She sent money, clothing, food, stamps and other items. By then the Star had been bought by Capital Cities, a media chain with a history of poor labor relations. The literary editor was with Maloneys mother on Sept. 25, 1972, when Maloney walked out of prison for the last time. If they were surprised to hear the word "guilty," they didn't show it. 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. The next year, Maloney ran away again. 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. O'Brien knew the owner of the Paddock Frank "Buster" Wortman the East Side mob boss. By the time Maloney returned home, his mother had remarried. The next day, Maloney returned to the newsroom not as a guest but as an employee. He was not from another planet, but he was from another time. In June 1964, at Hinkleys urging, Warden E.V. Callow, however, is not the only link between the mayor and the radioactive waste that has plagued the region since it first began piling up as a byproduct of Mallinkcrodt Chemicals work on the Manhattan Project. Over the next two years, eight more mob-related murders would go down before the violence subsided. He claims that his brother was then fronted an estimated $50,000. Bonadonna disappeared in 1978, presumably into the federal witness-protection program. You have permission to edit this article. As a result, Maloneys letters to Menn started coming back undelivered. The delays in communications eventually killed his deal with Random House. He went to prison for slugging a liquor agent in 1933 at a still near Collinsville. They preferred a more cautious approach, advising that the coverage be focused more indirectly on corruption inside the citys liquor-control agency. He says he drove down from St. Louis in his cream-colored Thunderbird with a machine gun and other weapons in the trunk. 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. Beneath the outward generosity, however, Gruender was an angry and hardened man who drank heavily and sometimes abused his wife and stepson. But the bankrupt, Illinois-based company, which had been sold to a foreign concern, remained an active corporation in Missouri for six years after its apparent demise; proof that there is life after death at least in the legal world. Play "The Decider" and let your I did what all young poets do, I tried to write a nice little rhyming solution to all the problems of the universe, he later wrote. Meanwhile, O'Brien was supposed to check with Wortman about a proposed diamond heist. She corresponded. By the time Maloney returned home, his mother had remarried. 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.. I dont know.. That arrangement was still in place in 1972. . The prison series later won the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association. 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. (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. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}. 4.9. Until January, Sweeney headed the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, a county agency that was used to dole out the contracts to Rallo and other political contributors to Stengers campaign coffers. A sheriffs posse pursuing the fugitives heard the shots and found Moyer lying next to the body. 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. It was curious, too, how they seemed to hate Joe more than me, although our names appeared together on stories. That J.J. Maloney survived is remarkable. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. He quickly became an important part of the gang that terrorized Southern Illinois in the 1920s and early. His editors opposed the idea. 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. 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. There were captains on the guard force who owed their souls to certain convicts. 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. She seemed fragile and shy, yet she wasnt. A long-buried FBI report raises questions as to why the FBI and U.S. Justice Department ignored damning allegations by a now-very dead informant. He was not from another planet, but he was from another time. The photo was taken in April 1958. View the menu, check prices, find on the map, see photos and ratings. After his return to Missouri, his parole officer committed Maloney to State Hospital No. Spectrulite never operated its manufacturing plant in Missouri. Maloney then wrested the gun from his victim and fled. They both concluded that their fears were unfounded, says John Larry Ray. Their stories ran as a four-part series in April 1973. He was always writing somethingstories, critiques, opinion pieces and, yes, poetry.. Joseph John Maloney Sr., a shoemaker by trade, walked out of his sons life in 1943, when he was 3 years old. He had his demons, says Mike Fancher, an editor who worked closely with Maloney, but I know that for the time that he worked for the Star he did some absolutely amazing work that I dont think any other journalist could have possibly done.. The woman at left is Kane's secretary. He brought him to Chicago. Once an adult (21 years old or older) has finished racing for the day (we have a strict anti-drinking and driving policy), they can enjoy a wide selection of beer and . (Lloyd Spainhower/Post-Dispatch), In 1956, workers began digging an oval lake and fashioning an island near South Mulberry Road southeast of Collinsville. After six weeks of observation at Fulton, Maloney was allowed by the parole board to enlist in the Army. Shenker got the convictions reversed. Aside from representing the mayor, Callow has also been a local spokesman for Republic Services, the giant waste disposal company that owns the radioactively-contaminated West Lake Landfill Superfund site in North St. Louis County. That, of course, was back in the day, when a lifer could still aspire to being released on parole. 