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Title
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SC205 Organized Crime Files Finding Aid
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Description
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This collection contains files relating to organized crime in Kansas City from the 1930s to the 1970s. Contents include records from the Kansas City Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation, reporter’s notes, newspaper clippings, and photographs of local mafia members.
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Date
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1934~/1972~
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Object Type
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Finding Aid
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Title
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Future: The Newsweekly for Today
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Description
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Issue of the anti-corruption, Kansas City-based newspaper, Future: The Newsweekly for Today. The front page includes an article, continued on page 8, about the escape from federal police in Kansas City of Sam Randazzo, "a St. Louis gangster" being released from Leavenworth, with the help of police officials Otto Higgins and Jeff Rayen. Other featured articles include: “Patriots Go to Riverside” (p. 2), about the gambling on horse racing in Riverside, Missouri, "(owned by Pendergast associates)" and its effects on gambling salons or saloons in Kansas City such as "the Bowery and the King Kong"; “The Eagle Hovers” (p. 2), about the meeting of the Fraternal Order of Eagles (led by Conrad Mann) in honor of Thomas J. Pendergast to initiate 1,000 new members affiliated with the local Democratic Party including Charles Carrollo ("companion of John Lazia when the North End Democratic leader was machine-gunned to death"), Dominick Binaggio ("political gambling king here"), et al.; “New Pussys” (p. 3), about the "Pusateris" operating gambling machines, prostitutes, bootleg liquors, and "juicy steak dinners" "about a block east of police headquarters" during the Prohibition era, moving in 1935 to a new building near 79th and Holmes Streets "outside the city limits" and projected to be "one of the swankiest night clubs and casinos in the Middle West"; “Pathetic Case of Leonard Claiborne” (p. 3), photo and article about Leonard Claiborne, "for fifteen years a city detective" for the Kansas City Police Department and sentenced to "a four-year term for a lie he told to save the neck of Charles Gargotta, North Side gangster" under John Lazia in 1933; and “May We Present Mrs. George H. Hoxie” (p. 5), photo and profile of Ida S. Hoxie, who worked with the Consumers’ League to ensure that local dairies were hygienic and was also active with the Red Cross and League of Women Voters; also included in the newspaper are advertisements for local businesses and articles on fashion, finance, cooking, music, art, and national and international news.
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Date
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1935-05-24
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Object Type
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Newspaper
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Title
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Future: The Newsweekly for Today
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Description
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First issue of the anti-corruption, Kansas City-based newspaper, Future: The Newsweekly for Today. The front page includes a statement on the newspaper's objective, maintaining that the newspaper is not against any certain political party or vice, but that it is simply for "good government." Featured articles include: “Council Passes Cab Ordinance” (pp. 2 & 4) discussing councilman Frank H. Backstrom’s reaction to the ordinance and detailing other ordinances appropriating bond funds.; "Adult Education--A Fine Work" (pp. 2 & 6) concerning "the program of adult education going forward under the FERA, with the hearty co-operation of the city's Board of Education" and supervised by Roy Gallemore. It describes courses offered at Lincoln High School and its "sixty-three colored teachers employed, a goodly number as compared with the hundred and sixteen white teachers."; “Trivia” (pp. 2 & 6) and "Borderline Businesses Pay Most Sugar" (pp. 3 & 8) on the bombing of the Harlem Nightclub as an example of the vulnerability of semi-legitimate ("borderline") nightclubs and other businesses in Kansas City to its strong-arm tactics of organized crime through the police department. A photo of the Harlem Nightclub bombing is included.; "What, Precisely, Is a Machine?" (pp. 3 & 5) on the definition of political machines and the Pendergast machine in Kansas City fitting this definition through unofficial financing, voting fraud, etc.; "A New Administration for the County" (pp. 3-5) detailing the new administrative officials, new budget laws, and efforts to reduce the city deficit. A picture of J. W. Hostetter, Eugene I. Purcell, and Battle McCardle is included.; “NYM” (p. 4) on the National Youth Movement began in Kansas City in May 1932 with a portrait of Joseph C. Fennelly.; "May We Present Mrs. Charles N. Seidlitz" (p. 5) on Alice Richards Seidlitz "one of the founders of the Junior League of Kansas City," wife of Charles Seidlitz ("president of the Seidlitz Paint and Varnish Company"), and daughter of George Richards ("son of the founder of Richards and Conover Hardware Company"). A photo of Alice is included.; "Be Proud, Citizens!" (pp. 5 & 8) on the ironic description of Kansas City by Judge Brown Harris "as 'probably the most law-abiding city in the United States.'" Irony due to the judge's association with the Pendergast machine and "federal indictments" in relation to the Union Station massacre of Eugene Reppert ("former director of police"), Thomas Higgins ("chief of detectives"), George Rayen ("of the police motor theft bureau"), Tom Bash (sheriff), etc.; Book review (p. 7) of "Heaven's My Destination" by Thornton Wilder (author of "Our Town" and "The Bridge of San Luis Rey"), describing a scene in the book with the main character (a devoutly religious man) unknowingly eating at one of Kansas City's "bawdy houses" and experiencing other misadventures.; Also included in the newspaper are advertisements for local businesses and articles on sports, fashion, finance, cooking, music, and national and international news.
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Date
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1935-01-11
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Object Type
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Newspaper
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Title
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Future: The Newsweekly for Today
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Description
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Issue of the anti-corruption, Kansas City-based newspaper, Future: The Newsweekly for Today. The front page includes an article, continued on page 8, about J. C. Nichols and his city planning projects in Kansas City with the Country Club residential district and Country Club Plaza shopping center, etc., including a photo of Nichols. Other featured articles include: “To Better Serve His Clients” (p. 2), about Michael Konomos retiring as assistant county prosecutor after "'los[ing] the records' in one of the most infamous murder cases in court history here last March" involving a murder by John Mangiaricina, "alleged killer, ward politician in well with an organization power"; “Bye Bye Adam (p. 2), photo and article about Adam Richetti, "associate of Charles (Pretty Boy) Floyd, in the circuit court … being tried on a charge of murder in connection with the Union Station massacre"; and “May We Present Jimmy Maroon” (p. 5), profile of Jimmy Maroon, or James Maroon, "hoodlum, city employee, and man-about-Twelth-Street," starting out as a criminal in Kansas City in 1927 as a car thief and kidnapper and arrested as part of a criminal gang in Kansas City in 1935; also included in the newspaper are advertisements for local businesses and articles on fashion, finance, cooking, music, art, and national and international news.
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Date
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1935-06-21
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Object Type
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Newspaper
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Title
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Open City: True Story of the KC Crime Family 1900-1950
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Description
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Open City is an historical work detailing and analyzing the birth and growth of an organized crime family in Kansas City during the first 50 yars of the 20th Century. It includes names as Charles Binaggio, Nick Civella, Joe DiGiovanni, Charles Gargotta, John Lazia, and Tom Pendergast. Covers topics like prohibition, gambling, political machines, labor rackets, etc. The author was supervisor of the Organized Crime Squad, Kansas City Field Division after a long career with the FBI when he retired.
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Date
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2008
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Object Type
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Book
