Even though Capone was the boss of the organization, he still very much respected Patton because the “Boy Mayor” was deep in the criminal underworld way before many of the members of the newly formed organization, including Capone himself. I mean by now Patton was 42 years old and had the experience of a long time racketeer. You see, by now Capone and the rest of his followers were simple gangsters who were mostly involved in strong-arm tactics, bootlegging, prostitution and street level gambling, but guys like Patton were already perfect racketeers who knew how to exploit the government system on another level. In other words, guys like Patton were at the same time mentors and associates of the Capone organization. Story goes that Patton worked closely with Capone in the matter of arranging gambling operations and so he didn’t stay long with the whorehouses and the booze but instead he started investing his dirty cash in race tracks.
It was a time when the U.S. government was “confused” on whether greyhounds were legal to be used for racings or even whether the whole race tracks were legal or not. So by 1929, there were only two race tracks in the Chicago area, one was the Hawthorne Kennel Club in Cicero and other track was located in Homewood, Illinois. The second track was owned by Homer Ellis, a known gambler and slot machine king from the Chicago Heights area and also a known Capone associate, and as for the Hawthorne Kennel Club, the track was owned by the Capone mob. Every high profile member of the organization had their own shares at the track, including Capone, Frank Nitti, Jake Guzik but none of their showed up on the papers but instead the operation was managed by John Patton and another Capone associate known as Edward O’Hare, a guy who was regarded as the czar of dog racing in America. O’Hare acted as president and Patton was the secretary and treasurer and also both owned 85% of stock in the half-mile dog track and grounds and the rest was owned by small group of “Chicagoans”. The duo and several other men also had been partners in a south side real estate enterprise which generated a lot of cash.
In 1932, the imprisonment of Al Capone marked the end of Prohibition and also the birth of another criminal organization known as the Chicago Outfit which was headed by Frank Nitti and Paul Ricca. I don’t know if you noticed but during the decades Patton’s so-called bosses or partners changed more than few times but his operations and position within the organization remained untouched. That same year the Hawthorne race track was demolished and another brand new race track was built on the same place and was known as the Sportsman’s Park race track which also converted to horse racing. Again, the main “managers” were O’Hare and Patton but this time they operated under the watchful eye of the Nitti-Ricca combine.
This criminal administration also had huge respect for Patton but the thing was that these guys were deadlier than the rest of the previous leaderships and so I believe that the aging Irish racketeer had to be quite careful. That is why Patton spent most of his time in the penthouse at Sportsman's Park with his main operator William H. Johnston, who mainly controlled the race track. By now O’Hare had $190,000 worth of stock in the track and Patton had $220,000 in stock which shows that he was superior over O’Hare. Patton’s son James was also a stockholder in the track. Previously O’Hare had one or mostly two direct dealings with Capone because Patton always served as middleman. It was a lucrative relationship because O’Hare, through Patton, gained the Mob’s protection, and as for Patton and the Mob they got one of the best race track operators that money can buy.
By 1935, besides taking over the unions, the Outfit also devised a plan to spread their race track operations in Miami, Florida. This plan was orchestrated by O’Hare, Patton, Guzik, Ricca and Nitti and by 1939, the race tracks in Florida became known as the “Capone gang” tracks. Few of the most prominent race tracks in Florida owned by the Outfit were the Miami Beach Kennel Club, Jacksonville Kennel Club Inc., Orange Park Kennel Club, The Tropical Park and The Outdoor Clubs Inc. Again, Johnston operated all of the race tracks and Patton was a shareholder in every single one of them but he also held a job as assistant treasurer at the Orange Park Kennel Club Inc. in Jacksonville, Florida and vice president of the Miami Beach Kennel Club. One of the most lucrative tracks was the one in Sulphur Springs near Tampa, Florida, known as the Outdoor Clubs where Johnston was the president and Patton was the man from the shadows. It was a huge lucrative operation which for a second brought the old taste of the golden days during Prohibition and so in no time the Chicago Tribune published a chart of the Chicago Outfit that listed the names of Patton and O'Hare as members of the infamous organization. The tracks also attracted a lot of politicians and high class people, including the director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover. As additional info, members of the New York Mafia such as Frank Costello, through his associate Frank Erickson, also held interest in some of these race tracks. Because of their control over the numerous race tracks, during this period Patton and Erickson were considered two of the biggest bookmakers in the country.
