What’s a Chicago Calendar without a few Gangsters? Well, here are a few hints of what’s to come for the month of February. (For those who know last year’s calendar…they were featured in front of the Green Mill for the month of February. Get it? Now they’re dead.)

Special thanks to Catherine and Ryan for helping bring these historical figures back into focus. The brothers Peter and Frankie “Tightlips” Gusenberg are buried in Irving Park Cemetery. They were 2 of the 7 North Side Mob gangsters killed by Al Capone’s gang at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929. Despite being riddled with bullets, Frank stayed alive for a few more hours and was sent to the hospital where he refused to squeal to the detectives.

His alleged famous last words are: “I ain’t no copper.” His legacy lives on perhaps with the character on The Simpsons:

Johnny Tightlips.

The cemetery markers for these two souls also remain tightlipped. I went into the cemetery office and inquired about the location of Frank and Peter Gusenberg. A woman, who was “filling in” that day, asked me if I was a relative and if I was sure they were buried there. I told her I was not related. (I did not mention this but findagrave.com has their grave pictured and recorded.) She had me follow her down the corridor to a row of card catalog-like drawers. Sure enough, two note cards appeared with their names in one of the dusty drawers. I wasn’t allowed to take a picture of them so I quickly wrote down the lot numbers. Interestingly, the card stated that Frank was removed from Rosehill Cemetery on July 2, 1929 and Peter was removed June 12, 1929 and buried at Irving Park Cemetery. I wonder if there was fear of more vandalism at Rosehill. Catherine, Ryan, and I began dutifully combing through the section. After no luck, I went back into the office again and got a map. We searched further and came to the conclusion that they must have unmarked graves or there was some error. Those gangsters got away from us. The show must go on though and we set up our scene where, according to the map, they are said to be buried.

Rest in Peace, Frank and Peter.