There were captains on the guard force who owed their souls to certain convicts. Back home, he muscled out the Shelton brothers and took over the East Side rackets. The house remains a private residence. In November, St. Louis Post-Dispatch staffer Michael Shaw reported that Sonnenschein was sentenced to a year in jail in federal court in East St. Louis. (Post-Dispatch), Elmer "Dutch" Dowling arriving at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis in a light rain during the trial. Meanwhile, Menn had interested Random House in publishing a book of Maloneys poetry. Dowling had been Wortman's right-hand man and was convicted along with Wortman on Feb. 26. Maloney had been in solitary confinement for nearly four months after his escape attempt when Hinkley contacted him. Our community in Florissant, MO . The next day, Maloney returned to the newsroom not as a guest but as an employee. But as quickly as his cell door seemed to have started to creak open, the steel bars slammed shut again. In the wake of the mob violence, the River Quay was all but abandoned, with only six liquor licenses remaining in the district, down from 28 a few years earlier. I was even more impressed that he did not ask why I was in prison, or for how long. Moreover, correspondence regarding his book of poetry had to be routed through his mother. He was found shot to death and stuffed into the trunk of his car. These days there are less than a dozen. But John Larry Ray believes that his brother maintained contact with OBrien after their hasty departure. The literary editor was with Maloneys mother on Sept. 25, 1972, when Maloney walked out of prison for the last time. On Dec. 19, 1945, at the age of 14, Maloney ran away from home for the first time.I was prepared, Maloney recalled later. His defiance dashed his hopes of gaining parole and put him at odds with the prison administration for the remainder of his sentence. It was the beginning of a long-term relationship carried out by correspondence. Ray, a 75-year-old resident of Quincy, is giving media interviews in New York to promote the release of his memoir, Truth at Last, co-authored by Lyndon Barsten. On the evening of Dec. 11, he picked up Rhodes in Columbia at an apartment she was sharing with another girl. Rainbow Wednesdays at Club Lush #121 of 282 places to eat in East Saint Louis. After he testified against Berne and other St. Louis area organized crime figures in federal court, the Chicago Mafia allegedly put out a $100,000 contract on his life. In 1948, he equipped it with the novel luxury of air-conditioning. Maloneys formal education had ended in the ninth grade, but Menn recognized raw talent when he saw it. The brand varied with the decade: L&Ms or, later, Marlboro Lights. James OMara, the manager of Local 562, was the chairman of the St. Louis County Council at this time. May 14, 2013 - Rackets Boss. By then, most of his running buddies from the joint were long dead, victims, for the most part, of their own malevolent ways. Eunice Dowling, widow of Dutch Dowling, testifies during a St. Clair County coroner's inquest on March 6, 1962, investigating her husband's murder. The next year, Maloney ran away again. Maloneys own artwork took awards at state and county fairs and was exhibited at a gallery in Paris. In 1979, the St. Louis environmental activist had interviewed a terminally-ill truck driver who had delivered uranium ingots from Mallinckrodt Chemical in North St. Louis to the Dow plant in Madison. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch), Frank "Buster" Wortman in a St. Louis police mug shot in 1933, when he was 28 years old and member of the Shelton gang on the East Side. She also acted as Maloneys liaison with the outside world. Three River Quay nightclubs were soon torched or bombed, and the list of gangland hits rapidly grew. He claims that his brother was then fronted an estimated $50,000. His replacement, Harold R. Swenson, imposed extreme restrictions on all communications with editors and publishers to stop a book from being published by another prisoner, a notorious escapee. For Sale on 1stDibs - "Paddock" Pars 1969, 20th Century oil on canvas by Spanish Artist E. Grau Sala, Canvas, Oil Paint by Emilio Grau Sala. Buster Wortman kept a close eye on the project, but never said anything about it. This time he made it as far as Hannibal before crashing a stolen car. In the city of St. Louis, there were once twenty bars located between Bates on the north and the city limits on the south. All info on Romeos Lounge in East Saint Louis - Call to book a table. The next day, he says, they met with Joe Burnett, another criminal, at a Manchester Avenue bar: The reason we went there was to try and put some money into James pocket. Burnett referred them to safecracker and burglar James Obie OBrien. The only thing his real father ever gave him was his name. Readmore storiesfrom Tim O'Neil's Look Back series. The reasons for murder and mayhem made little sense to anyone except the convicts. In prison he preferred Camels, when he could afford them. In indictments filed by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri