MOB RULE ENDS
THE newspapers told of the events which had led to the apprehension of Nick Savoli and his lieutenants.
One week before, Harry Vincent had appeared at the home of Morris Clarendon. He had told how he had been captured by the Homicide Twins, Anelmo and Genara, and how he had been rescued by a man who had overpowered his torturers.
From that time on, the prosecuting attorney had been plentifully informed of what was going on in Chicago’s underworld. Letters and telephone calls had been received, which had proven of tremendous value in assembling evidence against Nick Savoli as well as lesser gangsters.
During the mob war which had swept Chicago, the mysterious informant had been active. His advice had enabled the police to take their part in the strife, and to lessen the damage wrought by the fighting gangsters.
But the final touch had been the tip upon which the police had made their final action. On the day that Savoli had planned the death of Mike Larrigan, a letter had been received by Morris Clarendon which had outlined a complete plan for the invasion of Savoli’s headquarters.
The district attorney had gone with Harry Vincent and the detectives. Dressed as workmen, they had entered the apartment of Howard Blake, who was out of town, presumably because of the alterations being made in his apartment. There they had discovered the gas machine, and the hallway plug that had been cleverly altered into an opening that entered the apartment where the gunmen were on guard.
Acting upon a perfect schedule that The Shadow had arranged for them, the agents of the law had overpowered the guarding gangsters.
Clarendon and Higgins had led the way through the secret passage — which was revealed to them in diagrams — and had overheard Savoli’s conference with his underlings.
They had been waiting, Higgins with his automatic ready, when Monk Thurman had made his entry. The assistant commissioner had been prepared to shoot the first man who made a move.
Steve Cronin had been the victim. Once too often had he sought to thwart The Shadow.
The Shadow had been everywhere during the battles in Chicago. He had traveled in numerous disguises; he had been on the building when Larrigan was killed. He had taken photographs that were useful to the district attorney’s office.
But his important connection with evidence assembled never reached the public. He was known simply as Mr. X, the man who had tipped off the police.
The chief credit for the work that had ended in the spectacular raid belonged to Morris Clarendon and Barney Higgins.
The Shadow had submerged his identity. He had come to Chicago unknown; he had left without any one discovering who he actually was. By his amazing skill, he had caused rebellion in the Savoli ranks and had pitted one gang against another, until the vast organization of the underworld had crumbled.
Jerry Kirklyn found wonderful material for his newspaper. The data supplied by Barney Higgins reached the front pages of the Chicago dailies, and brought new and more amazing revelations that exposed the machinations of Savoli and his lieutenants.
BACK home, Vincent followed the accounts of doings in Chicago long after the day when he had participated in the raid that had ended the regime of Nick Savoli.
The trial of Machine-gun McGinnis had resulted in a complete victory for the State. The man who had murdered Claude Fellows received the death penalty.
Dozens of gangsters were being sent to the penitentiary for long-term imprisonments. Nick Savoli and Mike Borrango, indicted on many counts, had jumped their bail.
The big shot’s power was gone; his organized machine had been shattered to atoms.
The city election was the latest news that Harry read. It had resulted in a clean sweep for the reform forces.
Instead of being dominated by gangsters and hoodlums, the polls had been orderly and under police protection.
The crushing hand of gangdom had been lifted from the metropolis of the Middle West, and the only remnants of the mobs which had formerly run riot were small groups of lesser gangsters who could make no progress against the police force.
All this, Harry knew, had been accomplished through the dynamic efforts of one man — a master mind who knew the ways of criminals, and who conquered them in combat.
The credit for the mighty upheaval belonged to that mysterious person who could elude the public eye as cleverly as he had slipped from the grasp of Nick Savoli and the other mobsmen.
The Shadow had cleaned up Chicago!