The gun that made the 20s roar

There are lots of images that suggest a gangster – the fedora, certainly, or the big smoldering cigar. But nothing symbolizes a gangster more than that mainstay of 1920s organized crime, the Thompson Machine Gun, better known as the Tommy Gun or (my personal favorite) the Chicago Typewriter, after its rat-a-tat sound. It was also known as Annihilator, Chicago Piano, Chicago Style, Chicago Organ Grinder, Trench Broom, Trench Sweeper, The Chopper, and simply The Thompson.

The weapon was invented by John T. Thompson in 1918, and it became the preferred weapon of gangsters, lawmen, and soldier. The gun began life with a simpler, less Jazz Age name -- M1921. It was priced at $200 (about $2,685 today) and a flop with consumers. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service bought Thompsons to protect the mail from a rash of mail robberies. The U.S. Marines were also Tommy Gun customers, as were several police departments.

The main complaint about the Tommy Gun were its weight and its dodgy accuracy past 50-yards, as well as its inferior penetrating strength compared to the .45 caliber pistol. Despite its use in World War I and the Irish Civil War, the Tommy Gun’s greatest claim to fame came during Prohibition when it was used by Depression-era gangsters and the lawmen who pursued them. The Tommy Gun was the guest of honor at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago. It was truly the gun that made Chicago -- and the 20s -- roar.