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. Morris A. Shenker, St. Louis, Mo., for defendants Frank Leonard Wortman and Elmer Sylvester Dowling. 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. John Larry Ray, a convicted bank robber, spent more than a quarter-century behind bars himself. O'Brien arranged for the Ray brothers to spend the night at a nearby apartment above an illegal gambling den also operated by Wortman. Five more years would elapse before Maloney finally made parole, during which time Menn continued to support and encourage his writing. In the late 1990s, shortly before his death, he established a Web site, crimemagazine.com, which is maintained by his friend J. Patrick OConnor, former owner of the New Times, a now-defunct alternative weekly in Kansas City. He was too busy that sunny Sunday afternoon promoting some other well-intentioned environmental cause. Mayor Slay leaves office next week, after serving an unprecedented four terms. O'Brien knew the owner of the Paddock, Frank "Buster" Wortman, the East Side mob boss. no take-out . By checking liquor-license applications, Maloney determined that mobsters or their relatives secretly owned several restaurants and bars in the River Quay. On the evening of Dec. 11, he picked up Rhodes in Columbia at an apartment she was sharing with another girl. Gruender used carpentry skills acquired in prison to rehab the old farmhouse, and he showered Maloney with gifts, including a motorcycle and a shotgun. At the time of his release, he had served 13 years of a life sentence for killing a South St. Louis confectionery owner during an attempted robbery. Maloney frequented the mob hangouts at night to develop leads. Its far-flung empire stretched all the way to Las Vegas, where the KC mob oversaw the skimming of millions of dollars from casinos. Joe, which is what his friends called him, and I shared a cell in C-Hall during 1965-66, recalls former inmate Frank Driscoll. She seemed fragile and shy, yet she wasnt. Moreover, correspondence regarding his book of poetry had to be routed through his mother. She also acted as Maloneys liaison with the outside world. This was the town of Tom Pendergast, one of the most powerful Mafia/machine bosses in U.S. history, Maloney wrote. He was between jobs, collecting unemployment benefits. 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. Paddock Lounge Killer Reporting J.J. Maloney traded a knife for a pen, swapping a life of crime for a career in journalism. When he made the demand for money, he and Thiemann began struggling, according to the confession Maloney later gave St. Louis police. She kept her end of the bargain. Asked why John Larry Ray would incorporate a stopover in St. Louis into his story, his brother replies: I guess to dramatize the book. Arizona law enforcement authorities ruled his death a suicide. At left is Dr. C.C. View the menu for Paddock Lounge and restaurants in Fitchburg, MA. Play "The Decider" and let your Beneath the outward generosity, however, Gruender was an angry and hardened man who drank heavily and sometimes abused his wife and stepson. 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. C.D. "We drove across the river to the Paddock Lounge in [East St. Louis] Illinois and I introduced him to Jimmie O'Brien," Ray says. Wortman was 63. After the breakout, John Larry Ray says, he picked James Earl Ray up and drove him back to St. Louis. The two reporters began knocking on doors, talking to area business owners. The prison series later won the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association. Or you may simply say the wrong thing to the wrong person. After his mother suffered a nervous breakdown, the court remanded him to the custody of the St. Josephs Catholic home for boys in St. Louis, where he stayed for nearly a year. Five more years would elapse before Maloney finally made parole, during which time Menn continued to support and encourage his writing. Located at 601 James Thompson Blvd., it also will be a one-stop service center for Illinois' Workforce Advantage program. 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. In later years he worked as a freelance writer and as an editor for the alternative press. We drove across the river to the Paddock Lounge in [East St. Louis] Illinois and I introduced him to Jimmie OBrien, Ray says. More than a decade earlier, a federal probe linked RFT sex ads to the Eastside rackets. In those days the Kansas City Star printed a poem on the editorial page every day, so I mailed the poem to the Star. After the Star ran a story implicating Cammisanos brother William Willie the Rat Cammisano in the Bonadonna slaying, members of the two families demanded to rebut the allegation, which was based on an FBI affidavit. East Saint Louis, Illinois. She also acted as Maloneys liaison with the outside world. We worked on the fifth floor of the prison hospital, which is to say the psych ward. Latest reviews, photos and ratings for Spanky's Lounge at 1434 Piggott Ave in East Saint Louis - view the menu, hours, phone number, address and map. 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 of a sudden their stories would change. Paddock Lounge burns arson suspected. Your mother tells me that if you give your promise to do something, you keep your word, Hinkley wrote. He says he drove down from St. Louis in his cream-colored Thunderbird with a machine gun and other weapons in the trunk. The story was based in part on the earlier research of Kay Drey. 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. When he made the demand for money, he and Thiemann began struggling, according to the confession Maloney later gave St. Louis police. Jones and Maloney collaborated for months on the prison project, sharing the reporting and writing duties. Maloney thought of Menn as the father he never had. Kane, the St. Clair County coroner (fourth from left). They also interviewed city and federal law-enforcement authorities and pumped confidential sources for information. Competing mob interests were in the midst of fighting for control of the River Quay entertainment district. In the ensuing fight, the pistol fired a second time, striking Thiemann in the leg. Shopping, dining, and entertainment are all close by. He had publicly refuted the Stars story simply to keep from being killed. The Riverfront Times publishes ads for the Eastside strip clubs and massage parlors every week. But Maloney became more devoted to writing as he matured. People started dying. Kevin Horrigan, a cub reporter at the Star in 1973, remembers Maloney as an affable colleague but one who stood apart. You can check, if they still have the records. Maloneys prison record listed him as 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds. While absent without leave, Maloney worked briefly for a carnival in Florida before returning to Missouri. . The mob continued to influence the police department, city hall, the county courthouse and the state legislature. The plant at Weaver and College streets operates today as Magnesium Elektron of North America, a non-union company and a subsidiary of Luxfur Group of Great Britain. 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. The reasons for murder and mayhem made little sense to anyone except the convicts. Everyone figured Wortman took care of it. 