Roger Touhy
| Roger Touhy | |
|---|---|
FBI mugshot
|
|
| Born |
September 18, 1898 Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | December 16, 1959 (aged 61) Chicago, Illinois |
| Occupation |
gangster bootlegger, illegal gambling, racketeer |
| Criminal charge | Kidnapping |
| Criminal penalty | Imprisonment from 1934 to 1959 |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
| Spouse(s) | Clara Morgan Touhy |
Roger Touhy (September 18, 1898 – December 16, 1959) was an Irish-American mob boss and prohibition-era bootlegger from Chicago, Illinois. He is best remembered for having been framed for the 1933 faked kidnapping of gangster John "Jake the Barber" Factor, a brother of cosmetics manufacturer Max Factor, Sr. Despite numerous appeals and at least one court ruling freeing him, Touhy spent 26 years in prison. Touhy was released in November 1959. He was murdered by the Chicago Outfit less than a month later.
Roger Touhy was born in September 1898 in Chicago to Irish immigrant parents. His father, James A. Touhy, was a policeman on Chicago's Near West Side. James Touhy and his wife Mary were the parents of six sons and two daughters. When Roger was a small child, however, his mother died in a house fire.
Roger Touhy grew up to be 5'6" tall, with curly hair and a beak nose. He was highly intelligent. Unfortunately, James Touhy could not properly raise his sons by himself, and five of them would eventually turn to crime. James Touhy, Jr. was shot and killed by a policeman during an attempted robbery in 1917. John Touhy was killed ten years later by gunmen belonging to gangster Al Capone's Chicago Outfit. Joseph Touhy was shot dead by Capone gunmen in 1929. Tommy "The Terrible" Touhy became a major organized crime figure in Chicago and was named "Public Enemy Number One" in 1934. Only Edward Touhy managed to stay out of trouble by becoming a bartender.
The youngest of James Touhy's sons, Roger Touhy tried to remain on the right side of the law. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, not unusual for the time, and worked at various jobs including as a telegrapher, an oil field worker, and a union organizer. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War I.
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