Chicago's First Crime King by Kelly Pucci

Author:Kelly Pucci [Pucci, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, State & Local, Midwest (IA; IL; IN; KS; MI; MN; MO; ND; NE; OH; SD; WI), Photography, Subjects & Themes, Historical, True Crime, Organized Crime
ISBN: 9781540238412
Google: 4Ei8ywEACAAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 42844228
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2019-04-29T00:00:00+00:00

A newspaper illustration shows the gambler’s hold on local politics. Chicago History Museum, ICHi11659.

As Von Hollen’s influence grew, so did the gambling habit he fed with cash he pocketed from the city treasury to cover his bets at McDonald’s and other gambling parlors, often losing $1,000 in a single night. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, he admitted losing $10,000 at George Hankins’s place, but he did not reveal his losses at McDonald’s place. His debts grew and grew until he fled to Canada to avoid a lengthy prison sentence for embezzling $134,085 from Chicago taxpayers. In Canada, which at that time did not have an extradition treaty with the United States, he wrote poems and revived his career as a grocer. From time to time, the City of Chicago and Cook County dispatched lawmen to find Von Hollen. Although he had no authority to arrest Von Hollen, William Henry Heafford, the man who took over the job of city collector, took a crack at finding the fugitive. On one occasion, a deputy sheriff accompanying an insane prisoner to Detroit crossed into Canada to look for him, but neither the prisoner nor the deputy could find Von Hollen.

Curiously, George Von Hollen wrote a letter to the recorder’s office in Chicago bemoaning his life up north. In the letter, published in the New York Times, he claimed that he was starving in Canada, had no money or friends and desired to return to Chicago. Apparently Von Hollen did have at least one friend: disgraced Chicago alderman (and gambling parlor wingman) James Hildreth, who joined Von Hollen in another business venture in Ontario. Hildreth was also a man who enjoyed the finer things in life, as evidenced by ownership of eight boats and a diamond stud, worth $41,000 today, that he claimed was “presented to the alderman by his constituents.”

A year later, a Wisconsin newspaper referred to Von Hollen as a German poet: “The Governor General of Canada and the Princess Louise arrived at Hamilton, Canada, yesterday, where they had a reception. A song of welcome for the occasion was written by ‘the local German poet,’ George Von Hollen, formerly Treasurer of Chicago, who ‘got away’ with about $100,000 of the people’s money.”

McDonald provided Police Chief Jacob Rehm with $30,000 in exchange for access to confidential police records, and together they hatched a scheme to skim federal tax on alcohol and funnel money into the personal bank accounts of Rehm, McDonald’s former political ally Anton Hesing and others. When the federal government finally caught wind of the scheme, Rehm served six months in prison and paid a $10,000 fine. Anton Hesing served three months in prison for his part in the “Whiskey Ring.” McDonald sat back, unscathed.

Michael Hickey, the man who replaced Rehm as head of the police department, was no friend of McDonald. One evening, while drinking at a friend’s tavern, McDonald overheard a man voice his support of Hickey; McDonald broke the man’s nose and kicked him until he bled.

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