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. There is no doubt now that John Larry Ray helped James Earl Ray escape from the Missouri State Penitentiary, but the devil is in the details. Thiemann died as a result of the wounds he sustained in the fracas. She was 16 and insisted she would commit suicide before she was 21, because she had a fear of not being beautiful. He would serve the next 13 years at the Missouri Penitentiary, in Jefferson Cityarguably the worst prison in the United States at the time. The couple then took a cab to the Soulard neighborhood in South St. Louis. 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. All of a sudden their stories would change. The current owners of the sex businesses operating on his property were not charged. . By then, most of his running buddies from the joint were long dead, victims, for the most part, of their own malevolent ways. He also published two autobiographical crime novels. 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. Meanwhile, OBrien was supposed to check with Wortman about a proposed diamond heist. O'Brien arranged for the Ray brothers to spend the night at a nearby apartment above an illegal gambling den also operated by Wortman. The judge put him on probation. In advance of his release, Tom Eblen, then the Stars city editor, had written a letter to Maloney, offering him a three-month contract at a monthly salary of $550. 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. Gruenders association with these gangsters continued long after his parole. After Army service in Europe during World War II, Dowling became and ally of Wortman, then on the rise in East St. Louis. The reasons for murder and mayhem made little sense to anyone except the convicts. He reported for the Orange County Register in 1980 and 1981. That arrangement was still in place in 1972. Slay was a partner in Guilfoil Petzall & Shoemake for 20 years prior to becoming mayor. Its like the Mississippi River, says John Larry Ray. Instead, James Earl Ray appeared edgy and expressed apprehension about his future. If you are young and good looking, you can count on being confronted again and again. Located at 601 James Thompson Blvd., it also will be a one-stop service center for Illinois' Workforce Advantage program. Bar, Nightlife Hours: 601 S 10th St, East St Louis (618) 874-8447. Asked why John Larry Ray would incorporate a stopover in St. Louis into his story, his brother replies: I guess to dramatize the book. Three River Quay nightclubs were soon torched or bombed, and the list of gangland hits rapidly grew. You never knew whom you might have trouble with. On his death, in 1915, the founder of the paper, William Rockhill Nelson, had willed the Star to his employees. Play "The Decider" and let your 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. Double Deuce Lounge - 601 S 10th St, East St Louis. By checking liquor-license applications, Maloney determined that mobsters or their relatives secretly owned several restaurants and bars in the River Quay. In 1956, he punched an Internal Revenue Service agent in the Paddock, intensifying the agency's interest in his unusual wealth. Menn then sold the proposal to Cruise Palmer, the executive editor. Maloneys good fortune was twofold: He had belatedly benefited from the prison-reform movement of the 1960s and also from the unique ownership structure of the Kansas City Star, then employee-owned. But the mob kind of looked at Joe as a turncoat. Barbecue, Barbeque, Bar. Prestige Lounge: By the time Lou Bonds shuttered the Prestige in the early '90s, the venue had already outlasted all of its peers in the surrounding Gaslight Square. We visited every institution of correction for adults and juveniles in both Missouri and Kansas, plus Leavenworth and Marion in Illinois, which at the time was the Alcatraz of the [federal] system, says Jones. He had seen his share of bloodshed. You cant stop one place and jump to another place.. I asked him if hed read the story, and if it had helped him any. Maloney sensed that the feud was about to erupt into open warfare. In that role, Callow has acted to tamp down public concerns about the severity of the environmental and health problems related to the troubled landfill. Magin was a defendant in the 1962 tax case, but was acquitted. Witnesses who might have confirmed John Larry Rays expanded version of events are dead. A day after he escaped, he was in Chicago that night, and I met him and John a day afterward at the Fairview Hotel on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.. A day after he escaped, he was in Chicago that night, and I met him and John a day afterward at the Fairview Hotel on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.. They preferred a more cautious approach, advising that the coverage be focused more indirectly on corruption inside the citys liquor-control agency. In the ensuing fight, the pistol fired a second time, striking Thiemann in the leg. Back home, he muscled out the Shelton brothers and took over the East Side rackets. At a tape-recorded meeting held in the Stars conference room, Fred Bonadonna refuted any possibility that Willie Cammisano had had anything to do with the death of his father. They both concluded that their fears were unfounded, says John Larry Ray. 