WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.639 --> 00:00:11.039 You are now listening to True Murder, The most shocking 2 00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:14.160 killers in true crime history and the authors that have 3 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:21.519 written about them Geesy Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker VTK Every 4 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:25.280 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 5 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.559 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your 6 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:32.719 host journalist and author Dan Zufanski. 7 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:44.759 Good Evening Murder. Molly and the Mob, a nineteen fifties 8 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:49.039 shocking true crime story by Rod Cackley, delves into one 9 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:52.719 of the most chilling, unsolved mysteries from the heart of 10 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:59.840 nineteen fifties America. Set against the gritty backdrop of Joliet, Illinois, 11 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:04.799 urban outpost of Chicago's criminal underworld, this true crime narrative 12 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:09.799 follows the life and sudden disappearance of Mollizelco, a fearless 13 00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:15.519 journalist whose scathing pen became her weapon against corruption, organized crime, 14 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:19.560 and the rampant gambling that threatened to poison her community. 15 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:25.959 Mollie Zelco was no ordinary woman. As the editor and 16 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:30.760 publisher of The Spectator, a small but fiercely independent weekly newspaper, 17 00:01:31.799 --> 00:01:35.439 she made it her mission to expose the sinister ties 18 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:40.599 between local politicians and the Chicago mobsters were bringing gambling 19 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:48.480 dens and criminal enterprises into Joliet. Her editorials were hard hitting, unflinching, 20 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:54.159 and deeply personal, so much so they earned her powerful enemies. 21 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:58.879 In an era where women were expected to remain silent, 22 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:04.319 boldness stood out, and her voice became a rallying cry 23 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:07.879 for those who shared her vision of a safer, more 24 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:13.879 just community. But crusading against the mob came with a price. 25 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:18.759 On the night of September twenty fifth, nineteen fifty seven, 26 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:24.120 Maliseelco left the offices of the Spectator, telling her colleagues, 27 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:30.599 I'll see you tomorrow, but that tomorrow never came. Molly 28 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:35.960 vanished without a trace. At its core, this is a 29 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:41.159 story about courage in the face of overwhelming odds. Maliseelco 30 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:44.319 knew the risks of standing up to the mob, but 31 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:47.439 she never wavered in her commitment to her community and 32 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:52.919 her principles. The story is also a gripping, suspenseful journey 33 00:02:52.919 --> 00:02:57.919 through one of America's most enduring unsolved mysteries, shining a 34 00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:02.000 spotlight on a woman whose legacy remains as powerful as 35 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:07.159 the question surrounding her disappearance. Was she a victim of 36 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:11.280 her own relentless pursuit of justice or did she know 37 00:03:11.400 --> 00:03:15.840 too much becoming a target in a game she couldn't win. 38 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:21.120 The book that we're featuring this evening is Murder Molly 39 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:25.080 and the Mob, a nineteen fifty shocking true crime story 40 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:30.599 with my special guest author Rod Cackley. Thank you very 41 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:33.280 much for this interview and welcome back to the program, 42 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:34.439 Rod Cackley. 43 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:37.759 Thanks Dan, How are you well fine? 44 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:41.599 Thanks, thank you so much, and congratulations on your latest book, 45 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:44.240 Murder Molly and the Mob. 46 00:03:45.479 --> 00:03:48.439 Yeah, thank you. I had a lot of fun writing it. 47 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:53.719 It's a wild story. Certainly, let's get right to introducing 48 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:57.439 you're talking about April nineteen thirty eight, but let's go 49 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:02.319 back and talk about William McCabe. Tell us about his education, 50 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:06.199 his background, and his political history. 51 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:11.719 William McCabe Dan was born in Morris, Grundy County, Illinois. 