July 21, 2025

See Something? Don't Say Something: The Shelton Brothers Gang

See Something? Don't Say Something: The Shelton Brothers Gang
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The forgotten criminal dynasty that ruled Illinois before Capone even knew their names. Meet the Shelton brothers – Carl, Earl, and Bernie – three farm boys who transformed themselves into the most powerful bootleggers in southern Illinois during Prohibition and later controlled Peoria's entire vice scene.

When Prohibition turned alcohol illegal, the Sheltons built an empire of roadhouses, stills, and speakeasies across "Little Egypt" in southern Illinois. Their rivalry with former gang member Charlie Birger escalated into what can only be described as private warfare, complete with armored cars, machine guns, and even aerial bombings that left dozens dead. All while law enforcement conveniently looked the other way in exchange for what one sheriff called "a really nice Christmas bonus."

By the 1940s, the Shelton brothers had relocated to Peoria, transforming Illinois' second-largest city into what became known as a "Wide Open City." They established the Peoria Amusement Company, running hundreds of slot machines, gambling dens, and brothels while maintaining what they called "gangland peacekeeping." During World War II, with two military bases nearby, soldiers with paychecks made the Sheltons wealthier than ever.

The brothers survived assassination attempts from Chicago mobsters, maintained political connections that kept them untouchable, and brought a strange form of order to the criminal underworld. As one historian noted, "As long as the Sheltons were running things, you weren't getting robbed at random." But their empire couldn't last forever. Between 1947 and 1950, a mysterious assassination campaign eliminated all three brothers, with the killers never identified.

Discover the remarkable story of how three brothers built and lost an empire that rivaled Al Capone's, leaving behind a legacy that's been largely forgotten by history. If you enjoy untold stories of Prohibition gangsters, territorial wars, and mysterious unsolved assassinations, you won't want to miss this episode.

Tara McClellan McAndrew, NPR Illinois – "Booze, Blood And Bombs: Prohibition In Southern Illinois" (2020)nprillinois.orgnprillinois.org

Joel J. Hutchcroft, Shooting Times – "A Bloody Band of Bootleggers: The Shelton Brothers Gang" (2021)shootingtimes.comshootingtimes.com


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00:16 - Introduction to History Buffoons

01:54 - The Shelton Family of Southern Illinois

08:42 - Bootlegging Empire and Bloody Territory Wars

14:24 - The Move to Peoria and Garrison Alliance

24:30 - Taking Over Peoria's Criminal Scene

34:19 - Chicago Threats and Assassination Attempts

44:15 - The Fall of the Shelton Empire

52:30 - The Mysterious Deaths and Aftermath

01:05:50 - Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts

WEBVTT

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Oh, hey there.

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Oh, hey there.

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How are you?

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I am well.

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How are?

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you, I'm good.

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This is History, buffoons, it sure is.

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And I'm Bradley, I'm Kate.

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How are you today?

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I'm doing this is history buffoons, it sure is, and I'm I'm Bradley, I'm Kate.

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How are you today?

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I'm doing pretty good.

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Excellent, yeah, excellent.

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Yeah, it's been kind of a chill day.

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Chill day.

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Chill days are always a plus but it's not chilly outside.

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No, um, I don't know if anyone watches this, but if you do you'll notice we're in the pod loft and it's a little warm.

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But you know we'll make do Just don't fall asleep no guarantees.

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It's really warm up here.

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I can't guarantee that I won't fall asleep.

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Hopefully this is a really interesting story.

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Well, I do have a question for you.

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Oh, wow, I feel like we haven't done one in a while.

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I know it's been a minute.

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I know it's because my stories have kind of been on the longer side.

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Yeah, no, I get that.

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But when was the last time you were in Peoria Illinois?

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2000 and probably one.

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I was going to say 2025 because you were there for the 4th of July.

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But we weren't really in Peoria, though, were we?

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Well, we passed through Peoria, yeah, yeah, but I wasn't in Peoria, but I saw Limp Bizkit in Peoria.

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Yeah, I remember you telling me that, so that was 2001?

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.

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I think so.

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2000 or 2001 sounds about right.

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Yeah.

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So yeah.

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Yeah, I've only been to Peoria a handful of times, right, I mean?

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why go?

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I didn't really need to.

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I had a couple friends that lived there.

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Yeah, I think you had mentioned that.

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Yeah, well, that's where our story takes place.

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Kind of a little bit like half the story takes place in peoria, illinois, okay, and um, I got kind of I kind of got this story from um, a friend of a friend, yeah, um, his name is tony, who lives in peoria.

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So shout out to tony in peoria thank you, tony um, he wanted a little bit of a dive on peoria's bootlegging history.

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Oh did, were they known for that?

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Well, they did have some moments.

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Really yes.

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Did any of the old school gangsters go through Peoria?

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And that's exactly who we're going to be talking about.

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Nice, yes, I like that.

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So, upon my bootlegging research of Peoria, this particular family came up.

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Oh, okay, I'm going to talk Speaking of bootlegging.

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Why don't we crack a beer?

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oh yeah, I've got one and it's cold yeah, we got our mainstays yeah, I got my madu I got my shandy all right.

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Cheers to peoria, illinois and bootlegging cheers yeah keeping anti-prohibition alive I really don't think that could ever go back into law oh no, there would be havoc it would be such an uproar, it would be insane yeah I mean it's just too ingrained I mean, I'd create an uproar myself I mean, I feel like you already are all right.

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Anyways, let's continue okay, so, tony, thank you, this is for you yes, thank you, tony okay, so we are going to meet the shelton's shelton's yes okay, like s-e-h-e-l-t-o-n-s-h-e-l-t-o-n-s yes when I say s-e-h, I don't know, I am what you would call special.

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So half of them are dysfunctional.

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The other half are mostly functional.

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Okay, so we've got Roy.

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Roy, carl, oh boy, lots of names.

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There's seven.

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Oh, my God.

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But the majority of them.

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There's three, so I'm just going to list off the family members real fast.

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Oh, and then we're focusing more on three of them.

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Gotcha Okay, members real fast, oh, and then we're focusing more on three of them, gotcha okay.

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So we've got roy, roy, carl, carl, earl, earl, delta, delta uh-huh how do you spell that d-a-l-t-a?

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delta, delta, that's a.

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That's a unique name.

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Yes, it was for one of the brothers.

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Yes, Okay.

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And then we have Bernie.

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Bernie, all right.

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Lula.

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Lula.

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And Hazel.

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Hazel Okay.

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And their parents were Ben and Agnes.

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Did Hazel have green eyes?

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Hazel probably had hazel eyes.

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You would think, did they not name her until they saw the color of her eyes?

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Because they change a little bit when you're a little kid or rise, because they change a little bit when you're a little kid.

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So we are going to go to wayne, county illinois, is that?

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I assume that's near peoria, then it is not.

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It's actually in the southern part of illinois and that's where our story begins, so this is like the half of it.

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That doesn't is not in peoria, um, but we are in the midst of prohibition and three of the brothers decided that they wanted a life of crime well you.

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It was a very appealing life at that time because you could get rich bootlegging booze.

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Oh yes, I know a lot of it came in from Canada, a lot of it came in from the South or whatever you could make Then make their own.

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A lot of people made their own.

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That's why you see all those old pictures of old, old timey cops breaking down stills and shit whatever.

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So did they have.

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I don't know if you get into this, but do they have a specific um booze that they focused?

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on.

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I mean they kind of dabbled in moonshine a little bit, but no, it was all very general.

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Um, just booze in general that I read right um, but then they got into like the gambling scene and all of that as well well, that usually kind of goes hand in hand with the the booze side.

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Yeah, so what?

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What year are we talking about?

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Is this 20 something?

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so we're gonna start kind of in the 1920s, okay, yeah, so we're gonna meet the three brothers a little bit deeper here.

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So carl shelton okay, he was born in 1888 oh wow, okay, so he was the oldest, he was a smooth talker, um, he was the guy who would kind of bribe judges while complimenting his wife's hat.

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I'd be like we're gonna fuck some shit up, but also your hats that's really pretty.

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Your wife's hat is awesome.

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Yeah, I like it.

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He handled the politics and the payoffs and he was good at making things go away.

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Okay, I wrote down the gang's front office.

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The gang's front office.

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He's the office manager.

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Then we have Earl Shelton.

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Okay okay, he was born in 1990, sorry, 1890, the middle brother.

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He was also the brains behind the booze logistics okay um.

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He kept um the illegal liquor flowing um and after prohibition he pivoted to the gambling rackets.

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Gotcha.

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And then we have Bernie.

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Shelton was born in 1898.

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Youngest one Okay.

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And he was also the angriest.

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Oh no, he was most likely to punch you in the face for breathing wrong.

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Sounds like my ex-wife.

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That's another story, for another time.

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He was the muscle, the guy that you really didn't want to piss off, was he?

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as I don't know, if you came across this, was he a big dude?

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he was, he was yeah a brute if you will yep, exactly okay so the other brothers and sisters, roy, dalta and hazel and lula, and their parents were not associated with the other brothers like dealings they were just the family, but didn't have anything to do with it.

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Yeah, yeah but they were very much a family unit right.

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They just stayed out of the illegal stuff so they, they knew what was going on, they just didn't have a hand in it.

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Correct Gotcha Okay.

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So as soon as prohibition hit in the 1920s, the Shultons were like booze is illegal, but not for us.

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Did you come across anything that they did prior to getting into?

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They were mostly farmers, were they?

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Okay, yeah, yeah, farming family.

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I was just curious if they had a profession prior to no, mostly farming okay, yeah, well, I mean, that's a profession, yeah, but oh 100 you know, yeah, thanks to our farmers so, um, they started with moonshine and they shipped that all over what was called little egypt, and that's like the southern tip of illinois.

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They called it little egypt.

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Why do they call it that?

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that wasn't part of my research I didn't expect that so soon is it because it's an upside down pyramid that's right that is 100, why they called it that, or I'm just trying to get you to move on um, they were also kind of all over the eastern, uh, st louis and all like all the way up to peoria.

00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:25.057
They were like all over like the middle to southern parts of illinois okay um, so their operation had kind of exploded with their popularity so sorry to interrupt.

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Um, they were making their own moonshine at this time yes okay, I just wanted to clarify that because I guess for some reason I didn't I questioned it in my brain.

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So, yeah, okay they were making their own stuff, but also they were also like moving other people's liquor.

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Yeah, gotcha okay so they developed lots of roadhouses private stills and they actually created like a pretty large criminal network.

