Shelton Brothers Gang

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The Shelton Brothers Gang were a historic gang during the US alcohol prohibition from 1919 to 1932 in the southern state of Illinois .

history

The gang was founded by the brothers Earl, Carl and Bernie Shelton, who got into the so-called "bootleging" when prohibition on alcohol began in 1920. They operated out of Williamson County and presumably controlled cities like East St. Louis with their alcohol, some of which they produced themselves .

Confrontation with the Ku Klux Klan

A serious problem became the Ku Klux Klan , which was a proponent of Prohibition in the 1920s, because from their point of view alcohol was considered to be un-American devil stuff brought in by emigrants - Catholics and other religions . On the other hand, it was precisely these emigrants who worked in the coal mines in the region and did not think about changing their old drinking habits.

In the spring of 1923, around 5,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan gathered in Williamson County , which could rely on the local Baptist and Protestant congregations in the small villages and larger cities. The leader was 58-year-old S. Glenn Young , a former federal police officer.

The mob began to wander from house to house in search of alcohol; Alcohol owners were arrested and turned over to the official authorities, who did nothing to counter these illegal arrests and detentions. In some cases, the authorities had even made clan members official auxiliaries. Elected politicians who were caught were chased out of office and replaced by Klan members.

On January 24, 1925, an incident occurred in which Deputy Sheriff Ora Thomas was called to a tobacco store in Herrin, Illinois , where he met Clan Leader Young . Both shot each other down; two clan members escaped in the fray. An official rally was held for the dead Young , attended by around 15,000 people.

The Shelton brothers were still working with Charles Birger and his gang at this point and they jointly attacked the leaders of the Klan in Herrin in April 1926, using Thompson type submachine guns and shotguns . Although the police were called, they did not appear, so that afterwards only unknown persons could be investigated.

Although the clan's personnel losses were small, local power was broken. The elected representatives could return to their offices and offices and the alcohol smugglers could go back to their illegal activities.

Confrontation with Charles Birger

Charles Birger soon became the brothers' rival, and in 1926 a bloody gang war for supremacy began with mutual cargo hijackings using armored trucks - which had been armored and could be fired from - and dynamite bombs . Although the Sheltons had more than fifty armed riflemen, the brothers could not prevail against Birger.

The Shelton gang tried to blow up Birger's little speakeasy Shady Rest , but the bomb failed. Numerous people were killed during this confrontation, and it was never clear which side had the upper hand.

Joseph Adams lived in West City , a small town near Benton, Illinois , as the mayor and operator of a small auto repair shop. Birger found out that the Sheltons' armored truck was being repaired there and demanded that it be returned. Since Adams did not do this, Birger's people threw a bomb on the workshop as they drove past and demolished the front of the building. Then, in December 1926, Harry and Elmo Thomasson rang the doorbell at Adams' house to allegedly bring him a letter from Carl Shelton; When he opened the door and began to read the letter, he was shot by the two of them.

The following month the Sheltons et al. a. with the - now successful - destruction of the Shady Rest ; four corpses were discovered in the rubble that had been burned beyond recognition. The series of explosions and the fire had been so violent that they were not only noticed in the immediate vicinity.

In addition, the Price couple disappeared without a trace around the same time. Lorry Price was considered an ally of Birgers and had been an Illinois state police officer.

The end

When Birger testified before police in 1928, the Sheltons were sentenced to 25 years in prison and a $ 15,000 fine for a 1925 robbery. With that Birger had put the Sheltons behind bars, but was hanged himself for the murder that same year.

After their release, Carl and Bernie Shelton were murdered in 1947 and 1948, respectively. Presumably Frank "Buster" Wortman - a former gang member - was the perpetrator who took over the brothers' gambling activities after they were murdered.

literature

  • Angle, Paul M .: Bloody Williamson: A Chapter in American Lawlessness . New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 1952. ISBN 0-252-06233-7
  • Fox, Stephen. Blood and Power: Organized Crime in Twentieth-Century America . New York: William Morrow and Company, 1989. ISBN 0-688-04350-X
  • Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States . Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
  • Pensoneau, Taylor: Brothers Notorious: The Sheltons - Southern Illinois' Legendary Gangsters . New Berlin, Illinois: Downstate Publications 2002
  • Theising, Andrew J. Made in USA: East St. Louis, the Rise and Fall of an Industrial River Town . St. Louis: Virginia Publishing 2003. ISBN 1-891442-21-X
  • Sifakis, Carl:
  1. The Mafia Encyclopedia . New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
  2. The Encyclopedia of American Crime . New York: Facts on File Inc., 2001. ISBN 0-8160-4040-0
  • United States. Congress. Senates. Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce: Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce: Hearings before a Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce 1950.

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