King of Kings: Chasing Edward Jones (2022) Movie Script
1
[]
-[birds chirping]
-[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
Uh, what do I know
about Edward?
Edward Jones?
Uh...
Uh...
[whispers]
I really don't know anything.
[]
[speaking Spanish]
All I know is that
his stomping grounds
were here in Chicago.
[tires screeching]
[train whistle blows]
[]
[man] As we
of the United States Senate
are committed to investigate
the tremendous importance
of organized crime,
it's even greater than
we thought it was,
both from the viewpoint
of criminal activity itself...
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Jackie Marin]
The first time I heard about
Edward Jones was through Mom.
She used to talk about him.
Not much, very little,
but that's how I heard
about him.
My mother really
limited herself
to tell us that
her father was incredible.
[speaking French]
It was difficult for her
to talk about it.
Never talked about it.
And if she did,
it was really half-words.
So it was a big mystery,
at least to me.
[speaking French]
[]
My name is Harriet, uh...
and I'm the daughter
of Edward Jones.
My father, Edward Jones,
he was a gentleman.
He was just a good person.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[]
[boat horn blows]
[men singing work song]
Order ahead, singing along!
[bell tolling]
[Harriet Jones]
My grandfather was a reverend
of the Baptist church.
His name, of course,
was Edward.
Edward Perry Jones,
just like my father.
And he had
a big Baptist church.
He was very well-known,
at least in Mississippi.
They had four boys:
my father, Edward,
my uncle George,
my uncle Mack,
and a baby who died
when he was three years old.
They had a very good life
in Mississippi.
All of the sons
played an instrument,
they did horseback riding,
but, you know, not the riding
the way people would ride.
They did mange.
[]
My grandfather
had a very important position
in the Republican party.
They had the first car
of the town.
My father,
who was 12 years old,
would drive the car
to the railroad station
and pick people up.
He would make a little money
doing that.
[train whistle blows]
[]
There was a white family
who lived very close
and the young girl,
a white girl,
came to borrow sugar
or something.
When she was leaving, my father
accompanied her to the door
and someone
in the KKK was passing.
[]
And so they sent threats
to my grandfather
and said, "Watch out."
My grandfather, he didn't wait
for something to happen.
He took the whole family
and left to Chicago.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Timuel Black Jr.]
The railroad came straight up
through Mississippi
and Alabama to Chicago.
Men like my father,
who had skills
and desires for the future...
that fled because of the terror
they were exposed to,
came to Chicago
to get better opportunities
and to be able to vote!
[]
[Robert Sengstacke]
The Black migration was
kicked off
by the Chicago Defender.
Because you could not
live in the South in those days.
I mean, you could get a job,
but what kind of job
could you get?
A Black person could leave
the South and come and have
two jobs...
in a day.
He could work at the stockyard
and he could also work
out in a steel mill.
My father made the Defender
in the '30s and '40s.
We sold at least
a quarter of a million papers
once a week.
Everybody stuck together
in the community
because they didn't have
anything but the Black
community.
[]
[Nathan Thompson]
Here we are in Evanston,
north of Chicago.
This was the first
church home in Illinois
for Reverend
Dr. Edward Perry Jones,
father of the Jones brothers.
He was a fire and brimstone
Baptist minister.
So this is where
the Illinois trail begins
for the Jones brothers.
[]
[Harriet Jones]
When my father was in Evanston,
he was going to
the University of Northwestern.
And he was studying pre-med.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Harriet Jones]
At the same time
he was studying,
he had a car business.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Harriet Jones]
My father and my Uncle George
would tell me that
when they were walking
on the sidewalk,
they'd have to get off
so white people
could walk on the sidewalk.
[traffic noise]
[Sylvie Laurent speaking French]
[]
[Coles speaking French]
[Thompson] Depending on
what color you are,
what gonna happen to you is
gonna be dramatically different.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Tallal Shakarchi]
Before then, I couldn't
even imagine.
It wasn't easy.
I mean, there--
still to this day,
it's not even that easy.
There were riots yesterday.
Not riots.
I guess more like
peace protests over killings
of a Black teenager.
Um, so...
it's-- it's notably
more difficult
for someone of different-color
skin to, you know...
become as successful as he did
back then.
[sirens wailing]
[]
[Nicholas Ford] In those days,
things were really divided
according to ethnicity.
There was an Irish neighborhood,
there was a German neighborhood,
there was an Italian
neighborhood and there was
a Polish neighborhood.
Lithuanian neighborhood.
That's about 90%
of Anglo-Chicago
right there.
Then there was
African-American
neighborhoods.
I think most white folks
didn't go into
African-American
neighborhoods
and I don't think
many African-Americans
went into white people's
neighborhoods either.
In August of 1919,
some young Black men
came to the 31st St.
Beach at Lake Michigan.
-[seagulls calling]
-[crowd chatter]
Blacks could only swim
on one part of that lake
and if they swam
outside of that part...
they were violating
the rule.
There were gangs.
And they ganged up
on this young man
and drowned him.
[]
The population
that had fled the South
began to fight back.
They were outraged.
And young men who had served
in World War I...
they fought back
because they were
experienced soldiers.
[]
That was the first time
in the history of this country
that there had been
a retaliation...
for attacks on Blacks...
in this country.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Thompson]
When he was studying medicine
at the time,
he was working for the train,
supporting hisself.
He was a dining car
supervisor.
There are stories that he
was running crap games
and card games
in one of the back cars
with some of
the regular riders.
[men cheering]
It was probably easier
for a Black man at that time
to go into gambling
as opposed to believing
you're gonna end up
practicing medicine
in a hospital.
These high-end
professional occupations
that African-Americans
are in today,
those weren't available
to a lot of African-Americans
in those days.
If you really want to do well
in business,
he might've taken the path
that led him to the greatest
success.
[]
[bells tolling]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Thompson]
After Reverend Jones died
and the eldest sons
came home,
they ultimately found
their way into
the Policy and Numbers rackets.
Policy and Numbers rackets
are what you know today
as the State Lottery.
But long before
there was a State Lottery,
there was this illegal numbers
game called Policy,
owned, operated,
and controlled by Black men
called Policy Kings
and Numbers Racketeers.
[]
[Arthur Lurigio] The Policy
racket was a form of gambling
that was affordable
to the mass public,
so it gave the everyday man
or woman an opportunity
to strike it rich.
And every day people
would play the Policy.
There were many places where
they could place their bets
all around the South Side
of Chicago,
which is where it began,
in what became a thriving
African-American community
known as Bronzeville.
[]
[children shouting]
[Robert Lombardo]
African-Americans in Chicago,
particularly in the South Side,
had a rich tradition
of casino gambling,
dice games, card games
before the advent of Policy.
While Policy was in its infancy,
Black organized crime
within the Black community
in the form
of illicit gambling
was already thriving.
[Harriet Jones]
Uncle Mack, he was working
in a Policy office.
So he was telling my father,
"Wow, you know, it's not bad."
And so my father said, "Okay."
And my father,
he understood numbers.
He would take
a whole long list of numbers,
and he would be able
to just calculate it...
[trills tongue]
Like that, all immediately.
If you bet a nickel
on a number...
and it comes out,
you might win $5
A lot of people might put
$10 on one number,
and if that one number
falls out,
then they're picking up $500,
they're picking up $1,000.
When my grandfather died,
I think my grandmother,
she had an insurance
for $16,000
or something like that.
And she gave it to her sons.
[]
[Tom Harris]
You had to get to State St.
The station was right off
of Wabash.
We're at 40... what?
-48th and Michigan, right?
-48, right.
[]
[Thompson]
This is the first
Policy station
owned by the Jones brothers.
So people would come in here
and place their bets.
Now, the front half
was a tailor shop,
so when you first walk in,
you're gonna see garments.
You're gonna see fabric.
Probably some guy standing
in there with a tape measure
around his neck.
That's the whole front,
it has to look legitimate.
[sewing machines whirring]
But in the back,
it's Policy action.
You've got a bunch of guys
sitting around
counting all this money,
getting it ready to go
to the bank.
-[chatter]
-[wheel clicking]
There's a big rivalry going on
between this Policy station
and the Policy station
in the barber shop
across the street.
Mack used to work
for that guy.
Ezra Leake was one of
the better-known guys
and one of the leading guys
of the time.
The Jones brothers...
people liked them,
people respected them.
Ezra Leake was more of
a street hustler type.
The rivalry was just intense.
[Harriet Jones]
My grandmother told them,
"Whatever you do
with the Policy,
always be totally honest.
Whoever makes the money, you
give the money immediately."
And people appreciated that.
[Thompson]
In less than two years,
they became the leading,
number-one Policy wheel
in town.
How many other
Policy operators
get relegated to the back seat
because of the Jones brothers?
How did that happen?
They had to be very well-liked
and very well-trusted.
["Jungle Jazz Room"
by Steve Gray]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Thompson] This is one of
the most historic buildings
in all of Chicago.
And your grandfather
and his brothers
had a lot to do with this.
Okay, let's go there.