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Oh, like 50 plus, wow, yeah that's pretty good for those times yeah so um.

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They also had this guy in their gang called charlie brigger okay um, and for a while they got along really well, and then he decided that um so much one of the brothers potentially slept with his girlfriend, and then shit was on did they say which brother carl the oldest but oldest okay yeah, I couldn't find anything that was actually definitive, just a rumor well and yeah, who knows if it was really true yeah, and brigger might have just wanted to create his own empire and just get out of the shadow of the shelton's and that's possible and maybe cause a little disarray.

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Yeah, in their operation to try and help himself so yeah, I could see that being a thing so there were territory disputes.

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Both sides wanted control over, like the most profitable counties and roadhouses, and Brigger just wasn't into being their sidekick or in their shadows.

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Like I said, sure, makes sense.

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They went from business bros to shoot on sight To mortal foes.

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Yes, exactly, get this.

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Both gangs built private armies.

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What?

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How do you build a private army?

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They had gunfights in the streets.

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Jesus, they made homemade armored cars.

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Wow.

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And they had planes dropped from airplanes onto the other's territory.

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They had what dropped on bombs okay they had bombs dropped from airplanes because I mean planes dropped from airplanes.

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Like how big was the initial airplane to drop another plane?

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That's pretty impressive.

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Bombs, I mean, they were really rolling in the dough bombs were like they had such influence that they got bombs to be dropped from airplanes you know, and it's funny because, like planes weren't really around for very long by this point we were in world war ii era, just before this is.

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We're already into world war ii era we're in like the 20s late, 20s early 30s.

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World war ii is like 10 years later for us.

00:12:04.192 --> 00:12:11.909
Yeah, I suppose I'm just saying well, the first flight was, wasn't that 1904?

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Four came to mind, and then I'm like six, seven, I always.

00:12:14.274 --> 00:12:15.844
Why do I always forget that?

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anyways, anyways, um.

00:12:18.549 --> 00:12:24.345
So they, yeah, they literally like jerry rigged bombs coming from planes.

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Crazy, that's crazy.

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What were the bombs made out of?

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That wasn't part of my research.

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I didn't ask that question for that answer, but I'm glad you answered it properly.

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I'm just curious, what would they have put in those in the 20s?

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To make a bomb, because it's not like they had traditional bombs.

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And all the cops were like, yeah, we don't see anything.

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Of course they don't.

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Let me drink my free liquor.

00:12:51.750 --> 00:12:53.946
Right, because Carl was the oldest.

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No, carl was the oldest one, yeah.

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Because he was paying them off.

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So they didn't see shit.

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Must have been a bird man, I don't know.

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So casualties climbed into the dozens.

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Oh dear.

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During this time.

00:13:06.932 --> 00:13:12.034
Okay, and it was basically like a cheap version of Chicago at this point.

00:13:12.034 --> 00:13:16.267
Wow, yeah, so enter the Ku Klux Klan.

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Oh, dear, I know.

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That's really wild.

00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:38.085
So the KKK decided to be the region's morality police morality police yeah they hated booze, they hated gambling, they hated catholics, they hated bootleggers, they hated jazz and probably breakfast, we don't know I like breakfast.

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I know I like jazz too so they would raid roadhouses, beat up bootleggers and even attack the hospital where gangsters were recovering from their wounds.

00:13:51.860 --> 00:13:56.708
Doesn't it seem just really odd that the KKK would be like anti-boos?

00:13:56.708 --> 00:13:59.822
I mean, to me it's just oh, it's, yeah, it's.

00:13:59.822 --> 00:14:17.232
It's like an oxymoron, yeah, oxymoron, exactly um, it's like an oxymoron, yeah, oxymoron, exactly because it's like they're out to like literally eliminate a race, if they can, or religion, or whatever all the other stuff they hated yeah quote, unquote yeah, so you'd think like people that despicable would be like yeah, I like booze.

00:14:17.232 --> 00:14:19.504
You know I'm all for it, but they were against it.

00:14:19.504 --> 00:14:21.370
That just seems fucking just wrong.

00:14:21.389 --> 00:14:30.245
Yeah, but you know okay and of course, like the kkk and the gangs, they kind of mix like oil and water not very well.

00:14:30.245 --> 00:14:40.154
Right and uh, both turned into armies that fought each other again jesus and law enforcement was just like I don't see anything.

00:14:40.154 --> 00:14:43.725
Let me drink my free liquor it was like this is water.

00:14:43.725 --> 00:14:57.942
It's really moonshine, it's just clear so sheriffs and mayors were either bribed by the sheltons or they were scared into um obliging.

00:14:57.942 --> 00:15:02.466
Okay, the sheltons, sure um they were routinely bought off.

00:15:02.807 --> 00:15:03.207
Of course.

00:15:04.469 --> 00:15:05.710
One local quote.

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He said, quote we'd arrest them, but they gave us a really nice Christmas bonus.

00:15:14.841 --> 00:15:16.226
What kind of bonus do you think they got?

00:15:17.181 --> 00:15:18.125
Probably a lot of liquor.

00:15:19.421 --> 00:15:26.392
I'm sure it was a mixture right, Because buy the family something nice and get drunk while you do it.

00:15:27.500 --> 00:15:31.250
But the Shelton's were raking it in, despite the Klan, despite.

00:15:31.269 --> 00:15:31.951
Oh, I'm sure they were.

00:15:32.842 --> 00:15:34.528
Yeah, despite Burger.

00:15:34.528 --> 00:15:39.350
They ran over a dozen roadhouses and many of them were open 24-7.

00:15:39.350 --> 00:15:45.293
Jesus, they featured gambling, liquor and other vices, prostitution.

00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:48.024
World's oldest profession.

00:15:48.225 --> 00:15:49.048
Yeah, exactly.

00:15:49.048 --> 00:16:04.495
So the combined payroll in a couple of counties here Williamson County and Franklin Counties was $2 million a month, which is $3.5 million today.

00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:12.307
That's it According to my my calculations, which could be wrong 2 million back then is only 3.5 today.

00:16:12.307 --> 00:16:24.051
Well, now you have me like doubting myself I'm glad because that seems like it would be more, at least, I mean, I, I don't know, I just I'm not saying you're wrong, I just feel like it would be more how many zeros?

00:16:24.712 --> 00:16:31.186
six one, two, three, four, five, six, how?

00:16:31.206 --> 00:16:48.274
many zeros, oh man, that was great okay okay oh, three billion dollars because I'm like there's no way it only went up 1.5 million dollars.

00:16:48.274 --> 00:16:52.607
I mean, what exchange or interest rate are you at, geez?

00:16:53.028 --> 00:16:58.028
oh, there were additional digits behind that, that the 36 or the three zeros.

00:16:58.148 --> 00:17:03.523
There was three more, yeah that's just like I'm gonna give you a raise on your paycheck.

00:17:03.523 --> 00:17:05.930
There'll be a couple extra zeros in the front of your check this week.

00:17:05.930 --> 00:17:10.127
What the fuck yeah 3.5 billion with a.

00:17:10.127 --> 00:17:12.438
B billion, holy shit.

00:17:12.438 --> 00:17:16.428
I mean, yeah, that sounds more like what I was thinking it should be.

00:17:16.428 --> 00:17:17.911
That's insane.

00:17:18.051 --> 00:17:18.993
That's insane.

00:17:19.375 --> 00:17:19.875
Wow.

00:17:19.875 --> 00:17:20.317
Could you I?

00:17:20.317 --> 00:17:28.173
Mean just think of how much product they move through then to, I mean, two million in the 20s is crazy yeah.

00:17:29.401 --> 00:17:38.131
So citizens were getting a little furious about everything, and they started to demand that the governor declare martial law.

00:17:38.131 --> 00:17:40.666
Oh boy, just to make the chaos stop.

00:17:41.019 --> 00:17:42.847
But do you know who the governor was?

00:17:42.847 --> 00:17:45.219
I don't, ok, I wasn't sure if he was know who the governor was.

00:17:45.219 --> 00:17:47.565
I don't Okay Um I wasn't sure if he was prominent in the story or not.

00:17:47.806 --> 00:17:54.949
No, um, I do mention um a mayor later on, but no, not this is the only governor highlight.

00:17:54.949 --> 00:17:59.968
But um, he was probably like they're, they're paying some kind of tax, it's fine.

00:18:06.019 --> 00:18:07.705
As as long as they got theirs, they don't care.

00:18:07.705 --> 00:18:08.568
That's the problem, especially back then.

00:18:08.568 --> 00:18:16.056
I mean, it's a lot different today, obviously, and the shenanigans happen today, of course, but at the same time, back then, if you give a little extra envelope to this guy, they don't.

00:18:16.056 --> 00:18:17.580
They, like you said, look the other way.

00:18:17.580 --> 00:18:19.242
Yep, the police did so.

00:18:19.542 --> 00:18:29.214
That's wild so the feud between umger and the Shelton brothers made Southern Illinois pretty bloody.

00:18:29.796 --> 00:18:30.076
Right.

00:18:30.601 --> 00:18:37.189
And Berger actually got himself arrested, oh dear, and convicted and publicly hanged.

00:18:38.010 --> 00:18:39.864
Oh, wow In 1928.

00:18:39.864 --> 00:18:42.551
So they were still Go ahead Sorry.

00:18:42.551 --> 00:18:57.260
He ordered a hit on the mayor, who happened to be on team shelton well, yeah, I mean that you picked the wrong guy so clearly that hit didn't go through, nope or fail, whatever.

00:18:57.260 --> 00:18:59.845
I guess I mean wow.

00:18:59.845 --> 00:19:04.691
I guess I wonder when the last hanging in the states was it was.

00:19:05.673 --> 00:19:08.782
I have this information oh my god, you got something.

00:19:08.782 --> 00:19:20.708
It was in 1928, and it was a guy named charlie burger that was the last last hanging in illinois, wow that's wild, I guess.

00:19:20.948 --> 00:19:25.213
I can't believe they even distilled it in 1928,.

00:19:25.213 --> 00:19:26.236
I guess yeah.

00:19:26.236 --> 00:19:28.184
Because you said it was a public hanging.

00:19:28.184 --> 00:19:29.891
Mm-hmm, isn't that crazy.

00:19:29.891 --> 00:19:33.250
It's like son, get your popcorn, we're going to see the hanging.

00:19:33.820 --> 00:19:35.106
I had an answer.

00:19:36.982 --> 00:19:38.188
That was a part of your research.

00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:39.560
It was a part of my research.

