YOUR GRANDFATHER’S GANGSTERS
NORMAN V. KELLY
Peoria had no gangsters. It is all a myth that has been perpetuated
over the years by reporters looking for sensational headlines. Our uncles and
grandfather’s perpetuated those stories to entertain us. Those men loved to talk about gangsters and
believe me they saw one in every tavern and on every Peoria Street. I define a gangster within the ilk of AL
CAPONE, and that mob of killers and true gangsters. We had a hell of a lot of gangster
wannabes…some mean, violent men…a few women as well. We had gunman that would knock you on the
head and even on rare occasions shoot you, but they were lone bandits. We had mothers and fathers that killed each
other and their children. The real killers in Peoria’s history were the guys
next door, the violent husbands and wives as well and the dangerous drunks in
our taverns. From 1920 through 1950 we
had 215 murders: that averages out at 7.1 murders per year. WOW!
How in the hell did we manage to live through such a slaughter. Ask your grand pa.
Now here are some of the men that were active mainly
in the 1930’s and certainly during WW 11 in Peoria, Illinois. These are the men that were our ‘Designated Gangsters’
according to our most vocal sources, uncles that drank too much and our
grandfathers that spent too much time downtown gambling and drinking in our
taverns.. They got them mixed up with
the business men, the tavern owners, and of course the gamblers. Hell,
thousands of men, and certainly a lot of women gambled in Peoria and it started
even before the Civil War. By the
beginning of WW 1 it was one of Peoria’s major industries along with
prostitution. All during WW11 gambling reached its absolute peak, ending on
September 3, 1946. If you want to find out details then you will have to do a
little reading. Goggle: Historian Norman Kelly, Peoria, Illinois and
find out the truth for once in your life about who we really were. There are 84
stories waiting for you to finally do your own research at this web site: Peoria Public Library/Historian Norman Kelly.
Edward Nelson Woodruff: He was our mayor 11 times for a total of 24
years. Most certainly he was the most
important man in our history and a decent honest man.
Jack Adams: Adams owned The Clover Club and a few
other spots around town. He was a trustworthy,
honest, hardworking business man in the middle of every dollar that was ever
spent on gambling and entertainment in Peoria, Illinois. You should be so
successful.
Frank Kraemer: Owned two taverns in town. One was The
Spot and he was part owner of the Par-K-Club.
Frank was involved in gambling of all kinds in Peoria. Kraemer was shot and killed out at his home
on Farmington Road in September of 1946…by a ‘real gangster.’ Actually he was
out of the gambling business when he was killed.
PHILLIP STUMPF:
Now here was a two-bit punk. He
was an iron worker when he worked but he liked acting like a ‘gangster.’ What a joke
He was a Part-Time SLOT MACHINE repair man and fixed them as well…if you
know what I mean. In October 1946 he was out at The STORK CLUB near Golden
Acres at the old Route 150 area. He left after fixing slots and was
tailed. He pulled into a field to escape
and here is where the MYTH starts. A
car came after him. “All four of the men
in the car fired Thompson Machine guns at the back of his car.”
The coroner’s inquest, ballistics and the police and
sheriff reports state it was hit 8 times and one slug hit Stumpf in the back of
the head. One slug nicked the left ear
of his passenger. It’s amazing isn’t it
that not one .45 Thompson Machine Gun empty shell was found. Sorry gangster
fans…just little old .38 caliber.
DWIGHT “Snooks”
Gordon: He was a business man and was
most definitely into gambling and owned some slots…sure as hell was no gangster.
He was a flashy guy and he looked tough and believe me
he was. He was an ‘amateur boxer’ but a
fortune was bet on him during his 234 fights. He liked to flash his money
around and he loved Peoria night life.
Gordon killed a man in a fight over at the entrance to the Zoo in a fist fight he did not want nor did he
provoke. After a circus style murder
trial he was exonerated by the jury.
VIC MICHEL: Vic
was a lawyer and eventually Mayor of Peoria who defended a few notorious so
called bad men including Snooks Gordon. .