Patton quickly became known from coast to coast in the gambling business but the more money he made from gambling, the higher he went on the media’s and government’s organized crime charts and there was a good reason for that because this guy was highly involved, on daily basis, with the top echelon of one of the most infamous criminal organizations at the time. For example, Frank Nitti’s wife Annette Caravetta worked as a secretary to O'Hare at the Sportsman's Park race track. Plus O’Hare and Patton were living their rich years as heads of the Capone racing interests in the Chicago area and also in Florida and in Massachusetts. Members of the Illinois racing commission were asked on how they happened to issue a race track operator’s license to O'Hare and to Patton, both of whom had been associated for years with the Capone mob. Leo Spitz, chairman of the commission said that no information had ever come before the commission identifying O'Hare or Patton with the Capone gang and that no protests were ever made against them. But Patton’s income has doubled when the Outfit decided to kill 46 year old O’Hare for various undesirable reasons, on Wednesday, November 8, 1939, while driving in his car. Minutes before he got shot, O’Hare had a meeting With Johnston and Patton in his office. I said that Patton “doubled his income” because O’Hare was one of, if not the Outfit’s top money maker at the time and after his murder, and now Patton was the one who oversaw his operations, again through William Johnston. “Big Bill” as he was called, “somehow” took over the race track and became the major domo for all race tracks in America.
Patton during the late 1930’s
Other than being the main guy in the race track business, Patton was also involved in the cigar business in East Chicago. In fact he owned a company which manufactured cigars and distributed them all around the state of Indiana and Illinois. He even owned a slaughterhouse which employed over 80 people and so I believe that Patton was quite busy. Many people looked at him as savior because he mostly gave them jobs at his clubs or race tracks but at the same time they feared him because deep inside they knew that he had the power to get away with murder easily. According to some accounts, he would come to a certain individual and would say “Listen kid, can you keep books? Now look, all we want around here is a 60-40 break. As long as we get 60 cents on the dollar we’ll call it even.” In the end he would show the new recruitments on how to collect and also operate the cash registers and that was that.
But I also believe that no matter what kind of business he was involved in, by the end of the day his biggest passion was his position as “head” of the town of Burnham. For example in 1942, the pride of Burnham was its nine-hole golf course, which started back in 1924 and finished in 1925, became the main reason for a legal war between the town and its neighbours from Calumet City. Previously the golf course was operated by the Calumet Memorial Park district for 13 years but with the help of Patton’s influence, members of the county board took from the Calumet Memorial Park district the right to operate the Burnham Woods golf course and awarded it back to Patton's village of Burnham. The board turned the golf course over to Burnham over the protests of attorney who represented the park district. The vote was taken after the lawyer told the commissioners the park district had spent $150,000 building the golf course on land which is owned by the forest preserve. He also told them the park district still has a $125,000 investment, which was to have been paid off out of revenue from the links. Also the forest preserve district was made up of 10 Democrats and 5 Republicans. Patton and all of the Burnham officials were Democrats, Calumet City officials were Republicans.
When the reporters asked Patton regarding the situation, he denied that he and the Democratic overlords connived to transfer the golf course from the Calumet Park district to his own government. “We haven’t closed the deal yet with anybody” Patton said, “I wasn’t crazy about getting the golf course, anyway. It should be a profitable proposition, but we plan to pull all the money we take out of it right back in.” But the problem was that one finger pointing at the “Boy Mayor” belonged to Sig Pazkowski, a member of the Calumet Memorial Park district board. Sig said “Patton told me: “You fellows are butting your heads against a stone wall, because my fellows want the golf course and we’re going to get it.” “And they did. Now the scale of fees were as fol1ows: during week days, 50 cents per person, and 35 cents after 5 p. m.: Saturdays, 75 cents to 4 p. m. and 50 cents there- after; Sundays and holidays, $1 until twilight, then 75 cents. The nearest estimate that could be obtained as to the number of $1 players was somewhere between 100 and 1,000 each day and so much of the loot found itself in the pockets of Patton & Co.
