The 1946 James Ragen hit and the corruption that followed

[Villain]

Most of the old researchers say that back during the mid 1930’s, two men named James Ragen and Moe Annenberg allegedly started a nationwide racing wire service in Chicago and St Louis. This was not the case since that same wire service was already started years ago by one old time Chicago gambler and racketeer Mont Tennes, and later both Annenberg and Ragen, with the help of the Capone Mob, bought large number of the shares.

You see, it was the new criminal element that literally chased away Tennes from the scene and forced him to sell most of his shares. In 1928, ownership of the General News Bureau was split into 100 shares. Annenberg purchased 48 shares, current partners Jack Lynch and James Ragen together bought 40 shares, and the rest ended up in the hands of Tennes’ three nephews; Edward, Lionel and Mont.

Later Annenberg completely took control of the business and installed Ragen as his general manager. Afterwards, the Bureau was reorganized and rechristened as the Continental Press Service, and eventually passed into the control of Moe's son Walter Annenberg.

This wire service was very important for the bookmakers to do their business because each bookie had to have fast, up to the minute information on the horse races running across the country. Ragen, was a tough, two fisted, Chicago born Irishman, who had punched, stabbed, and shot his way to the top of the heap, meaning he knew a lot of people from the underworld, including members of the Mafia.

His son, James Ragen Jr was deeply involved with the Outfit, especially with faces such as Les Kruse, the Fischetti bros, Jake Guzik, Murray Humphreys and the Alex bros. By the mid 1940s, the whole wire service was under complete ownership of the Annenbergs and the Ragens and the only thing which they did was paying percentage to the Mob and also taking care of their gambling ops.

During that time the number one racing service out west was the Continental Press, which serviced thousands of bookies between Chicago and Los Angeles.

So the Mob decided to set up its own rival service called the Trans-American Wire Service, so the crime bosses across the country can ran their local outlets, while doing whatever they had to do to take over the business.

Ragen was a very ambitious and stubborn person and so he didn’t back off and so some Outfit higher ups began visiting him but with no success. The main problem was that according to the code of the streets, whatever happens you dont go to the government for help, and Ragen was one of those people who lived by that same code.

So Ragen knew on how the Mob dealt with their problems and became scared for his own life, thus making the biggest mistake in his life. He tried to make a deal through U.S. Attorney Tom Clark to provide information to the FBI on the bookmaking industry in return for protection, but story goes that the shady director of the bureau J. Edgar Hoover turned down or ignored the offer.

Ragen also told columnist Drew Pearson about threats on his life made by Tony Accardo, Murray Humphries and Jake Guzik. He said that they warned him either to turn over his racing wire service or get hit in the head. So finally Police Commissioner John Prendergast has assigned Thomas Conelly and William Drury to find the top guys like Accardo, Humphries and Guzik and to bring them in.

Accardo and Humphries already skipped town and were nowhere to find, but they managed to locate Jake Guzik and took him to Scotland Yard and started questioning him about the threats made on Ragen. The cops asked Guzik to take the lie detector and he replied “Captain, what’s the use of kidding ourselves?! If I took a lie test, 30 of the biggest men in Chicago would be diving out of high story windows and I’d have to hit myself in the head”.

Minutes later he faked a heart attack and fell on the ground, and so one of the cops handed him a glass of water and cracked a joke about putting some truth serum in it. Guzik immediatelly stood up and recovered quickly and refused the glass of water. Few hours later an order came from the top for Guzik to be released.

While leaving, Guzik allegedly said to one of the investigators that questioned him “Im going to get you fired”. Conelly and Drury went to the state attorney’s office to ask why they released Guzik, and so the state attorney allegedly told Conelly “You better watch your step captain. Because if I fire you, you’ll never get back.”

So now the Outfit saw their chance and decided to take care of the problem in their own way. They called upon one of their hit teams formed by Lenny Patrick, Dave Yaras and William Block, to take care of the Ragen problem.

They prepared for the hit by providing a stolen delivery truck fitted with quarter inch steel plates to make it bulletproof, with opening on the left side. On June 24, 1946 the trio got into the truck and followed Ragen from his home while driving along State Street. He was in his car alone but was followed by two armed bodyguards in a separate automobile.

