By Aaron Walker
A Moose Jaw Miller Express infielder brought an unexpected Chicago connection to the city this summer, sharing how his family’s funeral business handled burial arrangements for Al Capone.
MOOSE JAW, Sask. — A Moose Jaw Miller Express player brought an unexpected family connection to the city’s “Little Chicago” tourism story this summer: his family’s funeral business in Chicago had handled burial arrangements for Al Capone.
Michael Rago, who played third base for the team, visited the Tunnels of Moose Jaw with fellow players in August. The connection surfaced through Charmaine Franken, owner of Lion’s Creek Moose Jaw, and became the subject of an Aug. 14 Facebook post by the attraction.
According to the post, the Rago family had operated Rago Brothers Funeral Homes for more than a century and arranged funerals for “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn in 1936 and Capone in 1947.
Franken billeted Miller Express player Caden Ransom during the season. Rago and several teammates also became regular visitors to her home and, she said, came to feel like family. A casual question about Rago’s parents revealed the connection to Chicago’s history.
“You never know who you’re going to meet and where you’re going to meet,” she said.
Franken encouraged Rago to visit the Tunnels and meet general manager Bobby Hill.
“Hey, you need to go through that tunnel and go meet Bobby,” she recalled telling him.
Hill said Franken’s call prompted him to look into the funeral home’s history. An online search turned up information about its role in the funerals of Capone and McGurn. When they met, Hill said Rago’s pride in his family’s business came through.
“He’s a super friendly, super nice guy,” Hill said.
The players arrived about half an hour before the tour, allowing time for a conversation, Hill recalled. He and Rago spoke again for 10 to 15 minutes afterward, as teammates prepared to pack up and leave town.
The history behind Little Chicago
The City of Moose Jaw’s relocation guide, a promotional booklet for prospective residents, links the Little Chicago nickname to the city’s Prohibition-era smuggling reputation and the Soo Line railway route connecting Saskatchewan with Chicago. Rumours that Capone visited Moose Jaw to oversee illicit operations became part of that identity.
Those alleged visits remain unproven. The RCMP’s historical information page says there is no evidence linking Capone’s bootlegging to Moose Jaw or establishing that he visited Canada.
The Tunnels’ Chicago Connection draws on that lore in a guided theatrical tour beneath downtown streets. Cast as Prohibition-era bootleggers, visitors follow character guides through underground rooms, encountering Capone’s gang and navigating the illicit liquor trade while evading the law.
A Chicago business with a ‘notorious’ chapter
A 2013 profile by DNAinfo, a neighbourhood news website covering Chicago, reported that brothers Louis and John Rago opened the Western Avenue chapel in 1917. Following Capone’s death in Florida in 1947, the brothers brought his body back to Chicago for a small ceremony and burial at Mount Olivet Cemetery, according to the article.
Capone’s Chicago burial was a small, private gathering, according to a 2008 Chicago Tribune report. Six cemetery gravediggers served as pallbearers at Mount Olivet Cemetery, and the family left shortly afterward while reporters waited outside the gates.
The funeral home’s website identifies members of its third, fourth and fifth generations working in the business. It operates the original Western Avenue location and another on Irving Park Road, which opened in 1990.
The profile also described funeral director Louis Rago’s years of clearing sidewalks around Smith Park, earning him the nickname “Smith Park Snow Angel.”
“No one loves life more than Louie Rago because I see death every day,” he told DNAinfo.
A season of connections
In Moose Jaw, Franken said the players got to know one another partly through work they shared at the ballpark. She described the Miller Express as one of the few teams in the league whose players do their own grounds maintenance, recalling teammates getting up at 6 a.m. to pull the tarp during the rainy start to the season.
The players “really bonded extremely well, and they really thought they were going to go all the way,” she said.
The Miller Express finished atop the East Division with a 41–15 record, setting a franchise record for regular-season wins. They swept the Medicine Hat Mavericks before falling to the Saskatoon Berries in the division final, one series win away from reaching the Western Canadian Baseball League championship series.
“It’s just sad that they didn’t go all the way. They were so close,” Franken said.
Saying goodbye proved difficult. Franken recalled players lingering before leaving town because “they weren’t ready to go home.” With their season over, several teammates made time to explore Moose Jaw.
The Chicago Connection tour was one of their final outings together. What began as a conversation about Rago’s parents had led several teammates to explore Moose Jaw’s Little Chicago lore before leaving town.
