The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1951-12-07

ones.
Actually, the Kansas City police
department was headed by q 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 ]. A. Purdome notably
lax"
One fantastic facet was that Pur-
dome permitted q racketeer, Wolf
Riman, juke box and pin-ball king,
to hold a deputy sheriff's commits
sion and to operate a car equipped
with siren and red light. Riman
was murdered and Sheriff Purdome'
married his widow.
No responsible person cOndOnes
murder as an instrument Of social
justice, but there seemed to be
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 q 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 80 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 Q profitable gambling opera
ton and decide they ought to be
invited in. II 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 ether 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
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 Chica COCA
pone syndicate set out to take over
the nationwide race news racket.
Another time, Osadchey and Klein.
without putting up a 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" It was merely
case, he explained, where, after
he and Snag offered to buy" the
whole club for $50, 900, the owners
countered with 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 house, and on 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
q piece Of Binaggio.'
| Apparently, he had . piece" of
many persons Balestrere himself
told us how once when he needed
q job ne sought help from the late
Tom Pendergast, the Kansas City
political boss later deposed by BIZ
maggie. Pendergast fixed it up for
him to get cut Of keno gambling
game.
Balestrere went on to explain how
Charlie Binaggio-'I know Binag-
gio since he was a baby"-similarly
gave him an outright gift once Of
a piece Of q gambling joint known
as Green Hills. He was just walking
to the movies one day. Balestrere
related. when he met Binaggio.
| We delved into the question Of
hOw-and through whom-he car
ried out his political Vaccinations
The oanaxters Themselves. Of course