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. His stepfather, Julius Dutch Gruender, an ex-con, became Maloneys less-than-sterling guardian. By checking liquor-license applications, Maloney determined that mobsters or their relatives secretly owned several restaurants and bars in the River Quay. Last month, the U.S. Attorneys Office in St. Louis issued a three-count indictment against St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger for his role in steering lucrative contracts and property deals in return for campaign contributions from John G. Rallo, a former shareholder in one of the family-owned construction companies CMR Construction Inc. CMR was formed 1989 by Charles N. Rallo and Michael J. Rallo, grandsons of the of founder of C. Rallo Contracting Co., which was incorporated in 1947. While in prison, Gruender met and befriended Elmer Dutch Dowling and Isidore Londe, lieutenants of East St. Louis mob boss Frank Buster Wortman. See restaurant menus, reviews, ratings, phone number, address, hours, photos and maps. Its far-flung empire stretched all the way to Las Vegas, where the KC mob oversaw the skimming of millions of dollars from casinos. He said, Youve saved my life, for the time being, anyway.. Wortman did not like having his picture taken, but couldn't avoid it during the seven-week trial. It was curious, too, how they seemed to hate Joe more than me, although our names appeared together on stories. The Chicago mob had allegedly put a $100,000 contract out on Stonekings life after he became an informant. . At Menns suggestion, he started writing book reviews for the Star. "We drove across the river to the Paddock Lounge in [East St. Louis] Illinois and I introduced him to Jimmie O'Brien," Ray says. When they parted, he watched his brother walk down the back alley alone. Police never filed charges in the murders. I tried to contact OBrien but I couldnt find him, says John Larry Ray. In Dowling's pocket were notes scrawled on napkins that bore the names of jurors and things they'd said in secret deliberation. I was impressed that the literary editor of a famous newspaper would write to me. 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. While there, he remembers, Malcolm X was murdered. Hartmann Publishing, owned by Ray Hartmann, sold the newspaper to the New Times, a Phoenix-based chain, in late 1998. View the menu for Paddock Lounge and restaurants in Fitchburg, MA. Dope was easier to get in prison than it was on the streets. He died of kidney failure and complications of liver disease at Nashville Memorial Hospital on April 23, 1998. Dowling got his start as a robber and bootlegger in St. Louis. The Paddock Lounge & Club Supper Room, East St Louis, IL. Moreover, Jerry Ray, John Larry Rays surviving brother, disputed John Larrys account in a telephone interview from his home in McMinnville, Tenn., in October. Investigators developed a keener interest in the project after Buster Wortman allegedly slugged an IRS agent in the Paddock Lounge, a 429 St. Louis Avenue in East St. Louis on July 1, 1956. Among those standing near the bodies are Dr. C.C. Stelzer An earlier version of this story appeared in the St. Louis Journalism review in 2008 and Focus/midwest magazine in 2010. Maloney worked on his writing for as much as six hours every evening. But Maloney became more devoted to writing as he matured. But back in Kansas City, a rift had developed among three branches of the local mob: the Cammisano, Spero and Bonadonna clans. Gerhard J. Petzall, a former law partner of St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, was a director of Spectrulite Consortium Inc., which owned and operated an Eastside plant contaminated with radioactive waste. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Clark indicated that the owners of Free Spirit advertised in Missouri publications from 1994 until 2000, the Post reported. John Larry Ray, a convicted bank robber, spent more than a quarter-century behind bars himself. After the problem came to light, the company forced its union work force to strike, filed for bankruptcy, and then reorganized under a different name, selling half the business to a foreign conglomerate. Facebook. Last chance! This time he made it as far as Hannibal before crashing a stolen car. He rejected Maloneys poem but continued to correspond, providing him with professional advice and personal guidance. He was found shot to death and stuffed into the trunk of his car. At Menns suggestion, he started writing book reviews for the Star. The court also ordered Sonnenschein to pay a $250,000 fine and give $1 million to Eastside charities. By then the Star had been bought by Capital Cities, a media chain with a history of poor labor relations. Vintage Matchcover: The Paddock Lounge & Club Supper Room, East St Louis, IL | eBay The Paddock Lounge & Club Supper Room, East St Louis, IL. . Eunice Dowling, widow of Dutch Dowling, testifies during a St. Clair County coroner's inquest on March 6, 1962, investigating her husband's murder. I was even more impressed that he did not ask why I was in prison, or for how long. Oddly enough, Spectrulite remained an active corporation in Missouri with Petzalls name appearing in its annual reports long