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. He rejected Maloneys poem but continued to correspond, providing him with professional advice and personal guidance. 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. We just went in there one night to sit and watch. Before his contract expired, the Star hired him as a full-time general-assignment reporter. Exposure to art ignited Maloneys innate creative streak. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. In the ensuing fight, the pistol fired a second time, striking Thiemann in the leg. Or you may simply say the wrong thing to the wrong person. 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. Maloney, I realize you have a job to dobut do you have to be so intense?. The Star published a verbatim transcript of his claims in its next edition. Wortman was acquitted in retrial in 1966. When the verdict went wrong, Wortman wanted the money back. While confined at the hospital, Maloney met and fell in love with a fellow patient, 16-year-old Edith Rhodes, who had been transferred from Chillicothe. In late 1967, the parole board indicated the possibility of Maloneys being released early the next year. Menn then sold the proposal to Cruise Palmer, the executive editor. On Dec. 19, 1945, at the age of 14, Maloney ran away from home for the first time.I was prepared, Maloney recalled later. 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. He was one of those guys who was constantly fidgeting, or his knee was pounding up and down. Paddock Lounge Killer Reporting J.J. Maloney traded a knife for a pen, swapping a life of crime for a career in journalism. Bonadonna disappeared in 1978, presumably into the federal witness-protection program. 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 judge put him on probation. It was uncanny.. He drew five years, but the conviction was reversed. 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. As a result, he was put in solitary four times and sentenced to the hole another 18 or 20 times. On one occasion Jones accompanied him to the Three Little Pigs, an after-hours caf that was a favorite of the Mafia. 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. Meanwhile, Menn had interested Random House in publishing a book of Maloneys poetry. 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. 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. 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. 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. Sam Reese, an older convict who had gained national recognition for his oil paintings and cartoons, served as his role model. While at the Register, he covered a series of murders attributed to the Freeway Killer, a name of his invention. They preferred a more cautious approach, advising that the coverage be focused more indirectly on corruption inside the citys liquor-control agency. 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. This was the town of Tom Pendergast, one of the most powerful Mafia/machine bosses in U.S. history, Maloney wrote. Paddock Lounge burns arson suspected. Gruender used carpentry skills acquired in prison to rehab the old farmhouse, and he showered Maloney with gifts, including a motorcycle and a shotgun. Wortman later moved into a home built upon the island, reached by a wooden bridge -- and always guarded by gunmen. 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 between jobs, collecting unemployment benefits. 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. 1 in Fulton for psychiatric observation. A subdivision now adjoins the lake, known today as Magin's Lake, named after Wortman's old bartender. Its like the Mississippi River, says John Larry Ray. John G. Rallo, also known as Johnny Roller for his long hours spent at the crap tables in Las Vegas, and fellow accomplice Sheila Sweeney were charged one week after Stenger pleaded guilty. I tried to contact OBrien but I couldnt find him, says John Larry Ray. Maloney ended up moving to the West Coast. Dope was easier to get in prison than it was on the streets. Joe, which is what his friends called him, and I shared a cell in C-Hall during 1965-66, recalls former inmate Frank Driscoll. The Riverfront Times publishes ads for the Eastside strip clubs and massage parlors every week. copyright 2021 by C.D. 539 were here. Beneath the outward generosity, however, Gruender was an angry and hardened man who drank heavily and sometimes abused his wife and stepson. The plant was located across the river in Illinois. Ratings. More Info. He had seen his share of bloodshed. James OMara, the manager of Local 562, was the chairman of the St. Louis County Council at this time. Maloney frequented the mob hangouts at night to develop leads. Maloney had been in solitary confinement for nearly four months after his escape attempt when Hinkley contacted him. Arizona law enforcement authorities ruled his death a suicide. Circuit Court for the Southern District of Illinois. 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. Instead, James Earl Ray appeared edgy and expressed apprehension about his future. Most are from the 1930's-1980's. This one is Condition is as pictured. A version of this story appeared in Illinois Times, April 2, 2008. Edith was a strangely magnetic girl. The convicted assassin spent the rest of his life in the Tennessee prison system. The Paddock Lounge & Club Supper Room, East St Louis, IL. He encouraged me to keep working on the poem, and asked me to stay in touch with him. 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