00:19:39.560 --> 00:19:46.465
Well done, well done, okay, so in 1925, before he was convicted, and all that.

00:19:46.465 --> 00:19:49.949
Berger actually ratted out the Sheltons.

00:19:49.949 --> 00:19:56.714
There was some kind of like federal mail robbery case and Berger like threw the Sheltons under the bus.

00:19:56.714 --> 00:19:57.535
They didn't do it.

00:19:57.755 --> 00:20:00.438
No, but he was trying to eliminate his competition, exactly.

00:20:01.803 --> 00:20:04.549
So they were all arrested and put into jail.

00:20:05.270 --> 00:20:05.772
For how long?

00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:10.150
They had 25-year sentences each, carl, ernie and Bernie.

00:20:10.150 --> 00:20:10.651
Wow.

00:20:10.651 --> 00:20:17.531
Yes, and that's when Berger kind of rose a little bit more to power and then got himself hanged.

00:20:17.531 --> 00:20:24.092
But the boys were released in 1930, just five years in.

00:20:24.112 --> 00:20:25.275
Oh, so they were in just five years in.

00:20:25.275 --> 00:20:26.898
Oh, so they were in prison for five years.

00:20:26.898 --> 00:20:31.247
Wow, why did they get released so early?

00:20:32.410 --> 00:20:33.531
I'm sure they bought people off.

00:20:33.531 --> 00:20:34.133
I don't know.

00:20:34.133 --> 00:20:37.645
I don't.

00:20:37.787 --> 00:20:41.212
I'm asking a lot of doozies today, but you are.

00:20:41.212 --> 00:20:47.806
But when they got, out Prohibition was starting to lose some steam, because when did prohibition actually end?

00:20:47.806 --> 00:20:51.593
It was like 1933 that's what came to mind.

00:20:51.593 --> 00:20:56.009
I can't remember exactly, but okay yeah for some reason, 33 popped in my head.

00:20:56.009 --> 00:21:16.354
Whether that's right or not, it was around there, yeah, um, so they were on the tail end of prohibition by the time they got out, okay, yeah so in the 1930s, peoria was illinois's second largest city behind chicago, yeah, really yeah, not sure what happened what's the second biggest now?

00:21:17.300 --> 00:21:20.666
I don't know jesus, why are you asking me such a random question?

00:21:20.807 --> 00:21:21.248
man.

00:21:21.248 --> 00:21:25.173
Well, because I'm curious, because we drove through Peoria.

00:21:25.173 --> 00:21:26.134
Yeah.

00:21:26.134 --> 00:21:28.126
And it's definitely.

00:21:28.259 --> 00:21:29.645
It would have to be a suburb.

00:21:30.601 --> 00:21:33.549
I mean you would think, right yeah Of Chicago.

00:21:33.871 --> 00:21:35.565
Yeah, a suburb of Chicago.

00:21:35.684 --> 00:21:43.144
I would imagine, because I mean, I don't know, because what's the capital of Illinois?

00:21:43.144 --> 00:21:48.527
It's not Chicago, right, springfield, springfield, that's it, thank you, yeah, rockford's not very big either.

00:21:48.666 --> 00:21:49.229
It's not.

00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:52.488
And then I'm out of Aurora.

00:21:52.488 --> 00:21:59.392
I only know that because of Wayne's World, but she's typing for you to try and figure this out.

00:22:00.339 --> 00:22:03.345
Schaumburg is the second largest, and that is a.

00:22:03.345 --> 00:22:06.082
Is it really that Schomburg is the second largest?

00:22:06.323 --> 00:22:06.624
Is it really?

00:22:06.624 --> 00:22:07.025
That is a suburb?

00:22:07.025 --> 00:22:07.787
Yeah, I've been there many a time.

00:22:07.787 --> 00:22:18.174
Before they built an Ikea up here, sarah and I would take random trips to get some cheap furniture and then go to Portillo's for some Italian beef.

00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.107
Okay, so two different sites say two different things.

00:22:21.650 --> 00:22:21.990
Okay.

00:22:23.220 --> 00:22:32.493
So this site that I'm on now, illinois demographicscom, says sean berger's number 13 that is quite that is quite a difference difference um.

00:22:32.554 --> 00:22:40.392
So aurora is the second I said that look at me go and then rockford is number five is it really?

00:22:40.392 --> 00:22:44.930
Yes, I would not have guessed that springfield is number seven, Peoria number eight.

00:22:45.380 --> 00:22:45.902
Where does South?

00:22:45.942 --> 00:22:47.769
Beloit fall on that list.

00:22:47.880 --> 00:22:53.391
Oh, poor, dear little South Beloit, I'm pretty sure you're going to be winging the bonnet.

00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:55.006
I'm guessing, you're not wrong.

00:22:56.721 --> 00:22:58.164
And why South Beloit?

00:22:58.767 --> 00:22:59.449
Do I ask that?

00:23:00.171 --> 00:23:01.987
Yeah, why are you asking that?

00:23:02.099 --> 00:23:04.469
Because Beloit's in Wisconsin and South Beloit's in Illinois.

00:23:04.469 --> 00:23:06.201
And yeah, why are you asking that?

00:23:06.201 --> 00:23:09.911
Because Beloit's in Wisconsin and South Beloit's in Illinois and Beloit is the armpit of Wisconsin 267.

00:23:09.911 --> 00:23:10.511
People.

00:23:11.093 --> 00:23:14.164
No, thousand no, on the list.

00:23:14.204 --> 00:23:19.207
Oh, on the list 267 on the list.

00:23:19.247 --> 00:23:21.325
Fair enough, Okay moving on.

00:23:21.365 --> 00:23:23.626
Yeah, sorry, we got sidetracked by population.

00:23:23.980 --> 00:23:25.729
But at the time Peoria was the second largest.

00:23:26.122 --> 00:23:27.165
I would have never guessed that.

00:23:27.165 --> 00:23:30.209
And I know that's, you know, a hundred years ago or whatever, but you know why?

00:23:31.050 --> 00:23:31.211
Why?

00:23:31.211 --> 00:23:33.825
Because one there's a river going through there.

00:23:34.665 --> 00:23:35.508
A river runs through it.

00:23:35.508 --> 00:23:36.750
Uh-huh, that's a movie.

00:23:37.531 --> 00:23:37.833
Okay.

00:23:38.073 --> 00:23:38.173
Yep.

00:23:46.980 --> 00:23:49.627
And then there's also two major military bases there.

00:23:49.647 --> 00:23:50.450
Oh really, I wrote them down.

00:23:50.450 --> 00:23:52.576
I couldn't pronounce them so I deleted it.

00:23:52.576 --> 00:23:52.676
Why?

00:23:52.676 --> 00:23:54.362
You know how?

00:23:54.382 --> 00:23:55.604
much I like hearing you fumble words.

00:23:55.604 --> 00:23:58.749
Okay, so they have like a don't ask, don't tell.

00:23:58.749 --> 00:24:00.090
Policy in Peoria.

00:24:00.112 --> 00:24:01.713
Kind of like the military for a while there.

00:24:01.733 --> 00:24:02.961
Exactly so.

00:24:02.961 --> 00:24:05.609
The Great Depression which was also happening around this time.

00:24:05.700 --> 00:24:07.079
Yeah, that was a big part of all of this.

00:24:07.903 --> 00:24:09.208
That was also winding down.

00:24:09.208 --> 00:24:11.508
The economy was rising a little bit.

00:24:11.508 --> 00:24:14.767
Folks are ready to drink, gamble and forget.

00:24:14.767 --> 00:24:16.530
Prohibition even happened.

00:24:16.771 --> 00:24:17.192
Go to war.

00:24:17.681 --> 00:24:21.010
And Peoria earned the nickname Wide Open City.

00:24:21.859 --> 00:24:23.046
Wide Open City.

00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:27.587
Taverns ran 24-7 slot machines.

00:24:27.587 --> 00:24:31.602
Oh, politicians that didn't see anything.

00:24:31.602 --> 00:24:48.318
Law enforcement not seeing anything okay basically no one saw anything no, one saw nothing I didn't see nothing don't ask, don't say, don't ask, don't tell that too see something, don't say something.

00:24:48.318 --> 00:24:54.198
If you see something, don't say something moving on.

00:24:54.398 --> 00:24:55.884
That might be the title of this episode.

00:24:55.884 --> 00:25:02.922
We'll see if we have any other gems that pop up if you see something, don't say something see something, don't say something.

00:25:04.412 --> 00:25:27.115
Wow, okay, good lord okay anywho yes so um move along yes, absolutely moving along okay so peoria actually had a big kind of organized crime history already, did it really?

00:25:27.236 --> 00:25:38.527
yeah, okay, um, and peoria's longtime mayor yeah edward n woodruff ran the town is this the one that was potentially going to be assassinated?

00:25:38.606 --> 00:25:43.980
nope that was in southern oh, I'm sorry and that was a governor yeah, yeah, yeah yeah that's okay.

00:25:43.980 --> 00:25:51.412
We're talking about a lot of people here yeah, we are yeah, so um the the mayor of this town, woodruff.

00:25:51.652 --> 00:26:08.116
He basically called um peoria, peoria liberal peoria liberal that's like the philosophy that they accepted okay vice is inevitable, so let's monetize it I mean, it sounds like good business sense I guess guess.

00:26:08.739 --> 00:26:11.036
Everything's allowed, just keep it tidy and neat.

00:26:11.671 --> 00:26:12.635
And on the hush hush.

00:26:13.352 --> 00:26:14.657
And then it will be profitable.

00:26:14.869 --> 00:26:16.336
And if you see something, don't say something.

00:26:16.435 --> 00:26:18.050
Exactly so.

00:26:18.050 --> 00:26:21.920
Slot machines are basically like big piggy banks out there.

00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:22.923
Yeah for sure.

00:26:22.923 --> 00:26:27.721
The city charged $20 a month per machine as a license.

00:26:28.261 --> 00:26:37.130
Okay $20 a month Today a license Okay $20 a month today Do you want to try to guess $4,000.

00:26:38.211 --> 00:26:46.574
Not even that close, unless I got my zeros wrong again $4 million $20 a month is about $400.

00:26:46.574 --> 00:26:46.673
Okay.

00:26:48.450 --> 00:26:49.855
Well, I mean, I had the the four.

00:26:49.855 --> 00:26:56.190
I had the four right per machine per month I mean that's, and I'm sure, that's a lot it's not like they had one machine.

00:26:56.691 --> 00:27:08.021
They probably had tens of hundreds or whatever could be up in the four billion or millions we don't know so let's get off the numbers gambling houses paid monthly fees as well.

