Moran was born of Irish and Polish immigrants parents in Minnesota in 1893 and grew up in the mostly Irish North Side of Chicago. He grew up with street gangs, committing 26 known robberies serving three different jail terms before he was 21. He then began running with
Dion Obanion. Bugs Moran ascended in the Obanion Gang largely because of the war between
Capone and Obanion. Capone in effect killed every member of the Obanion gang until Bugs was made the head of the gang. Moran was a viscous killer and was always ready to execute the enemy. Bugs was the gunman who charged across the street to finish off Johnny Torrio after he was hit with four shots. Moran was also in the lead car in the machine-gun motorcade that sprayed Capone's Hawthorne Inn with over 1,000 slugs. The war between the two gangs was fierce but ended in a kind of draw when Capone orchestrated the St. Valentines day Massacre. The hit was to get Moran and all of his gang. Capone managed to kill off the entire Moran gang with the Valentines hit and only missed Moran because Bugs overslept that morning. Throughout the 1930's, Moran's power began to decline, his crimes began to seem petty compared to what he had done in his earlier days. Eventually he moved to Ohio and July 1946 FBI agents for robbing a bank messenger of 10,000 dollars seized him. Moran was convicted and received ten years for the crime. Moran died of cancer in 1957. Bugs Moran outlived all of his gang but was given a quick burial outside the prison walls.
