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. Paddock Lounge Killer Reporting J.J. Maloney traded a knife for a pen, swapping a life of crime for a career in journalism. Double Deuce Lounge. Maloney joined the newspapers staff after being paroled in 1972. While at the Register, he covered a series of murders attributed to the Freeway Killer, a name of his invention. C. M. Raemer U.S. Thiemann died as a result of the wounds he sustained in the fracas. 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. I was impressed that the literary editor of a famous newspaper would write to me. The last time John Larry Ray visited New York City was in 1965. 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 . 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. I had the connection.. Beckman was a bodyguard for Wortman and Dowling. I heard he was in Florida someplace., They sipped beer together for a couple of hours, says John Larry Ray. In late 1967, the parole board indicated the possibility of Maloneys being released early the next year. The prison series later won the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association. His defiance dashed his hopes of gaining parole and put him at odds with the prison administration for the remainder of his sentence. Maloney was 19 years old when he committed the crime. (Post-Dispatch), A close-up of a bullet hole in the front windshield of Melvin Beckman's car. We just went in there one night to sit and watch. After his return to Missouri, his parole officer committed Maloney to State Hospital No. She sent money, clothing, food, stamps and other items. C.D. James Earl Ray subsequently fled north of the border, but there is no indication that he participated in such a caper. The house remains a private residence. 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. 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. He was between jobs, collecting unemployment benefits. By then, most of his running buddies from the joint were long dead, victims, for the most part, of their own malevolent ways. He was too busy that sunny Sunday afternoon promoting some other well-intentioned environmental cause. Despite the low wages, the offer was priceless because it cinched his parole. Thus inspired, the IRS began digging harder into Wortman's unusual financial world. Subscribe with this special offer to keep reading, (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). But John Larry Ray believes that his brother maintained contact with OBrien after their hasty departure. Maloneys formal education had ended in the ninth grade, but Menn recognized raw talent when he saw it. Gruenders association with these gangsters continued long after his parole. If you are helpless, there are people who will try to make a reputation at your expense. Sonnenschein, who headed the A to Z Development Corp., admitted to the court that businesses located on his property were engaged in prostitution. The reasons for murder and mayhem made little sense to anyone except the convicts. 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. He had seen his share of bloodshed. A year after his parents divorced, a hit-and-run driver killed his brother, Bobby. 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. 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). 4.9. Exposure to art ignited Maloneys innate creative streak. But Maloney became more devoted to writing as he matured. Dope was easier to get in prison than it was on the streets. The next year, Maloney ran away again. Bonadonna was one of Maloneys confidential sources. 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. People [were] shot and blown up.. Or you may simply say the wrong thing to the wrong person. I had the connection.. He had learned about it from his mobbed-up stepfather. Maloney then married a former inmate of the girls reformatory at Chillicothe, and they moved to Alabamabut the marriage fell apart. On Aug. 26, 1961, Maloneys girlfriend, Edith Rhodes, was murdered near Huzzah Creek in rural Crawford County, Mo. But Maloney became more devoted to writing as he matured. The mob continued to influence the police department, city hall, the county courthouse and the state legislature. Given this evidence and other indictors, it is unclear why federal prosecutors in St. Louis did not now pursue the Stenger case under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which was crafted specifically to address such criminal enterprises. A short time later, he went to federal prison for slugging a liquor agent during a raid on a still near Collinsville. Offered by GALERIA LUIS CARVAJAL. The first, I Speak for the Dead, is a fictionalized account of Kansas Citys mob war, drawn straight form his clip file. Sonnenscheins latest bust appears to have been part of a larger federal investigation into prostitution on the Eastside. By then the Star had been bought by Capital Cities, a media chain with a history of poor labor relations. You never knew whom you might have trouble with. The Post-Dispatch ran the photograph because Wortman had refused to tell a federal grand jury where he lived. "We drove across the river to the Paddock Lounge in [East St. Louis] Illinois and I introduced him to Jimmie O'Brien," Ray says. Eunice Dowling, widow of Dutch Dowling, testifies during a St. Clair County coroner's inquest on March 6, 1962, investigating her husband's murder. The next day I called Bonadonna, Maloney recalled later. O'Brien arranged for the Ray brothers to spend the night at a nearby apartment above an illegal gambling den . 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. It didnt take very long for that to happen. Over the next two years, eight more mob-related murders would go down before the violence subsided. 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. After Maloney punched Thiemann in the face several times, the old man agreed to hand over the cash. In the ensuing fight, the pistol fired a second time, striking Thiemann in the leg. 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. 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. The reasons for murder and mayhem made little sense to anyone except the convicts. Prosecutors said Wortman evaded $50,793 in taxes due from glitzy gambling halls and smoky bookie joints. 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. He filed suit against the Department of Corrections, arguing that his constitutional rights under the First Amendment had been violated. Dowling got his start as a robber and bootlegger in St. Louis. As a result, the mayor does not appear in our documentary, The First Secret City. Asked why John Larry Ray would incorporate a stopover in St. Louis into his story, his brother replies: I guess to dramatize the book. A running dispute during the seven-week trial in 1962 was whether he even owned the place. He was kind of fearless, says Jones. [This story was first published in January 2, 2004.]