after the business had filed for bankruptcy in federal court in East St. Louis, Ill. In May 1991, Stoneking informed the FBI that Berne had told him that the Rallo Construction Company belonged to the Chicago La Costa Nostra. Moreover, correspondence regarding his book of poetry had to be routed through his mother. Eventually, the government charged him with income-tax evasion. We offer freshly baked cookies for dessert, and fries or chips for a quick snack option. Menn became his mentor, giving guidance and critiquing his poetry and prose. Everyone was shocked. In addition to the failed escape attempt, the prison administration cited Maloney for stabbing another inmate, manufacturing zip guns, using stimulants and committing sodomy. After his fourth escape from Boonville, juvenile authorities transferred him to Algoa, the states intermediate reformatory, where his behavior worsened. Given where hed come from, its easy to figure out why.. 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. Wortman's headquarters was his Paddock Lounge, at 429 St. Louis Avenue in East St. Louis. Having been a convict, they thought he should have respected their trade a little more than he did.. On the basis of this anecdote, co-author Barsten speculates that James Earl Ray was subjected to the CIAs behavior-modification program known as MK-Ultra. The white convicts slept three to a cell (except for several hundred in one-man cells). Yesterday (January 1, 2004), the St. Louis area massage parlor owner reported to federal prison to begin serving a one-year sentence for misprision of a felony, a charge similar to obstruction of justice. He proved to be an invaluable ally. Buster Wortman kept a close eye on the project, but never said anything about it. You have permission to edit this article. In subsequent tape-recorded telephone interviews with Maloney, Bonadonna said that the Mafia had also targeted him for execution. It was uncanny.. Wortman had died in Alexian Brothers Hospital in St. Louis five days before after undergoing throat surgery. Entering the store, he pulled a hunting knife and demanded money from Joseph F. Thiemann, the 74-year-old store owner. When the verdict went wrong, Wortman wanted the money back. Dope was easier to get in prison than it was on the streets. Its like the Mississippi River, says John Larry Ray. A famous urban destination spot for the St. Louis metropolitan with gentlemen clubs and nightclubs, but the Ill Side, which represents St Louis' only section that is in the state of Illinois, is a community that has many misunderstandings, especially within the East St Louis ghetto. Kevin Horrigan, a cub reporter at the Star in 1973, remembers Maloney as an affable colleague but one who stood apart. Moreover, Jerry Ray, John Larry Rays surviving brother, disputed John Larrys account in a telephone interview from his home in McMinnville, Tenn., in October. Bonadonna was one of Maloneys confidential sources. He says he warned his brother about the dangers of dealing with the Mafia: I told him dont be the one floating in the Mississippi.. 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. He was a gutsy little guy. Dowling had been Wortman's right-hand man and was convicted along with Wortman on Feb. 26. Federal prosecutors had charged Bartolotta and another Missouri resident with conspiring to commit interstate transportation of stolen property. Maloney argued that the Star should immediately expose the Mafias infiltration of the River Quay. The reasons for murder and mayhem made little sense to anyone except the convicts. Arizona authorities ruled it a suicide. It was curious, too, how they seemed to hate Joe more than me, although our names appeared together on stories. Less than two months later, Maloney pleaded guilty to murder and armed robbery, and Circuit Judge James F. Nangle sentenced him to four concurrent life sentences. 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). Parking: Valet. If the remark bothered Maloney, he didnt show it. I had another change of clothes, a pound of fudge, a loaf of bread, 14 silver dollars, and my old mans .38 was buried in the bottom of the sack. Despite his preparations, Maloney was quickly apprehended after stealing a car and spent the night in the Montgomery County Jail. 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. East St. Louis Community College Center. He was between jobs, collecting unemployment benefits. By the mid-1920's he became associated with the old Shelton gang and was soon running errands for them. The next day I called Bonadonna, Maloney recalled later. Instead, James Earl Ray appeared edgy and expressed apprehension about his future. Martin Luther King Jr., who died in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968. (Buel White/Post-Dispatch), On March 3, 1962, six days after the jury verdict, the bodies of Elmer "Dutch" Dowling (left) and Melvin Beckman were found sprawled on the pavement of Wolf Branch School Board (now Huntwood Road), north of Belleville. He was one of those guys who was constantly fidgeting, or his knee was pounding up and down. East Saint Louis, Illinois. During the conversation, John Larry Ray says, Kings name came up only in reference to the possibility of traffic congestion resulting from his visit to Memphis the next day. In 1952 the family moved to a farm in New Florence, Mo., a small town 65 miles west of St. Louis. The FBI knew that the Rallo Construction Co. had alleged ties to the Chicago Mafia for decades. 