There's not a lot to do in Southern Illinois. Stories about the coal mines and "the mafia" were part of local history in Little Egypt when I was a student at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. And I know what direction to point you for an answer!

Peoria is too far north for this story to begin. You have to look farther south, to the heart of Southern Illinois, and the tiny town of Herrin in Williamson County. And the names you're looking for are Charlie Birger and Glen Young. They were involved in a war with the Sheltons for control of bootlegging in St. Louis and East St. Louis. I also recall Birger or Young being involved in the Ku Klux Klan in Southern Illinois. They were approached by mobsters in Peoria about forming an alliance to control the rackets in that town. Here's a web site that I found with some details.

http://www.thezephyr.com/monson/sheltons.htm

In addition to the book about the Sheltons titled Brothers Notorious, I also recommend another book titled Bloody Williamson by Paul Angle for an accurate history of organized crime in Downstate Illinois.

So when you get off the Par-a-Dice riverboat, and you're done stuffin' dollar bills into g-strings at Big Al's, get a copy of these books and start reading.

What are ya doing in Peoria when you're not drinking?

tony b.


(Edited a couple of times to clarify some duplicate information that I didn't initially decipher from your first post.)

P.S. A google for a combination of keywords like "shelton," "illinois," and "organized crime" delivers results.