At noon, when they got ready
to pull the numbers for
the midday draw,
a lot of people
would find their way here.
Of course they would go around
to the alley and go in
through a back door
and come up in one of the rooms
where the drawing was set up.
[Black Jr.]
Sometimes, my father
would take my brother and I
down to the Policy wheel...
to watch them
draw the numbers.
I would see Ed there
watching
as the Policy numbers
would be drawn out.
[wheels clicking]
[Thompson] The winning numbers
for Policy are derived
by pulling the winning
numbers from a drum.
So you get the term
Policy Wheel.
And it actually comes from
the crank on the drum
that you mixing the numbers
up in and draw the
winning numbers from.
[chatter]
It was like a gathering place
where they would stop and talk
and gossip
about what was going on
while they played
their numbers.
So they went to the station
to have fun,
as well as try
to make some money
with their nickels
and dimes and quarters.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
We used to eat rats
for dinner.
My mother sent me
and my brothers to get rats
out of the river.
And she'd fry them
with kerosene lamps.
[Thompson] Just about
everybody played Policy.
Policy business
was the only hope they had
in terms of being able
to eat dinner tonight.
[]
[Ford]
It's mystic, on some level.
It's this idea, this glimmer,
that everyone's in search of
some life-changing moment
that's gonna change
the circumstances they're in.
If you were sitting
in some little cold-water flat
on the South Side
of the city of Chicago,
all you had to do
was have your number come up
and you were gonna be okay.
And it didn't matter
whether you won or lost.
You just had to have
the ability to win
and the understanding
that if you did win,
you were gonna be paid.
[]
[Thompson] What was
a nickel-and-dime racket
got transformed into
a multi-million-dollar
business enterprise.
And it becomes
the biggest Policy Wheel,
not in just Chicago,
but in the country.
[]
[Harry Mays] Back in those
days, they would generate
supposedly $15,
$20,000 a day
just on small change.
[laughs]
My uncle, John Willy,
had a Policy Wheel with your
grandfather, Ed Jones.
There was a Vienna bathhouse
on 41st and Indiana.
And back in the '30s,
they didn't service Blacks.
He went in there and he was,
you know, he was a big guy.
A real fair-complected.
But he went in there
and they told him they
didn't service Negros,
so he went back
the next day and he bought it.
Paid cash for it.
And fired them all.
[laughs]
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[scatting]
Black people were not
admitted to the Cotton Club,
but my father was well-known
at that moment,
and so they let him in.
["Jungle Jazz Room"
by Steve Gray]
[Harriet Jones]
My mother was dancing
at the Cotton Club.
She was, I think,
part of the chorus.
He would always talk about
how she looked so beautiful.
[]
He invited her to the table
and they fell in love.
[Edith Mason]
He was extremely charming.
He was a classy man.
Highly intelligent.
Very contained and controlled
with a great sense of humor.
And Lena Horne was there
at the same time.
He used to love
to tell the joke
and laugh, he'd say,
"Well, I had the choice
of Lena Horne
and I had the choice
of Lydia."
He said, "I think I made
the best choice!"
[laughs]
[]
[Harriet Jones]
He left the following day...
but they kept sending letters
to each other,
talking to each other.
My mother
would tell the story to me
that one day
they went out on the town,
and she got my father
a little tipsy,
and they married.
[bells ringing]
[children laughing]
When we lived in Chicago,
it was one building,
and each one had a floor.
My father was on
the first floor,
Uncle Mack
was on the second floor,
and Uncle George
was on the third floor.
My grandmother
was across the street.
After my grandfather died,
there was a doctor
who wanted to marry her.
She was a young woman.
She was an attractive woman
and her three sons said,
"No! You can't marry."
And so then she said,
"Okay, if I don't marry,
you have to come
and visit me every day.
Because I don't want
to be alone."
And so the sons,
they would visit her.
She was a very strict woman.
[]
I don't think my grandmother
liked my mother very much.
Maybe because
she was a showgirl.
So I really don't know,
but I don't think she liked her.
And I remember my mother
telling me when she was
25 years old,
she began smoking
because my grandmother
said something
sort of demeaning to her.
My father never took
my mother's side
against his mother,
you know, to tell her,
"Okay, just leave her alone"
or whatever. No.
Because she was very fragile.
[]
My parents owned a home
on Michigan Avenue
a block away from the school,
so that's where
I attended school.
And very well-to-do Black
children went there.
I had no idea Harriet
was attending at the same time.
[Harriet Jones]
We lived a privileged life.
When I say a privileged life,
I mean that
we had people
taking care of us,
we had a cook,
we had a chauffeur.
[Quincy Jones] My father
was a carpenter for all
of the Jones boys.
He built their homes.
I met your grandfather...
at a birthday party
at his house.
I think it was
Harriet's birthday.
And she asked me
to give her a haircut.
She was five years old,
I was seven.
And I made the mistake
of giving her a haircut
and I cut
all of her hair off.
And my father kicked my booty.
He said, "Do you know
who her father is?"
I said-- at seven years old,
you don't know what's going on,
you know?
["Million Dollars"
by Will Grove-White]
[Thompson] This location
is known as a place where
all the big stars come
to party and hang out.
[scatting]
[Thompson] These guys
were making tons of money.
Hobnobbing with the rich folks
and the politicians
and all this kind of thing.
People are gonna
come after them.
People are gonna do
whatever they have to do
to separate these guys
from this money.
[]
In the 1930's,
this block
was a virtual fortress.
Bodyguards
all up and down this block.
In Chicago
he had bodyguards,
that I remember.
[Harriet M. Jones]
My father was never violent.
Never! Never!
Never.
Um, no, never.
[Harriet M. Jones]
Of course he never
carried a gun!
Everybody carried guns.
Eddy had to,
to protect himself.
Because they was
tryin' to kill him.
She's always trying to make him
into a saint, you know?
I say, "But, baby,
he's a gangster!"
My father was never a gangster.
Gangsters are gangsters!
A gangster will do whatever
it takes to do his thing,
to survive, you know?
It's normal.
[Thompson] Al Capone
had his own alliance
with Policy Kings.
[crowd yelling]
Before Capone left the city,
going to prison
for tax evasion,
in 1931...
a lot of the illegal liquor
that found its way
to the South...
from the North
was shipped in coffins
of dead Black people
going home for burial.
As long as they helped
move his liquor,
he left them alone
in their gambling business.
In Chicago,
the organized crime group
is called the Mob,
also called the Outfit.
-[tires squealing]
-[gunshots]
[Thompson]
Al Capone was a gangster.
Ed Jones was a racketeer.
Capone used the gun
to get what he wanted.
And Jones used the gun
to protect what he had.
[Black Jr.] They weren't
going down the streets
shooting at people.
They had guns
to protect themselves
against them honkies
that might be coming over
trying to get some
of that money.
[Ford] One thing about Policy
is that it was just Policy.
Now, within the Outfit,
you had gambling,
you had prostitution,
during Prohibition,
you had alcohol.
Policy Kings didn't force
their racket on anybody,
they didn't invade
other communities.
They essentially
minded their own business,
as opposed to the Mob.
Violence was a prerogative
of the Italian Mob,
and that's what
they were all about.
They used violence to further
all of their activities.
[]
The Mob was involved in
the kidnapping of Mack Jones,
in order to force their way in.
If there was trouble,
Ted Roe would be sent.
He was like their front man.
There was some
sort of a ransom
paid by Teddy Roe.
But they didn't harm him
during the kidnapping.
They didn't beat him,
they didn't torture him.
1931 was an underworld
orgy of murder.
[gunfire]
David Giles, a very close
friend of Ed Jones,
is murdered by these gangsters.
[distant sirens, crowd]
When he was murdered,
that changed everything.
His murder caused
the single biggest
meeting of Policy Kings
in this city's history.
[]
And that's when Ed started
talking about organizing.
"We can all fight these guys
individually by ourselves
and get knocked off
one by one,
or we can all unify
and deal with this thing
as a unit."
Ed made that happen.
This is the beginning
of the rise
of the Policy Syndicate.
Ed Jones is the founder
and the head of the Syndicate.
So we're talking about
a syndicate of 12 people.
Three of these people
are the Jones brothers.
And then the rest of these guys
are a collection of men
who are independently operating
their own Policy businesses.
[Harriet M. Jones]
["Jungle Jazz Room"
by Steve Gray]
[Thompson]
The Prohibition era was over.
Everybody is looking for
new revenue streams.
This is during
the Depression.
And the guys
who were making all the money
were these Black guys
on the South Side of Chicago.
[Quincy Jones]
At that time, it wasn't easy
to do what he did.
Now these guys that come up,
even look like
they're looking up,
with ties on
and taking care of themselves,
of their physical appearance,
with respect, you know?
I love that.
I love that. And that stuck
with me real strong.
[distant car engine]
As a young kid,
you see that and say,
"That's what I've gotta do."
You wanna be what you see.
It was a sign of hope,
you know?
He had all of the intelligence,
the eloquence,
the sensitivity.
Everything.
Passion. He had it all.
Because you need that
to be a leader.