00:27:08.021 --> 00:27:14.637
And as long as no one made a mess for the newspapers officials were actually pretty chill about everything.

00:27:14.637 --> 00:27:17.837
Of course, the violence was pretty bad for business.

00:27:19.071 --> 00:27:26.736
Usually it is today but they would have like back room pokers and bourbon and bribes and everything else was fine, right?

00:27:26.736 --> 00:27:33.554
So by the late 1930s, peoria's peoria was living their best liberal life.

00:27:33.554 --> 00:27:36.760
Okay, um, they had 200 plus taverns.

00:27:36.760 --> 00:27:48.461
Um, they had gambling dens in really swanky lounges as well as, like the really off the cuff bad crusty yeah, places hole in the wall, exactly.

00:27:48.803 --> 00:27:59.034
Sometimes those are pretty amazing, though you and I are both rather akin to, uh yeah, holes in the wall, holes in the wall, dive bars, all that stuff, especially when it has divide.

00:27:59.034 --> 00:28:03.471
That's why I like our, one of our favorite places to go is, uh, brown bear.

00:28:03.471 --> 00:28:11.684
It has like that kind of feel, but it's not that type of bar it's not it's so good, but it's got that kind of feel like overall aesthetically looking and all that.

00:28:12.530 --> 00:28:14.538
That's why I think we like that place so much.

00:28:14.538 --> 00:28:21.122
Yeah, but no, we like to find kind of off the beaten path bars when we hey, let's go get a beer.

00:28:21.122 --> 00:28:34.001
All right, yep, we have our staples that we like, obviously, like Rick's and Whitewater and brown bear like I said or whatever, but we like those random.

00:28:34.001 --> 00:28:34.584
Yeah, this looks like a whole.

00:28:34.584 --> 00:28:41.387
Let's go check it out kind of thing right we've been into a few and we've actually gotten pretty disappointed because, like what?

00:28:41.428 --> 00:28:43.972
is this place do you have a medello?

00:28:43.972 --> 00:28:44.993
No.

00:28:44.993 --> 00:28:48.118
Do you have anything dark?

00:28:48.118 --> 00:28:49.320
A lin is no.

00:28:49.320 --> 00:28:50.602
Do you have a dark?

00:28:50.602 --> 00:28:50.942
No.

00:28:50.942 --> 00:28:52.726
Do you have any pale ales?

00:28:52.890 --> 00:28:56.178
no, it's like we bud light, miller light, bush light.

00:28:56.198 --> 00:28:58.932
That's what we got, that's the problem with a lot of those bars.

00:28:59.713 --> 00:29:02.461
It has regulars yeah, and that's what they drink, they're in.

00:29:02.500 --> 00:29:03.932
You know that tight knit area.

00:29:03.932 --> 00:29:05.596
That's what they drink, that's what they carry.

00:29:05.596 --> 00:29:09.253
They don't, they're not gonna have a boatload of craft beers or whatever.

00:29:09.354 --> 00:29:26.112
Yeah, which you know, I understand, but at the same time sucks okay, so with prohibition kind of falling out, yeah, and the southern part of illinois, kind of like their whole empire, the shelton's empire, were kind of crumbling as well because they've been in prison was that little egypt?

00:29:26.152 --> 00:29:26.692
what was that called?

00:29:26.692 --> 00:29:27.855
Yes, yes, little Egypt.

00:29:27.855 --> 00:29:28.757
Is that what it was called?

00:29:28.757 --> 00:29:29.799
Did I get that right?

00:29:29.799 --> 00:29:30.701
Oh shit.

00:29:30.842 --> 00:29:38.019
Yeah, yeah, so they, shelton brothers, were actually invited unofficially up to Peoria.

00:29:38.019 --> 00:29:38.760
And.

00:29:38.780 --> 00:29:39.320
I'll tell you how.

00:29:39.320 --> 00:29:40.442
By who?

00:29:40.442 --> 00:29:41.704
So, the mayor.

00:29:43.049 --> 00:29:55.694
So Peoria's gambling elite, like the ones who are always gambling, spending the high dollars, they had one big fear, and that was Chicago and Al Capone in.

00:29:55.734 --> 00:29:59.155
Chicago yeah, because he was quite a big deal.

00:29:59.676 --> 00:30:00.376
It was a big deal.

00:30:00.376 --> 00:30:00.737
Yeah.

00:30:00.737 --> 00:30:06.599
And Peoria's local kingpin, clyde Garrison, was a little intimidated by it.

00:30:06.599 --> 00:30:11.583
Okay, he proclaimed himself to be the gambling king of Peoria.

00:30:11.583 --> 00:30:15.684
He liked being in charge of the dice and the cards and anything shady in between.

00:30:15.684 --> 00:30:19.946
Sure, and someone tried to kidnap him in 1930.

00:30:19.946 --> 00:30:21.387
Oh, he was with his wife.

00:30:21.768 --> 00:30:22.067
Oh dear.

00:30:27.349 --> 00:30:29.141
And the rival mobsters tried to abduct him, ended up firing a shot shot, I think.

00:30:29.141 --> 00:30:35.525
It hit his leg, I think and another bullet went straight into his wife's head oh god, and killed his wife.

00:30:35.525 --> 00:30:40.038
Yeah, I'd say it did so after that he's like I need some backup wow.

00:30:40.038 --> 00:30:44.611
So he invited he invited the shelton brothers, brothers because he.

00:30:44.830 --> 00:30:49.638
He probably heard about him because of what they were running at the time they weren't chicago.

00:30:49.638 --> 00:30:57.117
They had nothing to do with al capone yeah, they had no ties to that, they had street cred yeah, no, I mean it makes sense to go elsewhere.

00:30:57.117 --> 00:30:58.622
Yep, you heard about these guys.

00:30:58.622 --> 00:31:06.434
Like you said, the biggest thing is not having that tie to chicago, yep, or any allegiance to capone or any of the other gangsters yeah um.

00:31:06.655 --> 00:31:24.711
So it makes sense that he would want them to come and help him, because, hey, pay allegiance to me, I'll pay you good money probably, and all that shit so yeah, no, that makes total sense yeah, so the shultons came in with the reputation, the loyalty and the muscle right and um.

00:31:24.813 --> 00:31:27.816
At first they acted as like garrisons enforcers.

00:31:27.816 --> 00:31:37.105
Okay, they were kept rival gangs at bay, they protected Peoria's assets and they kept the violence contained.

00:31:37.346 --> 00:31:37.567
Okay.

00:31:40.730 --> 00:31:42.295
The money was flowing and everybody was politely terrified.

00:31:42.315 --> 00:31:44.461
Politely terrified Maybe that's the title.

00:31:45.810 --> 00:31:46.951
Shit.

00:31:46.951 --> 00:31:50.554
And so, just like that, the Shultons kind of had this new empire.

00:31:50.554 --> 00:31:56.439
Right, yeah, and this time it's not on illegal moonshine, but more on the gambling aspect.

00:31:56.439 --> 00:31:57.980
Illegal gambling, exactly, yeah.

00:31:57.980 --> 00:32:07.767
So at first they kind of played backup and bodyguards to Clyde Garrison, but and they weren't quite calling the shots yet.

00:32:07.767 --> 00:32:21.152
No, but Carl worked his charm with the politicians there, okay, um, and he also like bribed all the police officers saying everything's fine, you can just relax.

00:32:21.211 --> 00:32:27.019
We got this, it's fine, everything's fine bernie, um, you know all the big guys.

00:32:27.019 --> 00:32:29.304
Away with his angriness.

00:32:29.723 --> 00:32:30.065
Yeah.

00:32:30.444 --> 00:32:38.564
Yes, so Garrison ran the books, Shultons ran the muscle and everybody ran to the bank because they were getting paid.

00:32:39.613 --> 00:32:43.318
Yeah, profiting from all of this and the city of Peoria was booming.

00:32:43.318 --> 00:32:47.480
Well, that second biggest city in Illinois, booming metropolis.

00:32:47.480 --> 00:32:50.656
That still blows my mind, and only because I've been there.

00:32:50.656 --> 00:32:52.142
It's just.

00:32:52.142 --> 00:32:59.883
I mean, I know it's again, it's almost a hundred year difference, but it's just wild to think that they were the second biggest city in illinois.

00:32:59.903 --> 00:33:11.301
I just, I never, would ever guess that yeah so wow, so world war ii started happening and a wave of soldiers, um, and their paychecks, came wafting through.

00:33:11.301 --> 00:33:14.881
Remember it was on two different military bases.

00:33:14.881 --> 00:33:22.836
So the gambling money poured in the bars were full Brothels were busy, so those bases were already there.

00:33:23.136 --> 00:33:34.358
Yes, okay, yes, and it just obviously, with the war happening and people mobilizing and shit, it brought more people into those bases to get them ready to ship out, and when you got people like that, they're looking to spend their money.

00:33:34.519 --> 00:33:34.980
Absolutely.

00:33:35.009 --> 00:33:37.638
Because they don't know when they're going to be able to have a good time.

00:33:37.638 --> 00:33:41.419
Absolutely, and they're all far from home and very far from home.

00:33:41.419 --> 00:33:42.461
So yeah, Okay.

00:33:43.710 --> 00:33:45.992
So one historian from Peoria says there were two Peoria's.

00:33:45.992 --> 00:33:54.163
So one historian from Peoria says there were two Peoria's the respectable one up on the bluff and the Valley City where the dice never stopped rolling.

00:33:54.483 --> 00:33:56.086
Oh, is there a bluff in Peoria?

00:33:56.849 --> 00:34:02.296
So, yeah, because there's a river, yeah, it kind of does go up a little bit, I suppose.

00:34:02.296 --> 00:34:03.217
Yeah, yeah.

00:34:03.217 --> 00:34:07.781
It's been a second since I've been there, so I'm probably just blowing smoke.

00:34:07.781 --> 00:34:08.623
Tony, you can let me know.

00:34:09.063 --> 00:34:11.545
Tony, help us out because we don't recall.

00:34:11.545 --> 00:34:18.161
Like I said, I haven't been there in probably I think it's been a quarter of a century.

00:34:18.181 --> 00:34:19.226
And yeah, we drove through it for the July stuff.

00:34:19.226 --> 00:34:21.592
Not like all the way through, we more kind of drove around it.

00:34:21.632 --> 00:34:22.572
Yeah, exactly.

00:34:22.572 --> 00:34:23.293
So anyways.

