I remember telling him, Joe, lets just wait until they start killing each other, says Jones. Maloney added to his underworld knowledge in prison, where he befriended fellow inmate John Paul Spica, a St. Louis Mafia soldier. . 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. Otherwise, he rolled his own from pouches of Ozark-brand tobacco, manufactured and distributed for free at the Missouri Penitentiary. Kane, county coroner. Maloney sensed that the feud was about to erupt into open warfare. 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. They drove to Kansas City together and toured the Stars editorial offices. 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.. (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. A version of this story appeared in Illinois Times, April 2, 2008. The Riverfront Times publishes ads for the Eastside strip clubs and massage parlors every week. 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. Truth at Last is his intriguing but meandering account, a navigation of the uncharted waters of the two siblings lives. Maloney had reached his nadir. Paddock Lounge Killer Reporting J.J. Maloney traded a knife for a pen, swapping a life of crime for a career in journalism. The next day, Maloney returned to the newsroom not as a guest but as an employee. 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. He was kind of fearless, says Jones. Maloney thought of Menn as the father he never had. Witnesses who might have confirmed John Larry Rays expanded version of events are dead. We offer freshly baked cookies for dessert, and fries or chips for a quick snack option. Gruenders association with these gangsters continued long after his parole. Sam Reese, an older convict who had gained national recognition for his oil paintings and cartoons, served as his role model. 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. Asked why John Larry Ray would incorporate a stopover in St. Louis into his story, his brother replies: I guess to dramatize the book. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. As a result, the mayor does not appear in our documentary, The First Secret City. He was Wortman's right-hand man when they were convicted together in the income-tax case in 1962. 4.9. This time he made it as far as Hannibal before crashing a stolen car. The Kansas City Mafia wielded considerable economic cloutcontrolling several banks [and] owning ten percent or more of the taverns and nightclubs in the city. (Floyd Bowser/Post-Dispatch). You can check, if they still have the records. He was always writing somethingstories, critiques, opinion pieces and, yes, poetry.. Sonnenscheins latest bust appears to have been part of a larger federal investigation into prostitution on the Eastside. You never knew whom you might have trouble with. 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. 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. Menn became his mentor, giving guidance and critiquing his poetry and prose. He had publicly refuted the Stars story simply to keep from being killed. The next day, Maloney returned to the newsroom not as a guest but as an employee. It was the beginning of a long-term relationship carried out by correspondence. 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). Eventually, the government charged him with income-tax evasion. The same year, Maloneys byline disappeared from the pages of the Star when he quit the paper in a dispute over overtime pay. In 1975, Maloney and Jones teamed up again to cover the corruption and violence surrounding a power struggle among factions of the Kansas City Mafia. He was kind of fearless, says Jones. During a short parole in 1957, Maloney was arrested in Kansas City on suspicion of burglary and carrying a concealed weapon. Rainbow Wednesdays at Club Lush #121 of 282 places to eat in East Saint Louis. But Maloney became more devoted to writing as he matured. We just went in there one night to sit and watch. Five more years would elapse before Maloney finally made parole, during which time Menn continued to support and encourage his writing. He had seen his share of bloodshed. Their bodies were found sprawled across Wolf Branch School Road (now Huntwood). Instead, James Earl Ray appeared edgy and expressed apprehension about his future. Although the property was listed in his estranged wifes name, Linda Sonnenscbein wasnt charged, either. Double Deuce Lounge - 601 S 10th St, East St Louis. In the first installment of the series, Maloney gave a lengthy first-person account of life inside the Walls in Jefferson City. As a result, Maloneys letters to Menn started coming back undelivered. Nash released Maloney from solitary and assigned him to the newly formed prison art class. If you will make these promises, I will ask the warden to take you out of solitary confinement.. Wortman made his bookmaking network pony up $20,000 for the deal. Maloneys prison record listed him as 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds. Stenger was introduced to Rallo by federal felon Sorkis Webbe Jr. in 2014, according to the federal indictment. no take-out . 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. Sonnenschein was indicted because the ads drew customers and prostitutes across state lines, which is a federal crime. 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.. When they parted, he watched his brother walk down the back alley alone. Wortman's headquarters was his Paddock Lounge, at 429 St. Louis Avenue in East St. Louis. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch), The island home of Frank "Buster" Wortman in April 1969, eight months after his death. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch), Workers build a bridge to the mysterious island. On hearing the bad news, Maloney vowed to kill Moyer and tried to escape. In 1952 the family moved to a farm in New Florence, Mo., a small town 65 miles west of St. Louis. Warden Nash committed suicide. At Menns suggestion, he started writing book reviews for the Star. That arrangement was still in place in 1972. 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. They also interviewed city and federal law-enforcement authorities and pumped confidential sources for information. Maloney ended up moving to the West Coast. You have permission to edit this article. The couple then took a cab to the Soulard neighborhood in South St. Louis. Goldsmiths boss at that time was then-U.S. Attorney Charles Grace, who initiated wide-ranging probes of organized criminal enterprises during his tenure. A short time later, he went to federal prison for slugging a liquor agent during a raid on a still near Collinsville. For many of . Morris Shenker, the go-to lawyer for mobsters, expressed ritual disappointment. He wrote to me as if I were just another person, another young writer.. He had seen his share of bloodshed. Maloney then wrested the gun from his victim and fled. John will tell you he brought him [James Earl Ray] to St. Louis, Jerry Ray says. The report goes on to say that Berne told [Stoneking] that if Chicago wanted to buy property, businesses, get loans or some other such financial transaction it would be done through Rallo Construction Company in St. Louis.. 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. 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. 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. A prison psychiatrist who evaluated Maloney shortly after his arrival characterized him as a socially diffident individual who seems to take a half-humorous rejection of the whole affair. If Maloneys initial demeanor seemed inappropriately aloof given the circumstances, it didnt take long for his mood to turn into a malevolent rage. voice be heard! Bartolottas defense attorney was reported in the Globe as Andrew Leonard. Magin was a defendant in the 1962 tax case, but was acquitted. 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. 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. Romeos Lounge. Spectrulite never operated its manufacturing plant in Missouri. The judge put him on probation. That, of course, was back in the day, when a lifer could still aspire to being released on parole. He was too busy that sunny Sunday afternoon promoting some other well-intentioned environmental cause. 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. He also published two autobiographical crime novels. The blacks slept as many as eight to a cell. Maloney was also keenly aware that local law-enforcement officials were hesitant to use the M-word. Ray says of life inside the Walls in Jefferson City, eight after. Across Wolf Branch School Road ( now Huntwood ) father he never had the in! 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