Description:

Chicago Gangster "Bugs" Moran Signed Document. Super Rare!

George Moran (1893-1957). Typed Partial Document Signed, "George Moran", 1p, 8" x 3.75" (visible), no place, November 28, 1938. Countersigned by Lillian E. Cohen as Notary Public with blind-embossed seal. Faux alligator matting with photographs of Moran and the aftermath of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and a plaque with Moran's biography. Beautifully framed by the Gallery of History in black with shiny red piping to an overall size of 29" x 19" x 1.5". Frame has some dents and light scuffs. Not examined out of frame. Document has a few ink stains and minor toning, else in fine condition.

The Chicago gangster and target of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre adds his very rare signature to this document, which reads in full: "GEORGE MORAN being first duly sworn, states that he has read the above and foregoing petition, signed by him, and that the same is true except for those matters stated by him to be upon information and belief, and that as to those matters this affiant states that he believes them to be true." Documents signed by Moran using his birth name are extremely scarce in the public market.

This document appears to be related to a forgery trial that, according to the November 28, 1938 issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune, included Moran and nine other defendants. Moran was accused of forging American Express checks, New York Central railroad bonds and cigarette revenue stamps. The trial started on January 4, 1939 and, sixteen days later, the jury found Moran not guilty.

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre shocked the world on February 14, 1929, when Chicago’s North Side erupted in gang violence. Gang warfare ruled the streets of Chicago during the late 1920s, as chief gangster Al Capone sought to consolidate control by eliminating his rivals in the illegal trades of bootlegging, gambling and prostitution. This rash of gang violence reached its bloody climax in a garage on the city’s North Side on February 14, 1929, when seven of Moran's men were shot to death by Al Capone’s henchmen. Moran, who just missed the massacre by a couple of minutes, was visibly shaken when reporters talked to him days later. He shouted at them, “Only Capone kills like that!”

Moran had committed more than twenty known burglaries and was imprisoned three times before he was 21. It was hard to find a mob shoot-out in the 1920s in which Moran was not a leading player. For three years, Moran's gang and Al Capone's gang were bloody adversaries. Although unnerved by the slaughter of his men, Moran refused to turn from his brutal lifestyle. In 1936, just two years before signing this legal document, Moran and his men entered a Chicago bowling alley and cold-bloodedly killed "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn, the man who had organized and executed the Valentine's Day carnage. In the 1930s, however, Moran's power began to wane, even though Capone was then in jail.

Moran eventually moved to Ohio, where he was arrested in 1946 for robbing a bank messenger of $10,000. He was convicted and sentenced to ten years. After his release in 1956, Moran was again arrested for an earlier bank raid and sent to the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he died of lung cancer in 1957. 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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