‘Get Capone’ book could help solve 1939 killing

Chicago police agreed Tuesday to take a look at the 70-year-old unsolved slaying of Edward J. O’Hare, a lawyer who may have cooperated with federal authorities against Al Capone.

The unusual request came from Chicago politician Edward Burke in advance of the release of a book on the infamous mobster. Burke said his intention was simply to set the record straight that it wasn’t Eliot Ness who brought Capone to justice.

Without O’Hare’s cooperation, Burke said, “there never would have been a case against Capone.”

Al Wysinger, deputy chief of the Chicago Police Department’s detective division, said the cold case squad would review the file and see if any tips developed from information in the book, “Get Capone.”

According to author Jonathan Eig, O’Hare was an Internal Revenue Service informant who provided key information that led to Capone’s conviction. O’Hare allegedly became an informant to get his son, Edward “Butch” O’Hare, into the U.S. Naval Academy. Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport is named after Butch, a Medal of Honor winner who was killed during World War II.

Eig thinks Capone’s family killed O’Hare for money.

By 1939, Capone had medical bills and court fines, and was dealing with debt collectors from the IRS. Capone’s family, anticipating his release from prison, turned to O’Hare for money because Capone was a silent partner in the lawyer’s racetrack business, Eig said. O’Hare was owner of the Hawthorne Kennel Club in Cicero, Ill., and was the alleged head of the syndicate’s racetracks.

“Capone’s brothers,” Eig told a Chicago council meeting Tuesday, “would likely have turned to O’Hare and demanded Al’s fair share of the profits.”

O’Hare was fatally shot on Nov. 8, 1939, while driving.

acancino@tribune.com