Manage the local collections, our Research Room and archives are headquartered just across the hall from this auditorium. In the Missouri Valley room, youll find books, articles, and newspaper clippings documenting the history of organized crime in kansas city, from black hand era violence, to syndicate bootlegs through the 26year reign of the crime boss nick subella, associated with skimming casinos in las vegas and bombing businesses in the river key. Whether we like it or not, organized crime is a part of our history. Moreover, it continues to capture our fascination as well as generate interest in new scholarship. Last year, the special Collections Department acquired a piece of our mafia past when the organized crime files of the Kansas City Star were donated by former star reporter mike mcgraw. These files contained photos, notes, and reports on local mafia members, and provide a glimpse of how reporters investigated the mob during its heyday. A story about the collection by Jonathan Bender, jesse howe, and mike mcgraw was featured in the digital magazine flatland, which included a short interview with retired fbi agent William Ouseley. Today, they are here to dig deeper into the stars files and take a closer look at kansas citys gangland past. William ouseley is an authority on the kansas city mob. In his 25 years with the fbi, he spent two decades investigating and prosecuting organized crime figures. As an Expert Witness on mob activities, he testified in federal courts and before a u. S. Senate investigations panel. He retired in 1985 as the supervisor of the organized crime squad of the kansas city fbi field division. He is also the author of two books open city, true story of the kc crime family and mobsters in our midst. These titles are available for purchase in book stores and through amazon. Com. Jonathan bender has a job that many of us envy. As food ent editor, he reports the best drinking and dining establish mentds in the metro area. In addition to writing about what kansas citiens eat and drink, hes produced stories on local history, including call of the sand lot, which looked back at sand lot baseball in kansas city and its revival. Youll find his work at kcpt. Org and flatlandkc. Org. He is also the author of three books stock, broth, and bowl. Cookies and beer. Two of my favorites. And lego, a love story. Please join me in welcoming to the Kansas City Public LibraryJonathan Bender and William Ouseley. [ applause ] so i just want to thank everyone for joining us here. Im delighted youre going to have the opportunity to hear this story today. I wanted to tell you a bit about how this collection actually arrived at the kansas city library. So i work across the desk from mike mcgraw, who is a longtime Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Kansas City Star, who is now a special projects reporter with Kansas City Public Television and flatlandkc. Org, and getting to sit across from mike, you get to hear some great stories. One of which was the provenance of this collection here in the special collections room. And these collections files actually had their first home on the third floor of the Kansas City Star building in whats known as the library, although they have more affectionate term for it, they often call it the morgue, because thats where stories go to their final rest. And so mike had walked up. He was working on a different story, this is some years back. And you have to imagine theres rows of file cabinets. They are green and tan and white, and they stretch the entire length of the third floor. Now, at one time, the morgue or the library was a bustling room. There were six librarians who worked for the star whose sole job was to cut out clippings. They would take different parts of the paper they wanted to keep for historys sake or photos or reporters notes. They all ended up in this room as this collection of both kansas citys history and the papers history as well. Now, over the years, unfortunately, the Library Staff winnowed and it was down to one. When mike got up there researching the story, he found a librarian throwing out files into a 50gallon drum, and mike asked what the librarian was doing. She said im making more room. And mike was horrified. And he said, can i have those files . She said sure. So he brought them down into the newsroom. He put them away in hiown file cabinet because thats what you do with newly acquired files, you refile them. Then after that, they went home to his house when the editor chased the files out of the room because they wanted to make room, and they sat at mikes house for several years before he came there and he thought they might have a home at the library. The library agreed and through the work of Jeremy Drouin as well as joanna marsh, the archivist on this project, they created this organized crime files collection. Now, the lovely part is were going to be able to spend some time here giving you a peak inside, bipeek inside, but its also right down the hall. While its really interesting to get into paper files or photos or hear about history, its a lot better to hear it from somebody who was actually there. So im joined by retired fbi agent William Ouseley, and i would love to hear if you could, kind of take me back to the beginnings of organized crime and how organized crime came to kansas city. Well, the roots of this evil go back to the last part of the 20th century and into the 1900s. With the beginnings. What we had happening here was a change of immigrant flow. The irish before the southernsi dominated kansas city. And now there was a new group. They settled in the north side, in the north end, and they created a little italy. A piece of the old country. These were good people. They were god fearing, industrious, and most of all, law abiding. But a small fraction of these people