As we all know that Prohibition very much helped in the creation of many infamous crime syndicates around the US. Many of these gangsters were real tough nuts and didn’t care about anything else besides money, because they had all of the protection they needed, since back in those days the courts even hired gangsters as bailiffs and such, while the judges were corrupt to such a high level that gave the hoodlums a feeling like they had the licence to kill anyone they wished to kill.
For example, on December 13, 1925; one of Al Capone's associates and also fellow public enemy, William “Three Fingered Jack” White managed to prove the previous statement, by shooting and killing Policeman Edward Pflaume of Forest Park.
Story goes that previously Officer Pflaume together with two other policemen James McBride of Bellwood and Charles Jones of Berkley were looking for a Chrysler automobile in connection with a robbery.
McBride got information that a known robber was hanging out at the Mannheim Inn Tavern on Mannheim Road and 22nd Street. This robber also corresponded with the description of a man who had a one bum hand with few fingers off.
When the cops came at the place they saw Jack White and James Johnston hanging out with two gorgeous ladies, having drinks. The cops approached the two gangsters and asked for their automobile licence number cards. White pulled out his card with one hand and kept the other in his pocket. During the comparison of the numbers, Officer McBride took White’s hand, pulled it out of his pocket and discovered the two missing fingers.
Then the officers walked to the back of the establishment with the two suspects to take White’s coat and to take them to the station for further questioning. As they entered the room, White made a quick turn to the right and as he did that a flash of fire came from his pocket. McBride was scratched on the right side of the face by the bullet and jumped back into the hallway.
After that, White and Johnston ran to the door and both fired at least six shots at the policemen. The cops fired back and managed to hit Johnston. White fired few more shots thus fatally wounding Officer Pflaume in the abdomen and leg. Later White threw his gun and surrendered to the cops. Johnston died on the spot and Officer Pflaume died on his way to the hospital. White was arrested for the murder but the trial started two years later.
On January 21, 1927, in Judge Philip Sullivan's court room White was found guilty of the murder of the policeman and was sentenced to Joliet for life. That’s when the wheels of mob justice began to turn.
After two years, the Supreme Court set aside the verdict and White’s lawyers made an appeal and “miraculously” on July 10, 1929 Jack White was freed of charges against him in the murder of policeman. The case was dropped but the States Attorney office didn’t give up and the case was reinstated.
On October 12, 1930, White had a meeting in a automobile with two of his Capone associates John Moore aka Claude Maddox and George Barker. Besides killing people, at the time all three of them were known as Capones enforces mainly in the union racketeering and kidnapping businesses.
Both White and Barker belonged to the West Side faction and were closely associated to one William O'Donnell, who in turn was connected to one of Capone's crew bosses Lawrence Mangano, while Maddox was under the Cicero/South Side faction or under the jurisdiction of Capone's brother Ralph. Some reports say that O'Donnell was White's and Barker's superior or at least he tried to, since these fellas were uncontrollable to an extent.
Now back to the story...so their car was parked just few doors down from Capone's Cicero headquarters on West 22d Street, while suddenly few officers of the State Attorney’s office approached them and arrested the men, and in the end the cops also found couple of revolvers.
In September 1930, the States Attorney announced that White will be called again in front of a jury for the murder of Officer Pflaume, and also will be charged for a bank robbery and for carrying a concealed weapon, and again the main witnesses were policemen McBride and Jones.
On October 30th, policeman McBride was driving to the States Attorney’s office to assist Prosecutor Harry Ditchburne in gathering the evidences for the new trial of White.
Suddenly another car approached McBride with Capones associates James "Fur" Summons on the wheel and Claude Maddox on the passenger seat with a sawed-off shotgun in his hands. So Maddox took aim and fired a shot at Officer McBride’s head and the gangsters took off, thus leaving the cop heavily wounded, with half of his face in blood, his jaw was shattered and his vocal cords were also affected, but miraculously he survived the attack.
McBride was immediatelly taken to the intensive care unit at West Lake hospital in Melrose Park, and with the help of “unknown” witnesses, few hours later Maddox and Summons were arrested and brought to station for questioning.
Later both of them were taken to the hospital were Officer McBride laid in critical condition, and so the cop identified Maddox as the shooter but couldn’t identify Summons. It was clear that McBride was shot at the instance of Jack White in order to hamper the prosecution in the new murder trial.
