Chicago's First Crime King: Michael Cassius McDonald

by Kelly Pucci

Overview

This true crime biography details the remarkable rise of the 19th century mob boss who ran Chicago from the streets to the mayor’s office.
 
Michael Cassius McDonald arrived in Chicago as a teenage gambler and scam artist who quickly hustled his way into running the city through its criminal underworld. Long before the reign of Al Capone, McDonald was Chicago’s original mob boss. He procured presidential pardons, fixed juries, stuffed mayoral ballot boxes, and operated the city's most popular—and most crooked—gambling parlor. 
 
But McDonald also maintained a reputation as a decent man. He was a philanthropist who befriended Clarence Darrow, promoted the World's Fair, ran the Chicago Globe newspaper—where he employed Theodore Dreiser—and funded the Lake Street L. Meanwhile, he had multiple marriages mired in love triangles and murder trials. His remarkable story comes to life in this.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439666722
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	07/31/2020
Series:	True Crime
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	403,182
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Author of Camp Douglas: Chicago's Civil War Prison, Kelly Pucci also contributes to a variety of magazines, websites and newspapers. As a native Chicagoan, she enjoys exploring local history and has written about the city's ethnic restaurants, neighborhoods and museums.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 7

Introduction 9

The Kid and the Candy 11

Michael McDonald the War Profiteer 22

Lucky at Cards, Unlucky in Love 30

McDonald Builds the El 47

Vote Early and Often 55

McDonald, His Second Wife and Her Teenage Lover 76

Conclusion 101

Bibliography 103

Index 109

About the Author 111