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. At the time, almost any local mobster was considered a suspect. It was uncanny.. If you are young and good looking, you can count on being confronted again and again. Bar, Nightlife Hours: 601 S 10th St, East St Louis (618) 874-8447. Three River Quay nightclubs were soon torched or bombed, and the list of gangland hits rapidly grew. The Paddock Lounge & Club Supper Room, East St Louis, IL. Bonadonna disappeared in 1978, presumably into the federal witness-protection program. Instead, James Earl Ray appeared edgy and expressed apprehension about his future. 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.. 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. 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. It was uncanny.. Wortman died in a St. Louis hospital Aug. 3, 1968, at age 63 after throat surgery. Ratings. He rejected Maloneys poem but continued to correspond, providing him with professional advice and personal guidance. Maloney then married a former inmate of the girls reformatory at Chillicothe, and they moved to Alabamabut the marriage fell apart. Back home, he muscled out the Shelton brothers and took over the East Side rackets. He also worked diligently to establish a national writers association for prisoners. 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. Witnesses who might have confirmed John Larry Rays expanded version of events are dead. 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. Wortman made his bookmaking network pony up $20,000 for the deal. The jurors were dragged back for a grilling, but no one drew suspicion. If you will make these promises, I will ask the warden to take you out of solitary confinement.. Back home, he shoved aside the Sheltons, mainly through murder. Having written it, my next problem was deciding where to send it. When he visits the Big Apple this week, he will be discussing the assassination of another black leader, the Rev. 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. Jones agreed with them. A version of this story appeared in Illinois Times, April 2, 2008. After six weeks of observation at Fulton, Maloney was allowed by the parole board to enlist in the Army. OBrien arranged for the Ray brothers to spend the night at a nearby apartment above an illegal gambling den also operated by Wortman. 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. While there, he remembers, Malcolm X was murdered. A private drive connected the bridge to South Mulberry Road. 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. By any measure, he had to be considered beyond salvation, a lost cause. He was not from another planet, but he was from another time. I heard he was in Florida someplace., They sipped beer together for a couple of hours, says John Larry Ray. He didnt see what kind of car his brother was driving, but he got the sense that someone was waiting for him. O'Brien arranged for the Ray brothers to spend the night at a nearby apartment above an illegal gambling den . The next year, Maloney ran away again. Although the property was listed in his estranged wifes name, Linda Sonnenscbein wasnt charged, either. If you will make these promises, I will ask the warden to take you out of solitary confinement.. For many of . Bar, Nightlife. A sheriffs posse pursuing the fugitives heard the shots and found Moyer lying next to the body. 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. He was found shot to death and stuffed into the trunk of his car. So hundreds of men carried a knife or had one they could get to one in an emergency. The defendants departed the federal courthouse, 750 Missouri Avenue, free on appeal bond. His second novel, The Chain, is based on his years behind bars, including his incarceration at the Missouri Penitentiary and the old St. Louis City Jail. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}. 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. In subsequent tape-recorded telephone interviews with Maloney, Bonadonna said that the Mafia had also targeted him for execution. Thus inspired, the IRS began digging harder into Wortman's unusual financial world. OBrien knew the owner of the Paddock Frank Buster Wortman the East Side mob boss. 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. 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. In July 1976, David Bonadonna, the father of Fred Bonadonna, owner of Poor Freddies restaurant in the River Quay, became the first victim. Before his contract expired, the Star hired him as a full-time general-assignment reporter. Maloney, I realize you have a job to dobut do you have to be so intense?. She sent money, clothing, food, stamps and other items. Dowling and bodyguard Melvin Beckman met the mystery man in Belleville, who apparently decided to shoot first. He brought him to Chicago. The couple then took a cab to the Soulard neighborhood in South St. Louis. The next day, Maloney returned to the newsroom not as a guest but as an employee. Frank L. "Buster" Wortman (December 4, 1904 - August 3, 1968) was an American St. Louis-area bootlegger, gambler, criminal gang leader, and a former member of the Shelton Brothers Gang during Prohibition.Wortman would eventually succeed the Sheltons, and take over St. Louis's gambling operations in southwest Illinois until his death. 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. In June 1964, at Hinkleys urging, Warden E.V. 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. Double Deuce Lounge. . 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. The literary editor was with Maloneys mother on Sept. 25, 1972, when Maloney walked out of prison for the last time. I had the connection.. 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. She kept her end of the bargain. Dows work caused radioactive debris to accumulate on overhead girders where it was ignored for decades. Dowling got his start as a robber and bootlegger in St. Louis. 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. Maloney also tagged along when his stepfather drove to Jefferson City to visit a friend still incarcerated at the penitentiary. They both concluded that their fears were unfounded, says John Larry Ray. 4.4. When they parted, he watched his brother walk down the back alley alone. The Chicago mob had allegedly put a $100,000 contract out on Stonekings life after he became an informant. The same year, Maloneys byline disappeared from the pages of the Star when he quit the paper in a dispute over overtime pay. John Larry Ray, a convicted bank robber, spent more than a quarter-century behind bars himself. 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. She sent money, clothing, food, stamps and other items. He was always writing somethingstories, critiques, opinion pieces and, yes, poetry.. Maloney expanded his connections in the literary world, writing to such luminaries as R. Buckminster Fuller, John D. MacDonald, William Buckley and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Brokered by Platinum Realty of Saint Louis LLC . Maloney also tagged along when his stepfather drove to Jefferson City to visit a friend still incarcerated at the penitentiary. 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