At the time of his marriage to Maloneys mother, he had only been out of the Missouri Penitentiary for a year. Its like the Mississippi River, says John Larry Ray. Ratings. Because of their advance legwork, Maloney, Jones and staff reporters Bill Norton and Joe Henderson uncovered developments in the midst of the mayhem sometimes before federal and local law-enforcement authorities.At one point Joe Cammisano called Maloney and said: Mr. When I went to the Missouri Penitentiary at Jefferson City, in February 1960, there were 2,500 men inside the walls, Maloney later told readers of the Kansas City Star. Wortman began his career hijacking liquor trucks for the old Shelton gang in East St. Louis. 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. Atty., East St. Louis, Ill., for United States. But back in Kansas City, a rift had developed among three branches of the local mob: the Cammisano, Spero and Bonadonna clans. He was not from another planet, but he was from another time. Beneath the outward generosity, however, Gruender was an angry and hardened man who drank heavily and sometimes abused his wife and stepson. She sent money, clothing, food, stamps and other items. 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. I heard he was in Florida someplace., They sipped beer together for a couple of hours, says John Larry Ray. It was curious, too, how they seemed to hate Joe more than me, although our names appeared together on stories. The Kansas City Mafia wielded considerable economic cloutcontrolling several banks [and] owning ten percent or more of the taverns and nightclubs in the city. Moreover, correspondence regarding his book of poetry had to be routed through his mother. Exposure to art ignited Maloneys innate creative streak. An earlier version of this story appeared in the St. Louis Journalism review in 2008 and Focus/midwest magazine in 2010. He brought him to Chicago. She corresponded. We offer freshly baked cookies for dessert, and fries or chips for a quick snack option. Jones and Maloney collaborated for months on the prison project, sharing the reporting and writing duties. East St. Louis Community College Center. He suspects that the payoff was passed through Wortmans organization by the Chicago mob in advance of a Canadian jewel robbery in which his brother was slated to take part. He wrote to me as if I were just another person, another young writer.. View the menu, check prices, find on the map, see photos and ratings. Only in an institution can love hit that hard and that fast, Maloney wrote. May 14, 2013 - Rackets Boss. 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. Having written it, my next problem was deciding where to send it. He is awaiting sentencing before Judge Catherine D. Perry in August. EAST ST. LOUIS The jury had been out five days when the courtroom buzzer sounded. I heard he was in Florida someplace., They sipped beer together for a couple of hours, says John Larry Ray. You never know for sure what is going to happen from day to day in prison. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. When he visits the Big Apple this week, he will be discussing the assassination of another black leader, the Rev. Instead, James Earl Ray appeared edgy and expressed apprehension about his future. Petzall, the mayors legal mentor, will celebrate his 86th birthday in June. That arrangement was still in place in 1972. Wortman was acquitted in retrial in 1966. A neighborhood setting, within minutes of key places such as Emerson Electric, Boeing, Express Scripts and major highways 70, 270 & 367. Your mother tells me that if you give your promise to do something, you keep your word, Hinkley wrote. In the book, John Larry Ray asserts that his brother revealed to him that he had been ordered to shoot and kill a black soldier in postwar Germany while serving in the Army. Readmore storiesfrom Tim O'Neil's Look Back series. Search the Largest Online Newspaper Archive Show article text (OCR) Save to Ancestry Clipped from St. Louis Post-Dispatch St. Louis, Missouri 05. O'Brien arranged for the Ray brothers to spend the night at a nearby apartment above an illegal gambling den . The next day, Maloney returned to the newsroom not as a guest but as an employee. He told me then that he didnt have time to go on camera for even a few minutes to talk about St. Louis longstanding radioactive waste problem. By then the Star had been bought by Capital Cities, a media chain with a history of poor labor relations. 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. Truth at Last is his intriguing but meandering account, a navigation of the uncharted waters of the two siblings lives. In her first letter, Hinkley advised Maloney to seek divine guidance, but she also offered him a more down-to-earth deal. He was always writing somethingstories, critiques, opinion pieces and, yes, poetry.. Three River Quay nightclubs were soon torched or bombed, and the list of gangland hits rapidly grew. You can check, if they still have the records. She visited. 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. But when his brother arrived, he showed no interest in purchasing guns. Arizona authorities ruled it a suicide. Maloney sensed that the feud was about to erupt into open warfare. People started dying. His stepfather, Julius Dutch Gruender, an ex-con, became Maloneys less-than-sterling guardian. Having written it, my next problem was deciding where to send it. Stelzer, a St. Louis-based freelance writer, is working on a biography of the late J.J. Maloney. The last call he received from his brother before the assassination came on March 29, 1968: He was concerned about what was going down on some type of job. By the time Maloney returned home, his mother had remarried. But Richard Callow, the mayors longtime political consultant, does make a cameo appearance in the film. Warden Nash committed suicide. Seated at right, facing Mrs. Dowling, are county sheriff's deputies Edward Kowalski (left) and Vincent Neuner. Maloney thought of Menn as the father he never had. Gruender used carpentry skills acquired in prison to rehab the old farmhouse, and he showered Maloney with gifts, including a motorcycle and a shotgun. Meanwhile, OBrien was supposed to check with Wortman about a proposed diamond heist. Morris Shenker, the go-to lawyer for mobsters, expressed ritual disappointment. Maloney was 19 years old when he committed the crime. Buster Wortman kept a close eye on the project, but never said anything about it. As a result, Maloneys letters to Menn started coming back undelivered. The couple then took a cab to the Soulard neighborhood in South St. Louis. By checking liquor-license applications, Maloney determined that mobsters or their relatives secretly owned several restaurants and bars in the River Quay. Maloney also tagged along when his stepfather drove to Jefferson City to visit a friend still incarcerated at the penitentiary. In July 1976, David Bonadonna, the father of Fred Bonadonna, owner of Poor Freddies restaurant in the River Quay, became the first victim. 