At the corner of 39th and State Street Ragen stopped and waited for the green light. Patrick was driving the truck and pulled to the right side of Ragen’s auto, and so as Ragen waited for the green light, the tarpaulin on the left side of the delivery truck was suddenly lifted up and both Block and Yaras pulled off their shotguns and aimed at Ragen’s vehicle.

Suddenly two blasts were fired and one tore through Ragen’s upper right arm and shoulder. The two bodyguards jumped from their automobile to return fire but the truck already sped away in a matter of seconds. Ragen was still alive and was rushed to the nearest hospital, but he was in critical condition and remained alive until August 14, 1946; when he died under "mysterious" conditions.

A lot of confusing situations and reports occirred at the time, such as the report that Ragen’s autopsy showed traces of mercury in his blood and abdomen indicating that someone had entered his room and poisoned him. Later another coronary report showed that there were no traces of mercury in Ragens blood and that he died of other complications.

Now, if Ragen really died of "other complications" then why two weeks after his death, two unknown figures with diamond rings and gold teeth allegedly tried to snatch Ragen’s body from the cemetery vault?

These guys told the lady who worked there that they were seeking the key from the vault and also offered her a lot of money. She refused and told them to come back later so her husband can give them the key from the vault. The two unknown persons disappeared and the lady became suspicious and notified the police.

This was obviously apparent attempt made by the Mob to thwart the investigation but either way the Outfit already won the "war".

But the whole saga still continued since the hit team, Patrick, Yaras and Block were still in trouble. During the assassination attempt, four witnesses saw their faces and identified them to the police. So on March 12, 1947 Chicago police captains Thomas Conelly and William Drury first arrested Block because he was identified by two African-American witnesses, James White and Lucius Davidson, as the man who fired the shots.

The witnesses also told the cops that they saw two other men in the truck which was parked at State st. and Pershing rd. From pictures they identified Block’s two companions as Yaras and Patrick. Another witness, a church deacon, pointed out Block in a line of nine men in the police office. The deacon said that he was within five feet from the delivery truck when he saw Block handling a shotgun. The last witness, a newsboy who also was within few feet from the shooting, identified the three men, especially Block.

The investigators also received a tip from a merchant about another eye witness who didn’t come forward. The cops found him and he also identified the three suspects. In a short period the cops also arrested Patrick and Yaras and took them in custody.

The weird thing was that instead placing the witnesses in protective custody, the cops sent them home, and so the first thing that went wrong was when Jake Guzik’s lawyers approached one of the witnesses and persuaded him to accompany them into a hotel room. Story goes that at the same time in the room there was the other witness and one prostitute. The two witnesses whom Guzik’s lawyers visited allegedly changed their minds and recanted their stories.

However the third witness, the newsboy, persisted in his identification but even with that, Patrick, Yaras and Block were still out on bail and fled the city but suddenly appeared in court after they had learned that the case was collapsing. The case was stopped and there was no trial and it was never explained why the case was not tried even with one witness still available.

Now this is where we can witness the whole corruprion scandal. You see, one of the two previously mentioned witnesses suddenly reported that policemen Conelly and Drury allegedly threatened him to make original identification with exposure of violating probation and a $25,000 reward for the conviction of Ragen’s slayers.

This caused for both Drury and Conelly to get indicted and were called by a grand jury for conspiracy, but they refused to appear and so Commissioner John Prendergast suspended them. Later again an indictment was returned against Conelly, Drury and the three witnesses charging them with conspiracy and false indictment against Patrick, Yaras and Block. Conelly and Drury immediately pressed for trial but there was a delay.

On June 14, 1947 one of the main witnesses James White was shot three times in the head by another African-American and died in Bridewell Hospital. After the murder, the other witnesses were allegedly approached by unknown men and were told to "get on the gravy train" and to forget that they ever saw the three hitmen. So in the end the case was quashed by Chief Justice Harold G. Ward.

As additional information, few years later William Drury was shot to death allegedly by Outfit hit squad, and the only one guy from the bloody trio, Yaras, was questioned by the FBI about the murder but as usual they got nothing out of him.

[cavita]

Nice write up, bud!

[Villain]

Nice write up, bud!

Thanks man