"He must have done something. They don't kill you for nothing." - Chicago Gangster Ted Newberry. Rubbed out January 7, 1933

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Gas, Guns & Gus

Gus Buselaki owned a filling station in downtown St. Louis back when you didn't have to pump your own gas. You just sat back while some guy in an appropriate outfit filled your tank, washed your windshield and probably even thanked you for coming in.

Yes, Gus was a proprietor of just such a place. Gus was some other things too. Gus was also an organizer for the "Service Car Drivers Association". Gangster was also listed as one of Gus's occupations.

So there Gus was standing about his station just after midnight back on this date in 1931 when a sedan drove by and either two machine-guns with 25 round drums or one gun with a 50 round drum opened fire from a window spraying Gus's establishment as well as Gus himself with upwards of fifty bullets.

Nine other people were about and two woman were slightly wounded. As for Gus, a good percentage of the fifty bullets came to rest in him.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The moral of this story is be at home by 11:59 pm. I hope I won't worry all night about if there are 2 guns with 25 rounds or one gun with 50 rounds. I'm too young for worry lines.

Patrick Downey said...

I wouldn't worry about the drums, same results.