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. After his fourth escape from Boonville, juvenile authorities transferred him to Algoa, the states intermediate reformatory, where his behavior worsened. An attorney of the same name Andrew Leonard was the longtime general counsel for Hartmann Publishing, the original owner of the RFT. (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. Wortman was vacationing in Michigan when he was subpoenaed to appear in an investigation of the murder of J. Fred Koenig, a bookmaker who allegedly was angry that Wortman had taken over his operation. The next day I called Bonadonna, Maloney recalled later. Wortman later moved into a home built upon the island, reached by a wooden bridge -- and always guarded by gunmen. By then, the prison-bound poet and writer had been published in numerous other venues, including Focus/Midwest, a St. Louisbased magazine founded by Charles Klotzer, publisher of the Saint Louis Journalism Review. When he visits the Big Apple this week, he will be discussing the assassination of another black leader, the Rev. This was the town of Tom Pendergast, one of the most powerful Mafia/machine bosses in U.S. history, Maloney wrote. 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. 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). 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. (Robert LaRouche/Post-Dispatch), The house that was built on the island. OBrien arranged for the Ray brothers to spend the night at a nearby apartment above an illegal gambling den also operated by Wortman. Stelzer, a St. Louis-based freelance writer, is working on a biography of the late J.J. Maloney. Pendergast was long gone, but his machine was anchored in place. Gruenders association with these gangsters continued long after his parole. Later that year, James Earl Ray returned to the St. Louis area and met with OBrien again, John Larry Ray says. Magin was a defendant in the 1962 tax case, but was acquitted. 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. For those under 21 years of age, we offer sodas, teas, waters, Gatorades, Red Bull energy drinks, and Nescafe coffee. Or you may simply say the wrong thing to the wrong person. On Aug. 26, 1961, Maloneys girlfriend, Edith Rhodes, was murdered near Huzzah Creek in rural Crawford County, Mo. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch), Elmer "Dutch" Dowling in 1938, when he was 32 years old and a suspect in the attempted murder of a prospective trial witness. The housepainter soon introduced his young stepson to the underworld, taking Maloney with him on occasional visits to the Paddock Lounge, Wortmans bar in East St. Louis, which was a hangout for organized crime figures. 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. He says he drove down from St. Louis in his cream-colored Thunderbird with a machine gun and other weapons in the trunk. Joe, which is what his friends called him, and I shared a cell in C-Hall during 1965-66, recalls former inmate Frank Driscoll. Menn became his mentor, giving guidance and critiquing his poetry and prose. He had seen his share of bloodshed. All the hoods would congregate there, drinking coffee, recalls Jones. He rejected Maloneys poem but continued to correspond, providing him with professional advice and personal guidance. Case Closed: Crime scene photo of the interior of the 1995 Ford Crown Victoria occupied by Jesse Stoneking on Jan. 19, 2003. David Moyer, who confessed to the slaying, first told authorities that the girl shot herself and he had fired a second shot to end her pain. She was 16 and insisted she would commit suicide before she was 21, because she had a fear of not being beautiful. Hal Goldsmith, the prosecutor in the Stenger case, previously served as an Assistant U.S. attorney in East St. Louis in the 1990s, which was Bernes territory. The same year, Maloneys byline disappeared from the pages of the Star when he quit the paper in a dispute over overtime pay. 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. Moreover, Jerry Ray, John Larry Rays surviving brother, disputed John Larrys account in a telephone interview from his home in McMinnville, Tenn., in October. 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. Because of their advance legwork, Maloney, Jones and staff reporters Bill Norton and Joe Henderson uncovered developments in the midst of the mayhem sometimes before federal and local law-enforcement authorities.At one point Joe Cammisano called Maloney and said: Mr. He pitched various book proposals and collaborated on at least three different screenplay adaptations of his first novel, but none of the projects came to fruition. Kane, county coroner. Or you may simply say the wrong thing to the wrong person. While in prison, Gruender met and befriended Elmer Dutch Dowling and Isidore Londe, lieutenants of East St. Louis mob boss Frank Buster Wortman. and the proprietorship known as Paddock Liquor Company, and the names (or identifying descriptions) of the books and records in which the alleged conspiracy sought to cause . James Earl Ray subsequently fled north of the border, but there is no indication that he participated in such a caper. She visited. By the time Maloney returned home, his mother had remarried. Wortman made his bookmaking network pony up $20,000 for the deal. Maloneys own artwork took awards at state and county fairs and was exhibited at a gallery in Paris. Rainbow Wednesdays at Club Lush #121 of 282 places to eat in East Saint Louis. So hundreds of men carried a knife or had one they could get to one in an emergency. John will tell you he brought him [James Earl Ray] to St. Louis, Jerry Ray says. Maloney added to his underworld knowledge in prison, where he befriended fellow inmate John Paul Spica, a St. Louis Mafia soldier. We are also conveniently located near shopping, dining, and entertainment options. He had learned about it from his mobbed-up stepfather. Prosecutors said Wortman evaded $50,793 in taxes due from glitzy gambling halls and smoky bookie joints. On his death, in 1915, the founder of the paper, William Rockhill Nelson, had willed the Star to his employees. 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