|
|
 |
Village Newbie
|
|
Posts: 23
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Chicago/Bronzeville, Illinois, USA
|
|
|
imported post -
24-09-04, 08:10 PM
LifeStyles of the Rich and Famous Policy Kings
By 1937, only four short years since the launch of the Policy Syndicate, the Policy Kings had amassed enormous wealth by any standards. The Jones brothers alone kept millions of dollars, reputedly in as many as twenty-five different banks, and acquired considerable real estate holdings including several multi-unit apartment buildings and commercial storefronts throughout Bronzeville. Plus, there was the beautiful 10acre family estate on Joliet Road in Lemont, Illinois, complete with a pond and tennis court; and four summer homes in Idlewild, Michigan, playground for the Black elite.
Policy had been good to Ed Jones and his cronies, and when they weren't paying off some cop, judge, politician, or otherwise working, they enjoyed the fruits of their labor in the grandest of ways. Their circle of friends did everything together from making the rounds to hot spots like the Ritz Club and the Grand Terrace Cafe, to vacationing in Idlewild and Havana. Often, Big Jim Martin, Mack and some of the other guys, would buy out two or three club cars on the Illinois Central and take scores of people on rail parties bound for Pittsburgh, California, or the Zombie Club in Detroit. Harlem was always a favorite stop for clubs like the Ubangi, 101 Club, Jack Dempsey's, spots along Seventh Avenue, and on some occasions the Cotton Club. In the case of the Cotton Club, where Blacks were not allowed as patrons, Ed Jones, Jim Martin and John Wooley, however, were among the few exceptions.
But there was no place like home where the boys could show off their flashy new cars, like Wooley's Lincoln Zephyr and Mack's 12 cylinder flamed colored coup; and the wives and girlfriends showed off their imported fur coats. And when they weren't at home they still enjoyed the same comforts as if they were, literally. Case in point; on one occasion Mack shipped his 12-Cylinder coup to New York so Jean could get around. "That kind of thing was typical in those days, of them [Policy Kings]," as one old timer recalled. There were always regular rug-cutting parties and pool games at the Jones brothers six-flat with regular overnight guests who happened to be among the greatest entertainers in the world; among them, the legendary Ada "Bricktop" Smith and Duke Ellington...
 From: 'KINGS'
The True Story of Chicago's Policy Kings
and Numbers Racketeers
An Informal History by Nathan Thompson
Published by The Bronzeville Press
Last edited by oldsoul; 25-08-07 at 02:17 AM.
|
 |