52 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:15.000 He worked for daily newspapers in Joliet and even briefly 53 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:18.480 ran one. In his journalistic career, McCabe also found time 54 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:21.040 to study law and was admitted to the Illinois Bar 55 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:25.600 Association in nineteen fifteen. Now, his political career includes serving 56 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:29.199 as a state representative from the forty first District from 57 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:32.720 nineteen twelve to nineteen twenty two, followed by a term 58 00:04:32.759 --> 00:04:35.639 as a mayor of Lockport from nineteen twenty three to 59 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:39.040 twenty five. After that he worked as an attorney general. 60 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:43.519 He specialized in criminal law until nineteen thirty. He then 61 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:46.600 served as the state's attorney of Will County from nineteen 62 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:50.000 thirty two to thirty six, and it was during that time, 63 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:52.120 from thirty two to thirty six, that he hired a 64 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:55.120 seventeen year old secretary by the name of Amilia Joe 65 00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:00.000 malzelto When McCabe left office, he took control of the Spectrum, 66 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:04.120 a weekly newspaper in Joliet, Illinois, and Molly followed him. 67 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:10.079 Now, what was their editorial focus? What kind of newspaper 68 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:14.120 was the Spectator? And who do they target specifically in 69 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:15.720 this paper and their editorials? 70 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:19.279 Yeah, this was a time when weekly This is a 71 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:22.000 weekly newspaper, okay, and it doesn't sound like much in 72 00:05:22.120 --> 00:05:27.160 twenty twenty four, But a weekly newspaper back in the thirties, forties, fifties, 73 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:30.120 and even the sixties had a real voice. They were 74 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:34.040 really big and McCabe and Molly did a lot more 75 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:37.319 than just published school lunch menus and what was on 76 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:42.079 sale at Sam's butcher shop. He really went after gangsters. 77 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:46.720 They remember Joliet, Illinois. Remember al Capone. Of course al 78 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:50.000 Capone the founder of the Chicago Syndicate. He brought the 79 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:53.160 mob his outfit into Joliet. That was one of the 80 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:55.959 cities that he took over back in the days of prohibition. 81 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:01.519 And so Molly and Molly, following McCabe's lead, mccab really 82 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:05.720 went after the gangsters who were in Juliet. 83 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:09.160 You say that in his background he had mckayb had 84 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:12.000 studied law in the Minister of the Bar in nineteen fifteen, 85 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:15.519 and he was also, as you mentioned, the mayor of Lockport, 86 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:20.920 and he was an attorney specializing in criminal law. So 87 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:24.800 he didn't come into the journalism business without a background 88 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:26.519 in the law specifically. 89 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:29.800 I think that's important to realize. You're right, You're right, Dan, 90 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:32.079 he had a real background in the law and he 91 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:34.879 had a background in journalism. It was really quite a 92 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:35.720 one two punch. 93 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:41.920 Now let's get to introducing Liam Kelly, because again April sixteenth, 94 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:45.759 nineteen thirty eight, and there's an incident between Liam Kelly 95 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:49.199 tell us who Liam Kelly is and what happens that day. 96 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:52.639 Liam Kelly was a county Sheriff's deputy, and he's a 97 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:56.879 great example of what Juliet was like. He also ran 98 00:06:57.079 --> 00:07:00.920 a couple of outsits if you will, or cruised Liam Kelly. 99 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:03.439 As I wrote the lead line here is there was 100 00:07:03.480 --> 00:07:07.560 a long line of people furious with William McCain. Liam 101 00:07:07.639 --> 00:07:10.040 Kelly had just stepped to the front of the queue. 102 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:14.040 Liam Kelly was upset with what McCabe had written, angered 103 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:18.519 by a Spectator editorial that suggested Liam Kelly be removed 104 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:21.759 from office. Well that was you know, Liam Kelly's connection 105 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:25.000 to the world of Joliet and the Chicago crime syndicate. 106 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:28.199 So on April sixteenth, nineteen thirty eight, he walked up 107 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:32.639 and punched McCabe in the eye, knocked in flat in 108 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:33.480 broad daylight. 109 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:38.079 Now what's reaction from the editor of the Spectator, McCabe. 110 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:39.279 What does he do in response? 