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. If you have money, there will be people who want it. He was not from another planet, but he was from another time. 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. More important, Maloney understood that the roots of the problem ran deep in the Kansas City political establishment and business community and that there was a kind of mass denial regarding corruption. She visited. In the city of St. Louis, there were once twenty bars located between Bates on the north and the city limits on the south. Dope was easier to get in prison than it was on the streets. Meanwhile, Menn had interested Random House in publishing a book of Maloneys poetry. At the time of his marriage to Maloneys mother, he had only been out of the Missouri Penitentiary for a year. (Lloyd Spainhower/Post-Dispatch), In 1956, workers began digging an oval lake and fashioning an island near South Mulberry Road southeast of Collinsville. After going bankrupt in 2003, Spectrulites owners sold the company, but continue to hold a stake in the operation and the property itself. Before his contract expired, the Star hired him as a full-time general-assignment reporter. In July 1976, David Bonadonna, the father of Fred Bonadonna, owner of Poor Freddies restaurant in the River Quay, became the first victim. If the remark bothered Maloney, he didnt show it. In those days the Kansas City Star printed a poem on the editorial page every day, so I mailed the poem to the Star. The Paddock closed in 1967. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. The Chicago mob had allegedly put a $100,000 contract out on Stonekings life after he became an informant. By the time Maloney returned home, his mother had remarried. Having written it, my next problem was deciding where to send it. Three River Quay nightclubs were soon torched or bombed, and the list of gangland hits rapidly grew. . 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. They also interviewed city and federal law-enforcement authorities and pumped confidential sources for information. The conviction was only the second for the often-arrested Wortman, who had muscled to the top in the late 1940s with help from the Capone syndicate in Chicago. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch), The island home of Frank "Buster" Wortman in April 1969, eight months after his death. While in prison, Gruender met and befriended Elmer Dutch Dowling and Isidore Londe, lieutenants of East St. Louis mob boss Frank Buster Wortman. Last chance! C. M. Raemer U.S. They registered at the St. Francis Hotel, at Sixth and Chestnut, under the name Mr. and Mrs. John Ducharme of Jacksonville, Fla. That evening Maloney, armed with a hunting knife, robbed the clerk at another downtown hotel. The house remains a private residence. Maloney had been in solitary confinement for nearly four months after his escape attempt when Hinkley contacted him. Maloney worked on his writing for as much as six hours every evening. Maloney was 19 years old when he committed the crime. 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. Despite the low wages, the offer was priceless because it cinched his parole. His replacement, Harold R. Swenson, imposed extreme restrictions on all communications with editors and publishers to stop a book from being published by another prisoner, a notorious escapee. Thus inspired, the IRS began digging harder into Wortman's unusual financial world. In 1948, he equipped it with the novel luxury of air-conditioning. He wanted to meet me. The two arranged a rendezvous in West Memphis, Ark., on the evening of April 3, 1968, at what Ray calls a back-alley bar. (Robert LaRouche/Post-Dispatch), The house that was built on the island. The delays in communications eventually killed his deal with Random House. During a short parole in 1957, Maloney was arrested in Kansas City on suspicion of burglary and carrying a concealed weapon. The convicted assassin spent the rest of his life in the Tennessee prison system. Wortman died in a St. Louis hospital Aug. 3, 1968, at age 63 after throat surgery. There were captains on the guard force who owed their souls to certain convicts. 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 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. This time he made it as far as Hannibal before crashing a stolen car. (Floyd Bowser/Post-Dispatch), Frank "Buster" Wortman in the federal courthouse in East St. Louis in February 1962 during his trial on income-tax charges. You never know for sure what is going to happen from day to day in prison. The revelation was allegedly made in October 1974, when the two brothers shared a cell at the Shelby County (Tenn.) Jail in advance of an evidentiary hearing to determine whether James Earl Ray should be granted a trial. Morris A. Shenker, St. Louis, Mo., for defendants Frank Leonard Wortman and Elmer Sylvester Dowling. In his phone call he had asked his brother to pump OBrien for information. The two reporters began knocking on doors, talking to area business owners. I tried to contact OBrien but I couldnt find him, says John Larry Ray. 