Pickhandle - The Story

 Tom Dennison, known as Pickhandle (1858 – 1934) was the son of Irish immigrants from Abbeyfeale, County Limerick in the South West of Ireland, who emigrated during the Great Irish Famine (1845–1852).  When he was young, Dennison traveled throughout the West as a prospector, saloon-keeper and gambler.

During the 1920s, the Prohibition effectively ended the mainstream distribution of alcohol in Omaha and across the United States. However, a politically savvy, culturally astute gambler, Dennison was in charge of the city's gambling and bootlegging in the 1920s, and he owned and operated gambling houses.
As an American political boss and racketeer in Omaha, Nebraska, early in this period Dennison formed the Omaha Liquor Syndicate to monopolize the bootleg liquor trade in Omaha. Dennison also developed alliances with the likes of Al Capone in Chicago. 

Dennison was also strongly in control of the city's political element, however a campaign by state officials drove several alcohol establishments underground and arising from this Dennison encouraged the transformation of the industry, leading saloons to become cocktail lounges and taverns. Because of him, Omaha remained a "boisterous town".

During this period it was said that there was no crime that happened in the city without Dennison knowing about it beforehand. Dennison maintained several offices around downtown Omaha, connecting them by tunnels.

In August 1932 Dennison and 58 of his associates went on trial in a liquor conspiracy case, however, the trial resulted in a hung jury and declared a mistrial.

In August 1933, Dennison was divorced by his 20-year-old wife.  In 1934, he was fatally injured in an auto accident. Dennison was 75.

Today Pickhandle's legacy lives on in our company which was incorporated by a descendant of the same Dennison family which was fortunate enough not to have to emigrate from Abbeyfeale during An Gorta Mór / the Great Famine (1845–1852).