111 00:07:39.720 --> 00:07:42.480 McCabe? Now, remember this is a guy. You don't rise 112 00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:45.199 in politics back in these days without being able to 113 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:48.800 handle yourself in a situation like this. He walked away 114 00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:51.360 from the encounter with the black eye, but he did 115 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:54.800 not press charges. He told police, quote, I'll handle the 116 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:56.680 matter myself en quote. 117 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:00.480 Now tell us what happens the next day at the 118 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.879 office of McCabe's spectator in Joliet. 119 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:06.360 Yeah, In the next day, two men jump out of 120 00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:08.800 the car in front of the Joliet's headquarters in one 121 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:11.680 thirteen Cass Street. They jump out of the car, they 122 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:14.759 throw bricks through five plate glass windows, and then they 123 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:18.279 speed off. Now McCabe was not shocked by this. He 124 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:21.120 tells police that Kelly, after he punched him in the eye, 125 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:23.560 he looked down at him on the sidewalk and said, 126 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:25.879 I'll bust the rest of your windows. And the eye, 127 00:08:25.879 --> 00:08:28.120 of course the window back in that day was slang 128 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:30.839 for your eyes. So he says, I'll bust the rest 129 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.879 of your windows. So McCabe told police he was not 130 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.519 surprised by the attack on his building. And again, though 131 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:41.320 McCabe says, I'll take it up with him, it's Kelly 132 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:43.879 rather says I'll take it up with him. It's silly 133 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:45.559 to connect me with the window breaking. 134 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:49.320 You're right that Liam Kelly does lose his job as 135 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:53.120 court bailiff, but you say, needless to say he climbs 136 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:56.600 the ladder in corruption in Joliet for nearly eight years 137 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:02.879 raining as Will Counties jukebox king, also a powerful figure 138 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:04.639 in the local Democratic Party. 139 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:07.840 Yeah, the jukeboxes were controlled by the outstit, the mob, 140 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:10.879 the syndicate, if you will. So that's a real important point. 141 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:14.039 He was making a lot of money losing his job 142 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:17.039 as a court bailiff when his mentor, if you will, 143 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:20.120 the judge that McCabe was after, got knocked out. There's 144 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:23.960 really an intricate story here. Kelly was also a powerful 145 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:26.919 figure in the local Democratic Party and told the night 146 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:30.639 of October thirteenth, nineteen forty six, he and his wife 147 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:34.080 and his family. They're driving home from a restaurant. Somebody's 148 00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:36.159 following him. He can tell there's a car behind him, 149 00:09:36.200 --> 00:09:38.519 but he doesn't know if it's friend or full. So 150 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:41.039 he pulls into the driveway of his house at five 151 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:44.639 ho two Fourth Avenue and Juliet. His suspicions, though that 152 00:09:44.679 --> 00:09:47.399 it's the Full are confirmed. The car, carrying at least 153 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:51.399 two men, possibly a third man, pulled in right behind him. 154 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:54.279 Now Kelly's a big guy, as I wrote here, he 155 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:56.759 sports a double chin, big enough to have its own name. 156 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:00.559 Didn't miss many meals. After the McCabe fight, he steps 157 00:10:00.600 --> 00:10:03.679 out of the car. He doesn't know yet what's facing him. 158 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:05.879 He gets out of the car. His wife, Alice, and 159 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:08.960 their four year old daughter, Mary Susan are inside the car. 160 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:12.000 One of the men from the trailing car doesn't hesitate. 161 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.240 He pulls out a pistol and fires six shots from 162 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:19.320 a forty five caliber semi automatic. One bullet hits Kelly 163 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:21.960 in the head in the temple. Four more tear into 164 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:24.600 his left side, and the sixth bullet hits him in 165 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:28.720 the left shoulder. Liam Kelly was dead before his body 166 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:32.320 hit the blacktop, and his wife, Alice later told police 167 00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:35.720 she had no idea why anyone would want to kill Liam. 168 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:41.679 So what happens with that investigation, as far as you know. 169 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:47.600 The investigation goes nowhere. That