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 the first installment of the series, Maloney gave a lengthy first-person account of life inside the Walls in Jefferson City. He didnt see what kind of car his brother was driving, but he got the sense that someone was waiting for him. Otherwise, he rolled his own from pouches of Ozark-brand tobacco, manufactured and distributed for free at the Missouri Penitentiary. She seemed fragile and shy, yet she wasnt. In the first installment of the series, Maloney gave a lengthy first-person account of life inside the Walls in Jefferson City. His defiance dashed his hopes of gaining parole and put him at odds with the prison administration for the remainder of his sentence. Jones and Maloney collaborated for months on the prison project, sharing the reporting and writing duties. Latest reviews, photos and ratings for Double Deuce Lounge at 601 S 10th St in East Saint Louis - hours, phone number, address and map. In 2000, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversaw a partial radioactive cleanup at the Spectrulite plant. Maloney, I realize you have a job to dobut do you have to be so intense?. He was between jobs, collecting unemployment benefits. Five more years would elapse before Maloney finally made parole, during which time Menn continued to support and encourage his writing. Before the details of that caper could be hashed out, however, the Ray brothers got jittery and split for Chicago. Maloney then wrested the gun from his victim and fled. They registered at the St. Francis Hotel, at Sixth and Chestnut, under the name Mr. and Mrs. John Ducharme of Jacksonville, Fla. That evening Maloney, armed with a hunting knife, robbed the clerk at another downtown hotel. Hinkley, a former St. Louis Globe-Democrat Woman of the Year, was an early advocate of prison reform and used her social standing to influence decisions of the Missouri Department of Corrections. Competing mob interests were in the midst of fighting for control of the River Quay entertainment district. You never knew whom you might have trouble with. The records show that Petzall continued to be listed as a director of the corporation until 2003, and his name still appeared as a counsel for the by-then non-existent company until 2009. Dennis W. Sonnenschein will have plenty of time to reflect on his business career over the next year. In 1952 the family moved to a farm in New Florence, Mo., a small town 65 miles west of St. Louis. But the mob kind of looked at Joe as a turncoat. Stelzer, a St. Louis-based freelance writer, is working on a biography of the late J.J. Maloney. Prosecutors said Wortman evaded $50,793 in taxes due from glitzy gambling halls and smoky bookie joints. 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 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. If you have money, there will be people who want it. Maloney expanded his connections in the literary world, writing to such luminaries as R. Buckminster Fuller, John D. MacDonald, William Buckley and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. 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. 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. Stelzer An earlier version of this story appeared in the St. Louis Journalism review in 2008 and Focus/midwest magazine in 2010. Menn then sold the proposal to Cruise Palmer, the executive editor. His stepfather, Julius Dutch Gruender, an ex-con, became Maloneys less-than-sterling guardian. During a short parole in 1957, Maloney was arrested in Kansas City on suspicion of burglary and carrying a concealed weapon. We worked on the fifth floor of the prison hospital, which is to say the psych ward. He wanted to meet me. The two arranged a rendezvous in West Memphis, Ark., on the evening of April 3, 1968, at what Ray calls a back-alley bar. After the breakout, John Larry Ray says, he picked James Earl Ray up and drove him back to St. Louis. At the same time, dissension was brewing in the newsroom. 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 had learned about it from his mobbed-up stepfather. 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. Post-Dispatch artist Albert Schweitzer made this drawing of the courtroom because no cameras were allowed inside. Maloney owed his freedom to Thorpe Menn, the Stars literary editor, who had supported his parole and helped him get his job at the newspaper. A few days later I received a letter from Thorpe Menn, literary editor of the Star, who rejected the poem but said he liked the last four lines. At the time of his marriage to Maloneys mother, he had only been out of the Missouri Penitentiary for a year. 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. I told him, if youre looking for guns, I can get any gun you want from Ft. Campbell, Ky. Paddock Village Apartments offers one-of-a-kind 2 bedroom apartment homes and 2 or 3 bedroom townhomes. He also published two autobiographical crime novels. The two returned to St. Louis early the next morning on a Greyhound bus. As a result, the mayor does not appear in our documentary, The First Secret City. Vintage The Paddock Lounge And Club Room Restaurant Menu St. Louis Ave East St Louis from Joseph John Maloney Sr., a shoemaker by trade, walked out of his sons life in 1943, when he was 3 years old. But John Larry Ray believes that his brother maintained contact with OBrien after their hasty departure. Emilio Grau Sala - "Paddock" Pars 1969, 20th Century oil on canvas by Spanish Artist E. Grau Sala For Sale at 1stDibs | paddock lounge east st louis In that role, Callow has acted to tamp down public concerns about the severity of the environmental and health problems related to the troubled landfill. John Larry. 