Organized Crime Figure. He was born and raised in St. Louis, getting his start in the lower rungs of the Egan's Rats mob. After the heart of the gang went to prison, he and several buddies relocated to Detroit, forming an alliance with the "Purple Gang". The Egan-Purple combine crumbled in the late summer of 1927, and Gus Winkler, Fred Burke, and the rest turned up in Chicago. The Burke-Winkler crew specialized in high-risk robberies and murder-for-hire. They held up banks, armored cars, and mail trucks, and their activities stretched from New York to Los Angeles. There is a large body of circumstantial evidence that suggests that he, along with Fred Burke, Robert Carey, and Fred Goetz, were the triggermen in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. After this the Burke-Winkler crew split up. Gus Winkler helped plan and execute the $2 million dollar robbery of a Lincoln, Nebraska bank in September 1930. However, he turned evidence against his partners and returned the loot in exchange for clemency, damaging his reputation in the underworld. In the early 1930s, he became a force in the post-Capone Chicago, controlling rackets on the North Side independent from the Outfit. On October 9, 1933, Gus Winkler was entering the beer distribution office of Charles Weber at 1414 N. Roscoe Avenue when he was cut down by six shotgun blasts. He died in the hospital thirty minutes later gasping out the Lord's Prayer.
Organized Crime Figure. He was born and raised in St. Louis, getting his start in the lower rungs of the Egan's Rats mob. After the heart of the gang went to prison, he and several buddies relocated to Detroit, forming an alliance with the "Purple Gang". The Egan-Purple combine crumbled in the late summer of 1927, and Gus Winkler, Fred Burke, and the rest turned up in Chicago. The Burke-Winkler crew specialized in high-risk robberies and murder-for-hire. They held up banks, armored cars, and mail trucks, and their activities stretched from New York to Los Angeles. There is a large body of circumstantial evidence that suggests that he, along with Fred Burke, Robert Carey, and Fred Goetz, were the triggermen in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. After this the Burke-Winkler crew split up. Gus Winkler helped plan and execute the $2 million dollar robbery of a Lincoln, Nebraska bank in September 1930. However, he turned evidence against his partners and returned the loot in exchange for clemency, damaging his reputation in the underworld. In the early 1930s, he became a force in the post-Capone Chicago, controlling rackets on the North Side independent from the Outfit. On October 9, 1933, Gus Winkler was entering the beer distribution office of Charles Weber at 1414 N. Roscoe Avenue when he was cut down by six shotgun blasts. He died in the hospital thirty minutes later gasping out the Lord's Prayer.
Bio by: Dennis Rice
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