Chicago Prohibition Gangster Tour

08/29/2025

There are tickets available for the Oak Park River Forest Gangster Tour this fall. Dates are Sept. 14, Sept. 28, and October 5. Use this link to see the times and book tickets: https://fareharbor.com/chitowngangstertours/items/118029/

09/09/2024

Also, an episode of Gangland Chronicles devoted to the Chicago Outfit will air tonight:

Catch up on season 1 of Gangland Chronicles, only on The HISTORY Channel. Get exclusive videos, pictures, bios and check out more of your favorite moments from seasons past.

09/09/2024

I recently received the following email from Ch. 11 (WTTW) regarding upcoming segments of Chicago Stories. I suspect that the one on Al Capone will be well done:

Thank you for being a part of the new season of WTTW’s CHICAGO STORIES! We are excited to let you know that the fall season will premiere on WTTW (ch. 11.1) and stream on the PBS app and wttw.com/chicagostories on Fridays at 8:00 pm beginning September 20.
Deadly Alliance: Leopold and Loeb (September 20)
The Black Sox Scandal (September 27)
Amusement Parks (October 4)
The Young Lords of Lincoln Park (October 11)
The Making of Pl***oy (October 18)
When the West Side Burned (October 25)
Al Capone’s Bloody Business (November 1)
House Music: A Cultural Revolution (November 8)

Chicago Stories is an original documentary series from WTTW uncovering Chicago’s fascinating history. Each story presents an entertaining and intriguing tale about a person or event that shaped Chicago. The series reflects the rich diversity and breadth of human experience that shaped this great A...

09/09/2024

There are still tickets available for the Sept. 22, Sept. 29, and Oct. 6 tours. Please go to https://www.chitowngangstertours.com/ to purchase tickets. Thx, John Binder

Take a tour with ChiTown Gangster Tours and discover the dramatic history of Chicago. Travel on a luxury bus and step off for a closer look at the historic sites!

06/15/2024

With The Irish Mob – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉

06/05/2024

There are still some tickets available for the Oak Park River Forest Gangster tour at 11 am this Sunday, June 9.
Use this link to book your tickets: https://fareharbor.com/chitowngangstertours/items/118029/
Thanks, John Binder

FareHarbor is the all-in-one booking solution and business management platform that helps you operate your tours, activities, attractions and rentals.

05/13/2024

The 2024 dates for the Oak Park River Forest Gangster Tour "There Goes the Neighbor Hood" are set. This year the tour runs on the following Sundays: June 9, June 23, July 14, September 22, September 29, October 6, and October 27. Times are 11 am and 2 pm.
This exterior tour visits 13 houses in these two suburbs which were previously owned by major Chicago gangsters, such as Tony Accardo, Paul Ricca, Sam Giancana, Sam “Teets” Battaglia, and "Machine Gun Jack" McGurn. I will discuss the criminal careers of the former owners, the interesting features of each home (I've been in 10 of them), the family's time there, and answer questions from the audience. The tour is about two hours and thirty minutes long, and it is a deep immersion into the history of organized crime in Chicago from Prohibition to almost the present day. It is by coach bus with no walking required.
The bus departs from and returns to Fitzgeralds at 6615 Roosevelt Rd. in Berwyn, IL 60402. There is street parking on Roosevelt Rd., and on the intersecting side streets in Berwyn and Oak Park.
Further information about the tour can be found by visiting the facebook group Oak Park River Forest Gangster Tour and reading the group description. Or, go to the booking site to learn more and to buy tickets ($40 per person, $36 for seniors and active military):
https://www.chitowngangstertours.com/
I hope you are able to join us and please bring friends. If you have not been there recently, Fitzgeralds is Chicago’s finest music venue with a bar and a great restaurant, BabyGold BBQ, which has some of Chicago’s best bbq.
Please email me if you have any further questions at [email protected].
Thank you, from your guide, John Binder

02/17/2024

There are still some tickets available for the event on Feb. 21 at Fitzgeralds. I'll be giving a talk on Organized Crime in Chicago during Prohibition, and there will be a band that night as well (all for the price of one ticket).

Calendar of upcoming events at FITZGERALDS Nightclub - Berwyn, IL. Find out who's playing and when. Get tickets and learn more.

11/09/2019

Diane Capone's book Al Capone: Stories My Grandmother Told Me is now available on amazon.

To paraphrase Jack Webb on the tv series "Dragnet": The facts, nothing but the facts.

"At last! An engrossingly honest insider's tale of the part of Al Capone's life that mattered most to him, life with his wife, son, and four granddaughters. Diane Patricia Capone, the granddaughter who was with him almost every day throughout his final years, has supplemented her childhood memor...

09/30/2019

For those of you who are interested, I will be on WGN Radio tonight from 10 pm to 12 pm on the show hosted by Bill Kresse and Kelly Richmond Pope. Legendary reporter John Drummond will join us from 10 to 11.

05/27/2019

I was interviewed by Rick Kogan last night on WGN radio about the Chicago Prohibition tour. Here is the podcast:

Tonight on After Hours W/ Rick Kogan: Joining Host Rick Kogan in our Allstate Skyline Studios, author John Binder tells us more about his gangster-filled book The Chicago Outfit that gives readers and insides look on the evolution of Chicago's underworld, focusing on their business activities and le...

05/22/2019

The first date this year for the new Chicago Prohibition Gangster Tour (I am the guide on every tour) is June 14, 2019. This two-and-one-half-hour tour visits a number of important sites in gangland in Chicago during Prohibition, such as where Dean O’Banion, Hymie Weiss, and John Dillinger were killed and the location of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. It explores this history in detail, discussing not just what happened at each location but why it took place and how the underworld evolved during the Dry Era. In terms of my background, I’ve written two books on the subject, The Chicago Outfit and Al Capone's Beer Wars, and I am also a consultant to the Chicago History Museum and the Vegas Mob Museum on the history of organized crime. I will be happy to answer your questions about gangland in Chicago before 1920, during Prohibition, and from 1934 up to the present day while you are on the tour. The other dates in June are as follows: June 15, June 21, June 23, June 28, and June 29. The tour is also operating on a number of days in July. Tickets are $50 per person, and you meet the bus across from Millennium Park (at the southeast corner of Michigan Ave. and Monroe St. in downtown Chicago).
To see the available dates and to book online, please go to:
https://www.chitowngangstertours.com/
Or call 708-287-9118 for more information. Thank you for your interest, John Binder.

Take a tour with ChiTown Gangster Tours and discover the dramatic history of Chicago. Travel on a luxury bus and step off for a closer look at the historic sites!