why are gangsters often portrayed carrying violin cases?

Question

Would anyone be fooled by a thuggish man pretending to be a musician?

whats the origin of the gangster & violin case thing? does it have any real villains who did it?

Answer 1

In the early 1920's, the Thompson Sub-Machine gun was introduces, and mob families like the Chicago Mafia took them to heart, calling them the "Chicago Typewritters".

Violin cases were used to transport them openly. The shape of the violin was almost a perfect match for the Tommy Gun. The barrel of the neck fitted perfectly in the space alloted for the neck of the violin. The shape also fit the cylinder cartridge of the Tommy gun. Often though, the stocks has to be cut down for a true fit, but did not hinder the gun any.

This took off into a phenom, gangsters often carried other machine guns in violin and guitar cases. Although there are only a handful of "cases" stating certain gangsters carrying violin cases, "Buster From Chicago", a reputed mobster, always carried his machine gun in a white violin case. There have been reports of him actually modifying the case so he can fire the gun without opening it. This is where Robert Rodriguez got the idea for his "El Mariachi' movies (not the story, just being able to fire guns from the cases)

This fad didn't last too long, as cops became wise and an aggressive crack down came into play. By the 30's, technology gave way to smaller and lighter sub machine guns, so the cases were deemed unnecessary.

Answer 2

Gangster Violin Case

Answer 3

A violin case would not arouse suspicion in the way that a machine gun would do. It was probably a viola case as the viola is physically bigger than a violin.

The machine gun of choice was the Thompson Sub-machine Gun. 'Sub' because it was a portable machine gun using pistol calibre rounds of ammunition.

The Thompson could utilize a standard box magazine of between 20- 30 rounds of .45 calibre ammo. But a drum magazine (often seen in gangster movies) could hold between 50- to 100 rounds.

Of course, carrying an empty case could prove as much of a threat as carrying one with a machine gun inside. The added bonus was that if the gangster was stopped by an incorruptible policeman, there was no danger of being caught concealing a weapon.

Answer 4

I believe a violin case was just the right size to conceal a tommy gun. By the way, a musician friend of mine who was carrying a double bass through the streets late at night swears he had to take it out of its case and play it to persuade the police he wasn't a gangster!

Answer 5

Would anyone be fooled by a thuggish man pretending to be a musician? Well if you look back at the old fims to see the Jazz musicians they are heavy guys. They also seem a bit 'shifty'. Great music great people.

Answer 6

I don't know the origin, but this is probably from early films, based on mafia characters in New York. I suspect it did happen, it is so engrained in the culture.

The "shaped" violin case is used far less often, nowadays (the violin case shaped like a violin) -- children still use them, but nearly everyone else uses an oblong case.

Answer 7

Some gangsters hid a machine gun in their violin case mostly during the 1930's (Prohibition Era).

Answer 8

Because back in the 1920s they used to hide their machine guns in violin cases

Answer 9

The "guitar/gun case" was made popular with Dick Tracey. No such examples of actual gangsters were known to have used them.

Not to mention the fact that
A. A tommy gun would rattle around in a regular guitar case.
B. A specifically designed case would have a lot of wasted room.

Answer 10

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