Lamar saw it as a call to arms, an invitation to a heroic act. Fuller began providing racket protection to the gamblers. Copyright 2000-2023 Location Inc. So she came to my house and she went to another friends house, said Moore. If won, Patterson would have the power to crush the syndicate and correct the crime, vice, and corruption. It was war. They sell to Lamar Reid the idea that Patterson and his pack of crooks had stolen the election. Patterson had been gunned down June 18, 1954, in the street outside his law office just days after winning the Democratic nomination for attorney general, for which he had campaigned on a platform of cleaning up the Souths most notorious town. That's 74.77% higher than the national rate of 366.7 per 100,000 people. Three carloads of men with $30,000 in cash were dispersed to crisscross the state and buy a better count of the ballots before the official count was turned in at the State capitol in Montgomery on June 10th. But John Patterson is attacked on his first night back in Phenix City and must fight to defend himself while the police watch and do nothing. This was done in open court. Raw data sources: Violent offenses tracked included rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. Hoyt hands the 19-year-old hostess, Jeannette Mercer, a $20 bill to leave the high dice room. Phenix City is the county seat of Russell County and is located in east Alabama along the west bank of the Chattahoochee River, which separates the city from Columbus, Georgia. Gordon Persons, with only six months left in office as governor, was acutely aware of the powerful passions and potential powder keg in Phenix City - the shooting, killing, and retaliation that was likely to occur as a result of this shocking slaying of the attorney general-elect. After shooting his ex-wife and her boyfriend, Phenix City Police said Martin then fled to a wooded area opposite the house and killed himself. Phenix City, many of those same criminals from east Alabama simply moved west across Called the Dixie Mafia, theyre the mob you never knew. Hoyt hands the 19-year-old hostess, Jeannette Mercer, a $20 bill to leave the high dice room. Like all of the gamblers in Phenix City, Hoyt feared neither God nor the Devil, only the IRS. On Tuesday, June 8th, the bureau chief of the Associated Press in Birmingham received a call to check the tally totals for Jefferson County. Property Crimes - Burglary Larceny Auto Theft. 29-year-old Damon Daniels Jr., of Phenix City, is charged with capital murder. For Albert, it was all so easy. McCarty, John. Even All the Kings Men, inspired by the assassination of Louisiana governor Huey Long, had been shot in California. Published: Apr. Hoyt Shepherd wanted to make a deal with Hugh Bentley. Lamar Reid knew Si Garrett would not be too pleased with the results for his declared and open support of Lee Porter had been strenuous, but he was sure Si Garrett would be pleased to finally get the results. Feeling pressured, Lamar left the tabulation sheets with Si Garrett. The man, later identified as 47-year-old Jeffrey Lynn Martin, reportedly ran into a wooded area near the house where the shooting took place. Your chance of being a victim of crime in Phenix City may be as high as 1 in 9 in the east neighborhoods, or as low as 1 in 42 in the northwest part of the city. The news of Albert Pattersons ambush slaying flashed like lightening across the Alabama. When the heat was on and the preachers started pounding the pulpit about sin, a few raids were made, and a few prostitutes were locked up overnights until their employers bailed them out the next morning. Everywhere you looked, there was Hugh Bentley and Hugh Britton attacking city government and county government, Mayor Homer Cobb and the City Commission, and Elmer Reese. This time he was defending gambling associates Head Revel, Godwin Davis, and Joe Allred for hiring two hitmen to kill Johnny Frank Stringfellow. Here clubs such as the Shangri-La and Paradise Point, or the beautifully-named Chez Joeys and the Gay Paree, profited from boozehounds and gamblers arriving both by land and by water. Welcome to your free, online resource on Alabama history, culture, geography, and natural environment. For his defense, Hoyt hired every lawyer in town: Roy Smith, the city attorney also representing Grady, Jabe Braswell, William Belcher, Julius Hicks, Arch Ferrell, Jake Walker, and Albert Patterson. Albert PattersonAlbert Patterson (1894-1954) was a prominent Alabama attorney and politician. Crime risk data are updated annually. Date(s) & Update Frequency: They carried out the task and buried him in Ponte Vedra, Florida. This capitulation, however, was not due to Hugh Bentley or the RBA, but a federal tax increase that had been passed by Congress which included a new federal law requiring all lottery operators, nationwide, to register, buy a $50 occupational tax stamp, and pay a ten percent tax on their gross income. Property crimes that are tracked for this analysis are burglary, larceny over fifty dollars, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Engineer Richard Hawes, his wife, and two children were brutally murdered in an event that baffled people for years. All rights reserved. The county and city could be controlled, but the IRS could not. It was as bitter and hard-fought a campaign as Phenix City had seen in a long time. Samantha Autry, the little sister of 35-year-old Jessica Martin, told News Leader 9 her sister and her boyfriend, 40-year-old Richard Cook, were preparing to welcome a new born baby boy into the world before they were killed by Jessica Martins ex husband, 47-year-old Jeffery Martin, according to police. Realizing how bad the situation has become, Albert Patterson agrees to run for office, a decision almost immediately met by threats and violence from Rhett Tanner and his mob. Thanks for contacting us. Thats rightinstead of Italian or Irish syndicates, let us introduce you to a bunch of good ol boys who got up to some very evil deeds. Property crimes include burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft. Lamar saw it as a call to arms, an invitation to a heroic act. Reporting his findings, he had written a letter to the federal agents. After grave consideration for his family and his finances, and his own physical limitations, Albert Patterson decided to become a candidate for the office of attorney general. In Jefferson County, the results were 23,858 for Patterson and 23,060 for Porter. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2012. Before Las Vegas, there was Phenix City, Alabama-the original sin city. He had more money than he could get in his pocket. What happened when that raid forced Governor Johnsons hand? Patterson then joined Hugh Bentley and Hugh Britton in their effort to beat the rackets. Take a walk with author Faith Serafin as she travels through the darkest recesses of Phenix Citys past. It was not nearly so high-risk as gambling and lottery with investigations going on all the time. For most states, the repeal of prohibition meant a return to a state of legally drunken normalcy, but not so in Mississippi. L - R: Russell County Solicitor Arch Ferrell, State Attorney General Si Garrett, Everywhere you looked, there was Hugh Bentley and Hugh Britton attacking city government and county government, Mayor Homer Cobb and the City Commission, and Elmer Reese. Everybody said so, including the courthouse crowd Hoyt Shepherd, Godwin Davis, Elmer Reese but theirs was for a different reason. He was from a prominent and distinguished family of attorneys. It had been too close to call, too close, and he decided, as he handed out rewards to those who had helped him with the trial, that it was time to reshuffle the deck and adjust the balance of power beginning with the circuit judge and circuit solicitor. in cities like Gulfport and Biloxi, gambling and drinking dens sprang up like kudzu, right next to hotels and local harbors, The Black Hand and the Courage of Minnie Orsino, Meet Parker Anderson, Arizona Gangster Hunter. You are asked to call the Phenix City Police Department at (334) 298-0611, (334) 448-2840 or (334)-215-7867. Violent Crimes - Murder Rape Robbery Assault. The search engine finds the neighborhoods that are the optimum fit to the set of criteria you choose. A pregnant Alabama woman and her boyfriend were shot dead last week by her ex-husband before he turned the gun on himself in a horrific murder-suicide, police said. District Attorney Rick Chancey said she appeared to have little remorse. Gradys trial never happened because witnesses were still missing. In Columbus, cab driver James Radius Taylor picked up a fare, an Army lieutenant, who destination was Chads Rose Room in Phenix City. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Phenix City is one in 145. Crime risk indices are nationally comparable on a 1 100 scale, where 100 means safer than 100% of U.S. neighborhoods. A heated and lengthy trial went on for some time. Lamar Reid knew Si Garrett would not be too pleased with the results for his declared and open support of Lee Porter had been strenuous, but he was sure Si Garrett would be pleased to finally get the results. That compares to a 1 in 195.8 chance statewide. Crime in Phenix City, Alabama (AL): murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts, auto thefts, arson, law enforcement employees, police officers, crime map All Cities Alabama, Alabama smaller cities, Alabama small towns Phenix City main page US Crime Crime rate in Phenix City, Alabama (AL) One week later, both Hoyt and Jimmie were also arrested, charged with murder, and put in the same cell as Grady in the Russell County Jail (pictured below). Hugh Bentley and the RBA were not the only ones saying that law enforcement in Phenix City had gone to hell. The discrepancy was found. Bless their hearts. At the State Capitol in Montgomery when the governor was informed, his first words were: Get me Crack Hanna in Birmingham. Walter J. Hanna, Adjutant General for the State of Alabama and Commanding General of Alabamas National Guard, was known as Crack because of the records he had established during his Army career. The film, which takes a number of liberties with the actual events and characters, opened on July 19, 1955, with simultaneous premieres in The film invents instances of the fictional Tanner and his cronies engaging in a campaign of terror against the Pattersons and their supporters even before Albert Patterson is assassinated. Few other communities of this size have a crime rate as high as Phenix City. As in real life, the cinematic version of Albert Patterson is murdered by men threatened by his victory in the Democratic primary for state attorney general. At the same time, Attorney General Si Garrett was testifying for the Grand Jury in Birmingham. Most accurate 2021 crime rates for Phenix City, AL. Of course, once the girls started to work, they had to pay their dues for protection to insure themselves against arrest for prostitution. It was dangerous knowledge that he did not share with anyone for it made him a target. First, the gambling machine gets Russell Countys two State Representatives Jabe Brassell and Ben Cole to introduce legislation declaring the five-man commission created in 1947 as unconstitutional and request a return to the three-man commission (who would be gambler-friendly). Creative Commons License. He had been shot three times once in the chest, the arm, and in the mouth, the acknowledged death mark for informers. Authorities said the incident was the result of a domestic violence encounter.. For his defense, Hoyt hired every lawyer in town: Roy Smith, the city attorney also representing Grady, Jabe Braswell, William Belcher, Julius Hicks, Arch Ferrell, Jake Walker, and Albert Patterson. Jessica was rushed to hospital where she was pronounced dead, according to police. They were all laughing, drinking, and joking about running Hugh Bentley out of town when Hoyt spotted Fate Leebern across the room. Otis Stewart was never seen again. The information was immediately turned over to the three gamblers. Shadoian, Jack. Importantly, we found that Phenix City has one of the highest rates of motor vehicle theft in the nation according to our analysis of FBI crime data. Phenix City is a city in Lee and Russell counties in the U.S. state of Alabama, and the county seat of Russell County. counties, towns, and (sometimes) families too much. He had a wife and three mistresses that he kept in clothes, cars, and houses and almost any woman he took a fancy to of course, they werent all willing and when they werent there were ways of persuasion or penalty which was how he kept the jail filled up and the whore houses provided with an unlimited stable of girls. 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