Delve into Chicago’s crime history with Richard Lindberg, author of the best-selling Return to the Scene of the Crime: A Guide to Infamous Places in Chicago and 19 other books. Head north by northwest toward O’Hare International Airport to explore local crime scene haunts and residences of some of Chicago’s most notorious lawbreakers, including:

  • Depression Era desperado “Baby Face” Nelson
  • The 1920s “Ragged Stranger” murder case solved by two crack “front page” newspaper reporters
  • The hotel where O. J. Simpson checked in after the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman
  • Two locations tied to John Wayne Gacy
  • The Schuessler-Peterson case detailed in Shattered Sense of Innocence: The 1955 Murders of Three Chicago Children (2007), coauthored by Lindberg and Gloria Jean Sykes

The tour includes several Prohibition-related locations, such as the former bowling alley where St. Valentine’s Day Massacre planner Jack “Machine Gun Jack” McGurn met his demise.

Tour runs 3.5 to 4 hours and begins and ends at the Chicago History Museum.

Masks are optional on bus tours. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.

Chicago Sun-Times cover featuring acquittal of OJ Simpson Chicago Sun-Times newstand worker holds up cover of Chicago Sun-Times Extra newspaper featuring news of the acquittal of O.J. Simpson, Chicago, Oct. 3, 1995. ST-17500824-E1, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM
Bus Tour-North by Northwest-i021728_Gacy Police mugshot of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Des Plaines, Illinois, December 22, 1978. CHM, ICHi-021728
Bus Tour-North by Northwest-DN-0088600_Hurn Jack McGurn, suspected killer in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and his sweetheart, Louise Rolfe, sit in a courtroom in Chicago, 1929. DN-0088600, Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News collection, CHM

About Your Guide

Richard Lindberg is an award-winning author and journalist, and has written 20 books about Chicago history, sports, crime, and politics, including Tales of Forgotten Chicago and Gangland Chicago: Criminality and Lawlessness in the Windy City. His memoir, Whiskey Breakfast: My Swedish Family, My American Life, won the Chicago Writers Association 2012 Book of the Year Award for Traditionally Published Non-fiction.

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