Kenna, Michael “Hinky Dink”

For politics of the 19th century, patronage was often the rule of the day. One could influence the political landscape by knowing the right people. In Chicago, the most powerful ward was the First Ward, home to both the elite of Chicago industry along Prairie Avenue and the bordellos and gambling houses of the South Levee district. If someone needed a favor in the First Ward, then Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna and John “Bathhouse” Coughlin were the men to see.

Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna was born in 1857 in Chicago. He quickly developed a reputation among the Irish of Bridgeport as a pugnacious go-getter. With [Page 411]his small frame and dour expressions, he was the physical opposite of his political partner Coughlin, who was the more boisterous of the two. They were commonly known as the Lords of the Levee, as they controlled all aspects of vice in the First Ward. They were also known as the controllers of “boodle” in the area. Boodle was a type of political power that came from informal arrangements between various groups in Chicago. For example, Kenna and Coughlin used their influence to oppose the streetcar monopoly proposed by Charles Yerkses. In exchange for their opposition to the streetcar system, Mayor Carter Harrison II turned a blind eye to certain criminal activities in the First Ward.

Kenna and Coughlin used boodle to keep an effective hold on the First Ward. The most contentious aspect of life in Chicago dealt with political alliances. For Mayor Harrison, boodle was a necessity—it was what allowed him to win re-election. To obtain the votes needed to win, Harrison had to see Kenna and Coughlin. They took care of the locals by providing food and drinks to the masses (and even drugs and prostitutes when the need arose). In return for the political support and turnout of the voters, Harrison continued to allow the illicit activities carried out in the First Ward.

Every year, the Lords of the Levee sponsored the First Ward Ball, in which the high elements of Chicago and the crime lords openly hobnobbed. The balls were events of great fanfare and copious debauchery. Waiters paid $5 just to be hired at a ball, but they made back many times that in tips throughout the evening.

The end of Kenna's political career was gradual. The changes brought about by the onset of World War I and the temperance movement in Chicago, and later the entire United States, were accompanied by changes in those who held the power in the First Ward. Kenna felt himself slowly isolated by the new mayor, “Big Bill” Thompson, and the successor to Italian crime boss Big Jim Colosimo. The new lord of the Italian mob in the First Ward, Al Capone, politely asked Kenna to step aside, and he did. Kenna spent the remainder of his life living in the Lexington Hotel. When he died in 1946, he had amassed a fortune of over $1 million. He asked that $90,000 be used for a massive mausoleum for his interment. His family, perhaps seeking an end to his notoriety, as well as his money, buried him with a simple marker.

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