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. 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. Books sent to him for review were screened by the prison administration and sometimes rejected.Instead of zip guns or knives, Maloney fought back with the law as his weapon. The delays in communications eventually killed his deal with Random House. Through her encouragement, elderly attorney Mable Hinkley began to correspond with Maloney. John Larry. It didnt take very long for that to happen. The only thing his real father ever gave him was his name. 4.4. Beneath the outward generosity, however, Gruender was an angry and hardened man who drank heavily and sometimes abused his wife and stepson. A story published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the previous month had spurred the government to do the testing. When he made the demand for money, he and Thiemann began struggling, according to the confession Maloney later gave St. Louis police. He also worked diligently to establish a national writers association for prisoners. She sent money, clothing, food, stamps and other items. Google. He claims that his brother was then fronted an estimated $50,000. They also interviewed city and federal law-enforcement authorities and pumped confidential sources for information. A running dispute during. Stelzer, a St. Louis-based freelance writer, is working on a biography of the late J.J. Maloney. (Edward Burkhardt/Post-Dispatch), Buster Wortman's home at on Grandview Drive on the western outskirts of Collinsville in February 1954. Maloneys own artwork took awards at state and county fairs and was exhibited at a gallery in Paris. Talk about stares. He wasn't convicted again until Feb. 26, 1962, when a federal jury in East St. Louis found him guilty of conspiracy to avoid income taxes on his gambling operations. Warden Nash committed suicide. In her first letter, Hinkley advised Maloney to seek divine guidance, but she also offered him a more down-to-earth deal. But his mother remained faithful: She never gave up. Maloney also tagged along when his stepfather drove to Jefferson City to visit a friend still incarcerated at the penitentiary. Edith was a strangely magnetic girl. The next year, Maloney ran away again. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. A sheriffs posse pursuing the fugitives heard the shots and found Moyer lying next to the body. He claims that his brother was then fronted an estimated $50,000. I was glad to get out of there. Before they departed, Jones overheard the bodyguard to Carl Corky Civella threaten to rape Maloney. Latest reviews, photos and ratings for Romeos Lounge at 787 N 53rd St in East Saint Louis - view the menu, hours, phone number, address and map. He encouraged me to keep working on the poem, and asked me to stay in touch with him. But the mob kind of looked at Joe as a turncoat. The home had been built two years before. After returning to the United States, he occasionally talked to his brother by phone. Webbe, a former city alderman, was convicted of voter fraud and obstruction of justice in 1985. In 1948, he equipped it with the novel luxury of air-conditioning. Meanwhile, Menn had interested Random House in publishing a book of Maloneys poetry. He brought him to Chicago. Wortman was acquitted at retrial, but he spent his last years hunkered in his island home, protected by gunmen. He was a gutsy little guy. Their stories ran as a four-part series in April 1973. By that time, Slay was in his second term as St. Louis mayor. Stenger was introduced to Rallo by federal felon Sorkis Webbe Jr. in 2014, according to the federal indictment. Take-Out/Delivery Options. After six weeks of observation at Fulton, Maloney was allowed by the parole board to enlist in the Army. 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. Maloneys own artwork took awards at state and county fairs and was exhibited at a gallery in Paris. Maloneys formal education had ended in the ninth grade, but Menn recognized raw talent when he saw it. Thiemann died as a result of the wounds he sustained in the fracas. Maloney owed his freedom to Thorpe Menn, the Stars literary editor, who had supported his parole and helped him get his job at the newspaper. 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). Maloneys good fortune was twofold: He had belatedly benefited from the prison-reform movement of the 1960s and also from the unique ownership structure of the Kansas City Star, then employee-owned. Gruender used carpentry skills acquired in prison to rehab the old farmhouse, and he showered Maloney with gifts, including a motorcycle and a shotgun. (Post-Dispatch), Morris Shenker, lead defense lawyer for Buster Wortman, addresses the judge during the trial in February 1962. Only in an institution can love hit that hard and that fast, Maloney wrote. Although the property was listed in his estranged wifes name, Linda Sonnenscbein wasnt charged, either. 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.
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