One of the most famous submachine guns in the world, the Thompson rates as one of the truly signature American weapons. While advancements in manufacturing techniques and materials would allow later designs to match or exceed the Thompson's performance, none of them have managed to do the job with the same level of style and craftsmanship. The Thompson, a product of old-school hand craftsmanship, is virtually synonymous with the Roaring 20s and the Great Depression, being found on both sides of the law during the "gangland" era of American history, and also serving on all Allied fronts of World War II, where it stood tall among its more cost-effective stamped steel substitutes. The records in Herigstad's "Colt Thompson Submachine Gun" (page 892) show this 1921 as having been shipped as part of a two-piece order to the Rock Island County Sheriff's Office in Rock Island, Illinois, on September 24, 1930. Rock Island was one of the notable gateways to the American West, and, like many law enforcement agencies, the Rock Island Sheriff's Department opted to upgrade their firepower to meet the hazards of the Prohibition and Depression era, including organized crime and motorized banditry. Part of the departmental folklore was that the two Thompsons in the sheriff's inventory were confiscated from notorious gangster, blackmailer, political operator and lawyer John Looney, whose rampage of crime ran from 1897 to 1925. Originally arriving in Rock Island to work as a train dispatcher, Looney reinvented himself as a lawyer and politician. Whether he was good at either depends on your definition of "good"; he won relatively few of his clients' cases but got them indebted to him in ways useful for a criminal ,and he was generally more effective at blackmailing politicians than working alongside them. After a failed run for the State Legislature, Looney decided the local paper, the Rock Island Argus, was responsible for his failure and decided that destroying people's lives was better business than representing them; he started a rival newspaper, the Rock Island News, which served as his personal blunt instrument. The News would dig up dirt, invent dirt whole cloth, or manufacture it's own dirt (a favorite tactic was to have a photographer lying in wait while a lady of the evening in Looney's employ would throw herself at the target), extracting healthy "kill fees" from people wanting to keep their good name out of the mud. From a start of relatively simple fraud in government, Looney's criminal activity in the Quad Cities area can be best described with the words "diverse" and "endemic"; precious little crime was below his notice, and if it happened along this particular section of the Mississippi River he had a finger in it. His eventual downfall began in 1912, when a conflict with the mayor escalated from words to a violent beating in City Hall, and clear up to a multiple day riot and 30 days of martial law in Rock Island. Skipping town for a few years, Looney came back and tried to reassert himself in Rock Island, and, while he was able to carve out his territory again, conflict with rival crime groups (many former Looney associates who struck out on their own when the boss bailed out) resulted in the death of his son. The final nail would be the murder of a local saloonkeeper who tried to go to the feds when he became upset with increases in the amount of protection money he was paying. While no evidence put Looney at the scene, his henchmen who actually did the deed named him as the leader, resulting in his arrest in 1925 and a 14 year sentence (about 8 1/2 served) in Stateville Prison. On release, he headed to the Southwest, passing on in Texas in 1942. Looney would become part of the legend of the Quad Cities, and later gain wider notoriety via the graphic novel Road to Perdition, later made into a 2002 feature film with Tom Hanks portraying a fictional prohibition-era triggerman and Paul Newman as the boss (renamed "John Rooney" in the adaptation). Reports indicate that the Sheriff's Department only purchased the two Thompsons, one being liquidated in the 1970s to pay for equipment upgrades and the other released in 2006 through our auction house to raise funds for a local animal shelter. Blade front sight on the unmarked Cutts compensator and folding Lyman rear sights, standard 1921 nomenclature and markings on the receiver, with the matching numbered trigger housing fitted with knurled control surfaces and proper "FULL/AUTO"/"SINGLE" and "FIRE"/"SAFE" switch configuration. Internals are proper 1921 pattern, with Blish Lock mechanism, heavyweight recoil spring, and spring steel oiler. With dual pistol grips and a quick detach buttstock with a small "anchor" stamp on the front, "RI CO" scratched into the left side, and a metal tag marked "PROPERTY OF/COUNTY OF ROCK ISLAND/No.08959" on the left near the buttplate. Included with the lot is one Auto-Ordnance 50-round Type "L" drum magazine.

Excellent, with 95% of the original blue finish overall, showing minor spotting and handling marks overall. The wood is very fine, with some minor handling marks and dings. Mechanically excellent. NOTE: This weapon is a National Firearms Act (NFA), fully transferable Class 3, which is registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, (BATFE) that is classified as a "Curios or Relic" as defined in 27 CFR, 478.11. These weapons are still subject to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44 and 27 CFR part 479.