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Links between John Dillinger and the Mafia?

4 min read

EMIL WANATKA

a native of Czechoslovakia, bought property in Manitowish Waters and opened Little Bohemia in 1928.

he had also been a suspect in the 1922 murder of Charles Pacini in Kenosha.

Dillinger, Nelson and three other gangsters fled the resort on the night of April 22, 1934, after the FBI, tipped off by Wanatka’s mother, descended in the darkness and fired at a car with three men, killing one of them. The men were bystanders who stopped at the lodge for dinner and happened to drive off just as the G-men arrived. Hearing the gunshots, Dillinger escaped out the back.

It wasn’t long after the shootout that he turned the lodge into a “museum” of sorts with news clippings and other remnants of some of the Dillinger gang’s belongings not taken by the FBI that day.  Wanatka later produced, for tourists at the lodge, a bullet proof vest and a .38 caliber handgun that he claimed were the property of slain FBI Agent, Carter Baum.  Upon hearing about this, Wanatka was interviewed by the FBI about these items in August 1936.  He clearly admitted that he had concocted the story of these items belonging to Baum, and during the interview even admitted that his photo in the lodge, standing with Dillinger, was a fake and that he superimposed Dillinger’s photo.

Wanatka agreed he’d cease his advertising campaign that he had some personal and professional items belonging to deceased Agent, Carter Baum. Fact is, the FBI had Baum’s vest and handgun in their possession; Wanatka’s items shown were a fraud, as was his photo with Dillinger he sold.

The night John DiTrapani was killed, Wanatka was at the same bar with one Lester Engel and his daughter. There was a wide assortment of Milwaukee and Chicago mob men in the bar that night. Probably a coincidence, but what a coincidence!

Sold resot to his son in 1957. He died in 1975. His son sold the resort around 1989, but continued to live in the area – he met both John Dillinger as an 8-year old kid and Johnny Depp shortly before he passed in 2009.

JAMES PROBASCO

Surgeon Loeser began dealt in narcotics to support his lavish lifestyle. In 1913, he was convicted of that charge and sentenced to three years imprisonment. After serving 18 months, Loeser was paroled with the assistance of lawyer Louis Piquett and fled to Mexico upon his release.

He was brought back to Chicago by Piquett in 1934 after having learned that a $10,000 bribe would allow him to return to the city permanently. In exchange, he agreed to perform cosmetic surgery on fugitive outlaws John Dillinger and Homer Van Meter. Both men wanted their faces altered and their fingerprints removed. Dillinger specifically wanted the removal of several facial scars and moles, a dimple in his chin and a depression on the end of his nose. Van Meter requested similar alterations as well as the removal of an anchor tattoo on his right arm. The outlaws paid up front, Piquett holding the money, and the surgery was performed at the 2509 North Crawford Avenue home of Chicago “mobster” James Probasco from May 27–28, 1934. “Mobster” is how he’s referred to on Wikipedia. Probasco was a long-time friend of Piquett and offered to hide Dillinger in exchange for some cash to purchase the Green Log tavern at 1525 Howard Street. Also at the Probasco home was his housekeeper, Peggy Doyle.

Trying to find any connection to the “mob” (which seems like a good definition of mobster) proved difficult. Practically nothing was online, so I had to piece together family history and newspaper clippings. It should be mentioned first that Probasco was not Italian. While that doesn’t disqualify you from Outfit affiliation in Chicago, it does mean he would not be connected in the usual sense.

On July 26, 1934, Probasco was brought to the FBI office to be questioned by Agent Sam P. Cowley about his Dillinger connection. Instead, Probasco jumped from the office window – 19 stories up – and died when he hit the alley below. RJ Lambert was walking below and was also hit – he was so close that Probasco’s blood splashed up on him from the pavement.

News reports said that agents found iodine, ether and rubber gloves in the Probasco home, which they considered evidence of the operation. Probasco’s only known arrest was in 1922 for a Prohibition violation, but he was let go. At the time of death he owned a tavern, but had apparently previously owned the James Probasco Teaming company. He carried $72,000 in life insurance payable to his sister, Louise Probasco Hamilton, but it was void in case of suicide. The sister tried to get the coroner to re-open the case, suggesting FBI agents held her brother out the window during questioning and accidentally dropped him. This was denied by the FBI, and it was pointed out that buildings across the street could see them doing this, as it was 10am and all offices were full. (A third version says it was suicide, but caused out of desperation by rough treatment from agents – this seems unlikely, given how short of a time he was there.)

I was also able to find a March 1924 article saying James Probasco was a “former cabaret owner” and was wanted by authorities as a “leader” in a “diamond robbers trust” – a group of men who had victimized diamond merchants and insurance companies out of $8,000,000. I would no follow-up on this, and no other suspects were mentioned in the article. If he had a mob connection, it was likely here.

Of the Dillinger books I have, the most thorough one on Probasco is “Dillinger: The Untold Story” by G. Russell Girardin, William J Helmer, and Rick Mattix. Their background on him is imperfect. They say he was a former teamster, prize fighter, fence and “dubious” veterinarian. They mention the diamond robbery without explanation and allude to a 1927 incident where $10,000 worth of loot “from a prominent Lake Forest family” was in his home. They say he had formerly been married to the sister of Thomas Bowler, head of the Sanitary District of Chicago. They error in calling him a “bronze-skinned Italian.”

Piquett, the shady attorney, died in 1951, and is buried in Platteville, Wisconsin.