. Sam Reese, an older convict who had gained national recognition for his oil paintings and cartoons, served as his role model. 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. 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. Nash released Maloney from solitary and assigned him to the newly formed prison art class. 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. Maloney had been in solitary confinement for nearly four months after his escape attempt when Hinkley contacted him. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch), The island home of Frank "Buster" Wortman in April 1969, eight months after his death. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch), Another view of excavation for the mysterious moat and island in April 1956. A story published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the previous month had spurred the government to do the testing. Our community in Florissant, MO . Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Scheduled for completion in the fall of 2003, it will be shared by East St. Louis Community College, Southern Illinois University and the Illinois Department of Employment Security. He went to prison for slugging a liquor agent in 1933 at a still near Collinsville. That arrangement was still in place in 1972. He said, Youve saved my life, for the time being, anyway.. 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.. We just went in there one night to sit and watch. He was always writing somethingstories, critiques, opinion pieces and, yes, poetry.. 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. Maloney expanded his connections in the literary world, writing to such luminaries as R. Buckminster Fuller, John D. MacDonald, William Buckley and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. 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. Maloney worked on his writing for as much as six hours every evening. Maloneys own artwork took awards at state and county fairs and was exhibited at a gallery in Paris. 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. . Vintage Matchcover: The Paddock Lounge & Club Supper Room, East St Louis, IL | eBay 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. 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. In 1956, workers began digging an oval lake and fashioning an island near South Mulberry Road southeast of Collinsville. The next day I called Bonadonna, Maloney recalled later. At the same time, dissension was brewing in the newsroom. The white convicts slept three to a cell (except for several hundred in one-man cells). 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. The Department of Energy conducted the first radiological testing at the facility in March 1989, which showed elevated levels of Uranium-238 and Thorium-232. 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. In later years he worked as a freelance writer and as an editor for the alternative press. 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. In a sense, Maloney did respect their trade. Inside your new home, you will find window coverings, spacious walk-in closets . 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 would serve the next 13 years at the Missouri Penitentiary, in Jefferson Cityarguably the worst prison in the United States at the time. This time he made it as far as Hannibal before crashing a stolen car. We worked on the fifth floor of the prison hospital, which is to say the psych ward. The Paddock closed in 1967. Paddock Village Apartments in St. Louis, MO offers two bedroom lofts, two bedroom apartments, and two and three bedroom townhomes. Its the smoking that eventually killed him. The Riverfront Times publishes ads for the Eastside strip clubs and massage parlors every week. In the first installment of the series, Maloney gave a lengthy first-person account of life inside the Walls in Jefferson City. Three River Quay nightclubs were soon torched or bombed, and the list of gangland hits rapidly grew. 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. When he entered prison, Dwight Eisenhower was president; when he came out, the Watergate burglary had been committed. Google. Talk about stares. 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. Having been a convict, they thought he should have respected their trade a little more than he did.. He brought him to Chicago. Menn became his mentor, giving guidance and critiquing his poetry and prose. After returning to the United States, he occasionally talked to his brother by phone. The same year, Maloneys byline disappeared from the pages of the Star when he quit the paper in a dispute over overtime pay. 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. 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. voice be heard! Welcome to Ivy Ultra Lounge, the premier upscale night life attraction located in downtown East. The convicted assassin spent the rest of his life in the Tennessee prison system. Jones agreed with them. Facebook. After six weeks of observation at Fulton, Maloney was allowed by the parole board to enlist in the Army. 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. Magin was a defendant in the 1962 tax case, but was acquitted. Maloney added to his underworld knowledge in prison, where he befriended fellow inmate John Paul Spica, a St. Louis Mafia soldier. You never knew whom you might have trouble with. Most are from the 1930's-1980's. This one is Condition is as pictured. 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. She kept her end of the bargain. 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 . The St. Louis mobster and federal informant died from a gunshot wound to the head. He rejected Maloneys poem but continued to correspond, providing him with professional advice and personal guidance. (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. Tucked in a peaceful neighborhood, Paddock Village Apartments offers a quaint residential setting, complete with lush green spaces. 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. Kevin Horrigan, a cub reporter at the Star in 1973, remembers Maloney as an affable colleague but one who stood apart. Wortman was 63. At left is Dr. C.C. In prison he preferred Camels, when he could afford them. Though he avoided further trouble with the law, Gruender acted as a courier for Wortman. 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 had no way of knowing the significance that his verse would ultimately play in redirecting his life. It was uncanny.. After his fourth escape from Boonville, juvenile authorities transferred him to Algoa, the states intermediate reformatory, where his behavior worsened. Will you make a promise (and keep it) not to try and run awayto obey the rules of the prison and try to do whatever work is assigned to you? After the breakout, John Larry Ray says, he picked James Earl Ray up and drove him back to St. Louis. 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