Johnny Jack Nounes

Who is Johnny Jack Nounes?

"Johnny" Jack Nounes, also known as the "Beau Brummel of Galveston," was a gang leader in Galveston, Texas in the United States during the early 1900s. He, with George Musey, led the Downtown Gang, one of the two gangs which controlled most of the Galveston underworld until the mid-1920s. As the Prohibition era began his gang came to be one of the dominant forces in the Galveston liquor trade. Galveston became the main port of entry for liquor supplying Texas and many parts of the Midwest.

Nounes' flamboyance attracted the attention of federal authorities leading to his conviction in 1924 and sentencing to Leavenworth Penitentiary. His prison term was short but only two years after being released he was again sentenced to prison after being caught with a shipment of liquor in Seabrook.

Frank Nitti, a business partner of Nounes, would go on to become the "enforcer" for Al Capone's crime organization in Chicago.