Gus Winkler
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"Smiling" Gus Winkler (March 28, 1901-October 9, 1933) was a Detroit mobster who, with Fred Burke, was head of a criminal gang specializing in armed robbery and murder for hire.
Born August Henry Winkler in St. Louis, Winkler was a member of Egan's Rats during his teenage years before moving to Detroit during Prohibition. Working with the Purple Gang until mid-1927, he and Burke were hired out for freelance work from Al Caopne and the Chicago Outfit (although circumstantial evidence points to Winkler who, along with Burke, Robert Carey and Fred Goetz, may have been some of the gunmen involved in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre) as well as beginning a national crime spree holding up banks, armored cars, and mail trucks from New York to Los Angeles.
Winkler and Burke's organization broke up during the 1930s with Winkler later planning and later taking part in the robbery of $2 million from a bank in Lincoln, Nebraska in September 1930. However, following his arrest, he agreed to turn state's evidence against his accomplices as well as returned the stolen money in exchange for his immunity from charges.
Despite his cooperation with authorities, he was able to become a member of some prominence in the Chicago underworld operating independently of the Chicago syndicate during the early 1930s. However, while entering the beer distribution office of Charles Weber, he was shot six times and killed by unknown assailants armed with shotguns on October 9, 1933 and died a half an hour later after arriving at a local hospital.
[edit] External links
- Taking Care Of Winkler: The Last of the Independents by John William Tuohy
- Gus Winkler at Find-A-Grave