It was also reasoned that Patton's grab of the course was an indirect way of bringing pressure on the Calumet City officials. They reasoned this way: The ground on which the golf course was built was owned by the forest preserve district, which until now leased the land to the Calumet Memorial Park district. The park district consisted of Calumet City, which has a valuation for tax purposes of $5,000,000, and Burnham, which has an assessed valuation of nearly $2,000,000. The two villages, as the park district, invested $170,000 in making the land into a golf course and so bonds were issued to provide the money. Now these bonds must be paid off. Calumet City's share amounts to about five-sevenths and Burnham's to two-sevenths. But because of the latest transfer of the golf course to Burnham and Patton, the village of Burnham collected the full income from the course. It was a win-win situation for Patton and his “gang”. This also shows that Patton entered the decade of the 1940’s with the same powerful connections as ever and that he still held a high position as prominent gambler and political fixer within the Mob.
By the mid 1940’s the Chicago Outfit suffered a hard blow, which was given by the government, with the imprisonment of the top criminal administration. I believe that this was the main reason for which Patton lived quietly and well. By now Patton again appeared as one of the biggest stock-holders of many the race tracks around the country but now most of the stock was in his son’s names, James and John Jr. and also Robert Larry McCullough, who was now the chief of security at the Miami Beach Kennel Club and Annette Caravetta, the widow of the late Frank Nitti. There are also some reports that by now some of the new up and coming mobsters introduced Patton to other gambling operations as well, such as the Bolita and numbers racket. There is not much info on what was going on with Patton during this period except that he bought a nice house in Miami and spent most of his time at the beaches. But in 1948 he also suffered a heart attack which was the main reason for keeping a low profile and by the age of 66 in 1949 he retired from his long time position as village president or “mayor” of Burnham. By now he was also semi-retired in the underworld but still held few interests in Burnham, Cicero, Stickney, Forrest View, Calumet City, Chicago Heights and Northwest Indiana.
And so at the beginning of the 1950’s, trouble came along. During that time the U.S. Crime Commission hearings in Washington, D.C. named Chicago Mob associate John Patton of Miami, and William Johnston as associates of the old Capone mob. In 1951, the Kefauver Committee called Patton to testify and at the time, he acknowledged that he was a principal partner for four dog-racing tracks in Florida and a horse track in Cicero. He admitted a friendship with governor Fuller Warren and that his dog track partners had contributed $100,000 to Warren’s campaign. When asked who had been responsible for the past criminal activities in Burnham, Patton named Jim Colosimo. Here are few snippets from the hearings:
The Chairman: Mr. Patton, please. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. Patton. I do.
Mr. Halley. What is your full name, please?
Mr. Patton. John Patton.
Mr. Halley. Where do you live?
Mr. Patton. 14200 Av, Burnham, Ill.
Mr. Halley. How long have you lived there?
Mr. Patton. About 64 years.
Ml- Halley. Mr. Patton, before we get into your further testimony, can you tell me why the committee had so much trouble serving a subpoena on you over a period of almost 6 months?
Mr. Patton. I don't know.
Mr. Halley. We sent our investigators to your home.
Mr. Patton. Yes.
Mr. Halley. We were always told you were not home and nobody knew where to reach you.
Mr. Patton. Your investigators came there three times.
Mr. Halley. We telephoned frequently.
Mr. Patton. No, now, wait a minute. Let me tell it.
Mr. Halley. Go ahead and tell it your way.
Mr. Patton. I was home there several times when they told me that the investigators just left. I didn't go looking for them. I seen the mail man every day, either at the farm or at the house, and I wasn't away. I might have been away 5 or 6 days during that period.