And he was definitely
a leader, honey.
And back at a time when
it was difficult.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Thompson] The common sentiment
of the day was that
the Republicans
could not control the city
because of all
of the gangsterism
and all of the killing
that was going on
from the Capone Mob
and their rivals.
[horns honking]
The outgoing Republican mayor
was Thompson.
'Big Bill' Thompson.
[television jingle]
[Mayor Thompson] There are those
who would have you believe
that Chicago is
the crime-ridden center
of our country, or the world.
It is untrue.
[crowd shouting]
[Thompson] Whatever money
is being generated
with illegal gambling
and illegal liquor...
he wants to control it
for himself.
He's sending cops out here.
Police raids.
They cracked down
on everybody.
In comes Anton Cermak,
Democrat.
Cermak's issue is that he
doesn't really like Black
people.
But the Democrats
are jockeying for a position.
They knew they couldn't do
it by themselves.
So they looked to the single
most influential Black man
in Chicago at that time.
It was not a preacher,
it was not a business man,
or a banker.
It was Ed Jones.
[]
[Lombardo]
Historically, African-Americans
were Republican
in the city of Chicago,
and Ed Jones
had a lot to do with the shift
from Republican to Democrat.
Being able to deliver
the whole South Side of Chicago
for your candidate
was critically important.
He had a series of mayors.
Big Bill Thompson
was a very corrupt person.
He was followed
by Anton Cermak,
who tried to straighten
some of this out,
uh, but still, he wanted control
of the Policy people,
particularly because
of their votes.
[]
[Thompson]
Cermak says, "If your people
switch their allegiance
to the Democratic party,
actions of the police
department will stop.
Vote how we tell you to vote,
we'll leave you alone."
[crowd cheering]
It wasn't really about
ideological loyalty to a party.
It was the party that was
gonna provide you with
the greatest protection,
so that your criminal
enterprise could operate
unscathed,
with the protection
of the police
and other politicians
making sure that your business
wasn't interrupted.
[Lombardo] All these guys,
even the Italian Mob,
they were a product
of their times.
They were a product of social
disorganization, of poverty,
of the government
not doing its job.
You can't have organized crime
without a corrupt government.
[]
[traffic noise]
[Harris] The police
were coming to bet, too.
You write their bets,
the police, the firemen.
Everybody.
I wrote for all of them.
So when they had raids,
everybody knew.
'Cause they would call and say,
"Hey, get ready, they're coming.
Get yourself out.
Get somebody ready.
They need to take somebody in."
[siren wailing]
[police yelling]
At some point,
all the money and everything
is going to end up
at this address.
The police that worked for them
would pull up here
at the specified time
and guys would come out
carrying these satchels
of money,
put them in the car.
Sometimes it was
your great-uncle Mack,
sometimes it was
your great-uncle George.
Ed rarely did it himself.
[]
But they'd load these cars
up with Ted Roe
and they would be flanked
by a police car,
following them to the bank
to deposit this money.
This is an all-cash business.
They had a contract with
the Hawthorne Milk Company
to deliver milk to all
of the Black public schools.
Every truck that was going
in and out of here
delivering milk to the schools
were also making Policy pickups.
They had an operation
that was going exceedingly well,
that was earning more than
a million dollars annually,
employing 10,000 people.
[Black Jr.]
The Jones brothers,
because of
their educational background,
were more than just gamblers.
They had lawyers,
they had accountants,
they were businessmen.
[Thompson] The Jones brothers
were financing med students
out of school
setting up medical practices,
doctors and dentists,
law students.
I would have to call them
the Robin Hoods of Chicago.
During the Depression, the '30s,
they were Robin Hoods.
'Cause they took care
of their people.
[chatter]
Ed Jones was famous for giving
away food at Christmastime.
He also invested in Joe Louis,
the fighter.
He provided tremendous
amount of pride for
the Black community.
[cheering]
[Ford]
He invested in his people.
He owned a big store
on the South Side
of the city of Chicago
in areas that big business
really wasn't touching.
He empowered
the people that lived there
by letting them have
the same retail options
that people on
the North Side had.
[Thompson]
Time Magazine
declared Bronzeville
the US center
of Negro business.
[Lurigio] The Policy rackets
provided people with an income
and the millions of dollars
that were generated
were invested
back into the community
and the purchasing
of legal businesses.
So it was an underground
economy that thrived.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Black Jr.] The population
density in the Bronzeville
was four times that in
adjoining white communities
like Hyde Park-Kenwood.
In Hyde Park-Kenwood,
the population would be
21,000 per square mile.
In Bronzeville,
84,000 per square mile.
So we were constantly moving
to find more space.
Neighborhoods being
overcrowded
meant the schools
were overcrowded.
And so every time
parents could find a place
where their children could go
to a less-crowded school,
they moved so that
their children would have
a better education.
[]
[teacher talking indistinctly]
[Harriet Jones] My father took
us to a very good school
and he asked for us to be in
this school, and they said,
"No, we don't take
Black children.
We don't take
colored children."
[]
[speaking French]
[]
I think all of that
was a reason for us
to move to France.
-[seagulls calling]
-[ship's horn blows]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Harriet Jones] My father
bought an apartment there.
1, Boulevard Pershing.
We could go to school there.
They were very happy
to be in France
because there was
no discrimination.
They could go
wherever they wanted.
They could do
whatever they wanted.
And they loved that.
They learned a bit of French.
And my parents
saw Josephine Baker.
I remember very vividly
her with her cheetah.
-[]
-[crowd chatting]
My parents,
they enjoyed life.
I remember
my mother dressing up
and looking so beautiful.
My mother, she had
a very difficult childhood.
She was born
in Hell's Kitchen
in New York.
[]
She didn't have
enough to eat.
Her mother wasn't
the best kind of mother,
let's say that.
When she was a little girl,
four years old,
someone would give her
a little alcohol to drink
so she would dance.
She was raped
when she was 13 years old.
She had a little baby girl,
my sister Dorothy.
A very nice family
took her and she went to live
in West Virginia.
My mother,
she began working very young.
One of the jobs that she had
was an elevator girl.
And then, all of a sudden,
she realized that she was
a pretty, young woman
and that's when
she travelled to Europe
and her life changed.
[Mijatovic] Her beginnings
were very difficult,
and I think that's why
my grandmother started dancing,
just to try to make it,
to survive.
["Million Dollars"
by Will Grove-White]
[Harriet Jones]
In Paris, she was in
La Revue Ngre
with Josephine Baker.
They were roommates.
[]
[air raid sirens wailing]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Harriet Jones] We lived
there until the war started.
And I remember the sirens,
that you had to run
into the closet and put on
the gas mask.
And I can still smell
the smell of the gas mask.
[clamoring]
And my father got us
the last tickets
on a ship going back
to the States.
The friends of the family,
all are dead.
The Germans had
their headquarters
in the apartment
where we lived.
[]
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
I know my great-grandfather
went to jail.
Do I know why
he went to jail?
I didn't even know
he went to jail.
I have no clue
why he went to jail.
[laughs]
Why did he go to jail?
[Thompson]
When the Feds
went after
the Jones brothers,
it really didn't have
anything to do with gambling,
or hiding money,
and not reporting money
on your income tax return.
No, that's what
he got pinched for.
That's not really
what it was about.
It was about
the Black community at large
and the most influential people
who are making a difference.
Those people
have to be marginalized
so that Black agenda does
never progresses to the point
that it's on even par
with ours.
That can never happen.
[]
All the brothers,
and the mother,
were all named
for tax evasion.
The deal that he cut
was to first get his mother
off the hook.
She never had to answer
for any of this, legally.
That's something that Ed
made absolute sure of,
his mother would never
see a day in jail.
Ed flew out with a check,
but they wouldn't accept it.
The Jones brothers felt if
they didn't plead guilty,
that all three of them
would be imprisoned.
And Ed agreed to be
the person who would take
the responsibility.
He felt that
his brother George
could not take
the time in jail,
would not have the,
you know,
the mettle to do the time.
So he took
the jail time for him.
[Thompson]
After they had indicted them,
after they had frozen
their bank accounts,
they ended up giving them back
$850,000.
That's admitting,
without admitting,
that the government was wrong.
The white establishment
that's controlled all of this
for all these generations
have never been willing
to talk about that.
They never want to acknowledge
that someone Black
actually had more power,
more knowledge,
and more insight than they did.
[]
[Harriet Jones]
I was a little girl,
and I didn't know
he was going to jail.
They told me that
he was going to the war.
I heard that
when he went to jail,
they made an IQ test,
and they had never seen
such a high IQ.
And so they put him
in solitary.
[]
[Lurigio]
Sam Giancana was there
for operating
an illegal whiskey still.
They struck up a friendship,
probably because
they were both from Chicago.
Sam Giancana
was a congenital criminal.
He made his name because of
his viciousness as a killer.
His entire life was engaged
in criminal activities.
African Americans were not
regarded in high stature,
and I think he was presenting
himself to Sam Giancana
as an equal.
[Harriet Jones]
Sam Giancana proposed to my
father to work for him,
and that he would give him
something like $100 a week.
