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| (image from www.benatlas.com)
A strange belief that all
crimes are alcohol related led the National Prohibition Act being brought into
law on January 17, 1920. This law, stating that it was illegal to “make,
transport, purchase and consume alcohol” was authored by Andrew Volstead – and
more commonly known as the Volstead Act. The intention of the act, called
“noble in intent” by then president Herbert Hoover was to stop crimes, but its
actual effect was exactly the opposite, bringing in an era of lawlessness that
the country had never before seen. Like most criminal activity of the time,
Saint Paul was a hotbed for the now illegal act of selling and drinking
alcohol.
The law was not a popular
one. People liked to drink, and it is reported that up to 75% of the citizens
of the city were now making illegal “bathtub” alcohol. Gangsters were selling
booze throughout the area, and making a significant amount of money along the
way. Saint Paul became the home to many different “speakeasies”, a term coined
because you had to whisper a code to get in. The Green Lantern, Green Dragon,
Boulevards of Paris, Brown Derby, Plantation, Hollywood Club and Hollyhocks
were just a few places to get a drink and hobnob with some of the cities
underworld elite. The O’Connor System, even though its namesake was no longer
around, was still in full force.
Bootleggers of the time were
revered. They brought alcohol to the people – something that no one wanted
taken away in the first place. The king of the bootleggers was Leon Gleckman,
king of Saint Paul, called “The Jewish Al Capone” in the late 1920s and into
the 30s. He was an incredibly bright and politically savvy man who came into
power by helping his friends win highly coveted positions on the police force
and influential political appointments. He ran everything through the Minnesota
Blueing Company, a shell business with more than a dozen stills that was making
him more than $1 million dollars a year. He ran everything from room 301-303 of
what is now the Saint Paul hotel.
Like any good criminal he
had his share of run-ins with the law. In 1922 he was arrested for bootlegging
after a prohibition raid at the Minnesota Blueing Company. Gleckman pleaded
guilty, but later trial to recant saying his lawyer never fully explained the
seriousness of the charges. On Christmas Eve of 1926, after nearly five years
of appeals, he was convicted and began an eighteen month sentence at
Leavenworth prison. He officially turned himself in to start his term on March
11, 1927. Prison records describe Gleckman as being “self-confident, glib, and
respectful”, they also found him to be highly intelligent saying that his
problem solving skills and insight exceeded 92% of the other inmates. He was a
model prisoner in his time there and was released for good behavior after
serving 345 days of his sentence on February 20, 1928.
Shortly after his sentence
ended he set up shop in rooms 301-303 at the Saint Paul Hotel, overlooking Rice
Park. He later said his time there was “for the purpose of carrying on his
political enterprises”. Gleckman knew that the best way to get things done in
Saint Paul at the time was to have friends in high places and the easiest way
to do this way to pay-off people to help “friends” get there. Once his friend
detective Tom Brown was made police chief in 1930 Gleckman was set. From 1930
to 1932, with the help of the police, he was able to control virtually all of
the gambling in the city from his suites at the hotel. In the same time, mostly
through bribes, he was able to make more money through political contracts than
bootlegging. He became so enamored with politics in the city he briefly
considered running for mayor after prohibition ended.
Being good at your job means
that people will take notice, and bootlegging is no different. On September 24,
1931 Gleckman was kidnapped from his Saint Paul home. The initial ransom was
$200,000 dollars, but was negotiated down to $5000 plus the money on Gleckman
at the time – an additional $1450. He was released eight days after his initial
capture. His kidnappers were “taken care” of shortly after.
In the middle of 1932 things
started to get tougher for Gleckman, a theme that would plague him for the rest
of his life. On May 3, 1932 William J. Mahoney was elected mayor, one of his
first promises was to end the reign of Gleckman, he promised to “eliminate
Mr. Gleckman from control in local affairs and rid the City of Saint Paul from
gangster influences.” Because of the rampant corruption running through the
political and police circles it would take another two years before that would
start happening – but it did.
Finally in 1934 the FBI was
able to catch up with Gleckman. They decided to try and end the criminal career
of Gleckman the same way as it ended it for Capone – for the most part. He went
to trial on November 12, 1934, and was tried and convicted of tax evasion
charges for failing to report a significant amount of his earnings from 1929 –
1931. His claimed income didn’t match his bank records and he was on his way to
jail. While Gleckman was careful enough to make sure that the bank’s ledgers
were destroyed, he didn’t destroy the deposit slips. This error in judgment
would be his undoing and a jury of his peers found him guilty seventeen days
after the trial started on November 28, 1934. He was sent back to Leavenworth
and served a one year sentence for concealing nearly $370,000 dollars.
His power was stunned at the
ending of Prohibition and permanently damaged with his tax evasion conviction. After
leaving prison for a second time Gleckman was essentially done as a criminal.
He settled his debts with the IRS and gave up his thoughts of running for
office in Saint Paul, even moving away to New York for a short time – only to
return to Saint Paul. Unfortunately for him the sins of his past were finally
starting to catch up with him. The man who thought he could buy his way out of
anything was going back to jail after being convicted in 1937 of trying to
bribe the jury during his tax evasion trial. The times were changing and the
man in trouble with federal authorities off and on since 1922 was heading back
behind bars.
On a warm July in 1941, even
though he had a long jail term imminent, Gleckman found some time to go to
Keller Golf Course to take in a round of golf and spend some time in the
company of his friends. The golf course was the recreation destination of
choice for a lot of the gangsters in the area, so much so that it is said that
the FBI used its caddies as informants. At 1:30 am on his way home from a day
of golf and drinking he slammed his car into an abutment at the corner of Kellogg
and Wacouta. The impact from the crash fractured his skull and he died in the
ambulance on the way to the hospital. Although his blood alcohol level at the
time of the crash was .23, most people considered it suicide. The coroner’s
report dubiously lists the cause of death as “probably an accident”.
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