Mr. Halley. Do you have a radio at your home?
Mr. Patton. Yes, sir.
Mr Halley. Wasn't the radio carrying stories daily that this committee was looking for you?
Mr. Patton. I have seen it in the papers, but I don't believe everything in the papers. After I came in here, I seen by the papers where you people were out to get me arrested.
Mr. Halley. Do you believe it now?
Mr. Patton. No, sir. I don't believe the papers.
Mr. Halley. Do you believe that we want to talk to you now?
Mr. Patton. I presume that you did want to talk to me.
Mr. Halley. Did you have any reason for not wanting to talk to the committee?
Mr. Patton. Not a thing.
Mr. Halley. In effect, you were just ducking it deliberately?
Mr. Patton. No, I wasn't.
Mr. Halley. That one day you read in the papers the committee was going to get out a warrant of arrest for you, is that right?
Mr. Patton. I’ve seen that several times.
Mr. Halley. Is that when you decided to come in?
Mr. Patton. I didn't come in. I waited until you sent me a letter to come in.
Mr. Halley. We sent you a registered letter?
Mr. Patton. Yes, and I went and received it.
Mr. Halley. That was a foolish thing to do,
Mr. Patton. Are you advising me it was foolish?
Mr. Halley. That is how we got service on you, isn't it?
Mr. Patton. Yes.
Mr. Halley. Mr. Patton, what are your present business interests?
Mr. Patton. Well, trying to get rid of you fellows is my principal business, but I haven't been doing much this summer except staying on the farm. I keep on buying a few cattle and trying to sell them.
Mr. Halley. Do you own any stock in any company?
Mr. Patton. Yes, sir I own some stock in the Miami Beach Kennel Club, and the one at Tampa.
Mr. Halley. Your son owns stock in them, too?
Mr. Patton. He owns stock in Tampa. And I think that is all of the stock I got any place.
Mr. Halley. Jacksonville Kennel Club?
Mr. Patton. No.
Mr. Halley. Sportsman's Park?
Mr. Patton. No.
Mr. Halley. National Jockey Club?
Mr. Patton. No.
Mr. Halley. Does your son own stock in that?
Mr. Patton. Yes, sir.
Mr. Halley. Do you have any other business interests?
Mr. Patton. I got an interest in a farm.
Mr. Halley. What are you worth today, Mr. Patton?
Mr. Patton. Oh, I don't know, three, four hundred thousand, maybe ; it depends a lot on the market.
Mr. Halley. It could be more?
Mr. Patton. Could be more.
Mr. Halley. You used to be the famous boy mayor of Burnham?
Mr. Patton. I don't know anything about being famous, but I was the mayor of Burnham, the president of the village of Burnham.
Mr. Halley. You are working at being famous right now; aren't you?
Mr. Patton. No, sir; no, sir.
Mr. Halley. When were you mayor of Burnham?
The Chairman. He wasn't; he was president of the village.
Mr. Patton. President of the village of Burnham for about 38 or
40 years.
Mr. Halley. For that whole length of time?
Mr. Patton. Yes.
Mr. Halley. How did you get to know Al Capone?
Mr. Patton. I don't know how I got to know him. I got to know him ; that's all.
Mr. Halley. You were pretty good friends?
Mr. Patton. I guess I was all right with him.
Mr. Halley. Was he all right with you?
Mr. Patton. As far as I am concerned, yes.
Mr. Halley. Did you know Frank Nitti?
Mr. Patton. Yes, sir.
Mr. Halley. Eddie O'Hare?
Mr. Patton. Yes, sir.
Mr. Halley. They were all one crowd; weren’t they?
Mr. Patton. How do you mean, "one crowd"?
Mr. Halley. Well, they were a gang of rumrunners, weren’t they bootleggers?
Mr. Patton. I don't know whether they were bootleggers. I don’t think Eddie O'Hare was a bootlegger. I didn't know Eddie until later around 1928. I don't know what he did in St. Louis. He was a lawyer and I can't keep track of lawyers, you know.