After leaving McBride’s bedside, both Maddox and Summons were taken to the Melrose Park police station and later were locked up at the states attorney’s office and were guarded by a dozen heavily armed detectives, since the attempted murder of policeman McBride was regarded as the most glaring defiance to law enforcement officials at the time.
Thats why special army guards were also placed around the hospital were McBride was staying and also around the states attorney office were Maddox and Summons were locked up.
Few hours after Maddox’ arrest, he was taken to the court of Judge Joseph David and forfeited his $10,000 bond and was set free until the trial. On November 13, 1930 Maddox appeared in court of Judge John F. Lyle, handcuffed by two policemen, to answer on the charges of assault to kill a police officer.
This time Justice Lyle ordered a $100,000 bond or $200,000 in real estate and ordered the defendant to be held in jail. Maddox’ attorney William Smith jumped in his defence by saying “This bond is absolutely out of reason”, while Judge Lyle replied “This bond is exorbitant for an ordinary case, it is true, but this case is an exception to the rule. A crime of this nature was not thought of by the lawmakers when they passed the bond laws”.
As addition, Maddox also added that “McBride only thought that I was one of the men who shot him while he was riding on the street car. I have as much chance standing trial here as I have flying to the moon”.
After his speech, Maddox was sent to the Cook County jail. In fact, the unusual high bonds were not only issued to keep the gangsters in jail, but it also forced them to come up with large sums of cash just to disclose the nature of their treasury. But on November 25, corrupt Judge Joseph David again sliced $90,000 of the $100,000 bond for Maddox during the hearing.
The prosecutors commented that “Judge Davis actions cannot be explained, except that he says he’s following the law when he is turning these mad dogs out on the street”. And that’s what happened. Maddox’ lawyers paid the bond and he was released again until the next hearing of the witness against him.
Seven months later the trial of Maddox began. The main witness was a 20 year old girl, Gretchen McDonald, of 422 South 20th Avenue, Maywood who identified Maddox as being the shooter of Officer McBride. But during the trial, the prosecutor called the witness to the stand and she refused to identify Maddox. The prosecutor Walker Butler asked the girl why she had changed her testimony. The girl said that she was confused and so the case was dropped.
In the end Butler made a furious statement to the court by saying “Your Honor, this is just another case of gangland's successful intimidation of a witness. The State is helpless under the circumstances”.
So Maddox walked free with a small grin on his face, but the cops didnt forget, since they completely harassed him for the next several years. Like for example, just one month after his acquittal, or on June 25, 1931; some detectives stalked Maddox to an alleged meeting in DuPage County.
They arrested him again but this time in the company of one of Capone's top reps in Melrose Park Rocco DeGrazia, followed by one of DeGrazias top lieutenants Louis Stacci aka Stacey, and also one of Maddox's most trusted pals Tony Capezio, followed by John Purdy and Lawrence Imburgio, while having a dinner in a Du Page county roadhouse.
All of them gave fake names and addresses, while the cops questioned them regarding series of murders and also regarding their bootlegging operations. This was obviously a pure harassment by the detectives since they had nothing on these guys, and proof for that was their immediate release.
As for Red Barker and Jack White, as I previously said that these fellas were somehow uncontrollable and so the first one to go was Barker who in turn was killed in a spectacular way in 1932. White continued to duck the law but it seems that by 1934, some of the boys thought that he was also bringing too much attention, had no limits while being violent and also allegedly wanted a bigger share from the union racket.
In fact, that same year White was killed by two of his Outfit associates in that same business, William O'Donnell and Murray Humphreys. After that, O'Donnell tookover White's and Barker's interests, both around the West Side and in the union business.
William White
Claude Maddox
James Summons
George Barker
Officer Edward Pflaume
Sergt. James McBride
As we all know that Prohibition very much helped in the creation of many infamous crime syndicates around the US. Many of these gangsters were real tough nuts and didn’t care about anything else besides money, because they had all of the protection they needed, since back in those days the courts even hired gangsters as bailiffs and such, while the judges were corrupt to such a high level that gave the hoodlums a feeling like they had the licence to kill anyone they wished to kill.