against St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger on April 25, 2019, John Johnny Roller Rallo was named as a participant in a pay-to-play scheme. In late 1967, the parole board indicated the possibility of Maloneys being released early the next year. In prison he preferred Camels, when he could afford them. Meanwhile, OBrien was supposed to check with Wortman about a proposed diamond heist. Five more years would elapse before Maloney finally made parole, during which time Menn continued to support and encourage his writing. Shortly before 8 p.m., Maloney dropped Rhodes off at the apartment of an acquaintance, then walked to a nearby confectionery, located at 1100 Lami Ave. There was just something there, and it didnt fit in with everybody else, says Horrigan, now an editorial writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Beckman's shot-up car was ditched at a bowling alley in Swansea. His stepfather, Julius Dutch Gruender, an ex-con, became Maloneys less-than-sterling guardian. At left is Dr. C.C. Wortman did not like having his picture taken, but couldn't avoid it during the seven-week trial. By the time we were cellies, Joe had straightened up his act and was staying out of trouble, working on his parole. Vintage Matchcover: The Paddock Lounge & Club Supper Room, East St Louis, IL | eBay The Paddock Lounge & Club Supper Room, East St Louis, IL. Before the details of that caper could be hashed out, however, the Ray brothers got jittery and split for Chicago. Ratings. On one occasion Jones accompanied him to the Three Little Pigs, an after-hours caf that was a favorite of the Mafia. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Double Deuce Lounge. He had publicly refuted the Stars story simply to keep from being killed. Warden Nash committed suicide. The story was based in part on the earlier research of Kay Drey. Investigators also snooped around the secretive construction of a house, and lake surrounding it, southeast of Collinsville. On the evening of Dec. 11, he picked up Rhodes in Columbia at an apartment she was sharing with another girl. Despite the low wages, the offer was priceless because it cinched his parole. After Maloney punched Thiemann in the face several times, the old man agreed to hand over the cash. Back home, he shoved aside the Sheltons, mainly through murder. He was assigned to the Army Signal Corps School at Fort Gordon, Ga. His military career lasted just three months: He went AWOL on Nov. 3, 1959. You can check, if they still have the records. Log In. You never knew whom you might have trouble with. Meanwhile, Menn had interested Random House in publishing a book of Maloneys poetry. On March 3, 1962, Dowling and a bodyguard were found murdered on a rural road north of Belleville. Facebook. Beckman's shot-up car was found in the parking lot of a bowling alley in Swansea. A subdivision now adjoins the lake, known today as Magin's Lake, named after Wortman's old bartender. He rejected Maloneys poem but continued to correspond, providing him with professional advice and personal guidance. The jurors were dragged back for a grilling, but no one drew suspicion. Located at 601 James Thompson Blvd., it also will be a one-stop service center for Illinois' Workforce Advantage program. When we would go in together to interview somebody, a prisoner or the warden or the guards, wed start off and they would be talking one way and the minute they found out about Joeand what his background wasit was like administering truth serum. Dowling was known as an elegant dresser who preferred expensive businessmen's clothing to the more garish threads of many mobsters. The mob continued to influence the police department, city hall, the county courthouse and the state legislature. A running dispute during the seven-week trial in 1962 was whether he even owned the place. That, of course, was back in the day, when a lifer could still aspire to being released on parole. In addition to the failed escape attempt, the prison administration cited Maloney for stabbing another inmate, manufacturing zip guns, using stimulants and committing sodomy. Ray says his brother gave him approximately half the money and requested that he hold $10,000 of it in case he was arrested and needed to post bond. The Post-Dispatch ran the photograph because Wortman had refused to tell a federal grand jury where he lived. The problems at Spectrulite began in 1957 when the foundry was owned by Dow Chemical Co. Dow processed uranium at the plant between 1957 and 1961 under a subcontract with St. Louis-based Mallinckrodt Chemical Co., which was working for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This time he made it as far as Hannibal before crashing a stolen car. English . "We drove across the river to the Paddock Lounge in [East St. Louis] Illinois and I introduced him to Jimmie O'Brien," Ray says. In 1948, he equipped it with the novel luxury of air-conditioning. We stayed all night at the Catmans in South St. Louis, says Ray, referring to Jack Catman Gawron, a criminal associate of the Ray brothers. 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