George "Bugs" Moran was the last of Chicago's spectacular North Side gang leaders, a colorful and violent dynasty that began with Dean O'Banion in 1920. In The Man That Got Away, author Rose Keefe provides the first in-depth look at the enigmatic gangster's charmed and wacky life from his Minnesota childhood to his early years as a horse thief. She chronicles his two marriages, his rise and fall in Chicago's Prohibition-era underworld, his life as an independent outlaw in the 1930s and '40s, and his last days in Leavenworth Penitentiary.

In the process of telling Moran's story, some of the twentieth century's most fascinating and bewildering gangland figures are revisited: Al Capone, Johnny Torrio, Dean O'Banion, Vincent "the Schemer" Drucci, Earl "Hymie" Weiss, showboating Chicago Mayor "Big Bill" Thompson, the gang-hating but oddly pro-Moran Judge John H. Lyle, Virgil Summers, and Albert Fouts.

Although Moran was not killed in the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in February 1929-a bloodbath meant for him that claimed the lives of seven of his associates-the grisly event marked the beginning of the end of his days as a gangland power broker. Cops and journalists dismissed More, figuring that the loss of his top henchmen and Capone's absorption of the North Side would either force Bugs out of town for good or make him a target that no "red-hot" seeking a reputation could resist.

Moran proved to be a cunning and determined survivor. Although not as cerebral as some of the crime bosses, Moran was street-smart. He was a rough-and-tumble brawler who relied on his instincts, guts, and guns, and he outlived O'Banion, Weiss, Capone, and probably most of those who predicted his imminent demise in 1929.

Moran did not escape scot-free, however. He served the latter part of his life in both the Ohio State and Leaven worth penitentiaries on bank robbery charges. Despite his violent career, it was cigarettes-not bullets-that did him in when he died in prison in 1957.

Although George Moran associated with and commanded some ruthless and violent characters, that who knew him suspected there was as much gold in his heart as in his 1920s bank account. As Judge John Lyle recalled in his own memoir, "He was guilty of many wicked acts. But...I had long thought that of all the gangsters I had observed, Moran was the most likely to repent before he died and ask God's forgiveness."

History did not record the details of Moran's Last confession, but the public record and Rose Keefe's interviews with Moran's former associates now allow us to form an educated guess.