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In the 5/30/11 Denton Record-Chronicle newspaper, the columnist Les Cockrell
made mention that on Thursday, 6/2/11, an author will speak in Flower Mound.
This meeting is that of the Denton County Historical Commission, and will be
held at 700 PM at the Flower Mound City Council Chambers at 2121 Cross Timber Road.

http://www.amazon.com/City-Die-Robert-D ... 19&sr=1-10

The link above is to the novel written by Robert David Weir (not to be confused with other authors with
similar names). My assumption is that he will speak about the real events in the DFW Mafia wars that
were the fodder for his novel. The novel's entitled "City to Die For". Googling the title results in a lot of extraneous listings,
but eventually I found it.

I was hoping that this was a non-fiction book, but it is a novel. It did, however, raise my
awareness of the DFW Mafia problem dating to the 1940's-1950's.

The City of Dallas was involved in these wars for expanding Mafia control, but smaller burgs
that have now became sizeable suburbs were also involved. Grapevine and Flower Mound are in the book too.

Many years ago, I read about a Mafia-involved man who opened his rural mailbox to get his mailbox and was killed
or maimed by a bomb when he lowered the door. This may have been in Springtown, TX or some other smaller town.

As a Northeastern native who has always had an ear for a Mafia story, I find it very interesting that DFW was involved
also. Remember that Jack Ruby was a Mafia member/wannabe who came from Chicago to Dallas.

Anyone who has any background or anecdotes on DFW Mafia lore, please contribute. I'd like to know more.

TAM and chasfm11 - You are close enough to attend this meeting if you so choose.

SIA

Sorry that I missed this. I just today saw this thread as I've been in and out of the computer for the last 4 days.

I cannot imagine how there would have been any Mafia activity in Flower Mound in the time frame mentioned. When we moved to Colleyville in 1988, Flower Mound was barely a speck on the map and, if I understand correctly, less than 5K people (today over 62k). I know that Grapevine was a bustling area so it doesn't surprise me that the Mafia was part of that.

It is fascinating to learn about how deeply imbedded into our society the main stream crime groups were. Most of us have read the tales of Chicago and prohibition but the problems were much more widespread than that.

Google Binny Binion for details. also, the Texas ranger museum in Waco is a treasure trove of information.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... nny_Binion

Benny Binion was born in Grayson County, Texas (almost an Okie!), but was a
leading Dallas gangster for many years until moving to Las Vegas about 1946.

Read the above link for more details on DFW organized crime history.

Reloader - Thanks for the tip on Benny.

SIA

I never knew Binions was named for a Texas...must explain why it's my favorite gambling spot on Freemont!

Here's some non-fiction that you might be interested in:

http://www.amazon.com/Gamblers-Gangster ... 1571682503" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

interesting discussion here: http://www.fortwortharchitecture.com/[abbreviated profanity deleted] ... wtopic=892" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A while back there was a stone memorial type of set up at the corner of 114W and Dove rd in Southlake, that claimed that corner was where Bonnie and Clyde shot a cop and fled. It stood there for a few years but they took it down during road construction and never put it back up, at least not that I ever saw before I moved away(which was only a year ago). That did make me wonder if it was true or not, since the stone didn't go back up, but I remember reading somehwere also that it was true, just can't remember where to post the link.

surprise_i'm_armed wrote:TAM and chasfm11 - You are close enough to attend this meeting if you so choose.

SIA

The 2nd is my wife's birthday. There are plans already in place, which will stay in place if I know what's good for me!

That said, a local resident of Grapevine told me not too long ago about somebody who lived in the bottom land before the lake was filled who tried to bomb or shoot at the car of another local resident going by on the local road because they were "competitors" in the underworld.... or something like that.

bigmoney:

Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Bonnie and Clyde, referring to the Grapevine (now Southlake)
incident:

On April 1, 1934, Easter Sunday, Barrow and Henry Methvin killed two young highway patrolmen, H. D. Murphy and Edward Bryant Wheeler, in an area of Grapevine, Texas now called Southlake.[93][94] A contemporary eyewitness account stated that Barrow and Parker fired the fatal shots and this story got widespread coverage in the press[95] before it was discredited. Henry Methvin later admitted he fired the first shot, after assuming Barrow wanted the officers killed; he also admitted that Parker approached the dying officers intending to help them, not to administer the cold-blooded point-blank coup de grâce the discredited eyewitness had described. Having little choice once Methvin had shot Wheeler, Barrow then joined in, firing at Patrolman Murphy. Most likely, Parker was asleep in the back seat when Methvin started shooting and took no part in the assault.[52]

Bonnie, Clyde, and Methvin were parked on a dirt road, waiting for a quiet visit with their relatives, who were driving
out from Oak Cliff (Dallas neighborhood). The 2 DPS Troopers were on 2 motorcycles, saw the parked car, and decided
to investigate.