unfortunately, they came here, unfortunately, were the nar do wells, the criminally bent. And those people who had one way or the other a connection with the secret societies in the old country. There was the Sicilian Mafia, best known. There was the cumora of naples. And the andragada of southern italy. These people brought with them a mindset from the old country. It wasnt the mafia transported here. It was their protocols. Their way of doing business. And it would be a form of crime as it developed unknown on these shores. I think for many years, unrecognized for its sophistication. So they were factionalized. There wasnt one mafia group. They fought amongst each other for territory. But they were basically thugs. And their main criminal activity was to extort their fellow countrymen. And there were bombings. There were murders, if you didnt pay. Now, this was called the black hand era. The letters had a black hand demanding money. Now, they had no great power at this time. They had no influence outside the boundaries of little italy. But then, 1920 came. 1920 was the beginning of prohibition. And the unintended consequence of prohibition was it created organized crime. Not only here but around the country. It was a product demanded by the masses. And organized crime people supplied, gave those people what they wanted. The north enders, who one of the old country things is to make wine and beer, the bathtub gin, they used to call it, they jumped in with both feet, and soon because of who they were, they dominated the field. But they were fighting each other. That wasnt good for business. So in 1928, the leaders of the most important factions, they got together and in order for better business, they unified. They consolidated. And we could say that that is the beginning of what we call today the kansas city crime family. Now, with that power, the first thing they did, because the mafia is politically astute, and that sets them aside from most organized crime groups, they are heavy into politics. Because in sicily, they are the government. So, they went down. They took over by force the Tom Pendergast political apparatus of the north side. You all probably hurt of Tom Pendergast. They had a corrupt political machine, and he controlled most of the city by this time. Now, with those votes in hand, johnny lazia, who this consolidated group put out front as the boss, in the back of the old timers who really ran things, but they needed an out front boss, a guy who could speak good english, and he looked good. And john lazio was a handsome man, and he could dwell he could interface with people. So he, with those votes in hand, heads up to see Tom Pendergast and forces an alliance. So now, we have an unholy alliance of a powerful political machine thats controlling most of the politics of the city, all the city offices, all of those came through the machine, and you team that up with a powerful, vicious criminal group. And that did not bode well for the city. Now, the next thing that came the way of organized crime was in 1929, we had the stock market crash. And the depression. Well, who had all the money . Who had all the money at this time . The banks werent lending. Nobody was helping anybody. But i tell you who had all the money, and i guess you could figure it out. The mob had all the money. So they used that money to infiltrate the political, the social, the economic fabric of our city. Were famous for kansas city jazz. That whole era when that was built, the clubs and big guys coming in, duke ellington, the mob financed all that. They owned all of that. Along with Tom Pendergast. Well, the next step in the story is in 1931, as the result of a conflict in new york, all of these particular families, they were families like this kansas city group, in cleveland and detroit, in new york and boston, in providence. They all grew up pretty much the same way. And they knew each other from the old country. There were ties, but there wasnt a National Syndicate of these crime families. Now, there was. They put this together on a national basis. They formulated a commission of so many bosses who would rule on certain interfamily problems. So this had this had the semblance of a corporate entity. So that was more power for the kansas city crime family. Then, in 1932, was the piece deresistance for this group. The Supreme Court of missouri ruled the board of Police Commissioners had to be elected locally. Well, who was there locally . There was john lazio and Tom Pendergast. So they elected the board of Police Commissioners. And that was when they took over the city lock, stock, and barrel. They opened it up for every kind of vice and evildoings you can imagine. It was truly an open city. Would the open city yeah, how did that book title go . Thats the title of his first book. Anyway, gangsters. The roaring 30s gangsters. The dillingers. They would come to kansas city for rest and relaxation. They wouldnt be arrested. Checkin with john lazio, and you played golf and whatever. This was a notorious city. And the money flowed in. Every racket had to kick in or contribute to the lazio pendergast combine. They called it the lug. And this money flowed in, you can imagine, by the millions. Now, 1933, prohibition is over. The mob is now looking for new vistas. Gambling is one that they got into. But during the 30s, they continued to grow. They continued to prosper. They dont go away because theres no more bootlegging. And gradually, as these other criminal groups that were in bootlegging do fade away, its the National Crime syndicate that we called ko ed cosanost rt takes over, and in kansas city, the group didnt have any resistance or competition. So they were the big dog. And they got fatter, wealthier, stronger, politically stronger. And what have you. So these were the heydays. Then the wheels came off in 