Now he would defend anyone that could pay his inflated price but if you
defend guys like Snooks Gordon you must be a gangster. Right?
JACK NAHAS: Shot
and wounded a real worthless creep named Joe Nyberg. Most Peorians felt that he should have been
given a medal for that. Jack was just a
local street guy trying to make a living in gambling and petty crimes. Actually
he was just a penny ante nuisance to the police department. He was Killed in 1946 ‘Gangland style’ the
newspapers used to love to say. Good
Riddance.
JACK GLAZEBROOK:
Supposed to be a body guard of Bernie Shelton and a major gangster in
town. What a joke. A friend maybe and certainly was seen a lot
when Bernie was around. All he ever was… was a bouncer at a few clubs in
town. This big scary ‘gangster’ was shot
in the stomach by Al Capone’s mobsters.
JUST Kidding! His girlfriend
damn near killed him by shooting him in the stomach with a .25 handgun she
always carried in her purse.
PETE
PETRAKIS: Pete was just a hanger
on type guy trying to make a living one way or the other. He knew all the
creeps and was one himself…Bernie fired him and I got that straight from Jack
Purtcher who knew them both. After Bernie’s murder a couple guys including TED
LINK, a Saint Lewis reporter were said to have hung Pete naked upside down out
a window at the Pere Marquette Hotel. “Who killed Shelton?” Was the question he
sure as hell did not know the answer to.
He was a friend of Bernie and Shelton paid for the up keep of a horse
that Pete rode out at Purtcher’s Stable.
Jack Purtcher told me that Shelton told him that Pete would not be using
his horse any more because Bernie had fired him. Of course the rumor was that
Shelton had killed him. Which was not
true.
JOHN KELLY: My
Uncle told me that he was a cousin of one kind or the other of ours, but never
really talked about him. He was arrested
a minimum of 100 times and was described as a ‘Police Character.’ In and out of jails, prison, you name
it. Talk about a small town hoodlum: that
is all he was. He was with Shelton the night they attacked a guy named Murphy
there in the parking lot of the dump called The Parkway. They were both indicted on seven felonies. Why
he was not shot or put away forever is beyond me. Maybe because he was just a two-bit punk and
not worth the effort. Gangster…my God
you would elevate him if you called him that.
JOEL ‘Joe’ Nyberg:
A killer…a thief, a convict and at the time he was killed he was out on
Bond for a manslaughter conviction. He
was about as close to being a gangster as any one could imagine. But remember…gangsters are part of an
organized gang. Joe was just a dangerous
man, out on his own to steal, rob, burglarize and maim anyone that he thought
he could take advantage of. He died with
a couple .38 slugs in his body and a ball bat near his body. Again, calling this character a gangster to his
face would make him feel like you admired him.
Good Riddance.
BERNIE SHELTON:
I have written hundreds of words about this man. Books tell us he was a member of ‘Illinois’
Bloodiest Gang!” So what does that have
to do with Peoria, Illinois? He was a
gangster in Peoria because that is what we perceived him to be. If you won’t take the time to read what I
wrote about him, then just go ahead and call him a ‘Gangster.’ It is more fun that way. He was shot and killed here in July of 1948
and then the real mythmakers took over.
All this information is no surprise to the people who
have read my 14 books and hundreds of stories and also read AMERICAN SPORTS
OUTDOORS. My books are out of print, but a few might be available in our
libraries. However, all you have to do
is make the effort and read them for yourselves. I do have close to a hundred
of them on line. Find them. If you have trouble doing that, then e mail
me and I will show you where they are. Over the little time I might have left I
hope to get most of the rest of my stories on line. There is no excuse
believing all those silly myths about Peoria, Illinois. History shows it was one of the greatest
little towns in all of America’s History.
Editor’s Note:
Norm is a true-crime author and Peoria historian. Join him and Harry on
WOAM, 1350 AM, 7-10 Sunday mornings with The Red Nose Gang.
No comments:
Post a Comment