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. Sonnenschein, 59, has been engaged in the flesh trade since the 1970s, when he operated mobile massage parlors from the backs of vans in St. Louis County. By checking liquor-license applications, Maloney determined that mobsters or their relatives secretly owned several restaurants and bars in the River Quay. They drove to Kansas City together and toured the Stars editorial offices. Later that year, James Earl Ray returned to the St. Louis area and met with OBrien again, John Larry Ray says. 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. Paddock Village Apartments in St. Louis, MO offers two bedroom lofts, two bedroom apartments, and two and three bedroom townhomes. Stenger was introduced to Rallo by federal felon Sorkis Webbe Jr. in 2014, according to the federal indictment. 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. Wortman was 63. For many of . 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 last time John Larry Ray visited New York City was in 1965. Despite the low wages, the offer was priceless because it cinched his parole. In late 1967, the parole board indicated the possibility of Maloneys being released early the next year. At left is Dr. C.C. In the ensuing fight, the pistol fired a second time, striking Thiemann in the leg. In those days the Kansas City Star printed a poem on the editorial page every day, so I mailed the poem to the Star. Though he avoided further trouble with the law, Gruender acted as a courier for Wortman. Among those standing near the bodies are Dr. C.C. Wortman's headquarters was his Paddock Lounge, at 429 St. Louis Avenue in East St. Louis. 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. An earlier version of this story appeared in the St. Louis Journalism review in 2008 and Focus/midwest magazine in 2010. Entering the store, he pulled a hunting knife and demanded money from Joseph F. Thiemann, the 74-year-old store owner. 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. He brought him to Chicago. This meant that senior editorial staffers such as Menn, who had accumulated large stock holdings in the company, could negotiate with management on a more even level. By that time, Slay was in his second term as St. Louis mayor. 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. Martin Luther King Jr., who died in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968. 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. 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? She kept her end of the bargain. Webbe, a former city alderman, was convicted of voter fraud and obstruction of justice in 1985. A version of this story appeared in Illinois Times, April 2, 2008. In addition to the failed escape attempt, the prison administration cited Maloney for stabbing another inmate, manufacturing zip guns, using stimulants and committing sodomy. The only thing his real father ever gave him was his name. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Wortman later moved into a home built upon the island, reached by a wooden bridge -- and always guarded by gunmen. The brand varied with the decade: L&Ms or, later, Marlboro Lights. He said, Youve saved my life, for the time being, anyway.. That J.J. Maloney survived is remarkable. Wortman's headquarters was his Paddock Lounge, at 429 St. Louis Avenue in East St. Louis. I told him, if youre looking for guns, I can get any gun you want from Ft. Campbell, Ky. 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. We are also conveniently located near shopping, dining, and . A private drive connected the bridge to South Mulberry Road. Their stories ran as a four-part series in April 1973. In prison he preferred Camels, when he could afford them. 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. Facebook. Only in an institution can love hit that hard and that fast, Maloney wrote. In May 1991, Stoneking informed the FBI that Berne had told him that the Rallo Construction Company belonged to the Chicago La Costa Nostra. When he made the demand for money, he and Thiemann began struggling, according to the confession Maloney later gave St. Louis police. He would serve the next 13 years at the Missouri Penitentiary, in Jefferson Cityarguably the worst prison in the United States at the time. Warden Nash committed suicide. Over the next two years, eight more mob-related murders would go down before the violence subsided. Tucked in a peaceful neighborhood, Paddock Village Apartments offers a quaint residential setting, complete with lush green spaces. Shenker got the convictions reversed. The Kansas City Mafia wielded considerable economic cloutcontrolling several banks [and] owning ten percent or more of the taverns and nightclubs in the city. In 1952 the family moved to a farm in New Florence, Mo., a small town 65 miles west of St. Louis. 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