

Because O'Banion was a gangster, his funeral could not be held in his church: Holy Name Cathedral. It was a grand spectacle, however, and thousands came out to mourn him.

O'Banion's lieutenant and successor, Hymie Weiss (photo), was gunned down the following year even closer to the Cathedral...literally steps away from Holy Name Cathedral's front door. The bullets fired from the killer's machine gun chiseled into the base of the church. Those bullet marks can still be seen today.

Holy Name Cathedral was also the location of a famous Cubs funeral.



Unlike O'Banion and Weiss, when Harry Caray died in February 1998, his funeral was actually held inside Holy Name. It turned out to be almost a celebrity roast, as friends of Harry told story after hilarious story about their dear departed friend.

Cubs manager Jim Riggleman attended the service. Among the Cub players in attendance were Mark Grace, Sammy Sosa and Scott Servais and the retired second baseman Ryne Sandberg. Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, Gov. Jim Edgar of Illinois and another famous Chicago figure, the football coach Mike Ditka, were also at the service.

As far as we know, no gangsters attended.

But it would have been fitting if they did.