00:34:23.713 --> 00:34:29.280
So with all the great like criminal partnerships, somebody wanted a bigger piece.

00:34:29.280 --> 00:34:33.186
The Sheltons, yeah Weird, particularly Carl.

00:34:34.570 --> 00:34:38.257
The oldest, Carl's the oldest, Bernie's the youngest and Ernie is the middle.

00:34:38.257 --> 00:34:38.516
Yep.

00:34:38.998 --> 00:34:39.199
Earl.

00:34:39.539 --> 00:34:41.742
Earl, because you called him Ernie before.

00:34:41.882 --> 00:34:42.443
Oh my bad.

00:34:45.394 --> 00:34:47.302
I got Earl and Bernie.

00:34:54.070 --> 00:34:55.032
Carl and Bernie, and you called him Erernie.

00:34:55.032 --> 00:34:55.554
My bad, my bad anyways.

00:34:55.554 --> 00:34:56.637
So carl tried to kind of big, so okay.

00:34:56.637 --> 00:34:57.278
So there were theories.

00:34:57.278 --> 00:35:10.778
Okay, this isn't like 100, no, but the theories were carl tried to like one-up, garrison cozying up to like the same officials garrison had relied on oh, so he was trying to buy his way in with the same people to get favor.

00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:11.842
Yes, basically.

00:35:12.431 --> 00:35:19.840
On the other hand, Mayor Woodruff and Garrison had their own spat and the mayor decided it was time for the Shultons to kind of take over.

00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:21.690
Okay, or both of them happened.

00:35:21.731 --> 00:35:22.170
We don't know.

00:35:22.170 --> 00:35:23.211
Yeah, it's possible.

00:35:23.452 --> 00:35:23.692
Yeah.

00:35:23.692 --> 00:35:28.394
So, whatever reason, by 1941, garrison was out and the Shultons were in.

00:35:28.394 --> 00:35:29.315
Okay, okay.

00:35:29.315 --> 00:35:42.023
So, according to one detective who later ended up on the Shulton payroll, he said that Mayor Woodruff personally gave the green light for this new regime.

00:35:42.023 --> 00:35:43.284
Oh, okay.

00:35:44.284 --> 00:35:45.905
Yeah, like you said, it's time for a change.

00:35:45.905 --> 00:35:47.347
Yes, all right.

00:35:47.827 --> 00:35:49.728
Yes, wow.

00:35:49.728 --> 00:35:54.936
So with Garrison gone, the Shelton brothers took over Peoria's vice scene.

00:35:54.936 --> 00:36:00.664
Slot machines, gambling, dens, political coverage, they had it all right.

00:36:00.664 --> 00:36:08.623
By the early 1940s the Shelton brothers weren't just in the Peoria criminal scene.

00:36:11.869 --> 00:36:12.552
They were the criminal scene.

00:36:12.552 --> 00:36:13.052
They ran the show.

00:36:13.072 --> 00:36:14.797
Yes, they absolutely did um.

00:36:14.797 --> 00:36:29.701
So carl shelton moved to a place on knoxville avenue, if anybody out there knows where that is I sure don't yeah, same um bernie shelton, settled on um a farm on the edge of town where he raised horses oh nice.

00:36:29.701 --> 00:36:30.855
And maybe hunchmen, we don't know.

00:36:31.530 --> 00:36:32.112
And maybe what.

00:36:32.393 --> 00:36:32.835
Hunchmen.

00:36:33.210 --> 00:36:35.157
Because it sounded like you said hunchmen, Hunchmen because I did.

00:36:35.157 --> 00:36:36.233
That's what I thought.

00:36:36.233 --> 00:36:38.898
I'm like who raises hunchmen?

00:36:40.094 --> 00:36:41.128
The hunchback of Notre Dame.

00:36:41.230 --> 00:36:42.295
The hunchmen of Notre Dame.

00:36:42.295 --> 00:36:44.014
And in my research.

00:36:44.155 --> 00:36:48.798
I didn't know where Earl was, but I think he ended up on a farm as well.

00:36:49.429 --> 00:36:51.434
Maybe you couldn't find him because he changed his name to Ernie.

00:36:51.454 --> 00:37:00.960
Okay, so their biggest cash cow was slot machines.

00:37:01.262 --> 00:37:01.501
Right.

00:37:01.501 --> 00:37:05.422
So, even with the $20 machine.

00:37:05.911 --> 00:37:12.059
That was during Garrison's time and I'm not sure if that continued, it might be the same you would think I think it was the same.

00:37:12.101 --> 00:37:17.657
That's how they get a piece, so I would assume there's something there yeah, yeah, they paid it to city hall.

00:37:17.717 --> 00:37:18.940
That's what they yeah.

00:37:18.940 --> 00:37:21.673
So, um, it was 20 a month to city hall.

00:37:21.713 --> 00:37:30.152
So it was legal gambling then, because if they paid the for this license basically because that's what it was it was a license right yeah, I think it was.

00:37:30.552 --> 00:37:31.835
I don't think it was legal.

00:37:31.835 --> 00:37:38.795
They were just kind of paying for it as if it was to keep, to keep all the officials at bay, isn't that?

00:37:38.815 --> 00:37:39.137
wild.

00:37:39.297 --> 00:37:49.182
Yeah, it's like, yeah, here you go, yeah, okay so the brothers founded the peoria amusementusement Company, which sounds charming but really isn't.

00:37:49.784 --> 00:37:50.003
Right.

00:37:50.190 --> 00:37:56.764
But it was for running slots and jukeboxes and the occasional brothel that's amusement yeah.

00:37:56.764 --> 00:38:00.920
Almost every tavern and club in Peoria had a Shelton run slot machine.

00:38:01.280 --> 00:38:01.702
Of course.

00:38:02.150 --> 00:38:04.336
Even the really fancy places would have it.

00:38:04.336 --> 00:38:05.541
Oh really, mm.

00:38:05.541 --> 00:38:13.471
Hmm, so the Shelton's weren't into messy gangland drama okay at least not in peoria.

00:38:13.471 --> 00:38:15.514
Um, they had they.

00:38:16.094 --> 00:38:35.389
They kind of ran a tight ship like they had rules oh, I mean, even when you're nefarious like that you, you got to have some order yeah because otherwise you get people that fucking try to one-up you and undercut you did with garrison yeah exactly that's where I was getting to, yeah, but that's.

00:38:35.568 --> 00:38:40.702
You know, you need your rules and whatever to have order with, even within a crime fucking unit.

00:38:40.702 --> 00:38:44.920
Yeah, you know, like the mob, you know they had a mob boss and the captains and all that shit.

00:38:44.920 --> 00:38:52.596
They had order for a reason because they wanted to be able to function as a unit, right, not just have fucking chaos.

00:38:52.757 --> 00:38:52.976
Right.

00:38:53.271 --> 00:38:56.177
So, even though you're doing shitty things, you need order.

00:38:56.177 --> 00:38:57.702
So yeah, that makes sense.

00:38:57.762 --> 00:39:00.117
Yeah, they know brawls in the streets.

00:39:00.117 --> 00:39:02.217
No gunfire unless necessary.

00:39:02.217 --> 00:39:07.420
Well, clearly no freelance criminals doing stupid things.

00:39:08.751 --> 00:39:09.856
Freelance criminals Yep.

00:39:10.250 --> 00:39:12.615
They called it gangland peacekeeping.

00:39:13.036 --> 00:39:15.682
Well, makes sense, yeah, okay.

00:39:16.371 --> 00:39:19.280
And it kind of made Peoria feel a little safe.

00:39:20.492 --> 00:39:21.134
I'm sure it did.

00:39:21.134 --> 00:39:27.978
Yeah, yeah, because you know, even though there's shit going down, they, they kept it orderly, so okay.

00:39:31.269 --> 00:39:34.400
One historian said as long as the sheltons were running, things you weren't getting robbed at random.

00:39:34.400 --> 00:39:40.916
Wow yeah, unless you owned like a competing slot machine company or something of course were the?

00:39:40.956 --> 00:39:43.643
were the sheltons, these three sheltons, um?

00:39:43.643 --> 00:39:46.338
Were they married or anything?

00:39:46.338 --> 00:39:49.708
That they have families of their own that you came across?

00:39:49.708 --> 00:39:50.690
Oh, golly.

00:39:51.512 --> 00:39:55.197
Um, I think some of them were surprisingly.

00:39:55.197 --> 00:40:06.130
I know more about the other brothers, the ones that weren't in the gang that they did marry okay and I don't remember about these three and they're still.

00:40:06.150 --> 00:40:12.476
the rest of the family is still south, right, yes, okay, yes, I don't remember about these three and they're still, the rest of the family is still South, right, yes, okay, yes, I don't remember if I read that.

00:40:12.476 --> 00:40:13.199
That's all right.

00:40:13.199 --> 00:40:26.391
I was just curious because, like, obviously, yeah, they were pretty prominent in this city and you would just think that there'd be something if there was yeah, I don't know, I don't remember reading them Right.

00:40:26.411 --> 00:40:27.373
I don't remember reading them Right.

00:40:27.373 --> 00:40:34.500
So remember the wide, open city concept of Peoria.

00:40:34.500 --> 00:40:37.523
Yep, it was basically crime, but organized.

00:40:37.682 --> 00:40:39.525
Right, right, so it was organized crime.

00:40:40.065 --> 00:40:48.123
That's the one, that is the one Okay.

00:40:54.911 --> 00:40:55.574
So remember the other brother.

00:40:55.594 --> 00:40:56.878
Delta, the weird name dalta.

00:40:56.878 --> 00:40:57.320
Yes, he had two sons.

00:40:57.320 --> 00:40:57.661
Oh, there we go.

00:40:57.681 --> 00:41:16.300
That's how I know that's how I know he had a family, because he had two sons so did the sons become part of the the gang they did in in a way, yes, so okay so little, earl little earl, not little ernie nope, little earl was born in 1919 and little carl was born in 1924 so dalton named him after his brothers

00:41:16.362 --> 00:41:26.483
yes, wow and yes were they officially called little um they I'm kidding their real names were earl and carl, but to separate themselves.

00:41:26.483 --> 00:41:28.255
It was big earl and little earl.

00:41:28.255 --> 00:41:30.112
Clearly, big carl and little carl.

00:41:30.112 --> 00:41:58.320
I can't imagine their name on the birth certificate no little middle name earl shelton, so so, as teenagers in the 1940s, they began helping their, their cousins or their uncles excuse me, their uncles born in 1919, in the 40s, he he would already be 21, 21 okay, math expert I'm sorry but um, they were essentially learning the family business.

