Boss Spotlight: Mabel Ryley

Depending on who you talk to, Mabel Ryley is as nice as pie or the woman who can cut someone to shreds with a single sentence. What else can you expect from a woman who sharpened her tongue on the whetstone of Cork city? She had a worthy criminal enterprise by the age of sixteen. She’s one of the few women the nuns tried and failed to fully reform. She’d earned the nickname “Sister of Merciless” before making her escape to America.


Chicago’s finest never really stood a chance in contending with her. The best they could hope for was an alliance. Sure, there were some growing pains, a few felonies and misdemeanours when she first landed stateside, but these she just put down to experience in a new country. She wears her record like a badge of honour; the mistakes she’ll only make once.

What most gangsters don’t realize is that any deal with Mabel always ends up with her coming out on top. If there’s one thing the convent taught her, besides how to take a beating, it’s telling people what they want to hear, while working on your own scheme behind the scenes. It was a trait that impressed the Alley Cats street gang, whose earnings tripled when enlisting Mabel’s sweet but vicious dichotomy. Mabel lives in a person’s blindside, draws them in with charm and then cuts them when they’re close enough.

She and the Alley Cats leader Dave, were a powerhouse duo in illegal enterprise, and they fell in love quickly -- or rather, he did and she let him. Theirs was a marriage that raised questions on its legitimacy while at the same time raising both their standings in power. The latter being of no concern to Mabel in her expedition to the top of Chicago’s underworld.

It’s Dave’s death then, that has people questioning this: how deep does Mabel’s desire to look after number one go? Victims of her quick mouth are certainly ones to believe she is just callous enough to have a hand in it. The only sure thing is, when it comes to picking sides, hers is still the smarter one to choose.

[h2]Police interview with Mabel Ryley following the homicide of her husband[/h2]
[h3]Chicago Police Department[/h3]
Incident #1920-0056



Geary:  Today is January 12th 1920. It is currently 11:38.  My name is Detective James Geary, also present is Sergeant Sean Finnerty. We are talking to Mrs. Mabel Ryley of Little Italy, Chicago in relation to a homicide that occurred at 142 Junction and Main on the night of January 10th 1920. Now uh...that’s Ryley with an R-Y, not R-I right?
Ryley: Right.
Geary: So I thought. Well, you certainly have quite a history with law enforcement.
Ryley:[Laughs] That’s all a past life, mostly forgotten now.
Geary: Well it hasn’t forgotten you, Mrs. Ryley.
Finnerty: Yeah, it took two of us to carry your list of priors in here with us.
Ryley: A list that ended a good few years ago now.
Finnerty: Uh-huh. Or you just got better at covering your tracks. Let’s see, uh, Aggravated assault-
Ryley: That one was self defence.
Finnerty: Vandalism, alleged arson-
Ryley: "Alleged."