Today we have a celebrity researcher making his debut in the "Illegal Of The Day" series. He has been quoted in a number of different posts in this series but this one is all his. Ed Hertel's research on illegal's in the early days of our hobby is one of the main reasons we know what we know today.

I hope some of you will use the links and tips posted on 6/28/13 in "Illegal Of The Day Research Tips" and join us in the quest for the history of our chips.
http://www.thechipboard.com/index.cgi/page/1/md/read/id/1258544/sbj/illegal-of-the-day-research-tips/

Take it away ED.

I spoke about researching illegal clubs at this year’s CCGTCC convention and decided to put my money where my mouth was and try my hand at doing an Illegal of the Day. I went to my database and pulled a random (no, really, completely random) chip from my unknown Taylor mold chips and pulled up this beauty:

From PreservingGamingHistory.com, we see that it was ordered for:

Joe Traum
No Club name on Taylor card.
17 No. 4th Street
Terre Haute, Ind
30 Jan 1942
Chips came in blue, white and red. (If anyone has white and red, cough them up for Gene and myself!)

All right, let’s see what we can find out.

Joe Traum was no stranger to crime, and the idea he was involved in illegal gambling came as no surprise. Born in 1903, he wasted little time before starting his criminal career. In the 1920s, he joined the Egan’s Rats out of St. Louis, Missouri, whose specialty was bootlegging, labor racketeering, armed robbery and murder. He earned his stripes and learned the trade and with the help of his brother Jacob Traum, they moved to Terre Haute and sought to control the production and distribution of liqour in the Wabash Valley.

It was during this time and that law took their first shot and brought him up on charges of violating the Prohibition Act along with 29 accomplices, including his brother Jacob. Standing trial was not going to slow down Joe. On June 9, 1930, while the court was waiting for him to testify, Joe Traum and two others took to the streets to earn a little money. Now if you thought being a mobster was dangerous work, try being an investigative crime reporter. Alfred J. Lingle, veteran reporter for the Chicago Tribune, found this out the hard way when a contract was put out on his life. Joe Traum, along with Richard Sullivan and an “unknown blond man” followed Lingle into the Illinois Central passanger tunnel and one of them (probably the unknown blond man) put a shot into the back of Lingle’s head at point blank range.

A man hunt ensued and Traum and others were rounded up. The driver of the stolen getaway car started singing and the plot was uncovered. The hit was contracted by an Al Capone associate named Christ Patras, who thought he could use his pull to get out of paying the $10,000 due to the killers. He gambled with his life and lost when Sullivan came to cash in and left with Petras dead from multiple gunshots. Sullivan would later be tried for this murder and executed.

Traum however used his power and intimidation to skate from the charges. Even though there was much evidence against him, he was not put on trial for being an accomplice to murdering Lingle.

Joe Traum gave up the murder game (at least was never again implicated in one) and turned to entertainment and gambling. During the 1940, Joe and his wife Mae opened the Traum’s Show Lounge (picture below) as well as others gambling and bookmaking operations around town.

In 1947, he entered gambling on a major scale when he took over management of the Manor House on Thirteenth & Margaret Avenue. This club, previously operated by the Syrian Patroitic Club and managed by Joe’s son, Joe Traum, Jr, was in financial distress and needed Joe’s help to get it back on track. The property was transferred to Mae Traum’s name and Joe turned it into a plush dinner club and gambling casino. By the time the club was raided in 1951 it had two roulette tables, a dice table and 6 slot machines.

Joe Traum’s gambling empire would not be limited to Terre Haute however. In 1950, he and others were indicted on charges of allowing gambling at the Club 86 in Miami, Florida. In the investigation, it was found that Traum owned approximately 10% of the popular club located at 8600 Biscayne Blvd. The snip out of the Terre Haute Star below tells some interesting information about the Club 86 including hidden catwalks with guards carrying machine guns and sliding panels of secret rooms.

The Terre Haute Star, October 6, 1950

My note: I wonder what 1,000,000 in 1950 is in 2013 dollars? I'm sure one of you guys can tell us.

The article mentions “chips ranging in value to $2,500”. If anyone has these, COUGH IT UP! I only know about the one kind of which I only know of the yellow being available (ordered in 1945).

Joe Traum’s troubles followed him back to Terre Haute as well. As mentioned previously, he was arrested in 1951 for gambling at the Manor House and questioned after a raid above the Manor House in 1958 netted a bunch of bookie equipment. Also implicated in this 1958 raid was Zeppo Marx of the Marx Brothers. They tried to get his brother Harpo to testify against him, but they could not get him to talk!

My note: I've always wondered if Harpo was really deaf & dumb or if it was part of the act.

Well, it was probably around this time that Joe Traum was getting tired of the Terre Haute scene and left to retire in sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After years of hard living, he found his peace at last in February 1984 when he passed away at the age of 81.

My note: The 1st draft of this research that Ed sent me ended here. Good story but no "Club" name for our PC in Horseshoe chip. Disappointing! I was elated when Ed's final draft arrived in my email.

But wait, what about that chip that started this research? Just as a refresher

Joe Traum
No club name on Taylor card.
17 No. 4th Street
Terre Haute, Ind
30 Jan 1942

My public research of Joe Traum had a big hole during this period. He received a lot of press in 1930 with the Lingle assassination, then again in the late 1940s and 50s with the Manor House and Club 86, but nothing in between. Online research into the address only yielded a hotel in the late 1950s.

I decided I needed some boots on the ground and contacted the Vigo County Library (servicing Terre Haute) to see if they had an old index on their shelves. I sent them the address and asked to look it up for 1942. The next day the Genealogy Librarian sent me this reply:

“The street section of the 1942 Terre Haute city directory lists the Paddock Club Tavern at 17 N. 4th. The white section of the directory lists Mrs. Mae Traum as the proprietor.”

So there you have it. The PADDOCK CLUB TAVERN is the “PC” on the chip. The word paddock, where racehorses are paraded before a race, matches the horseshoe motif of the chip. Joe’s use of his wife Mae as the front person is also consistent with the Manor House. This one is a lock!

How many other stories are yet to be told in our unknown chips? Hundreds! Let’s find them.

My note: SUPER JOB ED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, where are those Manor House chips?

One more note: I contacted the Vigo County Library (servicing Terre Haute) by telephone back in 2000 when I was researching the CC in Horseshoe chip in " Illegal Of The Day Indiana 1" posted here.
http://www.marlowcasinochips.com/links/genetrimble/illegaloftheday/TrianonBallRoomIN.pdf
Thirteen years later they are still helping us.