Mr. Halley. I hope the lawyers can keep track of you from now on.
Mr. Patton. Oh, they have did it pretty well.
Mr. Halley. Well, this one had a hard time up to today, tell me, you can't have any doubts that Capone and Nitti were in the beer- running business?
Mr. Patton. No, I have no doubts.
Mr. Halley. Was Frank Nitti connected with the dog tracks?
Mr. Patton. Yes.
Mr. Halley. You are talking now about which race track?
Mr. Patton. Sportsman's Park.
Mr. Halley. He was up there with Eddie O'Hare; is that right?
Mr. Patton. Yes.
Mr. Halley. Was Larry McCullough an associate of Capone's?
Mr. Patton. No; Bob never hung around much with them Italian fellows at all.
Mr. Halley. Well, weren't you?
Mr. Patton. He might have been with them at times, a lot of times, but he never did that.
Mr. Halley. How did Bill Johnston get into the set-up with you and Eddie O'Hare?
Mr. Patton. Oh, Bill Johnston, first time I knew Bill Johnston he was bookkeeper at the barns, back there for the horsemen.
Mr. Halley. What happened with respect to the Miami Kennel Club? Who took over control of that after O'Hare died?
Mr. Patton. Well, Charlie Bidwell and I imagine he got some of Eddie's…it was Bidwell and Johnston.
Mr. Halley. Bidwell and Johnston?
Mr. Patton. Yes.
Mr. Halley. What interest did you have?
Mr. Patton. I don't know how much I had there — about as much as they had.
Mr. Halley. And between the three of you, you ran the track?
Mr. Patton. Yes.
Mr. Halley. Have you been active in politics in Florida?
Mr. Patton. No, sir, no.
Mr. Halley. Did you talk to Bill Johnston about the contribution he made to Fuller Warren's campaign in 1948?
Mr. Patton. Yes.
Mr. Halley. Did you contribute any money to it?
Mr. Patton. No, sir; and I will tell you why, because I was sick; maybe I would have gotten into it, but I was sick in bed about that time. I had a heart attack, and I had three nurses, and they weren't bothering me much when I was down there.
Mr. Halley. What did Johnston say to you about his idea of financing this campaign for Fuller Warren?
Mr. Patton. He was always a little nutty about Fuller Warren, He thought he was going to be the next President of the United States, I suppose.
Mr. Halley. Did he talk about what it would mean to him, Bill Johnston, or to you, John Patton, if Fuller Warren was elected?
Mr. Patton. It didn't mean anything to me. I don't know what it meant to him. I didn't want to be made a colonel. Bill is a colonel, I think.
Mr. Halley. Well, did it mean anything else to him?
Mr. Patton [shrugging shoulders] I don't know.
Mr. Halley. Of course, it would make him a pretty influential fellow in the State of Florida?
Mr. Patton. Sure.
Mr. Halley. There was no doubt about that?
Mr. Patton. Sure. I know if I gave him that much money I would want to talk to him.
Mr. Halley. It was a big political contribution?
Mr. Patton. Yes, sure, that is it.
Mr. Halley. Did he ask you to put any money into it?
Mr. Patton. No, he didn't.
Mr. Halley. After Fuller Warren was elected, did you have any discussion?
Mr. Patton. No.
Mr. Halley. Do you know Tony Accardo?
Mr. Patton. His name was Batters when I knew him.
Mr. Halley. Joe Batters?
Mr. Patton. Yes, sir that is what I know him by.
Mr. Halley. By the way, do you know Fuller Warren?
Mr. Patton. Sure.
Mr. Halley. Pretty well?
Mr. Patton. Well, I know him enough to talk to him and say hello to him.
Mr. Halley. How well do you know Joe Batters?
Mr. Patton. Just to know that that was his name, Joe Batters, and sometimes if I would meet him I would forget what his name was.
Mr. Halley. How well did you know the Fischettis?