And my father said,
"Are you crazy, man?"
That's when he revealed...
to this white Italian gangster
how much money there was
in the Policy business.
[Ford] I'm sure he bragged.
I mean, I'm sure they were
all bragging.
That's what people do in jail.
You know, that's what men
do out of jail.
That's what men do, they brag
about what they've got.
Huge mistake.
Of course he shouldn't
have talked.
He should've kept it,
but it's easy to say that
afterwards.
Maybe it was a way of--
maybe he wanted to impress
these guys.
Maybe it was a way
of keeping safe.
Maybe it was, I don't know.
But whatever it was,
but, yeah, obviously
he shouldn't have talked.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Lombardo]
When Jones got out,
he wanted to get involved
with the Mob,
putting jukeboxes all over
the South Side of Chicago,
because the Outfit
controlled the jukeboxes.
He saw that as a way to really
expand his own empire,
and that was a big mistake.
The way that the Outfit
always worked,
once they brought you in,
now they owned you.
Once they brought him in
to the jukebox racket,
they wanted more.
Mr. Jones' colleagues
did not look favorably on his
interactions with the Italians.
Theodore Roe
forewarned him to stay away,
and he was right.
[laughs] The Giacanas.
Now the Capones weren't there,
they didn't play, boy.
They'll take you out.
Chicago is a rough city, honey.
[Harris] Your business
get so big, then they say,
"Okay, now you've gotta
turn it in to us.
Now we your--
you've got a new partner."
And when you resisted,
they gave you a warning.
The warning was,
you was a hospital case.
And they would break your legs
with a baseball bat,
put you in the hospital.
Come back out and you go
back to work.
The second warning,
you was gonna be buried.
So you don't get
another chance.
That's how they operated.
[bell tolling]
[]
[tires squeal, crash]
I remember my father,
he took the phone
and I knew intuitively
that something terrible
had happened.
[Mason] My husband told me
that he was murdered,
that he was shot down
by the gangsters.
Now, I don't know
what gangsters.
The story was never
confirmed to me.
Lydia didn't-- well, naturally,
you know, she didn't want
to talk about it.
And Ed never mentioned it.
The only thing, you know,
we knew that he was killed,
and that was sort of kept
very, very quiet.
The Italians
started threatening Ed.
They threatened
to kidnap their children
and Ed had all sorts of
bodyguards around the school.
And he decided to just say,
"Okay, this is it.
My family is in danger."
And that's when he took his
family and went to Mexico.
[Lurigio]
He fled with his brother,
taking with him, supposedly,
as much as $14 million
to Mexico.
[Ford]
I credit your grandfather
for disengaging then.
Because a lot of people
do well, and they just
can't do well enough.
[Harriet Jones]
We always travelled by train.
Because my father
had a phobia for planes.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Harriet Jones]
We were privileged because
we had our own compartments.
When we got to Texas,
my father would say,
"Pull down the shades.
We don't want people coming in
and pulling us out."
Because there was
a lot of discrimination.
[]
When we first came to Mexico,
it was only my father
and mother
and the three children.
We realized that
we weren't going back
and we started school.
I don't think the teacher
was very happy
having someone who didn't
speak one word of Spanish.
She put me in
the back of the room
and gave me a book,
and she said,
"Write this--
write down the whole book."
So you can believe me,
I know how to write Spanish
so well.
My father would import cars
from the United States
into Mexico.
The things that my father
loved the most in Mexico
was his silkscreen factory,
and all of the people
who worked there,
they loved him.
It was very successful.
[Mason]
When Ed went to Mexico,
everything was legitimate.
Lydia had a wonderful shop
on Reforma Boulevard.
She had modelling,
she had beautiful clothes.
[Thompson]
While this is happening,
Ted steps up.
So all these times
Ed is taking off out of here,
it's Ted that's running
the business,
because it's Ted
that he trusts the most.
[Quincy Jones]
We went by the house in Mexico.
He said,
"This is Quincy Jones."
He said, "Quincy Jones?
He said, "You that
little bastard that cut
my daughter's hair?"
[laughs]
I said, "Oh, God, no!"
[Harriet Jones]
Josephine Baker came to Mexico.
My father financed her tour
to the States.
She was really a feisty woman.
She was incredible in that.
We would take the train
because my father wouldn't let
her either take the plane.
She would go where everybody
was sitting and she would
begin saying,
"It's terrible
what's happening here
in the States.
How can you people
be discriminated?"
My mother would say,
"Josephine, you're gonna
get us all killed."
The debut was in Boston,
and very few people came out.
The place was empty.
I remember turning around
and it was very empty.
People admired her
so much in France
and she was used to that.
They gave her
the Lgion d'honneur,
and she was a personality
in France!
And in the States, she was
just another Black person.
[man speaking French]
[crowd cheering]
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Thompson] They were leaving
the Ben Franklin Store.
They come down South Parkway,
and as soon as they park,
out of nowhere,
here comes another car.
One guy jumps out of the car
and puts a shotgun
in front of Brock's face.
Brock is the driver, one of
the long-time bodyguards
for the Jones brothers.
They snatch Ed
out of the car,
throw him on the floor
of the back of the getaway
car, take off.
[]
Ed's wife, Lydia,
is screaming for help.
-[siren wailing]
-As it so happened,
a police car just happened
to be coming along.
She points out what happened,
the chase ensues.
[siren wailing]
Really?
He had been kidnapped?
I have never heard of that.
Was it in Mexico?
My grandmother used
to tell me the story of how
he got kidnapped.
They took him out of the car
and she used to tell me
that she ran after
the car, and they started
shooting at her.
[Lombardo] Ed Jones
was kidnapped by the Mob
in order for them
to force their way in.
Jones refused
to let the Mob in,
so they now
were gonna take him.
When my father was kidnapped,
I had no idea.
People didn't tell
their children about different
things like that, no.
[]
He told me that he was
blindfolded the whole time.
And they put a gun
to his head.
And he thought that
maybe this is my last day.
[heart beating]
[Thompson] The initial ransom
was for $250,000.
But somewhere along the way,
it was reported that
the demand had been dropped
down to $100,000.
The drop was made,
and at some point,
Ed was released
in the middle of the night.
The kidnappers
were never caught.
That's what
I imagine Sam Giancana
said to your grandfather,
"You've lost
Chicago privileges.
You can continue to live
and you can go out and take
the money that you've made,
but from now on,
this is my business."
[]
Supposedly, Sam Giancana
visited Teddy Roe in his bar
and Teddy Roe punched him
and knocked him on the ground,
which showed that
Teddy Roe was a fearless man,
to strike the boss
of organized crime.
[Thompson]
Ted carried two guns,
was a very good shot,
and wasn't taking any crap
from anybody.
Sam Giancana
liked to push people around.
And Ted wasn't
being pushed around.
[Lurigio] Sam Giancana
tried to assassinate him.
[gunshots]
But Teddy Roe
and his bodyguard struck back
and killed a made member
of the Outfit,
Marshall Caifano's brother,
Fat Lennie.
[gunshot]
[]
[Lombardo]
He wasn't like most people.
When gangsters showed up
at your door,
people more or less gave up.
Teddy Roe didn't.
He fought them.
That was something
that was totally unheard of
at that particular time.
[Harriet M. Jones]
We have shown
the interstate connections
of the wire service,
of the Policy racket,
of other kinds of gambling,
and we will also,
in our investigation,
will show certain economic
effects of organized crime.
And the Kefauver Commission
was one of the first...
governmental entities
to actually expose
the amount of money that was
being earned out there
through crime
and criminal enterprise.
It brought a bright light
on something
that was really unknown
to 90% of America at the time.
[Kefauver]
Have you given contributions
to any political organizations
while you were in Chicago?
Well, I wouldn't say--
no, nothing
in a very definite manner.
Maybe if I had a precinct
captain or someone in there
who was looking for a donation
or something at election time,
possibly I'd give him something
to help him out.
Would you make a practice
of that every election?
Well, I wouldn't say
you make a practice of it,
but I guess if he came around.
You wouldn't make
a practice of refusing
in any event, would you?
Well, I don't think so.
I don't think I--
I never gave that
much thought.
Did you contribute to
any one party in particular,
or to both?
To both.
Anybody who asked,
you would give a contribution?
Well, that was
the natural thing.
[man] You'll have to speak
a little louder!
The reporters are having
difficulty understanding.
Did the precinct captains
in your district
know the business
you were in?
Well, I don't think
they were so interested.
Maybe, I guess so,
but not to any great extent.
They were more interested
in getting the votes.
Did the police
in your district know
the business you were in?
-Oh, I never knew that.
-Try to speak up.
I'm trying as hard as I can.
If I'm not speaking
loud enough.
-Now you're just whispering.
-No, am I?
[Thompson] The joke was,
Estes Kefauver
was one of the biggest gamblers
in this country.
How are you gonna trust
these guys?
We know for a fact
they're crooked
because we're the ones
that's been paying them off.
Uh...
you have an automobile agency
in Mexico City?
Yes, sir.