investigation goes nowhere. You have 170 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:51.559 to realize that in Joliet, Illinois at the time, jukeboxes 171 00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:55.240 and pinball games, so they called them pinballs at the time, 172 00:10:55.799 --> 00:10:59.960 they were critical revenue streams for the syndicate. So obvious 173 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:03.720 if Liam got whacked in his own driveway, he had 174 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:07.159 upset somebody, somebody was trying to take over. You wouldn't 175 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:12.559 kill somebody like Liam without having the approval of people 176 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:16.279 in Chicago, and if they approved it, then the tops 177 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:17.559 were not going to go after him. 178 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:22.440 Now you take us to April seventh, nineteen forty eight, 179 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:26.440 and William McCabe is now sixty four years old, crusading 180 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:30.480 publisher for The Spectator, and you write that he'd always 181 00:11:30.519 --> 00:11:33.799 believe the pen was mightier than the gangster's gun or 182 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:34.279 the sword. 183 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:37.799 Yeah, yeah, the gangster's gun in this case, and tonight 184 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:40.320 he was about to test that belief. Now, not unlike 185 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:44.159 Liam Kelly, he's driving alone, but he's driving, but driving 186 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:47.799 alone on a lonely country road from the office of 187 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:50.679 the Spectator in Juliet to one hundred and sixty acre 188 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:54.600 farmy owns, just two miles outside of Lockport. He sees 189 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:57.320 a car tailing him. Now, he's made a lot of 190 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:01.799 enemies over the years. Both corrupt polock hissuons and gangsters 191 00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:05.240 are after him. They hate him, and the people who 192 00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:08.799 control crime in northern Illinois see McCabe as a real enemy. 193 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:12.480 And he figures that one of those enemies is behind him, 194 00:12:12.519 --> 00:12:16.679 and he's exactly right. He accelerates, the car behind him accelerates, 195 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:20.080 They speed up even faster. Mccab floors it. He pushes 196 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:22.679 the pedal to the metal. His car is going faster 197 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:25.679 than it's ever driven on this battered, bumpy road. He 198 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:29.080 smashes into every bump, soars over every pothole that the 199 00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:32.679 dustry track can throw at him. The car chasing him, though, 200 00:12:32.840 --> 00:12:36.360 is faster. It pulls up alongside him and forces him 201 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:39.000 off the side of the road into a ditch. Three 202 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:41.320 men from that car that ran him into the ditch. 203 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:44.039 They pull open the driver's side door of McCabe's car. 204 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:46.840 Even though he's hanging onto the handle on the inside 205 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:49.320 with all of his strength. He's no match for them. 206 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:52.440 They drag him outside, They punch him, they blindfold him. 207 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:55.240 They toss him into the backseat of their car, and 208 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:58.279 they demand five thousand dollars. Well, mccab doesn't carry that 209 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:00.639 kind of money. Five grand of those days with a 210 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:02.480 heck of a lot of money. Tells him he has 211 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:05.279 thirty five dollars in a watch. Not good enough, the 212 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:07.679 men say. They pull them out, and they've got baseball 213 00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:11.200 bats spiked with roofing nails, and they were beating their 214 00:13:11.240 --> 00:13:14.840 crap out of mccab mercilessly. They smashed his head, fractured 215 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:17.480 his skull, broke one of his arms and shattered both 216 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:18.200 of his legs. 217 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:21.440 They might have killed him, but a farmer happened upon 218 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:23.279 the scene. Elmer Rowley. 219 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:26.480 Yeah, Elmer Rowley, who's not only a farmer, but he 220 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:30.240 was dean of Joliet Junior College. He drives up, he 221 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:35.879 sees McCabe's body broken, bloody, hears him screaming. Elmer stops 222 00:13:35.879 --> 00:13:39.320 his car, gets out the attacker's flee. One of them, though, 223 00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:42.919 pull turns around, draws a revolver and fires have shot 224 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:46.799 at McKay before speeding off. Then Elmer bills to McCabe's side, 225 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:50.120 gets him into the car and drives him to Saint 226 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:54.440 Joseph's Hospital and Joliette, where doctors list McCabe in critical 227 00:13:54.440 --> 00:13:57.600 condition and say that he'll be lucky to live the knight. 