Mr. Patton. Well, I knew them longer than I knew Batters, and I didn't know them any too good.
Mr. Halley. Was Batters in the gambling business?
Mr. Patton. Not to my knowledge, until I seen it in the newspapers, now it looks that way.
Mr. Halley. Did you know Guzik, Jack Guzik?
Mr. Patton. Oh, sure, sure, sure.
Mr. Halley. Pretty well?
Mr. Patton. I think I knew Guzik, yes, I knew him longer than I know the rest of them, yes.
Mr. Halley. Well, I think you have been pretty frank. In fact, Mr. Patton, you almost make me sorry I had so much trouble finding you. I think you have pretty well made up for it.
Mr. Patton. Thank you. Thank you. We get along all right.
Mr. Halley. Let's see if we can work it a little further along, and maybe really be helpful.
Did you know Paul Ricca?
Mr. Patton. Yes, sir.
Mr. Halley. How long have you known Paul Ricca?
Mr. Patton. Maybe 15 or 20 years, I am just guessing. It may be more or it may be less.
Mr. Halley. He also was a pretty close associate of Capone, wasn't he?
Mr. Patton. I don't know. I have seen him around Capone. But, I have seen a million — I have seen a lot of people around him.
Mr. Halley. You know Louis Campagna?
Mr. Patton. Yes.
Mr. Halley. "Little New York" I think they call him?
Mr. Patton. Yes.
Mr. Halley. You have known him about the same length of time?
Mr. Patton. Yes. Look how many I met outside, out here for the last 3 days, that I have been out there.
Mr. Halley. Like a gathering of the clan?
Mr. Patton. I don't know where you got all of them guys.
Mr. Halley. All of your old friends?
Mr. Patton. They weren't my old friends. They are all new ones.
Mr. Halley. You are a friendly fellow, Mr. Patton, but, tell me, how about Ricca and Campagna, how did you get to know them 15 or 20 years ago?
Mr. Patton. Well, I think Ricca at one time, I think he used to take a lot of bets, laid bets, at bookmakers. I think he was interested in that. I don't know who was with him in it. I think that is what Ricca did.
Mr. Halley. Did you do a lot of betting?
Mr. Patton. No. I have never made a bet on a horse in my life. If there were three or four people sitting here, say, "Put a dollar on a bet with you," I would bet a dollar. I don't know how to read a racing form.
Mr. Robinson. One last question, weren't you much closer to Mr. Nitti than you were
to O'Hare?
Mr. Patton. No, I was at Eddie O'Hare — I was with Eddie O'Hare all the time in business, and we never had an argument or dispute, about money or anything.
Mr. Robinson. Wasn't there friction between Mr. Nitti and Mr. O'Hare?
Mr. Patton. Not to my knowledge.
Mr. Robinson. Had you ever heard there was?
Mr. Patton. No, sir.
Mr. Robinson. Never at any time?
Mr, Patton. No, sir.
Mr. Robinson. When they were in the office together, did they speak to each other?
Mr. Patton. Always in my presence, I think.
Mr. Robinson. That is all.
The Chairman. All right, Mr. Patton. We will see you again some time.
Mr. Patton. I hope not.
Old man Patton leaving the hearings
Two years later in 1953, Patton was diagnosed with cancer and was told that he did not have more than a year to live. He fought his illness bravely but on top of that for the next 3 years he was getting a lot of attention from the press and also the government. On December 23, 1956, in his farm home near Earl Park, John Patton has died at the age of 73. Patton had shown the old-fashioned, plug-ugly and safecracking gangdom, the way to a golden future which was the wide open criminal operations in such a small town which offered plenty of fun and business for every criminal and also every ordinary “adventurer”, at the same time. It’s a pure fact that Patton was one of the first individuals who gave the “boys” the idea of expanding their “wide open” criminal network way beyond the borders of Illinois. In the end, John Patton left behind his wife Mary, his two sons and two daughters and also a long legacy of corruption, murder, greed and betrayal.