Six days after the verdict, Dowling and a bodyguard were found shot to death on a dark road north of Belleville. She had eloped from the state mental hospital in Fulton and gone on another crime spree, this time with a 22-year-old hoodlum from Flat River. Will you make a promise (and keep it) not to try and run awayto obey the rules of the prison and try to do whatever work is assigned to you? The house remains a private residence. Dowling and bodyguard Melvin Beckman met the mystery man in Belleville, who apparently decided to shoot first. Before his contract expired, the Star hired him as a full-time general-assignment reporter. Thiemann then reached into his back pocket as if to get the money and came out with a revolver and fired one shot, which apparently went over his [Maloneys] head. Maloney reacted by stabbing the storeowner in the stomach. He didnt see what kind of car his brother was driving, but he got the sense that someone was waiting for him. While in prison, Gruender met and befriended Elmer Dutch Dowling and Isidore Londe, lieutenants of East St. Louis mob boss Frank Buster Wortman. The Post-Dispatch ran the photograph because Wortman had refused to tell a federal grand jury where he lived. She also acted as Maloneys liaison with the outside world. Star reporter Harry Jones Jr. had hatched the idea of hiring him as a temporary consultant for an in-depth series of stories on prison systems in Missouri and Kansas. They both concluded that their fears were unfounded, says John Larry Ray. They preferred a more cautious approach, advising that the coverage be focused more indirectly on corruption inside the citys liquor-control agency. Maloney also tagged along when his stepfather drove to Jefferson City to visit a friend still incarcerated at the penitentiary. East Side mob boss Frank "Buster" Wortman and sidekick Elmer "Dutch" Dowling awaited the verdict with stiff-jawed scowls, just as tough guys should. Their stories ran as a four-part series in April 1973. The St. Louis mobster and federal informant died from a gunshot wound to the head. More important, Maloney understood that the roots of the problem ran deep in the Kansas City political establishment and business community and that there was a kind of mass denial regarding corruption. Despite his abominable record, the state had little choice but to parole him in January 1959, a few months after he turned 18. Maloney had been in solitary confinement for nearly four months after his escape attempt when Hinkley contacted him. John will tell you he brought him [James Earl Ray] to St. Louis, Jerry Ray says. The reasons for murder and mayhem made little sense to anyone except the convicts. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Through her encouragement, elderly attorney Mable Hinkley began to correspond with Maloney. Wortman began his career hijacking liquor trucks for the old Shelton gang in East St. Louis. Police never filed charges in the murders. The mob continued to influence the police department, city hall, the county courthouse and the state legislature. In prison he preferred Camels, when he could afford them. He was kind of fearless, says Jones. Maloney expanded his connections in the literary world, writing to such luminaries as R. Buckminster Fuller, John D. MacDonald, William Buckley and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. A few days later I received a letter from Thorpe Menn, literary editor of the Star, who rejected the poem but said he liked the last four lines. On Aug. 26, 1961, Maloneys girlfriend, Edith Rhodes, was murdered near Huzzah Creek in rural Crawford County, Mo. But back in Kansas City, a rift had developed among three branches of the local mob: the Cammisano, Spero and Bonadonna clans. This meant that senior editorial staffers such as Menn, who had accumulated large stock holdings in the company, could negotiate with management on a more even level. Take-Out/Delivery Options. Sam Reese, an older convict who had gained national recognition for his oil paintings and cartoons, served as his role model. Maloney was also keenly aware that local law-enforcement officials were hesitant to use the M-word. By then the Star had been bought by Capital Cities, a media chain with a history of poor labor relations. Maloney frequented the mob hangouts at night to develop leads. Beckman was a bodyguard for Wortman and Dowling. Nash released Maloney from solitary and assigned him to the newly formed prison art class. He filed suit against the Department of Corrections, arguing that his constitutional rights under the First Amendment had been violated. This was the town of Tom Pendergast, one of the most powerful Mafia/machine bosses in U.S. history, Maloney wrote. Maloneys formal education had ended in the ninth grade, but Menn recognized raw talent when he saw it. They also interviewed city and federal law-enforcement authorities and pumped confidential sources for information. 