228 00:13:57.679 --> 00:13:58.279 To survive the. 229 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:02.879 Night, you say, though, the next day, April eighth, nineteen 230 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:06.559 forty eight, McKay does wake up in hospital and survives, 231 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:11.000 and least visit him and he told them the attack 232 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:14.080 was definitely from his political enemies. 233 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:18.440 Yeah, he says, as Mattabe put it, they sent their 234 00:14:18.519 --> 00:14:22.399 dogs after me. There's no doubt about that. But he's 235 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:25.559 just remember he's just hanging on still. He's alive, but 236 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:29.840 just barely. Casts on both of his legs. He's got 237 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:32.840 a cast on his arm and bandages around his head 238 00:14:32.919 --> 00:14:36.759 from his fractured skull. He knows. He tells the police 239 00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:39.200 right then. He says it was orchestrated by those who 240 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:41.440 feared what would be in the pages of the Spectator 241 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:45.080 when it hit the Juliet's newsstand in a few hours. 242 00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:47.279 But he doesn't really think the cops are going to 243 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:49.519 go after these guys, because he figures more than a 244 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:52.200 few cops and Juliet are on the take, serving the 245 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:55.600 interests of Chicago gangsters left over from the Capone era. 246 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:00.000 He's also running in the primary in a few days 247 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:03.399 for the GOP Precinct Committee man of the forty sixth 248 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:04.639 district in Juliet. 249 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:07.919 Yeah, and he's running against the guy by the name 250 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:10.480 of it. I mean, mccab is just an incredible character 251 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:13.679 because he does have he's got this law experience, he's 252 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:17.039 a publisher of a newspaper, and he still finds time 253 00:15:17.080 --> 00:15:20.679 to run in the GOP primary against a guy by 254 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:23.519 the name of Alfred Shupp, a man that McCabe had 255 00:15:23.559 --> 00:15:26.720 been battling for years, Jack, who claimed to be shocked 256 00:15:26.759 --> 00:15:30.080 by the attack that left McCay bedridden. He's the chairman 257 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:33.960 of the Illinois State Central Republican Committees Association and the 258 00:15:34.039 --> 00:15:37.159 incumbent forty six District precinct committeemen. So this is a 259 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:41.039 powerful guy. This is where it gets really complicated because 260 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:45.360 he's McCabe also alleged that he'd been ordered to drop 261 00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:48.279 out of the election by someone involved in the slot 262 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:53.360 machine racket, another racket in will County. So was the guy. 263 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:56.320 Were the guys who were after him because of the 264 00:15:56.440 --> 00:15:58.840 threat to throw him to get out of the election, 265 00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:03.240 or was it because of the Chicago mob they didn't 266 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:07.840 want him talking about slot machines, tinballs and jukeboxes? Or 267 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:10.679 could it have been something else? See, the police don't 268 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:14.679 know either, and I shouldn't say that the cops might 269 00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:17.200 have backed off from this investigation. But there were some 270 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:19.440 good cops on the force, and they'll come up later 271 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:23.960 in the story. But again, mccave is still running for office. 272 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:26.840 But he looks at Molly. Now, Molly. Remember he was 273 00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:29.679 forty two when he hired Molly at the age who 274 00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:32.480 was at seventeen, right, And he looks at Molly at 275 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:36.039 his bedside and she'd been at the hospital all night 276 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:39.720 with him. Mccave gives her the instructions, you'll be running 277 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.840 the Spectator. So now it's up to her as really 278 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:47.200 the lone voice in Juliet's wilderness now to battle the 279 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:48.159 Chicago mob. 280 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:52.159 And she's going to be writing the editorials, and she's 281 00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:55.039 going to be handling everything, not only as the editor 282 00:16:55.080 --> 00:17:00.039 but as the secretary. She has multiple tasks at this Spectator, doesn't. 283 00:16:59.799 --> 00:17:02.879 She she's running the paper? Yeah, she really is. For 284 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:05.160 all intent and purposes, she's the publisher. 