And what is Jones & Payne?
That was a milk
business that we had.
It was on the South Side.
-Do you still have that?
-No, we sold it.
When did you sell it?
Last year.
Then you have
some property you rent?
-Yes, sir.
-1951, this year.
No, this year.
We sold the milk business
this year, you'll pardon
me, please.
-You sold it this year?
-Yes, sir.
There's an item,
station income.
Could you state what that is?
-Station income?
-Yeah.
No, I don't know
what that is.
Well, item is $700.
-Station...
-Do you have any station
of any kind?
-For me?
-Yeah.
A gasoline station?
Oh, I guess
that must be something--
a revenue derived from
a Policy station.
But it's not--
it's not my income, I think,
it must be my wife's income
or something.
-A Policy station?
-I guess, I don't know.
What kind of a Policy station
would that be?
Excuse me, Judge.
[]
Ted Roe volunteered
to testify in front of
the Kefauver Committee
and he explained everything.
He explained the whole
Policy setup on the South
Side of Chicago.
And I think it was his way of
getting back at Sam Giancana,
to expose the effort
of the Mob
to take over
a Black enterprise.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Lurigio] Teddy Roe
then ensconced himself
in his mansion
on Michigan Avenue.
The building is still there.
And had bodyguards
surrounding him.
[]
This is the home of Ted Roe,
Policy King Ted Roe,
Chief Lieutenant
of the Jones brothers'
Policy and gambling
operations.
This is where he lived
and precisely...
that tree is where he died.
He had left the garage
around the corner
to change cars.
They offered to drop him off,
but he said, "No, I'm just
gonna run home."
So he drove himself
from the garage.
He goes in the house,
comes back outside
just about 10:00 at night.
[footsteps]
[car engine revs]
[Lurigio]
As legend has it,
he learned that he had
terminal cancer,
called his bodyguards off,
knew the end was inevitable,
went outside and walked
the streets unprotected.
[]
[gun cocking]
[gunshots]
[Quincy Jones] Ted Roe,
he was tough, boy! Oh!
He was tough, honey.
He was really tough.
That's why they took him out
in such a brutal way.
After they killed Roe,
it was almost over.
All of the Black communities
in America
were involved in that,
playing the numbers.
"Did you play the number?"
"What figure
did you play today?"
Well, that was as ghetto
as you could get, you know?
[]
This takeover
probably couldn't happen
without political blessing.
Now, you might say,
"Why was that, when they
provided so many votes?"
My personal opinion is that
the regular Democratic party
was afraid of the Black vote.
Black consciousness
was evolving.
They might want
a Black for mayor.
So by denying Policy money
to the Black community,
they were protecting
their long-term interests.
They were denying Blacks
the money to build or support
a strong African-American
candidate to run the city
of Chicago.
[]
[Thompson] The glory days
of Black people
controlling this neighborhood,
all of that was over.
Once the Mob moved in,
they took over the nightclubs,
they took over all
the legitimate businesses
operations,
as well as
the gambling operations.
[chatter]
[Harriet M. Jones]
One day, they were talking
on the phone,
my mother and my father,
and my mother said,
"He's not well."
And I said, "Do you think
it's serious?"
And she said, "Yes, I do."
And then my father came
to Chicago
and they discovered
that he had a cancer.
Then they operated on him
and they told him,
"Well, you probably have
five years to live."
And that's what he had.
My father was there
for my mother always,
and my mother was there
for my father always.
[wind howling]
It was Thanksgiving.
And it was freezing
in Chicago.
It was minus 15.
And Daddy, my father, said,
"No, don't go."
We realized that that he was--
that that was it.
And I remember holding him
and my mother
was right there with him.
And it was so beautiful
the way he died.
It was so beautiful.
Because he looked up
and he saw something.
For about half an hour
or three-quarters of an hour,
he saw something.
And it was just beautiful
to see that.
It took away all the--
you know, you can't be
frightened of death
when you see someone going
in that sense.
Yeah, so...
[]
[Mason] When Ed passed...
we were in the funeral home
and Mack said,
"Giancana is gonna pull up
in the back alley."
[footsteps echoing]
We watched these guys,
and they came in.
It was, like, six of them.
Tall, real big guys.
Just like the movies.
With the long coats
and everything.
And they inspected
the funeral home and then
they threw themselves up,
and he came through
like a king to pay his
respects to Lydia.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Mason] There was property
all over the South Side.
There were big, big
apartment buildings,
beautiful places.
[Thompson] They had money
in 25 different banks
around the world.
They made about
$110 or $115 million,
which was equivalent to
about a billion dollars then.
[]
[LaVerne Stephens]
Uncle George was always
very jealous of that.
After Edward died,
he capitalized
on the situation.
He just completely took over
because now, for the first time,
he could be in charge.
When Ed died,
Lydia was made the president
of the corporation.
Lydia spent a lot of time
with Harriet in France,
and Uncle George would send
all these business papers over
for Lydia to sign.
She didn't take time to really
read what she was signing.
She would just sign
and send it back.
[]
[Stephens] He used to come
up from Mexico
and have tons
and tons of paper.
And he would say, "Okay, Lydia,
I need you to sign here."
And she would sign
all these papers.
And finally, I said to her,
"Grandma, what are you doing?
Why aren't you reading these?
What are you signing?"
And she would say,
"It doesn't matter.
My husband's not here anymore."
And she would continue signing.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Marin] Mom would never
talk about her past.
Was it painful memories?
In terms of the loss,
that she still
hadn't accepted it?
I think she was ashamed
of having had all that money
and all that wealth.
[]
[Coles speaking French]
[Harriet M. Jones]
Ed was a person that believed
the sky was the limit
and there was nothing
that a Black man could not do.
He asked me,
in his deep voice,
"What do you wanna be, baby?"
And I said, "All I know is
I want to go to college."
He paid my way
and it's because of him
that I did get my degree.
He was busy trying to help
other Black people
become business owners
because he understood
that you can't work for other
people your entire life
and expect to live your life
exactly the way you want.
One of the people
that he helped
is Mr. Johnson
of Ebony Magazine.
He gave him
the money that he needed
to start his business
and the rest is history.
["Say it Loud - I'm Black
and I'm Proud" by James Brown]
[broadcaster] In Chicago,
in America, these days,
the new mood and message
of the country's Negros
comes over loud and clear:
Negro-owned radio stations
punch home the theme.
Good morning, Chicago!
Eddie Morrison here,
and it's so nice to have you.
Say it loud!
I'm Black and I'm proud!
Go ahead, James.
[song continues]
I'm Black and I'm proud!
Mom would have us repeat all the
time "I'm Black and I'm proud."
I'm Black and I'm proud!
I'm Black and I'm proud!
Which was funny
when you think about it.
A bit ridiculous,
because at the time,
honestly,
I had no notion of race.
I didn't see myself differently
from any white, Black,
or any other kids.
I was just a kid.
[speaking French]
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
I haven't finished cleaning up,
but it's presentable enough.
These are Policy slips
from the 1920's.
Policy was an economic arm
of the Black community.
It was the arm
that kept the Black community
in a position to be
independent politically.
Lou Caldwell
was the state representative.
He really championed
the cause of Policy.
He wanted to make Policy
a legal business
because African Americans
controlled it.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[TV lottery jingle]
[broadcaster] Welcome to
the Illinois' State Lottery.
As "evil" as they tried to paint
this picture of Policy
when it was in the hands
of Black men,
somewhere along the way,
it became good enough
for white men to turn into
the state lottery.
So I don't think God
had anything to do with that.
[TV lottery jingle]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Thompson] The money
that used to be generated
by your grandfather
and his guys
took care of the people
in the neighborhood.
It doesn't anymore.
In the 1980's,
states formally legislated
lottery money
to pay for public education.
Public schools have been closed
down all across this country.
The money from state lottery
is still being generated,
but it hasn't been spent on
public education.
So the big question is,
where is all this money?
[]
Poverty without inspiration
and examples,
took over this neighborhood.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
You're talking about a people
that was once,
despite what history
has told us,
were on a very progressive,
self-sufficient track.
Well, that does not always
make your oppressor happy.
What these guys did
was virtually lift
that foot of oppression
off the neck
so we were able
to move forward.
That's what it was all about,
progression.
[]
[Black Jr.]
Barack Obama,
would he have gotten
to the top so fast
anywhere else in the country
than Chicago?
We had some guys called
the Jones brothers
who financed businesses
and other things
that made us all successful
so that he could see
the success.
The door was gonna be open.
Be ready to walk in.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Laurent speaking French]
It is so important to
understand your history.
Because to know where you
come from, that helps you
get where you're going.
[]
[Coles speaking French]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[record static]
["Feeling Good"
by Nina Simone]
Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky,
You know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by,
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
Yeah, It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
Ooh
And I'm feeling good
Fish in the sea,
You know how I feel
River running free,
You know how I feel
Blossom on the tree,
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
And I'm feeling good
Dragonfly out in the sun
You know what I mean,
Don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun
You know what I mean
Sleep in peace
When day is done
That's what I mean
And this old world
Is a new world
And a bold world for me
Yeah, yeah
Stars when you shine,
You know how I feel
Scent of the pine,
You know how I feel
Oh, freedom is mine
And I know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
[scatting]
I'm feeling good
[]
-[birds chirping]
-[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
Uh, what do I know
about Edward?
