Louis Alterie: 1888-1935

In January 1925, the residents of Denver, Colorado, heard the news that Louis Alterie, a member of Chicago's infamous Dean O'Banion gang, was hiding out at a ranch near Castle Rock. Alterie, who also went by the name of 'Two Gun' Louis, was wanted in connection with a jewelry heist back in Chicago.

When Douglas County Sheriff Roy McKissack ventured to the ranch, he was met by a tall, husky character who introduced himself as 'Leland Varain', and advised him that Alterie had already fled the area. A week later, when Chicago authorities issued the statement that Alterie was no longer wanted, 'Two Gun' emerged from hiding and met with reporters from the Denver Post. Sheriff McKissack fumed when he saw that 'Leland Varain' and the fugitive gangster had been one and the same.

The Post described him thusly: "Six feet tall, weighs around 200 pounds, extremely dark. From the carefully combed, jet-black pompadour to the spats encasing his shoes, he is a picture of sartorial splendor…. Deep chest, wide shoulders, and body mounted on slender legs, and his heavy arms and diamond-covered hands finish the picture."

Alterie, a hijacker, union strong-arm, and killer, was well known in Denver. He owned a ranch in Jarre Canyon near Sedalia, and was often seen strutting around the city when he was in Colorado. He posed a striking figure in his huge white Stetson, diamond-littered cufflinks and belt buckle, and expensive, custom made cowboy boots. His cream colored automobile had a gigantic set of bullhorns attached to the hood. He was fond of saying that although his livelihood was in Chicago, his heart belonged to the West; he was more at home on a bucking bronco than in a touring car, and preferred wrestling unruly steers to fellow gangsters, as the former endured mistreatment better

Alterie denied that he was a gangster back in Chicago, but in the same breath admitted that he had come to Denver to avoid being shot in the back. The Windy City had been a hotbed of gang violence since November 1924, when the Al Capone-Johnny Torrio gang assassinated Alterie's boss and comrade, Dean O'Banion. Alterie added miles of newsprint to an already volatile topic when he blurted to reporters that he wanted to meet O'Banion's killers at the corner of State and Madison Streets, popularly known as "the world's busiest corner", and shoot it out with them Western style. Worried that his brazen threats would bring police heat down on the North Side gang, Bugs Moran confronted him at the Friar's Inn and told him to leave Chicago voluntarily, or risk being carried out. Alterie took the hint and caught a Colorado-bound train as soon as he could arrange it.

He was a firm believer in avenging fallen comrades. In May 1923, gangster Nails Morton fell off of a rented horse, and the spooked animal kicked him to death. After the funeral, Alterie rented the guilty animal himself, led it to a remote spot, and shot it. He called the stable owner and said, "We taught that goddamned nag of yours a lesson. If you want the saddle, go and get it." The horse execution scene was later re-enacted by James Cagney in the celebrated gangster film Public Enemy.

The Depression hit Alterie as hard as it hit the rest of the North American population. In 1932 he lost the Sweetwater ranch because he couldn't make the mortgage payments. Gone also were most of the diamonds, flashy costumes, and expensive touring car. When he was arrested in January on suspicion of kidnapping Chicago bookmaker Edward Dobkin, he pointed out indignantly that if he were a kidnapper, he wouldn't be living his current hand to mouth existence. He went to trial in July 1932 but was acquitted after Dobkin declined to identify him as one of his abductors.

Five months later, Alterie engaged in a drunken brawl with ex-boxer Whitey Hutton at the Denver Hotel in Glenwood Springs. When he was beaten in a bare-knuckle confrontation, he went to his room, grabbed a rifle, and searched for Hutton. The hotel porter disarmed him, so he returned to his room, reappearing minutes later with a .45 in each hand. He became convinced that Hutton was hiding behind a certain locked door and squeezed off several rounds at the target, wounding two traveling salesmen. He was arrested, convicted of assault, and given both probation and a fine. Probation was granted only on the condition that he leave Colorado for five years.

Reluctant to leave the West, Alterie initially went to Santa Fe, New Mexico, but eventually returned to Chicago, where he resumed full control of the janitors' union. He had held a $50 per week position as absentee president of the union since the early Twenties. Not everyone in the Chicago underworld or union hierarchy was happy to see him back, but he responded to any threats with his own promises of violence. His fortunes improved: by 1935, he and wife Ermina were living in a fancy North Side hotel and driving about in a pricey sedan.

On the morning of July 18, Diamond Jack and his wife left their hotel and walked toward their car. Before they could reach it, gunfire erupted from a first floor apartment window across the street. Mrs. Alterie escaped unharmed, but nine slugs tore through Diamond Jack's body. He murmured to his wife, "I'm sorry, but I'm going, Bambino", seconds before losing consciousness. He died minutes after an ambulance conveyed him to the hospital.

:End