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. Talk about stares. At the time of his marriage to Maloneys mother, he had only been out of the Missouri Penitentiary for a year. She corresponded. Kane, county coroner. The couple then took a cab to the Soulard neighborhood in South St. Louis. In subsequent tape-recorded telephone interviews with Maloney, Bonadonna said that the Mafia had also targeted him for execution. The white convicts slept three to a cell (except for several hundred in one-man cells). Gruender, a housepainter, had a string of arrests and convictions for car theft and burglary dating back to 1926. In September 1983, Post staffer Ronald Lawrence reported that one of Sonnenscheins business associates was Fernando Nando Bartolotta, a made member of the St. Louis mafia family, then under the leadership of the late Matthew Trupiano. The revelation was allegedly made in October 1974, when the two brothers shared a cell at the Shelby County (Tenn.) Jail in advance of an evidentiary hearing to determine whether James Earl Ray should be granted a trial. 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. Sam Magin, former manager and bartender at Wortman's Paddock Lounge in East St. Louis, told investigators and reporters that he was in charge of the project and that it was being built for a boys' club. Wortman had died in Alexian Brothers Hospital in St. Louis five days before after undergoing throat surgery. Maloney excelled as a feature writer but eventually became better known as an investigative journalist covering a wide range of issues, including labor racketeering, white-collar crime, drug trafficking and mental health. They drove to Kansas City together and toured the Stars editorial offices. The blacks slept as many as eight to a cell. After his fourth escape from Boonville, juvenile authorities transferred him to Algoa, the states intermediate reformatory, where his behavior worsened. A week after the trial, one was shot to death along with his body guard. But his rise from convicted murderer to award-winning investigative reporter for the Kansas City Star is a feat unparalleled in the annals of American journalism. Much of the authors personal knowledge of his brothers exploits is limited to involvement in James Earl Rays escape from the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City in April 1967, a year before Kings murder. (Floyd Bowser/Post-Dispatch). While in prison, Gruender met and befriended Elmer Dutch Dowling and Isidore Londe, lieutenants of East St. Louis mob boss Frank Buster Wortman. Search for: Search. If you will make these promises, I will ask the warden to take you out of solitary confinement.. Just minutes from highways 367, 170 and I-270, the commute to great St. Louis employers like Boeing, Express Scripts, and Emerson Electric is easy. Live Racing. Daniel Waugh drove a cab at night and chased old mobsters by day. He reported for the Orange County Register in 1980 and 1981. He was one of those guys who was constantly fidgeting, or his knee was pounding up and down. He was too busy that sunny Sunday afternoon promoting some other well-intentioned environmental cause. You never knew whom you might have trouble with. The delays in communications eventually killed his deal with Random House. The two returned to St. Louis early the next morning on a Greyhound bus. Rays late brother James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to Kings murder in 1969 but quickly recanted his confession. They registered at the St. Francis Hotel, at Sixth and Chestnut, under the name Mr. and Mrs. John Ducharme of Jacksonville, Fla. That evening Maloney, armed with a hunting knife, robbed the clerk at another downtown hotel. In the city of St. Louis, there were once twenty bars located between Bates on the north and the city limits on the south. The couple then took a cab to the Soulard neighborhood in South St. Louis. Hinkley, a former St. Louis Globe-Democrat Woman of the Year, was an early advocate of prison reform and used her social standing to influence decisions of the Missouri Department of Corrections. The court also ordered Sonnenschein to pay a $250,000 fine and give $1 million to Eastside charities. In June 1964, at Hinkleys urging, Warden E.V. For those under 21 years of age, we offer sodas, teas, waters, Gatorades, Red Bull energy drinks, and Nescafe coffee. If the remark bothered Maloney, he didnt show it. A running dispute during the seven-week trial in 1962 was whether he even owned the place. View 2295 homes for sale in Paddock Lake Condominiums, take real estate virtual tours & browse MLS listings in Florissant, MO at realtor.com. Latest reviews, photos and ratings for Double Deuce Lounge at 601 S 10th St in East Saint Louis - hours, phone number, address and map. The home, lake and surrounding land was on sale for $175,000. Dennis W. Sonnenschein will have plenty of time to reflect on his business career over the next year. James Earl Ray subsequently fled north of the border, but there is no indication that he participated in such a caper. He chain-smoked. The Chicago mob had allegedly put a $100,000 contract out on Stonekings life after he became an informant. East Boogie created that same passion, drive and defiant spirit in the likes of a jazz musician by the name of Miles Davis and many achievers who dared to dream of success despite the negative. Magin was a defendant in the 1962 tax