Edward Jones?
Uh...
Uh...
[whispers]
I really don't know anything.
[]
[speaking Spanish]
All I know is that
his stomping grounds
were here in Chicago.
[tires screeching]
[train whistle blows]
[]
[man] As we
of the United States Senate
are committed to investigate
the tremendous importance
of organized crime,
it's even greater than
we thought it was,
both from the viewpoint
of criminal activity itself...
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Jackie Marin]
The first time I heard about
Edward Jones was through Mom.
She used to talk about him.
Not much, very little,
but that's how I heard
about him.
My mother really
limited herself
to tell us that
her father was incredible.
[speaking French]
It was difficult for her
to talk about it.
Never talked about it.
And if she did,
it was really half-words.
So it was a big mystery,
at least to me.
[speaking French]
[]
My name is Harriet, uh...
and I'm the daughter
of Edward Jones.
My father, Edward Jones,
he was a gentleman.
He was just a good person.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[]
[boat horn blows]
[men singing work song]
Order ahead, singing along!
[bell tolling]
[Harriet Jones]
My grandfather was a reverend
of the Baptist church.
His name, of course,
was Edward.
Edward Perry Jones,
just like my father.
And he had
a big Baptist church.
He was very well-known,
at least in Mississippi.
They had four boys:
my father, Edward,
my uncle George,
my uncle Mack,
and a baby who died
when he was three years old.
They had a very good life
in Mississippi.
All of the sons
played an instrument,
they did horseback riding,
but, you know, not the riding
the way people would ride.
They did mange.
[]
My grandfather
had a very important position
in the Republican party.
They had the first car
of the town.
My father,
who was 12 years old,
would drive the car
to the railroad station
and pick people up.
He would make a little money
doing that.
[train whistle blows]
[]
There was a white family
who lived very close
and the young girl,
a white girl,
came to borrow sugar
or something.
When she was leaving, my father
accompanied her to the door
and someone
in the KKK was passing.
[]
And so they sent threats
to my grandfather
and said, "Watch out."
My grandfather, he didn't wait
for something to happen.
He took the whole family
and left to Chicago.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Timuel Black Jr.]
The railroad came straight up
through Mississippi
and Alabama to Chicago.
Men like my father,
who had skills
and desires for the future...
that fled because of the terror
they were exposed to,
came to Chicago
to get better opportunities
and to be able to vote!
[]
[Robert Sengstacke]
The Black migration was
kicked off
by the Chicago Defender.
Because you could not
live in the South in those days.
I mean, you could get a job,
but what kind of job
could you get?
A Black person could leave
the South and come and have
two jobs...
in a day.
He could work at the stockyard
and he could also work
out in a steel mill.
My father made the Defender
in the '30s and '40s.
We sold at least
a quarter of a million papers
once a week.
Everybody stuck together
in the community
because they didn't have
anything but the Black
community.
[]
[Nathan Thompson]
Here we are in Evanston,
north of Chicago.
This was the first
church home in Illinois
for Reverend
Dr. Edward Perry Jones,
father of the Jones brothers.
He was a fire and brimstone
Baptist minister.
So this is where
the Illinois trail begins
for the Jones brothers.
[]
[Harriet Jones]
When my father was in Evanston,
he was going to
the University of Northwestern.
And he was studying pre-med.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Harriet Jones]
At the same time
he was studying,
he had a car business.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Harriet Jones]
My father and my Uncle George
would tell me that
when they were walking
on the sidewalk,
they'd have to get off
so white people
could walk on the sidewalk.
[traffic noise]
[Sylvie Laurent speaking French]
[]
[Coles speaking French]
[Thompson] Depending on
what color you are,
what gonna happen to you is
gonna be dramatically different.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Tallal Shakarchi]
Before then, I couldn't
even imagine.
It wasn't easy.
I mean, there--
still to this day,
it's not even that easy.
There were riots yesterday.
Not riots.
I guess more like
peace protests over killings
of a Black teenager.
Um, so...
it's-- it's notably
more difficult
for someone of different-color
skin to, you know...
become as successful as he did
back then.
[sirens wailing]
[]
[Nicholas Ford] In those days,
things were really divided
according to ethnicity.
There was an Irish neighborhood,
there was a German neighborhood,
there was an Italian
neighborhood and there was
a Polish neighborhood.
Lithuanian neighborhood.
That's about 90%
of Anglo-Chicago
right there.
Then there was
African-American
neighborhoods.
I think most white folks
didn't go into
African-American
neighborhoods
and I don't think
many African-Americans
went into white people's
neighborhoods either.
In August of 1919,
some young Black men
came to the 31st St.
Beach at Lake Michigan.
-[seagulls calling]
-[crowd chatter]
Blacks could only swim
on one part of that lake
and if they swam
outside of that part...
they were violating
the rule.
There were gangs.
And they ganged up
on this young man
and drowned him.
[]
The population
that had fled the South
began to fight back.
They were outraged.
And young men who had served
in World War I...
they fought back
because they were
experienced soldiers.
[]
That was the first time
in the history of this country
that there had been
a retaliation...
for attacks on Blacks...
in this country.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Thompson]
When he was studying medicine
at the time,
he was working for the train,
supporting hisself.
He was a dining car
supervisor.
There are stories that he
was running crap games
and card games
in one of the back cars
with some of
the regular riders.
[men cheering]
It was probably easier
for a Black man at that time
to go into gambling
as opposed to believing
you're gonna end up
practicing medicine
in a hospital.
These high-end
professional occupations
that African-Americans
are in today,
those weren't available
to a lot of African-Americans
in those days.
If you really want to do well
in business,
he might've taken the path
that led him to the greatest
success.
[]
[bells tolling]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Thompson]
After Reverend Jones died
and the eldest sons
came home,
they ultimately found
their way into
the Policy and Numbers rackets.
Policy and Numbers rackets
are what you know today
as the State Lottery.
But long before
there was a State Lottery,
there was this illegal numbers
game called Policy,
owned, operated,
and controlled by Black men
called Policy Kings
and Numbers Racketeers.
[]
[Arthur Lurigio] The Policy
racket was a form of gambling
that was affordable
to the mass public,
so it gave the everyday man
or woman an opportunity
to strike it rich.
And every day people
would play the Policy.
There were many places where
they could place their bets
all around the South Side
of Chicago,
which is where it began,
in what became a thriving
African-American community
known as Bronzeville.
[]
[children shouting]
[Robert Lombardo]
African-Americans in Chicago,
particularly in the South Side,
had a rich tradition
of casino gambling,
dice games, card games
before the advent of Policy.
While Policy was in its infancy,
Black organized crime
within the Black community
in the form
of illicit gambling
was already thriving.
[Harriet Jones]
Uncle Mack, he was working
in a Policy office.
So he was telling my father,
"Wow, you know, it's not bad."
And so my father said, "Okay."
And my father,
he understood numbers.
He would take
a whole long list of numbers,
and he would be able
to just calculate it...
[trills tongue]
Like that, all immediately.
If you bet a nickel
on a number...
and it comes out,
you might win $5
A lot of people might put
$10 on one number,
and if that one number
falls out,
then they're picking up $500,
they're picking up $1,000.
When my grandfather died,
I think my grandmother,
she had an insurance
for $16,000
or something like that.
And she gave it to her sons.
[]
[Tom Harris]
You had to get to State St.
The station was right off
of Wabash.
We're at 40... what?
-48th and Michigan, right?
-48, right.
[]
[Thompson]
This is the first
Policy station
owned by the Jones brothers.
So people would come in here
and place their bets.
Now, the front half
was a tailor shop,
so when you first walk in,
you're gonna see garments.
You're gonna see fabric.
Probably some guy standing
in there with a tape measure
around his neck.
That's the whole front,
it has to look legitimate.
[sewing machines whirring]
But in the back,
it's Policy action.
You've got a bunch of guys
sitting around
counting all this money,
getting it ready to go
to the bank.
-[chatter]
-[wheel clicking]
There's a big rivalry going on
between this Policy station
and the Policy station
in the barber shop
across the street.
Mack used to work
for that guy.
Ezra Leake was one of
the better-known guys
and one of the leading guys
of the time.
The Jones brothers...
people liked them,
people respected them.
Ezra Leake was more of
a street hustler type.
The rivalry was just intense.
[Harriet Jones]
My grandmother told them,
"Whatever you do
with the Policy,
always be totally honest.
Whoever makes the money, you
give the money immediately."
And people appreciated that.
[Thompson]
In less than two years,
they became the leading,
number-one Policy wheel
in town.
How many other
Policy operators
get relegated to the back seat
because of the Jones brothers?
How did that happen?
They had to be very well-liked
and very well-trusted.
["Jungle Jazz Room"
by Steve Gray]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Thompson] This is one of
the most historic buildings
in all of Chicago.