For example, on December 13, 1925; one of Al Capone's associates and also fellow public enemy, William “Three Fingered Jack” White managed to prove the previous statement, by shooting and killing Policeman Edward Pflaume of Forest Park.
Story goes that previously Officer Pflaume together with two other policemen James McBride of Bellwood and Charles Jones of Berkley were looking for a Chrysler automobile in connection with a robbery.
McBride got information that a known robber was hanging out at the Mannheim Inn Tavern on Mannheim Road and 22nd Street. This robber also corresponded with the description of a man who had a one bum hand with few fingers off.
When the cops came at the place they saw Jack White and James Johnston hanging out with two gorgeous ladies, having drinks. The cops approached the two gangsters and asked for their automobile licence number cards. White pulled out his card with one hand and kept the other in his pocket. During the comparison of the numbers, Officer McBride took White’s hand, pulled it out of his pocket and discovered the two missing fingers.
Then the officers walked to the back of the establishment with the two suspects to take White’s coat and to take them to the station for further questioning. As they entered the room, White made a quick turn to the right and as he did that a flash of fire came from his pocket. McBride was scratched on the right side of the face by the bullet and jumped back into the hallway.
After that, White and Johnston ran to the door and both fired at least six shots at the policemen. The cops fired back and managed to hit Johnston. White fired few more shots thus fatally wounding Officer Pflaume in the abdomen and leg. Later White threw his gun and surrendered to the cops. Johnston died on the spot and Officer Pflaume died on his way to the hospital. White was arrested for the murder but the trial started two years later.
On January 21, 1927, in Judge Philip Sullivan's court room White was found guilty of the murder of the policeman and was sentenced to Joliet for life. That’s when the wheels of mob justice began to turn.
After two years, the Supreme Court set aside the verdict and White’s lawyers made an appeal and “miraculously” on July 10, 1929 Jack White was freed of charges against him in the murder of policeman. The case was dropped but the States Attorney office didn’t give up and the case was reinstated.
On October 12, 1930, White had a meeting in a automobile with two of his Capone associates John Moore aka Claude Maddox and George Barker. Besides killing people, at the time all three of them were known as Capones enforces mainly in the union racketeering and kidnapping businesses.
Both White and Barker belonged to the West Side faction and were closely associated to one William O'Donnell, who in turn was connected to one of Capone's crew bosses Lawrence Mangano, while Maddox was under the Cicero/South Side faction or under the jurisdiction of Capone's brother Ralph. Some reports say that O'Donnell was White's and Barker's superior or at least he tried to, since these fellas were uncontrollable to an extent.
Now back to the story...so their car was parked just few doors down from Capone's Cicero headquarters on West 22d Street, while suddenly few officers of the State Attorney’s office approached them and arrested the men, and in the end the cops also found couple of revolvers.
In September 1930, the States Attorney announced that White will be called again in front of a jury for the murder of Officer Pflaume, and also will be charged for a bank robbery and for carrying a concealed weapon, and again the main witnesses were policemen McBride and Jones.
On October 30th, policeman McBride was driving to the States Attorney’s office to assist Prosecutor Harry Ditchburne in gathering the evidences for the new trial of White.
Suddenly another car approached McBride with Capones associates James "Fur" Summons on the wheel and Claude Maddox on the passenger seat with a sawed-off shotgun in his hands. So Maddox took aim and fired a shot at Officer McBride’s head and the gangsters took off, thus leaving the cop heavily wounded, with half of his face in blood, his jaw was shattered and his vocal cords were also affected, but miraculously he survived the attack.
McBride was immediatelly taken to the intensive care unit at West Lake hospital in Melrose Park, and with the help of “unknown” witnesses, few hours later Maddox and Summons were arrested and brought to station for questioning.
Later both of them were taken to the hospital were Officer McBride laid in critical condition, and so the cop identified Maddox as the shooter but couldn’t identify Summons. It was clear that McBride was shot at the instance of Jack White in order to hamper the prosecution in the new murder trial.
After leaving McBride’s bedside, both Maddox and Summons were taken to the Melrose Park police station and later were locked up at the states attorney’s office and were guarded by a dozen heavily armed detectives, since the attempted murder of policeman McBride was regarded as the most glaring defiance to law enforcement officials at the time.
Thats why special army guards were also placed around the hospital were McBride was staying and also around the states attorney office were Maddox and Summons were locked up.