285 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:05.400 Now. 286 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:08.839 He runs day to day and she runs the overall 287 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:13.319 philosophy of the paper. Although still she's getting her instructions 288 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:16.400 from mccab but he groomed her all the way up, 289 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:18.920 so she knows exactly what to do, and she's on 290 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:22.400 board with mccaby. She's after these gangsters as much, if 291 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:23.640 not more than she was. 292 00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:30.240 Let's just as an opportunity to stop to hear these messages. Now, 293 00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:34.359 talking about suspects, the police do round up three men 294 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:39.640 on April eighth, considered suspects from the Chicago area. Tell 295 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:45.400 us about these three characters. Louis Juliani, John Nurcie and 296 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:47.480 Anthony Noriano. 297 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:53.839 Yeah, these guys were all taken to the Leonard Keeler 298 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:58.759 Crime Lab in Chicago at three forty one East Ohio 299 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:02.359 Street in Chicago. And I've seen pictures of these guys 300 00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:05.160 in the newspapers that I used for research on this story, 301 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:09.519 and the cops did not treat these guys gently, okay. 302 00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:13.119 Robert reported seeing a car similar to theirs near mccave's 303 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:17.000 Lockport home, and a local tavern keeper saw three men 304 00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:20.519 circling his establishment in the same building, so that's what 305 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:22.920 led the cops to these three. They were hooked up 306 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:25.799 to a light detector machine, a polygraph machine and grilled 307 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:30.079 by lab examiner Alex Gregory. And Gregory concluded that the 308 00:18:30.119 --> 00:18:33.559 two men he interviewed first, that would be Louis Giuliani 309 00:18:34.039 --> 00:18:38.920 and John Nirschi. They seemed to know the identities of 310 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:41.880 the attackers, but neither of them had actually laid a 311 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:44.880 hand or a club on the cave, so they didn't 312 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:48.319 have blood on their hands. Okay. The third man, the 313 00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:53.359 twenty seven year old from Chicago Heights, Anthony Notoriano, he 314 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:56.319 also took a light detective test and it also told 315 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:00.079 him Gregory the same thing, that he probably knew who 316 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:03.279 did the attack, but he also did not have blood 317 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:06.519 on his hands. So is that right after some intense 318 00:19:06.599 --> 00:19:10.000 quote unquote questioning, detectives determined that none of the three 319 00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:12.720 had blood on their hands. Still, they believed they knew 320 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:15.799 who inflicted the beating, but getting them to write out 321 00:19:15.799 --> 00:19:19.440 their bosses proved to be an impossible task. And it 322 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:21.799 could be that there were so many layers or buffers 323 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:25.119 between these guys and the people who actually ordered the 324 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:28.279 attack that they really didn't know who had ordered the beating. 325 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:34.680 You say that that. Meanwhile, McCabe is focusing on his recovery. 326 00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:39.920 Molly decides as editor that a reward for information leading 327 00:19:40.039 --> 00:19:42.519 to those responsible needed to be offered. 328 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:47.079 Yeah. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, at the Spectator, Molly 329 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:49.400 decides she's going to do her own. She's going to 330 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:52.519 beat the cops to the punch. And she figures, now, 331 00:19:52.759 --> 00:19:55.759 no one's putting up any money, okay as a reward, 332 00:19:56.119 --> 00:19:58.559 So if she comes up with two hundred dollars to 333 00:19:58.599 --> 00:20:02.319 pay for our as a reward, and she finds a 334 00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:05.599 low level criminal thug, a real street guy by the 335 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:08.640 name of the Lloyd Imbray, and he says that he 336 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:11.240 can tell her. If she'll give him two hundred dollars, 337 00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:14.119 he will give her the names of those who attack McCabe. 338 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:17.640 She turns over the two hundred, he hands her an envelope, 339 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:21.119 but as soon as she takes the envelope, embrace smirks 340 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:24.640 and confesses that it was all alive. The names in 341 00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:28.039 the envelope are alive. But if she'll give him another 342 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:31.799 one hundred dollars, he'll tell her the real names. Oh, 343 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:33.640 Molly's not going to put up with that. She may 344 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:37.640 be young, she may be naive, but she goes right 345 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:40.960 to the sheriff's office and files a complaint against Inbray, 346 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:44.759 so they arrest him. But what does Inbray care getting busted? 