Sometimes you just have a good day. This was one of those days. I received an email from our “Friend Of The Hobby.” What more could a collector of Illegal chips ask for? A free chip and a ton of research all in 1 email!

TGT had the FWN being used at the delivery address of 5234 N Clark St in Chicago. Frank Newell had a betting parlor at that address but as you will read it is almost certain they were used at the Purple Grackle in NW Cook County close to Elgin, IL. It was a big place with lots of gambling. TGT entry has been updated.

OK, what the heck is a Grackle and are they really purple?
STOP! Google beat you to it, it is a bird.

TGT also has the Purple Grackle with a G, The Purple Crackle with a C, and The Purple Krackle with a K all in Alexander County, East Cape Girardeau, IL. There was an error in one of the entries that has been fixed. All 3 entries are now correct and due to this research a 4th entry has been added as at one time it was just called “The Crackle.” It opened in 1939 with only one crap table and operated under all 4 names. The last name change was to The Big Blue Martini.

Jerry Birl wrote a Club magazine article on East Cape Girardeau, IL illegals. He has a Purple Krackle with a K rectangle heart mold chip from the Club.
http://www.thechipboard.com/index.cgi/md/read/id/1158609/sbj/purple-krackle-e-cape-girardeau-il/

A new entry for The Purple Grackle with a G has been added for North West Cook County due to this research.

Two Purple Grackles, one in Northern IL and one in Southern IL.

When time permits I have asked for further research on East Cape Girardeau, IL. Another chip ID question from East Cape Girardeau, IL came to me in email in the last few days. It has to do with Lake Tahoe, NV casino chips possibly used there. I think there is a possibility and have asked for research on them.

This could be some very interesting research especially if those Tahoe chips were actually confiscated in an Illinois State Trooper raid. I have some very interesting pictures and data suggesting they were.

Enough of that:

Illinois:

My lucky email.

I’ve got a chip for you—if you don’t have it already (front, back):

Frank W. Newell
Purple Grackle
North West Cook County 2 to 3 miles from Elgin, IL.
Made in 1936 and 1937.

The guy I got it from was from the Chicago area and said that he only had two. I’ve been doing some research on it and got some info I can send on Newell and what he was up to.

Francis “Frank” William Newell, a native of New York State who moved to Chicago around 1910 where he worked as a waiter in a restaurant. By 1920 he was operating a cigar store in the Advertising Building at 123 W. Madison in downtown Chicago.

In 1928 the Chicago Tribune published a list of 215 gambling locations in the city of Chicago and Newell had two, both located about a block from each other and only a few blocks from City Hall. Here’s a snip from the list showing the ones located inside the loop; I’ve attached the complete list in a JPEG.

My note: The complete list is at the end of this research. Imagine 215 illegal’s in the Chicago city limits in 1928 during prohibition. BTW this is 3 years prior to what I call the “Era Of the Illegals.” (When gambling was the main income after prohibition ended) I would love to see a list from the mid 1930’s. But, on the other hand compare Chicago with millions of people, 215 illegals to Newport KY’s 150 illegals with 34,000 people per the Saturday Evening Post.

A side note: Murphy & Gorman at 312 S. Clark, the place on the list just above Newell, was described at the time as being the largest gambling operation in Chicago—20 roulette wheels, 15 blackjack tables, could accommodate up to 1,500 people.

My note: Murphy & Gorman has to be the biggest illegal I ever heard of.

At some point in the early 1930’s Newell became associated with a place in northwest Cook County called the “Purple Grackle.” The Purple Grackle was built in the early 1920’s by a guy named Charles Erbstein. Erbstein was a very interesting guy. He made a fortune as one of Chicago’s best criminal defense attorneys. In the late 1910’s he bought several hundred acres of land a few mile east of Elgin where he built an estate which included a private golf course and a his own radio station—which in the
1920’s became one of the most popular stations in the US (mainly because of Erbstein’s homemade content, which included live broadcasts from the nearby Purple Grackle).

My note: An illegal with live radio broadcasts. Were these guys strong or what?

1914 pic of Erbstein with his client “Big Jim” Colosimo, one of Chicago’s first underworld boss’s:

In 1917 Erbstein, along with Clarence Darrow, defended several men accused of corruption, including Chicago’s Chief of Police Charles Healey who was indicted, in part, for taking payoffs to allow gambling to operate—all men were acquitted.

1923 pic of Erbstein and Clarence Darrow with their client Fred Lundin, a close political associate of Mayor “BIg Bill” Thompson:

My note: Clarence Darrow, isn’t he the guy that proved in a Tennessee court, my grandpa was a monkey? It is amazing how many really famous people we have tied to Illegal club operators all throughout the “Era Of The Illegals.”

The Purple Grackle was one of biggest and best known night clubs located in rural Chicago and has been described as a “notorious haven for mobsters.” Erbstein died in 1927 and his brother-in-law Valentine King took over the Purple Grackle. When King died in 1931 his widow put the place up for rent.

My guess is that this is around the time when Newell gets involved with the place. He’s certainly involved with it by March 1935 when gunmen attempted to highjack the gaming room:

My note: I bet “Ocean’s 11” would have done a much better job of heisting the place.

I’m not sure how long Newell was associated with the Purple Grackle or whether he had any connection to the place when he ordered the FWN chips--about a year and a half after the attempted hold-up. His nephew Alfred applied for the Purple Grackle’s liquor license in 1942 and was arrested on a gambling charge there in 1944.

In August 1939 Newell and the Purple Grackle were mentioned in one of several indictments of race wire interests. In the article below, a quote from the indictment says that the Purple Grackle was “owned, operated and conducted” by Newell—but the date upon which the violation of the law occurred is unclear (some of the indictments involved two of the biggest names in the history of the race wire: Moses Annenberg and James Ragan).

New York Times—31aug1939:

My note: It looks like the above might have been the first time Feds went after the race wire, Newell and The Purple Grackle were indicted. One of the indicted was Charles Bidwill, owner of the Chicago Cardinals professional football team.

The Discovery Channels story on the capture of John Dillinger cites the mob helping the FBI to take down Dillinger because he was bringing too many Feds and therefore heat to the race wires which made more money in 1 day than Dillinger’s entire bank heists put together.

5234 North Clark St., the address to which the FWN chips were delivered in Oct.1936 and April 1937, was at the time of the orders a tavern in which a handbook was operating. It was also known to have “dice girls” or “26 girls” working there. The structure which housed the address still exists (Brownstone Antiques):

The tavern was raided in November 1938:

Three days later:

My note: As you see in 2 of the above articles 5234 N Clark was mostly a race wire betting joint.

Presumably Newell ran the handbook at the tavern but I never saw his name associated with the place.
By the summer of 1939 Newell had become the owner of a place in Wheeling, in far northern Cook County, called the “Chicago House.”

ad from 1938:

Illinois State Police raided the place in 1939 in a campaign against slot machines, which when found in your place jeopardized your liquor license:

My note: Could the FWN chips have been used at The Chicago House? Possibly but only slot machines mentioned in the raids.

Newell was the owner operator of the Chicago House until his death in 1943 at the age of 59.

In 1928 the Chicago Tribune published a list of 215 gambling locations in the city of Chicago and Newell had two, both located about a block from each other and only a few blocks from City Hall

My note: Plenty of new names and joints to research in this article.