Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1951-11-30

OIlco.
Actually, the Kansas City police
department was headed by good
chief and included some officers
who made an excellent impression
on the Senate Crime Committee.
In the county, however, it was diff
ferent. There the committee found
Sheriff j. A. Purdome notably
lax
One fantastic facet was that Pur-
dome permitted a racketeer, Wolf
Riman, juke box and pin-ball king,
to hold deputy sheriff's commits
sion and to operate car equipped
with siren and red light Riman
was murdered and Sheriff Purdome
married his widow.
No responsible person condones
justice, but there seemed to be a
moral lesson in the violent end met
by Charlie Binaggio, Kansas City's
reigning evil genius. This conniv-
ing, particularly courageous gang
ster, a fixer rather than a muscle
man, was murdered in his political
clubhouse. Dead beside him was
his lieutenant and "enforcer."
Charlie Gargotta.
If ever a human deserved the
title of mad dog" it was Gar
gotta. His record showed SO arrests
on charges ranging from attempted
burglary to murder. Once he killed
a man in cold blood on the streets.
but corrupt police officer switched
Identification tags on the murder
weapon, and Gargotta beat the
homicide charge.
Binaggio, Gargotta, Tano Lococo.
Fat Tony Gizzo and grizzled old Jim
Balestrere, reputed Malta chieftain
in Kansas City, were known as 1.-The
Five Iron Men," These five and their
henchmen controlled most of the
important gambling in the Kansas
City area. Binaggio & Co. would
spot profitable gambling opera
tion and decide they ought to be
invited" in. If the operators were
not smart enough to issue such an
invitation" their places of bust
ness would be bombed, robbed or
otherwise harassed until they got
smarter
Among other Binaggio properties,
in partnership with Gargotta, Lo-
coco, Snag Klein, and Eddie Osad-
chey, was the Last Chance Tavern.
The Last Chance was an intriguing
establishment on the border be-
tween Kansas and Missouri, with a
thin wall right on the state line.
When cops from one state would
come to raid it, the gamblers
would shift over to the other side,
and carry on. Cops from both states
never seemed to arrive at the same
time.
Osadchey, Gargotta, Lococo. and
Klein muscled in on Simon Part
noy's profitable wire service in
Kansas City after the Chicago-Ca-
pone syndicate set out to take over
the nationwide race news racket
Another time. Osadchey and Klein,
without putting up dollar, moved
into Iowa to muscle" themselves
so per cent of a Council Bluffs
gambling place called the Stork
club, in which the original owners
had invested 100000.
Eddie insists that there really
was no muscle" 1t was merely
a case, he explained, where, after
he and Snag offered to buy" the
whole club for $4,000. the owners
countered with a proposition that
they take half of it for nothing.
Jim Balestrere, the old Sicilian-
born mobster identified as one of
Kansas City Malta leaders, played
dumb. He represented himself to
us as a poor, old jobless fellow who
lived on a little income from a piece
of business property (once rented
to a gambling housed and on a few
dollars given him by his children.
But he didn't impress US as dumb
at all. People in Kansas City rack
cts used to say that "Balestrere has
a piece of Binaggio."
We delved into the question Of
how-and through whom-he car
ried out his political Vaccinations
The gangsters themselves, of course,
did their part. Eddie Osadchey
testified that Charlie told me" to
travel around the state and line up
his friends" for Gov Fore st
Smith. Rumors were prevalent that
Binaggio had raised sums as large
as Sl50,OOO to the Smith-for-Gover-
nor campaign, but we were unable
to secure any tangible proof Of
large-scale contributions