And your grandfather
and his brothers
had a lot to do with this.
Okay, let's go there.
At noon, when they got ready
to pull the numbers for
the midday draw,
a lot of people
would find their way here.
Of course they would go around
to the alley and go in
through a back door
and come up in one of the rooms
where the drawing was set up.
[Black Jr.]
Sometimes, my father
would take my brother and I
down to the Policy wheel...
to watch them
draw the numbers.
I would see Ed there
watching
as the Policy numbers
would be drawn out.
[wheels clicking]
[Thompson] The winning numbers
for Policy are derived
by pulling the winning
numbers from a drum.
So you get the term
Policy Wheel.
And it actually comes from
the crank on the drum
that you mixing the numbers
up in and draw the
winning numbers from.
[chatter]
It was like a gathering place
where they would stop and talk
and gossip
about what was going on
while they played
their numbers.
So they went to the station
to have fun,
as well as try
to make some money
with their nickels
and dimes and quarters.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
We used to eat rats
for dinner.
My mother sent me
and my brothers to get rats
out of the river.
And she'd fry them
with kerosene lamps.
[Thompson] Just about
everybody played Policy.
Policy business
was the only hope they had
in terms of being able
to eat dinner tonight.
[]
[Ford]
It's mystic, on some level.
It's this idea, this glimmer,
that everyone's in search of
some life-changing moment
that's gonna change
the circumstances they're in.
If you were sitting
in some little cold-water flat
on the South Side
of the city of Chicago,
all you had to do
was have your number come up
and you were gonna be okay.
And it didn't matter
whether you won or lost.
You just had to have
the ability to win
and the understanding
that if you did win,
you were gonna be paid.
[]
[Thompson] What was
a nickel-and-dime racket
got transformed into
a multi-million-dollar
business enterprise.
And it becomes
the biggest Policy Wheel,
not in just Chicago,
but in the country.
[]
[Harry Mays] Back in those
days, they would generate
supposedly $15,
$20,000 a day
just on small change.
[laughs]
My uncle, John Willy,
had a Policy Wheel with your
grandfather, Ed Jones.
There was a Vienna bathhouse
on 41st and Indiana.
And back in the '30s,
they didn't service Blacks.
He went in there and he was,
you know, he was a big guy.
A real fair-complected.
But he went in there
and they told him they
didn't service Negros,
so he went back
the next day and he bought it.
Paid cash for it.
And fired them all.
[laughs]
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[scatting]
Black people were not
admitted to the Cotton Club,
but my father was well-known
at that moment,
and so they let him in.
["Jungle Jazz Room"
by Steve Gray]
[Harriet Jones]
My mother was dancing
at the Cotton Club.
She was, I think,
part of the chorus.
He would always talk about
how she looked so beautiful.
[]
He invited her to the table
and they fell in love.
[Edith Mason]
He was extremely charming.
He was a classy man.
Highly intelligent.
Very contained and controlled
with a great sense of humor.
And Lena Horne was there
at the same time.
He used to love
to tell the joke
and laugh, he'd say,
"Well, I had the choice
of Lena Horne
and I had the choice
of Lydia."
He said, "I think I made
the best choice!"
[laughs]
[]
[Harriet Jones]
He left the following day...
but they kept sending letters
to each other,
talking to each other.
My mother
would tell the story to me
that one day
they went out on the town,
and she got my father
a little tipsy,
and they married.
[bells ringing]
[children laughing]
When we lived in Chicago,
it was one building,
and each one had a floor.
My father was on
the first floor,
Uncle Mack
was on the second floor,
and Uncle George
was on the third floor.
My grandmother
was across the street.
After my grandfather died,
there was a doctor
who wanted to marry her.
She was a young woman.
She was an attractive woman
and her three sons said,
"No! You can't marry."
And so then she said,
"Okay, if I don't marry,
you have to come
and visit me every day.
Because I don't want
to be alone."
And so the sons,
they would visit her.
She was a very strict woman.
[]
I don't think my grandmother
liked my mother very much.
Maybe because
she was a showgirl.
So I really don't know,
but I don't think she liked her.
And I remember my mother
telling me when she was
25 years old,
she began smoking
because my grandmother
said something
sort of demeaning to her.
My father never took
my mother's side
against his mother,
you know, to tell her,
"Okay, just leave her alone"
or whatever. No.
Because she was very fragile.
[]
My parents owned a home
on Michigan Avenue
a block away from the school,
so that's where
I attended school.
And very well-to-do Black
children went there.
I had no idea Harriet
was attending at the same time.
[Harriet Jones]
We lived a privileged life.
When I say a privileged life,
I mean that
we had people
taking care of us,
we had a cook,
we had a chauffeur.
[Quincy Jones] My father
was a carpenter for all
of the Jones boys.
He built their homes.
I met your grandfather...
at a birthday party
at his house.
I think it was
Harriet's birthday.
And she asked me
to give her a haircut.
She was five years old,
I was seven.
And I made the mistake
of giving her a haircut
and I cut
all of her hair off.
And my father kicked my booty.
He said, "Do you know
who her father is?"
I said-- at seven years old,
you don't know what's going on,
you know?
["Million Dollars"
by Will Grove-White]
[Thompson] This location
is known as a place where
all the big stars come
to party and hang out.
[scatting]
[Thompson] These guys
were making tons of money.
Hobnobbing with the rich folks
and the politicians
and all this kind of thing.
People are gonna
come after them.
People are gonna do
whatever they have to do
to separate these guys
from this money.
[]
In the 1930's,
this block
was a virtual fortress.
Bodyguards
all up and down this block.
In Chicago
he had bodyguards,
that I remember.
[Harriet M. Jones]
My father was never violent.
Never! Never!
Never.
Um, no, never.
[Harriet M. Jones]
Of course he never
carried a gun!
Everybody carried guns.
Eddy had to,
to protect himself.
Because they was
tryin' to kill him.
She's always trying to make him
into a saint, you know?
I say, "But, baby,
he's a gangster!"
My father was never a gangster.
Gangsters are gangsters!
A gangster will do whatever
it takes to do his thing,
to survive, you know?
It's normal.
[Thompson] Al Capone
had his own alliance
with Policy Kings.
[crowd yelling]
Before Capone left the city,
going to prison
for tax evasion,
in 1931...
a lot of the illegal liquor
that found its way
to the South...
from the North
was shipped in coffins
of dead Black people
going home for burial.
As long as they helped
move his liquor,
he left them alone
in their gambling business.
In Chicago,
the organized crime group
is called the Mob,
also called the Outfit.
-[tires squealing]
-[gunshots]
[Thompson]
Al Capone was a gangster.
Ed Jones was a racketeer.
Capone used the gun
to get what he wanted.
And Jones used the gun
to protect what he had.
[Black Jr.] They weren't
going down the streets
shooting at people.
They had guns
to protect themselves
against them honkies
that might be coming over
trying to get some
of that money.
[Ford] One thing about Policy
is that it was just Policy.
Now, within the Outfit,
you had gambling,
you had prostitution,
during Prohibition,
you had alcohol.
Policy Kings didn't force
their racket on anybody,
they didn't invade
other communities.
They essentially
minded their own business,
as opposed to the Mob.
Violence was a prerogative
of the Italian Mob,
and that's what
they were all about.
They used violence to further
all of their activities.
[]
The Mob was involved in
the kidnapping of Mack Jones,
in order to force their way in.
If there was trouble,
Ted Roe would be sent.
He was like their front man.
There was some
sort of a ransom
paid by Teddy Roe.
But they didn't harm him
during the kidnapping.
They didn't beat him,
they didn't torture him.
1931 was an underworld
orgy of murder.
[gunfire]
David Giles, a very close
friend of Ed Jones,
is murdered by these gangsters.
[distant sirens, crowd]
When he was murdered,
that changed everything.
His murder caused
the single biggest
meeting of Policy Kings
in this city's history.
[]
And that's when Ed started
talking about organizing.
"We can all fight these guys
individually by ourselves
and get knocked off
one by one,
or we can all unify
and deal with this thing
as a unit."
Ed made that happen.
This is the beginning
of the rise
of the Policy Syndicate.
Ed Jones is the founder
and the head of the Syndicate.
So we're talking about
a syndicate of 12 people.
Three of these people
are the Jones brothers.
And then the rest of these guys
are a collection of men
who are independently operating
their own Policy businesses.
[Harriet M. Jones]
["Jungle Jazz Room"
by Steve Gray]
[Thompson]
The Prohibition era was over.
Everybody is looking for
new revenue streams.
This is during
the Depression.
And the guys
who were making all the money
were these Black guys
on the South Side of Chicago.
[Quincy Jones]
At that time, it wasn't easy
to do what he did.
Now these guys that come up,
even look like
they're looking up,
with ties on
and taking care of themselves,
of their physical appearance,
with respect, you know?
I love that.
I love that. And that stuck
with me real strong.
[distant car engine]
As a young kid,
you see that and say,
"That's what I've gotta do."
You wanna be what you see.
It was a sign of hope,
you know?