Few hours after Maddox’ arrest, he was taken to the court of Judge Joseph David and forfeited his $10,000 bond and was set free until the trial. On November 13, 1930 Maddox appeared in court of Judge John F. Lyle, handcuffed by two policemen, to answer on the charges of assault to kill a police officer.
This time Justice Lyle ordered a $100,000 bond or $200,000 in real estate and ordered the defendant to be held in jail. Maddox’ attorney William Smith jumped in his defence by saying “This bond is absolutely out of reason”, while Judge Lyle replied “This bond is exorbitant for an ordinary case, it is true, but this case is an exception to the rule. A crime of this nature was not thought of by the lawmakers when they passed the bond laws”.
As addition, Maddox also added that “McBride only thought that I was one of the men who shot him while he was riding on the street car. I have as much chance standing trial here as I have flying to the moon”.
After his speech, Maddox was sent to the Cook County jail. In fact, the unusual high bonds were not only issued to keep the gangsters in jail, but it also forced them to come up with large sums of cash just to disclose the nature of their treasury. But on November 25, corrupt Judge Joseph David again sliced $90,000 of the $100,000 bond for Maddox during the hearing.
The prosecutors commented that “Judge Davis actions cannot be explained, except that he says he’s following the law when he is turning these mad dogs out on the street”. And that’s what happened. Maddox’ lawyers paid the bond and he was released again until the next hearing of the witness against him.
Seven months later the trial of Maddox began. The main witness was a 20 year old girl, Gretchen McDonald, of 422 South 20th Avenue, Maywood who identified Maddox as being the shooter of Officer McBride. But during the trial, the prosecutor called the witness to the stand and she refused to identify Maddox. The prosecutor Walker Butler asked the girl why she had changed her testimony. The girl said that she was confused and so the case was dropped.
In the end Butler made a furious statement to the court by saying “Your Honor, this is just another case of gangland's successful intimidation of a witness. The State is helpless under the circumstances”.
So Maddox walked free with a small grin on his face, but the cops didnt forget, since they completely harassed him for the next several years. Like for example, just one month after his acquittal, or on June 25, 1931; some detectives stalked Maddox to an alleged meeting in DuPage County.
They arrested him again but this time in the company of one of Capone's top reps in Melrose Park Rocco DeGrazia, followed by one of DeGrazias top lieutenants Louis Stacci aka Stacey, and also one of Maddox's most trusted pals Tony Capezio, followed by John Purdy and Lawrence Imburgio, while having a dinner in a Du Page county roadhouse.
All of them gave fake names and addresses, while the cops questioned them regarding series of murders and also regarding their bootlegging operations. This was obviously a pure harassment by the detectives since they had nothing on these guys, and proof for that was their immediate release.
As for Red Barker and Jack White, as I previously said that these fellas were somehow uncontrollable and so the first one to go was Barker who in turn was killed in a spectacular way in 1932. White continued to duck the law but it seems that by 1934, some of the boys thought that he was also bringing too much attention, had no limits while being violent and also allegedly wanted a bigger share from the union racket.
In fact, that same year White was killed by two of his Outfit associates in that same business, William O'Donnell and Murray Humphreys. After that, O'Donnell tookover White's and Barker's interests, both around the West Side and in the union business.
[img]http://theblackhand.club/forum/ext/dmzx/imageupload/files/9aef2d7a31e923660fb87a2c717f3bd7.jpg[/img]
William White
[img]http://theblackhand.club/forum/ext/dmzx/imageupload/files/d549ef6471c69ff53f3ce398515240e0.jpg[/img]
Claude Maddox
[img]http://theblackhand.club/forum/ext/dmzx/imageupload/files/d45d3b1876212c529535b85589ea0f04.jpg[/img]
James Summons
[img]http://theblackhand.club/forum/ext/dmzx/imageupload/files/24417aaa85f84b15dbd90fbae4ce9640.jpg[/img]
George Barker
[img]http://theblackhand.club/forum/ext/dmzx/imageupload/files/c1d6c955a5520bac2f80d0936128d541.jpg[/img]
Officer Edward Pflaume
[img]http://theblackhand.club/forum/ext/dmzx/imageupload/files/7794b06dc705856cbbc656e8def0d6fd.jpg[/img]
Sergt. James McBride