Clyde said to Methvin "Let's get 'em". Clyde may have wanted to kidnap them and steal their weapons.
But Methvin took the comment to mean "Let's kill 'em". Methvin opened up, and then Clyde figured he had to open up too.

One of the DPS troopers was only about 21, freshly married, and had been a trooper for something like 2 weeks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_and_Clyde

The above link is to the Wikipedia entry for Bonnie and Clyde - interesting that many of their exploits took place in Texas.
The Texas towns where they committed crimes include: Sherman, Kaufman, Hillsboro, Tarrant County (contains Fort Worth
as its primary city), Wellington, and Somers.

They also robbed a bank, IIRC, on FM156 in Justin (Denton County), although it may have been Sanger or Krum, I'm not sure.

SIA

surprise_i'm_armed wrote: - interesting that many of their exploits took place in Texas.

Not too surprising, since they both grew up in Texas - West Dallas, specifically. Rough place then, rough place now.

I'm not certain that they robbed anyone in Wellington, but they did have a bad wreck near there. They thanked the people who helped them - by taking the family hostage.

The Barrow gang didn't have much in the way of mob connections that I've heard of. Dillinger referred to them as "kids stealing lunch money".

SIA, That's about how I remember hearing it, Thanks. I always seem to pass over the wiki stuff, I haven't jumped on that wagon yet. I don't think I ever remember hearing about the bank on 156, there's only one bank in Justin, and I haven't been to Krum or Ponder in years. That story always caught my appeal since everything from Justin to Grapevine has been my stompin grounds for the last 20 years. Even a few legends regarding some land out in Roanoke near Byron Nelson's place on litsey/old denton rd, an old dirt road we used to kick up dust on late at night.

'm not certain that they robbed anyone in Wellington, but they did have a bad wreck near there. They thanked the people who helped them - by taking the family hostage.

And stole the family vehicle..

I am half ways through Robert David Weir's book "City to Die For" addressing the DFW and Flower Mound Mobsters and on center page 124 I noticed a picture described as a cabin owned by "The central character at his ranch north of Grapevine". The book is fictionalized but based on facts. The central character pertains to Herbert Noble. 'Noble Point' in Flower Mound is named after him.

My husband and I started construction of our house in close proximity of Wichita Trail/Flower Mound on the far West of Wichita Tr. in 1986.-- Wichita Tr. emerges out of Simmons Road on the East side. The exact brown stone cabin pictured in the book was located approx 150 feet from Simmons Rd. and 10 feet South of Wichita Trail. The cabin was right by the road. There was no traffic as the area was still unpopulated in 1986.

I drove by the cabin every day. One day an elderly lady left the house with her dog. I stopped the car to compliment her on her unusual home which fascinated me. I told her that we were in the process of building our house down the street . She tried to invite me in but I was lacking time and promised to take her up on her offer some other time. Unfortunately, I never followed through. In hindsight, with my deepest regrets. -- I probably could have learned a lot about the historical aspect of that small house and who this sweet old lady was related to. -- That transpired 28 years ago. I do not remember when the cabin was removed.

My husband was an architect by profession and curious about the unusual structure as well. He extracted some information from some elderly town people. He was able to ascertain that the owners of the land allowed this sweet old lady to live in that house until she died and then there was a provision that the house would be moved to a different location as it was considered to have historical value.

I just ascertained that there is more factual documented Denton County Mafia information in reference to Herbert Noble and Benny Binion. Noble Point, a very exclusive area in Flower Mound was named after Mr. Noble. Please copy and paste or type in the following link: http://www.cityofdenton.com/home/showdocument?id=7517" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



I.C.

I stayed in Mason, Texas on a "see Texas first" short vacation. I had never heard of the Hoodoo Wars until then. Included the likes of Johnny Ringo. Always thought he was made up.

Interesting that I never knew when I was young that Jack Ruby operated a strip club. He was always portrayed as a patriotic bar owner by Life Magazine.
Even way back then I would have known that a strip club owner was probably involved with organized crime.

A bunch of years back a friend of mine had first hand experiences in the bar room music/vending machine competition here in Dallas.

If a weekly 'tithe' was paid, the machines weren't damaged and the bar was pretty much ignored by the police.

Today, corruption has grown way past the 'B' Girls marking the pool table/juke box quarters and the back room crib trade.

salty