347 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:46.640 As part of his game, this is what he does. 348 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:50.839 He quickly admits he has absolutely no idea who attacked McCabe, 349 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:53.559 and he says, actually, the names in that envelope I 350 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:55.519 got him out of a magazine. They were just like 351 00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:58.119 three names at random that he put together. He was 352 00:20:58.200 --> 00:21:00.680 just trying to flee Smiley. What she did, yea, But 353 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:02.079 of course she got her money back. 354 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:06.880 You take us to May seventeenth, nineteen forty eight and 355 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:11.240 Judge James B. Bartley, and he has a decision to 356 00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:15.000 convene a grand jury of will County in will County 357 00:21:15.480 --> 00:21:18.680 and proceed with the investigation into the brutal assault on 358 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:19.640 William McCabe. 359 00:21:20.279 --> 00:21:22.440 Yeah. Now you got to realize. At this point, Cave 360 00:21:22.599 --> 00:21:24.880 is saying, I forgive them, you know, I don't want 361 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:27.359 to get into this, but let this go. I'll take 362 00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:31.200 care of it, Bartley says. The judge says, h this 363 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:34.200 is my courtroom and not even you William McCabe can 364 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:38.039 control it from a hospital bed. So they do investigate it. 365 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:41.200 There is a grand jury, two broken legs, a shattered 366 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:44.880 arm or fractured skull. McCabe has no choice now but 367 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:48.359 to watch from the sidelines as the truth is dragged 368 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:50.279 into the light, whether he likes it or not. 369 00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:54.599 So what happens with that dragging these people into the light. 370 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:58.160 Well, the police and the Sheriff's department, they maintain the 371 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:00.839 assault on McCabe was nothing more than a viol robbery 372 00:22:01.559 --> 00:22:05.839 three guys who were after five thousand dollars. The Spectator, though, 373 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:10.359 in editorials written by Molly and probably ghosted by McCabe, 374 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:13.839 say the attacks stemmed from, as they put it, political 375 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:18.000 intrigue because really now he's still up for election, and 376 00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:20.920 he loses. He lost that April thirteenth election for a 377 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:24.680 seat on the County Republican Committee to his nemesis Alfred 378 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:29.759 Shop So again it continues. About nearly a month after 379 00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:34.599 the after losing the election, McCabe informs Edward Powers, who's 380 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:38.160 the investigator for Will County's State Attorney's office, that he's 381 00:22:38.200 --> 00:22:40.960 ready to move on as far as he's concerned. McCabe 382 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:43.720 says it should be a closed case, even though no 383 00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:47.039 one has been identified or arrested. Judge Bartley is not 384 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:50.319 ready to let it go. They convene a testimony a 385 00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:53.200 grand jury rather, and here testimony from one of the 386 00:22:53.240 --> 00:22:57.440 real characters in this story, Francis the thin Man Curry. 387 00:22:57.640 --> 00:22:59.680 They call him the thin Man because he is a 388 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:02.240 thin man, but he's also kind of a classy guy. 389 00:23:02.359 --> 00:23:04.920 Remember the old movie The Thin Man, the series The 390 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:07.680 Thin Man. He looks kind of like that guy. He 391 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:10.240 could play that part in the movies. So they call 392 00:23:10.279 --> 00:23:12.559 him the thin Man. And he is said to be 393 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:16.000 the head of Will County's slot machine racket, and he's 394 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:20.640 a known associate of Paul Rica, a parole Capone era gangster. 395 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:25.160 Now the grand jury testimony is kept secret. Reports indicate, 396 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:28.880 though that Curry offered no substantial information about the McCabe case. 397 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:32.160 McCabe himself denied having an argument with Curry in the 398 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:35.200 days leading up to the attack. Still, the grand jury 399 00:23:35.240 --> 00:23:39.200 continued to hear testimony through May, keeping the case alive 400 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:44.000 against McCabe's wishes. Molly says she has reason to feel 401 00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:46.960