00:41:58.440 --> 00:42:00.809
Quote-unquote family business from the ground up.

00:42:00.809 --> 00:42:08.539
I'm sure they were learning it prior to being 21 yeah I'm sure they had contact with their uncles and were learning what the fuck they were doing.

00:42:08.539 --> 00:42:11.755
Yeah, because why else would they want to join the family business?

00:42:11.795 --> 00:42:15.396
yeah, if you will, but I mean their father wasn't in it, he was a farmer Right.

00:42:15.396 --> 00:42:29.652
They would do errands and act as junior muscle when needed and sometimes be the chauffeurs, but historians think that they were kind of raising these two kids as being their successors.

00:42:29.992 --> 00:42:30.313
Okay.

00:42:30.681 --> 00:42:32.750
But World War II came Sure did.

00:42:32.750 --> 00:42:36.902
And little Earl and little Carl went off to serve in the military were they drafted.

00:42:39.005 --> 00:42:39.766
Do you think I?

00:42:39.766 --> 00:42:45.264
I don't know, I wonder, or did they offer up their services because a lot of people joined?

00:42:45.264 --> 00:42:47.831
Yeah to help the effort.

00:42:47.831 --> 00:42:56.722
Yeah, the great war and everything but a lot of people were drafted too yeah because they needed bodies to put out there in front of the bullets so.

00:42:56.722 --> 00:43:07.065
So they survived the war and they came back okay um I'm sorry that I keep asking questions that you might not have an answer to.

00:43:07.065 --> 00:43:08.871
Do you have any idea where they went?

00:43:09.581 --> 00:43:22.311
no, okay, no, I was just curious no, so the shelton brothers um tried to actually pass as citizens, respectable citizens, um the older ones yeah okay so especially carl.

00:43:22.311 --> 00:43:23.574
He was kind of the pr guy.

00:43:23.574 --> 00:43:25.525
I remember the front desk person sure was.

00:43:25.525 --> 00:43:38.023
Carl rubbed elbows with peoria's elite um rotary club meetings and tried to kind of act as a pillar in the community and he didn't want to be seen as like a mob boss.

00:43:38.043 --> 00:43:46.048
He wanted to be seen as more of a philanthropist he wanted to put on a good face yeah and have a good uh public persona, basically.

00:43:46.389 --> 00:43:57.074
So and they kind of had deep roots in the city hall, like with informants and bribing the police and politicians right, and for a while it worked.

00:43:57.074 --> 00:44:05.987
The shultons managed to keep a stable system okay of corruption and order whatever whichever one you want to look at and the money kept coming in.

00:44:05.987 --> 00:44:07.271
They lived like kings, whatever.

00:44:07.413 --> 00:44:14.951
But peace plus gangsters really don't equal much success no, there's always a time where the bottom drops out.

00:44:15.010 --> 00:44:15.512
Exactly.

00:44:15.693 --> 00:44:16.173
Exactly.

00:44:16.579 --> 00:44:19.525
So they ended up.

00:44:19.525 --> 00:44:24.074
The Sheltons ended up getting a little bit more territory than they could defend.

00:44:24.882 --> 00:44:27.132
Oh, so they're spreading themselves too thin kind of deal.

00:44:27.380 --> 00:44:32.327
Former enemies were starting to kind of come in Encroach on their territory.

00:44:32.327 --> 00:44:40.313
And then they were getting a little bit more attention in chicago and st louis well, I mean, how far?

00:44:40.693 --> 00:44:42.599
do you know how far st louis is from peoria?

00:44:42.599 --> 00:44:47.733
It's really it's not terribly far um maybe three hours is that about right?

00:44:48.253 --> 00:45:10.634
I mean, that sounds roughly right it's been a while since I even went from from decatur, which is where I lived for a while, to st louis, it's been a while so yeah, but I imagine because st louis is a pretty big city but also east st louis was a part of their original territory when they lived in the south is, that is east st louis in illinois I think so is it I?

00:45:10.673 --> 00:45:13.461
think it is like actually a town in illinois.

00:45:13.521 --> 00:45:28.527
Okay, yeah just like south Beloit, and Beloit is in Wisconsin Exactly, cause I mean I've, I've only driven through St Louis once or Kansas city, which is in Missouri but there's also a Kansas city in Kansas, kansas, but yet the Kansas city chiefs play in Missouri.

00:45:28.527 --> 00:45:30.512
Yeah, it's weird, it's so weird.

00:45:30.512 --> 00:45:31.742
Okay, so, world weird, it's so weird.

00:45:31.762 --> 00:45:31.943
Okay.

00:45:31.943 --> 00:45:32.666
So world war ii ended.

00:45:32.666 --> 00:45:41.751
Soldiers were coming home, yeah, and crime bosses up north were like hey, remember, peoria, there's a ton of shit happening over there right now.

00:45:41.751 --> 00:45:52.211
Let's go let's get our fingers in the pie exactly, yeah, so according to a an evening post report in 1945.

00:45:52.211 --> 00:45:54.936
Okay, the Chicago Syndicate.

00:45:54.936 --> 00:45:58.929
Yes apparently slapped a $10,000 bounty.

00:45:59.490 --> 00:46:08.108
Oh on Carl Earl and Bernie $10,000 for all three, so $3,333.33 each.

00:46:09.802 --> 00:46:13.157
I don't know If it was all three together or separate, or $30,000?

00:46:13.157 --> 00:46:13.157
.

00:46:13.297 --> 00:46:15.007
Yeah, I'm just curious, because you know.

00:46:15.119 --> 00:46:17.840
But $10,000 today would be $178,000.

00:46:18.079 --> 00:46:20.389
That's a lot of money to go put a bounty on somebody.

00:46:20.539 --> 00:46:24.010
But they're like take him out and get Peori for ourselves.

00:46:25.101 --> 00:46:26.907
Who was running Chicago at this time?

00:46:26.907 --> 00:46:27.809
Was it still Capone?

00:46:27.960 --> 00:46:31.510
It's still Capone, but I'm sure he had goons to do all the bidding for him.

00:46:40.440 --> 00:46:41.724
Well, no, I know had goons to do all the bidding for him.

00:46:41.724 --> 00:46:43.347
I know that I've, just I didn't know you know, like management tears.

00:46:43.367 --> 00:46:46.014
It might not have come directly from capone, but maybe someone you know from his capos and all that stuff, whatever he had.

00:46:46.014 --> 00:46:57.603
So one night in 1945, five hitmen from chicago, oh wow, armed with thompson submachine guns that was a big gun back in those days strolled into bernie's one of your bernie's peoria gambling clubs.

00:46:57.603 --> 00:47:02.934
Okay, carl and bernie were inside, possibly playing poker, we're not sure.

00:47:02.934 --> 00:47:12.208
Probably playing some gambling yeah the plan was to shoot, collect bounty and disappear back to chicago how do they collect the bounty?

00:47:12.248 --> 00:47:16.262
there isn't the bounty paid from the people who sent them.

00:47:16.322 --> 00:47:35.056
Okay, so I wrote it down wrong they were probably gonna rob the place, but I'm not sure if, like carl, saw them coming because he made a quick phone call, oh, and got all of his gunmen to show up, oh, and scared away the would-be assassins.

00:47:35.376 --> 00:47:47.789
Oh, really, yeah, like there was no shootout that's impressive, yeah, so it was really strange these five guys show up, they see oh shit, they got some muscle here yeah let's uh abandon this.

00:47:47.789 --> 00:48:10.202
Uh, okay, yep, wow it could have been like a massive massacre well, yeah, because these, those five guys from chicago would have went in and, yeah, they had their two people they were they're literally gunning for and uh, whatever, but collateral damage at that point they didn't give a fuck as long as they got those two people.

00:48:10.202 --> 00:48:17.603
Like I said, probably robbed the place then because money's around yeah and then hightail it back to chicago.

00:48:18.005 --> 00:48:20.190
Yeah, that would have been a huge massacre.

00:48:20.190 --> 00:48:21.273
Not just the two people.

00:48:21.273 --> 00:48:26.681
It's not like they got some sniper taking these two guys out, they would have just shot fucking everybody yeah, they didn't care.

00:48:26.862 --> 00:48:28.764
Oh, a sniper does come into play eventually.

00:48:28.764 --> 00:48:44.003
Oh wow, so just as the Shelton's were like pushing the hitman from Chicago away, yeah, someone from inside the crime family, okay, frank Buster, wartman Buster.

00:48:44.143 --> 00:48:44.606
Wartman.

00:48:45.121 --> 00:48:48.590
A guy who used to work for us but now wants to be us kind of a guy.

00:48:48.590 --> 00:48:49.391
Okay.

00:48:49.391 --> 00:48:54.503
He was once a Shelton enforcer, oh he was once a Shelton enforcer.

00:48:54.503 --> 00:48:59.967
Oh, but Morton had moved shop to the central excuse me, the St Louis area.

00:48:59.967 --> 00:49:00.648
Okay.

00:49:01.449 --> 00:49:12.016
And while Carl and Bernie were busy doing slot machining in Peoria, okay, wartman quietly took over their grounds in Southern Illinois.

00:49:12.016 --> 00:49:18.903
Oh, took over their grounds in southern illinois, oh.

00:49:18.903 --> 00:49:22.137
By the late 1940s wartman had tons of cash, ambitions and no interest in like splitting his territory with.

00:49:22.137 --> 00:49:35.155
The shelton's investigators, late later pegged wartman as the mastermind, um, but he actually put out assassination hits on Carl and Bernie.

00:49:35.514 --> 00:49:35.835
Okay.

00:49:35.835 --> 00:49:37.764
Okay, is this where the sniper comes in?

00:49:38.485 --> 00:49:39.630
Soon, oh, okay, yeah.

00:49:39.630 --> 00:49:45.003
So while Wartman plotted in the shadows, yes, it's a good place to plot.

00:49:45.003 --> 00:49:50.331
Peoria voters decided they were kind of done being like the sin city of Illinois.

00:49:51.760 --> 00:50:03.222
That's probably why they're not number two anymore so slot machines kind of brought in jobs and brothels brought in customers and like the economy seemed to be kind of booming a little bit.

00:50:03.222 --> 00:50:09.242
They were also kind of like just they're not really wanting to be a part of that scene anymore, sure?

00:50:09.242 --> 00:50:16.974
So by 1945 reformers and church groups and other killjoys were kind of asking for change.

00:50:16.974 --> 00:50:21.507
So the city's reputation was kind of spiraling.

