Frank L. "Buster" Wortman (December 4, 1904-August 3, 1968) was a St. Louis-area bootlegger, gambler and a former member of the Shelton Brothers Gang during Prohibition. Wortman would eventually succeed the Sheltons and take over St. Louis's gambling operations in southwest Illinois until his death.

The son of an East St. Louis fire captain, Wortman spent his early years living in north St. Louis. John Worthmann, his grandfather, worked as a proofreader for the Post-Dispatch and was killed when struck by a streetcar in 1894. Frank Wortman turned to crime in his late teens and was arrested for burglary. By 1926, he had begun running errands for the bootlegging Shelton Brothers. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Wortman was a prominent member of the gang, acting as an enforcer in southern Illinois. Even though he would be arrested between 35 and 40 times, Wortman was never convicted on any criminal charges.

In 1933, a federal agent was beaten during a raid on one of the Shelton's distilleries, which he had been guarding. Wortman was taken into custody along with his associate, Monroe "Blackie" Armes. The two were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. Wortman served his sentence from 1934 to 1941, gaining an early release. Contrary to sensationalized reporting and stories over the years, Wortman did not serve any time in Alcatraz prison.

During Wortman's incarceration, the federal prohibition amendment of 1919 was repealed, which again legalized liquor sales in the U.S. in 1933.

Following his release in 1941, Wortman briefly worked as a steamfitter before organizing an army of gunmen whose ranks included "Black" Charlie Harris, Elmer Sylvester "Dutch" Dowling and brothers Monroe and Tony Armes. He then launched a campaign to drive the Sheltons from southern Illinois.

Establishing Wortman's Plaza Amusement Company, he would soon obtain a virtual monopoly on gambling, specifically slot machines, pinball machines, horse parlors, crap games and card games. He would also establish legitimate businesses, including trucking firms and taverns, run by his younger brother Ted. Ted lived on a horse farm on Route 157 on the north end of Caseyville. Ted's place was only about a 1.6 km (one mile) from where his brother lived.

By the late-1940s, Wortman assumed control over illegal gambling in southern Illinois and St. Louis.

Involved in local politics as a young adult, by the 1950s Wortman reportedly had extensive political connections on both sides of the Missouri-Illinois border, including Illinois politician and state auditor Orville Enoch Hodge, who was convicted of embezzling over $1 million in taxes in 1956.

That same year, an IRS agent was assaulted by Wortman while at "The Paddock" tavern and would result in his being audited. Although eventually accused with two associates of conspiracy to evade taxes on February 26, 1962, all three were acquitted.

In the mid-1950s, Wortman moved from his ranch-style brick home in Collinsville, at 2 Summit Drive, to the east end of Collinsville. This new "fortress" home was surrounded by a water-filled moat with the only access being a narrow bridge.

During the 1960s, a black street gang known as The Warlords began moving in on Wortman's territory, and in one incident threw a hand grenade into McCoy's Tavern. With the threat of retaliation, members of Wortman's organization were sufficiently able to intimidate the street gang into backing off.

Although his power began to decline in his later years, suffering financial losses from legal battles and closure of gambling operations, Wortman remained in control of southern Illinois gambling until his death on August 3, 1968, at age 63, in Alexian Brothers Hospital due to complications from surgery for laryngeal cancer. Kassly's Funeral Home in Collinsville handled arrangements, and Wortman was buried in Belleville at Mt. Carmel Cemetery. Ironically, not more than 3.6 meters (12 feet) from Wortman's grave is that of his chief nemesis, East St. Louis policeman Robert "Tree" Sweeney, who killed twelve men in the line of duty.

Gambling was legalized in East St. Louis after Wortman's death, and the local gambling casino is now the city's largest employer.

Great info, always good to hear local mob history.

Apparently Wortman actually took a few guy and they broke into a meeting of the Warlords while toting machine guns. The gang members were threatened with a St. Valentines day type rubout. "Swimming to Cairo with cement shoes" was also mentioned.

If you go to this link and scroll down,you can see the way cool Moat House. I couldn't post the pic so here you go.

https://www.google.com/search?q=buster+w...024&bih=636

Buster didn't take shit from ANYBODY. Last of the great independents.

Some more on Buster:
http://www.eslarp.uiuc.edu/ibex/archive/nunes/esl%20history/wortman-obit.htm

Looks like a whole bunch of guys just found a new hero...hahaha
The independents are where you get the entertainment. Many of the Italian guys past and present are like managers of a burger king franchise never contributing anything of real value but continuing to take, they never would've been able to stand on their own like Buster and Madden.

As I've said in concern with Chicago's current and past organized crime situation and in general, if you only concentrate on the Italian element you'll never see the whole story. The independents are where it's at for me.

The independents are boring to me. When they die or go to prison, their little gang disappears. The mob is huge and is still active after decades of the FBI, DEA, ATF, IRS, and state and local authorities going after them. The independents are all gone.

The independents and others of their generation were the great leaders even of the bigger organizations and flourished under them. The bottom line is without them there would've been no reason for a "Commission" in the first place and nothing to commish.

Without the motivation and savvy to do it yourself there's nothing.

Good post, but a few items need clarification.

Buster did not control gambling on both sides of the river. Wortman controlled southern illinois, without question. The St Louis side of the river was controlled by the Italians. Wortman and the StL family had a relatively good relationship albeit one that was tested at times. There were turf battles over gambling and slot machines. Recall that Giordano, Lopiparo and Vitale had Anthony Novelty and Vending and Anthony Discount in St Louis that conrolled slot machines, pinball and vending machines.

Wortman's crew had control of Local 42 for years.

Wortman's crew was protected by the Chicago Outfit. It was a source of conflict between Chicago and St Louis but a peace was reached and maintained until both organizations self destructed in the late 70's and early 80's. Stoneking testified against and virtually put an end to the old Wortman organization.

B&H Vending was owned by Ted Wortman, Franks brother and was the company that had vending machines and slot machines in place on the east side in southern Illinois. Interestingly, it was later owned by Thomas Venezia, who also used it for illegal gambling.

I will try to post of few pictures related to Buster in separate posts.

Some pictures of Wortman and his moat house....

More Wortman Pics

Great pics TonyG.