case, but was acquitted. Martin Luther King Jr., who died in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968. The literary editor was with Maloneys mother on Sept. 25, 1972, when Maloney walked out of prison for the last time. I asked him if hed read the story, and if it had helped him any. In later years he worked as a freelance writer and as an editor for the alternative press. A judge cited him for contempt of court. By the time we were cellies, Joe had straightened up his act and was staying out of trouble, working on his parole. Maloney ended up moving to the West Coast. Maloney had no way of knowing the significance that his verse would ultimately play in redirecting his life. The next day, Maloney returned to the newsroom not as a guest but as an employee. Gruender used carpentry skills acquired in prison to rehab the old farmhouse, and he showered Maloney with gifts, including a motorcycle and a shotgun. When he made the demand for money, he and Thiemann began struggling, according to the confession Maloney later gave St. Louis police. If you have money, there will be people who want it. Maloneys own artwork took awards at state and county fairs and was exhibited at a gallery in Paris. He wrote to me as if I were just another person, another young writer.. Morris A. Shenker, St. Louis, Mo., for defendants Frank Leonard Wortman and Elmer Sylvester Dowling. Over the next year and a half, Maloney was put in solitary confinement dozens of times for attempting to escape, instigating a riot and other infractions. Maloney expanded his connections in the literary world, writing to such luminaries as R. Buckminster Fuller, John D. MacDonald, William Buckley and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Tucked in a peaceful neighborhood, Paddock Village Apartments offers a quaint residential setting, complete with lush green spaces. He called me one time, asking about a gun, John Larry Ray says. 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. Hinkley, a former St. Louis Globe-Democrat Woman of the Year, was an early advocate of prison reform and used her social standing to influence decisions of the Missouri Department of Corrections. Maloney then married a former inmate of the girls reformatory at Chillicothe, and they moved to Alabamabut the marriage fell apart. When newspaper tycoon Mike Lacey, former owner of the St. Louis Riverfront Times, was busted for pimping in California this week, his arrest was long overdue. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch), The island home of Frank "Buster" Wortman in April 1969, eight months after his death. Its the smoking that eventually killed him. Three River Quay nightclubs were soon torched or bombed, and the list of gangland hits rapidly grew. Or you may simply say the wrong thing to the wrong person. Sam Reese, an older convict who had gained national recognition for his oil paintings and cartoons, served as his role model. He called me one time, asking about a gun, John Larry Ray says. Wortman later moved into a home built upon the island, reached by a wooden bridge -- and always guarded by gunmen. 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. Solitary confinement involved long-term segregation, whereas the hole was a short-term punishment, usually a 10-day stint, during which prisoners were deprived of cigarettes, bedding and sometimes clothing. Stoneking, the informant who testified against Bartolotta and dozens of other St. Louis mobsters in the 1980s, died of an apparent suicide in Maricopa County, Arizona a year ago (2003). But as quickly as his cell door seemed to have started to creak open, the steel bars slammed shut again. 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. The FBI knew that the Rallo Construction Co. had alleged ties to the Chicago Mafia for decades. She kept her end of the bargain. But Sonnenscheins trail extends further into the past. Webbes father had been convicted of income tax evasion in Nevada in 1983 related to his interests in the Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas, which was then controlled by the Detroit Mafia. He was found shot to death and stuffed into the trunk of his car. Warden Nash committed suicide. The delays in communications eventually killed his deal with Random House. If you are young and good looking, you can count on being confronted again and again. Maloney then married a former inmate of the girls reformatory at Chillicothe, and they moved to Alabamabut the marriage fell apart. It didnt take very long for that to happen. I was even more impressed that he did not ask why I was in prison, or for how long. Joe, which is what his friends called him, and I shared a cell in C-Hall during 1965-66, recalls former inmate Frank Driscoll. Competing mob interests were in the midst of fighting for control of the River Quay entertainment district. Maloney worked on his writing for as much as six hours every evening. A story published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the previous month had spurred the government to do the testing. All info on Romeos Lounge in East Saint Louis - Call to book a table. 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