00:50:21.568 --> 00:50:22.250
It was shifting.

00:50:22.510 --> 00:50:23.713
Yes, yeah.

00:50:23.713 --> 00:50:34.746
So Carl Treble Treble, who is the opposite candidate of Woodruff, the Mayor Woodruff, okay, he was running against him.

00:50:34.659 --> 00:50:35.391
He was the opposing candidate.

00:50:35.391 --> 00:50:35.655
He was the mayor woodruff.

00:50:35.655 --> 00:50:36.889
Okay, he was running against him, the opposing candidate.

00:50:36.929 --> 00:50:38.811
He was an opposing candidate with a bible.

00:50:38.811 --> 00:50:54.811
With a bible, he campaigned to clean up peoria I always run with the bible and he won wow wow so shortly after taking office, mayor tribble met with carl shelton, okay, and they basically had like a professional breakup.

00:50:55.130 --> 00:50:56.853
Said hey man, we're done, All right.

00:50:57.114 --> 00:50:57.534
Exactly.

00:50:57.534 --> 00:50:59.125
That's exactly what happened.

00:50:59.125 --> 00:51:02.905
Party's over, Gambling's done and Carl was like okay.

00:51:02.905 --> 00:51:04.329
I'll go farm, yeah, see you man.

00:51:04.329 --> 00:51:06.505
Yeah, it was just like that.

00:51:07.380 --> 00:51:09.088
So he just gave it all up to go farm.

00:51:11.001 --> 00:51:11.280
Yeah, I, yeah.

00:51:11.300 --> 00:51:34.853
I think he kind of knew like time was done, like it was spent they had their, their, their time yeah I mean, he was doing it at that point for 15 years so I mean yeah 15 years since they even got out of prison and they started prior to obviously, so yeah wow, okay so they ended up folding um and they started pulling out of the peoria gambling scene.

00:51:34.893 --> 00:51:55.807
They shut down rackets um and they kind of laid low and they all focused on farming okay so by september of 1946, um peoria, um they were, there was, the gambling was done, the broth brothels were kind of quiet, quieted right slot machines were still there, but not for a long time, you know, not for very long, right?

00:51:55.807 --> 00:52:00.393
So the Shultons didn't go completely cold.

00:52:00.393 --> 00:52:09.659
Turkey, well, no, no, they actually set up like a roadhouse right outside of town, so out of like the township, essentially.

00:52:09.659 --> 00:52:09.760
Sure.

00:52:09.760 --> 00:52:12.929
City limits, called the Parkway Tavern.

00:52:13.621 --> 00:52:14.505
Is it still there today?

00:52:14.706 --> 00:52:16.463
don't know, I didn't look it up, damn I know.

00:52:16.463 --> 00:52:23.806
Sorry my bad it's cool but they felt like it was far enough from the where mayor that they could probably get away get away with this.

00:52:23.806 --> 00:52:34.773
Yeah, so carl is kind of pushing 60 at this point oh, I suppose yeah and he wants to kind of retire and work on his farm and he wants to live more of a quiet life now.

00:52:35.280 --> 00:52:37.108
So he'd be 57 at this point.

00:52:37.990 --> 00:52:45.914
Yeah, so he's like he wants to keep an eye on the books and the boys and maybe raise some farm cats and maybe some donkeys, I don't know.

00:52:45.914 --> 00:52:52.338
But the booze did still flow a little bit and games were still happening at this tavern.

00:52:52.338 --> 00:52:56.942
Okay, it was much smaller scale, scale, but it still paid some bills for him, sure.

00:52:56.942 --> 00:53:14.909
But on may 30th 1948 at the parkway tavern, okay, a fist fight broke out, oh dear, between two patrons, and one of them was a friend of bernie's, okay, and this friend lost oh dear and rather than take the loss.

00:53:15.851 --> 00:53:24.561
Bernie and his sidekick john kelly, which doesn't really matter who, because that's the only time we're going to mention this guy, but he was with bernie, they pistol whipped.

00:53:24.561 --> 00:53:50.465
Oh, this guy okay and fired warning shots in the parking lot like it was the wild west sure and peoria county deputies ended up showing up and breaking up this, this scuffle okay um, and they found themselves in a brawl with bernie a bernie brawl a bernie brawl.

00:53:50.565 --> 00:53:52.086
Punches were thrown somehow.

00:53:52.086 --> 00:53:53.568
Somehow Bernie got injured.

00:53:53.568 --> 00:53:57.275
I tried to find out how he was injured, but I couldn't find it.

00:53:57.275 --> 00:54:00.710
But both he and his friend John Kelly were arrested.

00:54:00.710 --> 00:54:03.670
They spent a night in jail and were hit with some felony charges.

00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:05.224
Oh, I mean felony charges.

00:54:05.224 --> 00:54:08.211
That's pretty prominent, yeah, yeah.

00:54:08.820 --> 00:54:18.876
So, after decades of bribes and intimidation, the law was finally like all right guys, we kind of need to do our jobs now, that's enough.

00:54:18.980 --> 00:54:20.326
We got to do what we're supposed to do.

00:54:20.385 --> 00:54:20.626
Yeah.

00:54:21.181 --> 00:54:23.126
Well, and different people in that position.

00:54:23.126 --> 00:54:24.190
So exactly.

00:54:25.760 --> 00:54:29.510
So the stage was kind of getting set for what would kind of be the final takedown of the Shelton Empire.

00:54:29.510 --> 00:54:32.918
Ok, for what would kind of be the final takedown of the Shelton Empire?

00:54:32.918 --> 00:54:39.429
Okay, between February and October.

00:54:39.429 --> 00:54:43.755
Three of Shelton's gang like hunchmen.

00:54:46.380 --> 00:54:46.981
Why do I keep saying hunchmen?

00:54:46.981 --> 00:54:50.150
I don't know, but it's pretty fucking great because I wish I had some hunchmen.

00:54:51.340 --> 00:54:53.065
They were gunned down in Peoria.

00:54:54.088 --> 00:54:59.012
Oh, wow, yeah, so this is still in 48, from February to October in 48.

00:54:59.824 --> 00:55:02.483
We might be in 49 now, I was just curious.

00:55:02.483 --> 00:55:03.487
It might be, I don't know.

00:55:03.628 --> 00:55:03.869
Okay.

00:55:05.581 --> 00:55:07.909
So three of the henchmen were gunned down.

00:55:07.909 --> 00:55:10.047
There were no witnesses, no convictions.

00:55:10.047 --> 00:55:19.213
Of course, yeah, there were some suspects the Chicago mob, the St Louis mob, maybe even Wartman.

00:55:19.213 --> 00:55:20.644
We're not really sure.

00:55:20.644 --> 00:55:31.273
Right, but after decades of these like shootouts and whatever, carl Shelton, the smooth talking older brother, right?

00:55:31.293 --> 00:55:31.775
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:55:32.201 --> 00:55:53.865
He kind of met an unceremonious end oh, man on his farmer october 23rd 1947, he was driving down a country road near his southern illinois farmhouse, so he he skipped rocks and went all the way back to yeah yeah, he was ambushed by gunmen in a passing car oh boy, so they were.

00:55:54.327 --> 00:55:58.329
they were kind of looking for him A hail of bullets tore through him.

00:55:58.489 --> 00:56:00.306
Okay, the shooter sped off.

00:56:00.306 --> 00:56:06.090
No arrests, nothing, no names, no clues, nothing, wow, nothing.

00:56:06.760 --> 00:56:10.110
So I assume he crashed and did he die like that?

00:56:11.001 --> 00:56:12.827
He was left bleeding by a ditch.

00:56:13.530 --> 00:56:13.789
Right.

00:56:18.699 --> 00:56:19.922
And yes, he did not survive that come to his wounds?

00:56:19.942 --> 00:56:20.061
he did.

00:56:20.083 --> 00:56:35.740
Oh man, yeah, poor, poor carl so then there was bernie's death the youngest july 26 1948 okay around midday bernie stepped out of his parkway tavern in peoria, or just outside of peoria.

00:56:35.740 --> 00:56:40.389
He was heading to get his buick and oil change.

00:56:40.389 --> 00:56:44.083
He was like I gotta go do this random maintenance, random thing.

00:56:44.083 --> 00:56:52.844
A single rifle shot rang out from the wooded area near his tavern so someone was waiting for him.

00:56:52.844 --> 00:57:02.750
Yes, the bullet hit him squarely, dropping him to the gravel, and he crawled a few feet and then collapsed where did it hit him?

00:57:02.789 --> 00:57:03.371
did it say?

00:57:04.172 --> 00:57:19.527
um, I don't think I read that okay but a witness was coming out of the tavern, saw it ran back inside said hey, bernie's been shot pretty much saying like there's a sniper outside, you know, so give me a beer.

00:57:19.527 --> 00:57:30.353
Bernie was taken to the hospital, okay, um, and he said to the ambulance driver quote they're following us, green car, they're following us.

00:57:30.353 --> 00:57:32.284
Oh, so he saw, and then he died.

00:57:32.284 --> 00:57:36.056
Oh, we're not sure if he was delirious, because it was a sniper in a bush.

00:57:36.056 --> 00:57:37.019
Yeah.

00:57:39.384 --> 00:57:49.630
Yeah, I mean he probably was delirious because, well, he's losing a lot of blood and so on, and he just maybe saw a green car and associated with that or whatever.

00:57:49.652 --> 00:57:49.771
Yeah.

00:57:51.161 --> 00:57:54.710
Or took the leaves being green as a car.

00:57:54.710 --> 00:57:55.652
Who the fuck knows?

00:57:55.851 --> 00:58:00.445
who knows, yeah so again no arrests, right, no charges.

00:58:00.445 --> 00:58:27.789
No one ever came out taking the credit, nothing right so with carl gone and bernie gone, the shelton game was being decapitated, essentially yeah, they were uh falling quickly here yeah, so the last remaining brother, earl or ernie case here going along he got the hell out of dodge I thought he was in peoria, sorry he was in southern illinois at this time.

00:58:27.809 --> 00:58:31.224
I couldn't resist but either way okay, so where did he go?

00:58:31.364 --> 00:58:33.349
so he um.

00:58:33.349 --> 00:58:57.007
So he was actually ambushed on his property in southern illinois in may of 1949 oh, wow, okay he was shot at a bullet to the arm but survived okay okay, but uh, in 1950 they set they set his barn on fire, so now they got arson to their name.

00:58:57.539 --> 00:59:05.342
So do you find it wild that they all moved south again, back to where they were from, at least Earl?