1939. Pendergast and the new mob boss, charlie corolla, were indicted, went to jail. The reformers took over, finally. They had been fighting for years unsuccessfully against the machine. They cleared out city hall. They cleared out everybody. The mob had to surface or go underground, so to speak. They didnt have the protection of the Police Department. But they werent going away. They werent going away. They just didnt have a high profile. And at this time, we would call it the benagio era. The guy who became the mob leader was more well known for having taken over the pendergast machine. He was now the top democrat political functionary in kansas city. And its interesting to me that they refer to him in the papers more as a politic guy than a mob leader. But anyway, his time was coming soon. Because in the late 1940s, there was a groundswell against this open gambling. The gambling syndicates that were here, not only cosanostra people but other gambling entities. There were federal grand juries, local grand juries. The heat was on. There was pressure. And charlie benagio hadcostrani. And charlie had to go. He and his chief murdered up on 15th street and the Democratic Political headquarters, and that led into the Key Committee came in 1950 holding organized crime, or their National View of organized crime was their mandate. Kansas city, because of its reputation, was the second stop. So that takes us to 1950, jonathan. Thats right. So thats the chart thats right behind us. Would have been one of the things when the investigators came to town they looked at based on files prepared from star reporters, the investigators they sent ahead from san francisco. You mentioned benoshio. I wanted to ask about one of hisless. Featured extensively, notes and mug shots, tony on the lefthand side for you folks in the audience. Can you talk a bit about benacchios relationship and that succession . By the way, i have a suit like that. [ laughter ] when john became the boss it was sort of an americanization process. He wasnt from sicily. They called those guys the mustache peets. Didnt speak good english, low profile. Didnt want anybody to know who they were. Not like these guys. The american guys. So he brought up around him some of the younger thugs that were his cadre. Tony giz oh was one, charlie was one of those, charlie, killed with charlie. Top right there. Yes. He was one of those and the last, ten of them, charlie tann coe. I spent he spent more time as a gangster than anything in the United States because he started young, but those five made up the iron horses and as leadership changed, john lazy was murdered in 34, these were the stable, this was the continuity. These guys continued to grow in power, and they did the work of the crime family. You talked earlier about organized crime working together. Part of this a letter behind me that talks about Tom Pendergast, young jim. Yes. Apparently tony had gone to visit him and it says, in case you cant read it, pendergast at the time got more than 100 phone calms threatening him and his family and very irritated by this and gizo came to see him and says whos been threatening you . Pendergast tells him of all the threats. Im top man. What i say goes. I give the orders. I will tem tony to stop threatening and it will stop right now, and it did. Probably when this letter was written, the banacchio people had taken over, Jim Pendergast not as big a figure and whether an old mafia tactic to create a problem and then solve it. Used to be laker consultants. Labor consultants. Trouble was created. Went to the labor consultant, the mob, and they fixed it for you. So whether gizo was playing his game with Jim Pendergast, hed fix it, and set up all of these phone calls, or whether it was actually that he was being harassed, but tony gizo was the guy that could fix it. He had that stature at that time, and he very well could have taken care of it. And later on, another set here, too. A note that came to ira mccarty, a longtime political and legislate ish reporter at the Kansas City Star mentions a meeting between gizo and also talks about two gentlemen coming in from chicago, cousins of al capone. Earlier you mentioned this idea of kansas city being part of the national right. At that time, was kansas city a place that would have tied to chicago or organized crime nationally . Chicago and kansas city have always had a very close relationship, and it goes back into this era. Gizo and the then boss tony acardo on firstname basis. They traveled around gizo traveled around the country. He was wellknown. Showed up in other mobsters phone books that were seized over the time, and there was a very important relationship. Part of it was in the bootlegging era. Part of it was when they created what was called the National Wire service. This was telegraph lines that brought in results for the local booking. It was controlled by the capone mob, and they gave a franchise to kansas city. So there were very tight ties and civella continued that in his reign of power. To get us up to speed to 1950, takes us to the keyfarber hearings, murder of the two charlies, and as a result intense scrutiny on kansas city but also perhaps the first look into actual organized crime in kansas city. Can you talk what these keyfarber hearings did in 1950 that set this on . Thats where the file you may look at played a big part. I believe the profile of all of these people, you have to remember nobody was looking at this people as a criminal entity. If they robbed a bank, theyd go after them, but it wasnt looking at them as a crime family. So there wasnt a great deal of intelligence. As we have today. Organized crime squads, intelligence units. And the Police Departments. There wasnt a lot of profiling. And so the files, which keyfarber came here and needed background, these files gave him