Myles O'Donnell

Myles O'Donnell was an Irish American bootlegger and mobster during the Roaring Twenties in Chicago during Prohibition. He was most famous for being the founder of the West-side O'Donnell Mob aka the Westside O'Donnells or West-side gang (no relation to the South Side O'Donnells, a rival gang).

Myles O’Donnell was born into a large, struggling Irish Catholic family in the Chicago Western suburb of Cicero, Illinois. Like any other poor child off the streets in the town of Cicero, Myles started his criminal career committing petty crime.

William "Klondike" O’Donnell was only a few years younger than his brother. They had a strong bond. Another well-known brother involved with peddling of booze with Myles and Klondike was Bernard, the youngest of the three.

The O’Donnell brothers made an alliance with Johnny Torrio who was the leader and founder of the Chicago Outfit; his lieutenant was Al Capone. When Torrio got into a war with Dean O'Banion and the North Side Gang and when the South Side O’Donnells got into a war with Frank McErlane things went better for the O’Donnells not having to worry about enemies. Johnny Torrio was later shot at by Hymie Weiss, Bugs Moran, avenging their best friend and boss Dean O’Banion's death. Torrio luckily survived and quickly retired, leaving Al Capone to take over the South Side mob.

One day after drinking himself to the point where he was staggering, Myles and a childhood friend and Westside O'Donnell member Jim Doherty staggered into a saloon early Sunday morning. The saloon belonged to Eddie Tancl, a man O'Donnell and Capone hated because of his way of buying beer from whoever he wished. Myles and Jim ordered some breakfast from the only waiter still working on the job that day. Sitting across from the two Westsiders were Eddie Tancl and his wife. Sitting across from the couple were Mayme McClain, Tancl's star entertainer, and Leo Klimas, Tancl's head bartender. After Myles and Jim were done eating they complained to the waiter that they had been overcharged on the bill. Tancl made his way to the O'Donnells' table and blocked his way in between the waiter and O'Donnell just before he threw a punch at the waiter. O'Donnell gave Tancl a shove and then both men drew their guns. They shot each other in the chest. Doherty got up from the table and began firing. Klimas and the waiter tried to disarm Doherty. O'Donnell fired a shot at Klimas pushing him back against the bar, where he died. O'Donnell was hit by four shots in the chest while he proceeded to the street with Doherty. Tancl was also hit in the chest in numerous places, and Doherty was hit several times in the leg by Tancl during the gun battle. Tancl and O'Donnell had no bullets left in their guns, but Doherty did. As the two Westsiders made their way to the street, Eddie Tancl grabbed a different gun from behind the bar. Sources say that Myles and Doherty split up and went different directions through the streets. The way Myles ran it was hard for him to get away, because he was in the middle of the street running through Sunday churchgoers while bleeding heavily. Tancl chased after O'Donnell through the streets, shooting at him until his gun was empty. Out of breath, Tancl threw his empty handgun at the back of O'Donnell's head. O'Donnell fell and passed out due to exhaustion; Tancl fell as well but didn't pass out. As Tancl and O'Donnell lay just a few feet from each other in the middle of the street, the waiter O'Donnell had tried to hit ran towards O'Donnell and Tancl. Tancl shouted to the waiter, "He got me, get him." Those were his last words. The waiter jumped on O'Donnell's body a few times, kicked him in the face, and fled the crime scene. Doherty managed to limp his way to a nearby hospital to treat the gunshot wounds to his leg. Myles was later picked up by cops in the place where he had passed out.

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