From
Sunday\'s Bright One, the Chicago Sun-Times, is this interesting article about Joey "Doves" Aiuppa and his alleged record-setting catch of a muskie up in Wisconsin (ya hey dere...). There is a
sidebar running inside the main article and that is also posted after the first article.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/outdoors/cst-spt-bowman26.html The case of the world-record muskieMarch 26, 2006
BY DALE BOWMAN STAFF REPORTERThey were on the lam.
At least the late Joseph "Joey Doves'' Aiuppa, who became the reputed Chicago crime lord, was on the lam in Wisconsin's North Woods.
"He was always on the lam,'' said James "Pepsi'' Buonomo, who, as usual, was running with Aiuppa.
Their run in the fall of 1949 become part of the murky fishing lore swirling around Louis Spray's much-disputed all-tackle muskie record of 69 pounds, 11 ounces.
"Every time they were looking for [Aiuppa], I had to leave right then and there,'' said Buonomo, who kept a bag of clothes always packed. "When I used to go with the old man, Uncle Joe, I did all the driving. I have been in places I cannot believe where the hell we've been.''
Their runs often became hunting and fishing trips in northern Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Canada or Mexico.
Buonomo might be 91, but the wiry man retains his appetites --eggs, bacon, fried potatoes and buttered toast were his breakfast at Riviera Restaurant in Northlake last week -- and his memory.
From Al Capone to Betty Loren Maltese, fishing and hunting in northern Wisconsin has a storied history with those connected to the Chicago mob.
"A lot of guys liked to hang out, I say all the hoodlums,'' Buonomo said with a laugh.
In the fall of 1949, Buonomo went grouse hunting while Aiuppa went muskie fishing.
Here I pick up part of the story as told to Spence Petros. The Hall of Fame angler ran into Aiuppa and Buonomo while crappie fishing in the northwest suburbs years later.
"[Aiuppa] said, 'I used to love to muskie fish. It was great. You could shoot them,''' Petros recalled. "After talking a little while, he said, 'I caught the world-record muskie.'''
Aiuppa meant Spray's muskie.
Petros made a sarcastic crack back, but Aiuppa responded, "I caught the record muskie below the Winter Dam.''
"I said, 'It's illegal to fish there,'" Petros said.
To which Aiuppa said, "I know. That's why it's so good.'"
There was another good reason for Aiuppa not claiming the record: He was on the lam.
Petros remembered Aiuppa saying he sold the muskie to Spray for $50, but Buonomo said Aiuppa ended up not taking the money.
"That was how the fish story started,'' Buonomo said. "Joe told [Petros], 'I caught the biggest muskie.' And it's true. He don't lie. I tell you the truth. He didn't have to lie about nobody. He told the truth. That's the truth. He did catch that fish. That's it.''
Petros told the story to the late John Husar, who wrote a column in the June 19, 1991, Tribune. At that point, Spray's muskie was not the record. Art Lawton's 69-15 muskie was. Lawton's fish from the St. Lawrence River was disallowed in 1992.
Search for PepsiOn Oct. 20, 2005, the World Record Muskie Alliance filed a protest against Spray's record. On Jan. 16, the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, in Hayward, Wis., vehemently denied the WRMA protest.
In an off-hand discussion about the decision in January, Petros reiterated the Aiuppa story. He had bumped into Pepsi at an outdoor show several years ago.
He suggested I put a notice in my column that I was trying to find Pepsi. A host of readers, including a nephew of Aiuppa, set up contact.
Neither Aiuppa, who died in 1997, nor Buonomo had been talked to by Husar, the Hall or the WRMA.
"I wish he was here, sit there and talk to him,'' Buonomo said. "Just like me and you want to talk.''
500 dovesAiuppa earned his nickname when busted with some 500 doves in his vehicle. Buonomo admitted both men passionately loved shooting doves and quail.
"He would shoot, but he protected, too,'' said Buonomo, who told of Aiuppa feeding quail in winter. "He was not a meat hog or anything like that. I wish he was alive. I would have him sitting right here with you. You never find a man like him.''
Buonomo was dedicated to Aiuppa.
"One day we're up in Canada, and they're trying to get his mother to go to the court in his place,'' Buonomo said. "He called in. 'Peps, I'm going home.' He said, 'They ain't gonna take Mama in.' I drove 27 hours from Canada.
"He was the greatest. No copper in the city of Chicago can talk bad about him, either. Nobody. He was a straight shooter.''
Aiuppa was sent up on conspiracy charges. He was suspected of ordering several spectacular mob hits, since fictionalized in the movie "Casino.''
"He went to jail for nothing,'' Buonomo said. "They didn't have nothing on him at all.''
A restless anglerAs a fisherman, few had anything on Aiuppa, either.
"I'd row the boat, and he would cast,'' Buonomo said. "If you went with him, five or six days you had to cast. We caught a lot of fish.''
They would go to the Hayward area or Wollaston Lake in Canada. Aiuppa was a restless fisherman, a lure changer.
"He would have four poles in the boat,'' Buonomo said. "If he had one on, he gave it to the guide. Then cast [another] one out.''
Buonomo could not remember with what lure Aiuppa caught the big muskie.
When asked about Spray, Buonomo shrugged, "Louie Spray was, I don't know. He had the place, the tavern, and I've been there a couple times.''
Spray's muskie disappeared in a fire in 1959. Asked if there was a picture of Aiuppa with the muskie, Buonomo said no.
"I wish I could tell you more about that fish," he added.
So do I.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/outdoors/cst-spt-bowside26.html When it comes to muskie saga, I'm buying PepsiMarch 26, 2006
BY DALE BOWMANEvery big fish story has holes. They're like jury trials: Whom do you believe?
Did Louis Spray catch the all-tackle record muskie?
Spence Petros believes the late Joseph "Joey Doves'' Aiuppa's tale of catching the world-record muskie, then selling it to Spray. It was Petros who introduced the story of Aiuppa and the trophy muskie on "The Outdoor Writers'' on ESPN in 1991.
Petros is a former bail bondsman and nephew of an old-style Chicago precinct captain. He has a b.s. detector a city-block long.
Aiuppa passed his believability test. "He had the strongest aura of anybody I've ever met,'' Petros said.
He's cynical enough that after he first heard the story, he went home and double-checked the dates Aiuppa gave for catching his muskie. They matched the Oct. 20, 1949, time frame when Spray claimed to catch his 69-pound, 11-ounce muskie from the Chippewa Flowage in northern Wisconsin.
Whom do I believe? Of the three major players in this saga -- Aiuppa's longtime outdoor companion, James "Pepsi'' Buonomo; the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, and the World Record Muskie Alliance -- I find Buonomo the most believable.
That's not proof; that's a gut response.
On Oct. 20, 2005, the WRMA filed a 93-page protest against Spray's record (worldrecord muskiealliance.com). I think some WRMA members have axes to grind, but they made their case, and parts of it I'd even call iron-clad.
By comparison, the Hall has zero credibility with me when it comes to defending Spray's record. On Jan. 16, officials at the Hall gave such a fatally flawed response (freshwater-fishing.org) to the WRMA protest as to be a joke.
The story lives.
tony b.