00:59:05.442 --> 00:59:08.525
did Stop saying Ernie.

00:59:08.525 --> 00:59:10.980
Every time I try to say Earl, because now I'm getting confused.

00:59:11.141 --> 00:59:12.125
You're the one who started it.

00:59:12.679 --> 00:59:13.605
But I ended it too.

00:59:13.605 --> 00:59:25.929
Too, I mean at this point they're, they're pretty much out of it right for the most part, but not.

00:59:25.929 --> 00:59:33.429
Yeah, I mean they were doing like a much smaller scale, but yeah, they were trying to kind of mind their own yeah, and that's why it's wild that they're still being sought after to be killed.

00:59:33.588 --> 00:59:36.233
You know, literally two years down.

00:59:36.233 --> 00:59:37.802
Yeah, to gun them down.

00:59:37.822 --> 00:59:47.706
That's just okay, yeah so earl's barn was torched um, and earl, that's when earl was like all right, I'm getting out of town, I gotta go.

00:59:47.706 --> 00:59:55.208
So he packed up his remaining family, his sisters and his mother.

00:59:55.208 --> 00:59:55.990
Oh, okay.

00:59:55.990 --> 00:59:57.485
And they moved to Florida.

00:59:59.563 --> 01:00:04.554
I would imagine they still had some wealth from their bootlegging and gambling days.

01:00:06.041 --> 01:00:12.007
So remember that they had another brother named Roy yes, who was not part of the gang, not at all, yeah.

01:00:12.007 --> 01:00:14.065
So he actually had a.

01:00:14.065 --> 01:00:16.768
He had a wife, I think at least a wife, if not kids too.

01:00:16.768 --> 01:00:25.612
But on, June 7th 1950, Roy was shot to death in an ambush while he was working on a tractor in his field.

01:00:26.320 --> 01:00:27.644
Did they mistake him for?

01:00:28.427 --> 01:00:41.804
not sure for not sure if it was just like Nope, you're associated with the shelton, so we're gonna.

01:00:41.804 --> 01:00:42.447
That seems like a dick move, man.

01:00:42.447 --> 01:00:43.170
Yeah, he never was even a part of it.

01:00:43.170 --> 01:00:43.552
So it's an unknown.

01:00:43.552 --> 01:00:58.465
Assailant hit, hid and fired on roy as he tended his farm, basically killing him in cold blood, and the killing made headlines all the way to australia really oh wow and one newspaper noted that roy was the third of five brothers in the shelton family to be murdered since 1947.

01:00:59.106 --> 01:01:00.228
That's crazy, yeah.

01:01:00.228 --> 01:01:03.902
So even the brothers who stayed out of this whole still got killed.

01:01:03.942 --> 01:01:15.699
Still got killed, damn that's too bad, yes so somewhere in there the dad died of natural causes I kind of figured because you mentioned the mom and not the dad.

01:01:16.480 --> 01:01:23.873
And there was one situation where I saw that the mom was fired upon but not hit, but I couldn't confirm that anywhere else.

01:01:23.873 --> 01:01:24.215
Okay.

01:01:24.215 --> 01:01:26.027
So I don't know how true that is.

01:01:26.027 --> 01:01:27.427
What kind of dicks do that man?

01:01:27.427 --> 01:01:37.253
Yeah, so after seeing their uncle's fates, little Earl and little Carl also moved to Florida, and they became law abiding citizens.

01:01:37.474 --> 01:01:37.974
Oh, there you go.

01:01:38.500 --> 01:01:45.572
In 1970, somehow the sister Lula was shot and wounded in Jacksonville.

01:01:45.572 --> 01:01:49.766
What and she survived had no correlation to this.

01:01:49.766 --> 01:01:54.579
Well, I don't know if it had a correlation if someone from the mob, like came down and found her.

01:01:54.701 --> 01:02:00.905
I don't know, it's 20 years, 20 years later fucking weird and she had nothing to do with it, why would you go and shoot her?

01:02:00.905 --> 01:02:03.592
Yeah, that's fucking wild so little.

01:02:03.753 --> 01:02:07.782
Earl um moved to florida in 1951 and he's worked as a truck driver.

01:02:07.782 --> 01:02:18.681
He lived until he was 79 died in 1998 okay little carl um settled also into like a quiet civilian life and he lived until 2009.

01:02:19.021 --> 01:02:27.094
Oh wow, earl yeah, big girl, big girl died in 1986 at the age of 96.

01:02:27.094 --> 01:02:47.668
Wow, he was never assassinated, never convicted for anything that's crazy that he got to be that old and his brothers got well killed he was a retired gangster, probably one of the few gangsters that could retire, make it that far so wow, who fucking killed the shelton's?

01:02:49.030 --> 01:02:50.994
we don't know well, how would you?

01:02:50.994 --> 01:02:59.028
Because no one took ownership of it, they just were eliminated because they were a threat in other people's eyes and they said go take care of this problem.

01:02:59.028 --> 01:03:04.208
I got yep all right, no guy so justice never came.

01:03:04.349 --> 01:03:47.211
It's suspected that it could be buster wartman, um, who was kind of taking over the central or southern illinois area, possibly chicago, possibly other people in st louis, maybe combination, not really sure, but sure um, but yeah, so um, I, oh gosh, I think that's it, um okay the killers were never caught and you know, the network of shelton's ended up being taken down and everybody freaking moved to florida and we're like let's just get a tan and stay out of shit well, except for the sister who got randomly shot at yeah, but she survived.

01:03:47.231 --> 01:03:47.793
It's fine.

01:03:47.972 --> 01:03:51.063
Oh, you're cool you're good, you survived.

01:03:51.063 --> 01:03:53.105
You're all right, rub some on it.

01:03:54.346 --> 01:03:58.170
So that is the Shelton brother gang of Peoria.

01:03:58.170 --> 01:03:59.152
Southern.

01:03:59.692 --> 01:04:00.213
Illinois.

01:04:00.273 --> 01:04:00.592
Yes.

01:04:01.094 --> 01:04:02.375
Wow, never heard of that.

01:04:02.615 --> 01:04:07.190
Yeah, that's crazy, tony, you'll have to let me know if you've heard of that gang or not.

01:04:07.521 --> 01:04:09.427
What's the name of the bargain?

01:04:09.427 --> 01:04:10.041
The?

01:04:10.141 --> 01:04:11.427
Parkway Tavern.

01:04:11.487 --> 01:04:21.489
Yeah, tony, if you do listen to this episode, uh, please let me know, or kate know, or email us or something that if it's still in operation to this day.

01:04:21.489 --> 01:04:24.802
My guess is no, but I'd be curious to see.

01:04:24.802 --> 01:04:33.422
I would assume, not I would think not but I don't know nope, nope, we'll just leave it at that.

01:04:33.422 --> 01:04:38.686
All right, a little bit of mystery to end this episode so so how do you like your shanty?

01:04:39.128 --> 01:04:44.067
I mean, I still do I know me too your medellus, mama dallas.

01:04:44.067 --> 01:04:51.849
Yeah, I mean shandy, it's my go-to staple you know what's entertaining uh, gladiator, are you not entertained?

01:04:51.931 --> 01:04:54.077
oh wait, yeah, have you seen the second one yet?

01:04:54.197 --> 01:04:55.400
I have not same I haven't?

01:04:55.400 --> 01:05:00.873
I'm kind of dragging my feet about it same, because I absolutely love the first one.

01:05:00.873 --> 01:05:01.422
It's like what?

01:05:01.422 --> 01:05:05.940
Literally one of my favorite movies, yes, and I just I I'm not saying they didn't do a good job.

01:05:05.940 --> 01:05:19.164
I haven't watched it yet, but I feel like I don't want to taint the first one that's how I felt about twister and twisters like don't even try and then independence day and the resurrection.

01:05:19.306 --> 01:05:20.148
Don't even try.

01:05:20.148 --> 01:05:23.860
No, just can't you just keep the classic ones classic?

01:05:24.320 --> 01:05:27.489
like sex in the city and just like that oh, it's so bad.

01:05:27.568 --> 01:05:28.250
It's so bad.

01:05:28.250 --> 01:05:29.152
That's what you were telling me.

01:05:29.152 --> 01:05:35.333
Like I'm glued to it because I know the story and I know all the people and they're bringing back old people.

01:05:36.302 --> 01:05:37.166
Now you got to finish it.

01:05:38.320 --> 01:05:43.708
They're trying to be so, pc they're bringing in every possible conflict all at once.

01:05:43.768 --> 01:05:44.269
It's really horrible.

01:05:44.269 --> 01:05:45.092
It's so dumb.

01:05:45.092 --> 01:05:47.027
It's just so dumb how they're doing it.

01:05:47.480 --> 01:05:57.840
I mean, they talk about gender, they talk about teen sex, they talk about pronouns, but it's all in like one episode.

01:05:58.181 --> 01:06:04.362
I know like it's just like we're not saying anything is wrong with that, but you they're, you don't.

01:06:04.362 --> 01:06:06.952
You don't need to write a story focused on that.

01:06:06.952 --> 01:06:08.518
You can still have a good story.

01:06:08.518 --> 01:06:12.733
Include these people into this story, but you don't have to make that the main focus of the story.

01:06:12.733 --> 01:06:13.356
Yeah, it's just, I don't know.

01:06:13.376 --> 01:06:14.239
They just tried the main focus of the story.

01:06:14.239 --> 01:06:15.422
Yeah, it's just I don't know.

01:06:15.422 --> 01:06:20.181
They just tried really, really, really hard to quote be up with the times, check all the boxes.

01:06:20.181 --> 01:06:22.025
Yeah, it's just very strange.

01:06:22.326 --> 01:06:24.510
That's the problem with a lot of story writing is.

01:06:24.510 --> 01:06:30.682
I know it's a product of the times, obviously that you're in, so I totally understand that, but it's like just just write a good story.

01:06:30.702 --> 01:06:42.050
Yeah, yeah, anyways well I suppose all right, buffoons, that's it for today's episode buckle up, because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you.

01:06:42.050 --> 01:06:51.708
Next time feeling hungry for more buffoonery, or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore hit us up on social media.

01:06:52.050 --> 01:06:56.402
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01:06:56.402 --> 01:07:00.976
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01:07:00.976 --> 01:07:02.362
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01:07:02.362 --> 01:07:04.007
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01:07:04.307 --> 01:07:08.882
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01:07:09.364 --> 01:07:12.391
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01:07:12.840 --> 01:07:14.947
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