He had all of the intelligence,
the eloquence,
the sensitivity.
Everything.
Passion. He had it all.
Because you need that
to be a leader.
And he was definitely
a leader, honey.
And back at a time when
it was difficult.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Thompson] The common sentiment
of the day was that
the Republicans
could not control the city
because of all
of the gangsterism
and all of the killing
that was going on
from the Capone Mob
and their rivals.
[horns honking]
The outgoing Republican mayor
was Thompson.
'Big Bill' Thompson.
[television jingle]
[Mayor Thompson] There are those
who would have you believe
that Chicago is
the crime-ridden center
of our country, or the world.
It is untrue.
[crowd shouting]
[Thompson] Whatever money
is being generated
with illegal gambling
and illegal liquor...
he wants to control it
for himself.
He's sending cops out here.
Police raids.
They cracked down
on everybody.
In comes Anton Cermak,
Democrat.
Cermak's issue is that he
doesn't really like Black
people.
But the Democrats
are jockeying for a position.
They knew they couldn't do
it by themselves.
So they looked to the single
most influential Black man
in Chicago at that time.
It was not a preacher,
it was not a business man,
or a banker.
It was Ed Jones.
[]
[Lombardo]
Historically, African-Americans
were Republican
in the city of Chicago,
and Ed Jones
had a lot to do with the shift
from Republican to Democrat.
Being able to deliver
the whole South Side of Chicago
for your candidate
was critically important.
He had a series of mayors.
Big Bill Thompson
was a very corrupt person.
He was followed
by Anton Cermak,
who tried to straighten
some of this out,
uh, but still, he wanted control
of the Policy people,
particularly because
of their votes.
[]
[Thompson]
Cermak says, "If your people
switch their allegiance
to the Democratic party,
actions of the police
department will stop.
Vote how we tell you to vote,
we'll leave you alone."
[crowd cheering]
It wasn't really about
ideological loyalty to a party.
It was the party that was
gonna provide you with
the greatest protection,
so that your criminal
enterprise could operate
unscathed,
with the protection
of the police
and other politicians
making sure that your business
wasn't interrupted.
[Lombardo] All these guys,
even the Italian Mob,
they were a product
of their times.
They were a product of social
disorganization, of poverty,
of the government
not doing its job.
You can't have organized crime
without a corrupt government.
[]
[traffic noise]
[Harris] The police
were coming to bet, too.
You write their bets,
the police, the firemen.
Everybody.
I wrote for all of them.
So when they had raids,
everybody knew.
'Cause they would call and say,
"Hey, get ready, they're coming.
Get yourself out.
Get somebody ready.
They need to take somebody in."
[siren wailing]
[police yelling]
At some point,
all the money and everything
is going to end up
at this address.
The police that worked for them
would pull up here
at the specified time
and guys would come out
carrying these satchels
of money,
put them in the car.
Sometimes it was
your great-uncle Mack,
sometimes it was
your great-uncle George.
Ed rarely did it himself.
[]
But they'd load these cars
up with Ted Roe
and they would be flanked
by a police car,
following them to the bank
to deposit this money.
This is an all-cash business.
They had a contract with
the Hawthorne Milk Company
to deliver milk to all
of the Black public schools.
Every truck that was going
in and out of here
delivering milk to the schools
were also making Policy pickups.
They had an operation
that was going exceedingly well,
that was earning more than
a million dollars annually,
employing 10,000 people.
[Black Jr.]
The Jones brothers,
because of
their educational background,
were more than just gamblers.
They had lawyers,
they had accountants,
they were businessmen.
[Thompson] The Jones brothers
were financing med students
out of school
setting up medical practices,
doctors and dentists,
law students.
I would have to call them
the Robin Hoods of Chicago.
During the Depression, the '30s,
they were Robin Hoods.
'Cause they took care
of their people.
[chatter]
Ed Jones was famous for giving
away food at Christmastime.
He also invested in Joe Louis,
the fighter.
He provided tremendous
amount of pride for
the Black community.
[cheering]
[Ford]
He invested in his people.
He owned a big store
on the South Side
of the city of Chicago
in areas that big business
really wasn't touching.
He empowered
the people that lived there
by letting them have
the same retail options
that people on
the North Side had.
[Thompson]
Time Magazine
declared Bronzeville
the US center
of Negro business.
[Lurigio] The Policy rackets
provided people with an income
and the millions of dollars
that were generated
were invested
back into the community
and the purchasing
of legal businesses.
So it was an underground
economy that thrived.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Black Jr.] The population
density in the Bronzeville
was four times that in
adjoining white communities
like Hyde Park-Kenwood.
In Hyde Park-Kenwood,
the population would be
21,000 per square mile.
In Bronzeville,
84,000 per square mile.
So we were constantly moving
to find more space.
Neighborhoods being
overcrowded
meant the schools
were overcrowded.
And so every time
parents could find a place
where their children could go
to a less-crowded school,
they moved so that
their children would have
a better education.
[]
[teacher talking indistinctly]
[Harriet Jones] My father took
us to a very good school
and he asked for us to be in
this school, and they said,
"No, we don't take
Black children.
We don't take
colored children."
[]
[speaking French]
[]
I think all of that
was a reason for us
to move to France.
-[seagulls calling]
-[ship's horn blows]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Harriet Jones] My father
bought an apartment there.
1, Boulevard Pershing.
We could go to school there.
They were very happy
to be in France
because there was
no discrimination.
They could go
wherever they wanted.
They could do
whatever they wanted.
And they loved that.
They learned a bit of French.
And my parents
saw Josephine Baker.
I remember very vividly
her with her cheetah.
-[]
-[crowd chatting]
My parents,
they enjoyed life.
I remember
my mother dressing up
and looking so beautiful.
My mother, she had
a very difficult childhood.
She was born
in Hell's Kitchen
in New York.
[]
She didn't have
enough to eat.
Her mother wasn't
the best kind of mother,
let's say that.
When she was a little girl,
four years old,
someone would give her
a little alcohol to drink
so she would dance.
She was raped
when she was 13 years old.
She had a little baby girl,
my sister Dorothy.
A very nice family
took her and she went to live
in West Virginia.
My mother,
she began working very young.
One of the jobs that she had
was an elevator girl.
And then, all of a sudden,
she realized that she was
a pretty, young woman
and that's when
she travelled to Europe
and her life changed.
[Mijatovic] Her beginnings
were very difficult,
and I think that's why
my grandmother started dancing,
just to try to make it,
to survive.
["Million Dollars"
by Will Grove-White]
[Harriet Jones]
In Paris, she was in
La Revue Ngre
with Josephine Baker.
They were roommates.
[]
[air raid sirens wailing]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Harriet Jones] We lived
there until the war started.
And I remember the sirens,
that you had to run
into the closet and put on
the gas mask.
And I can still smell
the smell of the gas mask.
[clamoring]
And my father got us
the last tickets
on a ship going back
to the States.
The friends of the family,
all are dead.
The Germans had
their headquarters
in the apartment
where we lived.
[]
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
I know my great-grandfather
went to jail.
Do I know why
he went to jail?
I didn't even know
he went to jail.
I have no clue
why he went to jail.
[laughs]
Why did he go to jail?
[Thompson]
When the Feds
went after
the Jones brothers,
it really didn't have
anything to do with gambling,
or hiding money,
and not reporting money
on your income tax return.
No, that's what
he got pinched for.
That's not really
what it was about.
It was about
the Black community at large
and the most influential people
who are making a difference.
Those people
have to be marginalized
so that Black agenda does
never progresses to the point
that it's on even par
with ours.
That can never happen.
[]
All the brothers,
and the mother,
were all named
for tax evasion.
The deal that he cut
was to first get his mother
off the hook.
She never had to answer
for any of this, legally.
That's something that Ed
made absolute sure of,
his mother would never
see a day in jail.
Ed flew out with a check,
but they wouldn't accept it.
The Jones brothers felt if
they didn't plead guilty,
that all three of them
would be imprisoned.
And Ed agreed to be
the person who would take
the responsibility.
He felt that
his brother George
could not take
the time in jail,
would not have the,
you know,
the mettle to do the time.
So he took
the jail time for him.
[Thompson]
After they had indicted them,
after they had frozen
their bank accounts,
they ended up giving them back
$850,000.
That's admitting,
without admitting,
that the government was wrong.
The white establishment
that's controlled all of this
for all these generations
have never been willing
to talk about that.
They never want to acknowledge
that someone Black
actually had more power,
more knowledge,
and more insight than they did.
[]
[Harriet Jones]
I was a little girl,
and I didn't know
he was going to jail.
They told me that
he was going to the war.
I heard that
when he went to jail,
they made an IQ test,
and they had never seen
such a high IQ.
And so they put him
in solitary.
[]
[Lurigio]
Sam Giancana was there
for operating
an illegal whiskey still.
They struck up a friendship,
probably because
they were both from Chicago.
Sam Giancana
was a congenital criminal.
He made his name because of
his viciousness as a killer.
His entire life was engaged
in criminal activities.
African Americans were not
regarded in high stature,
and I think he was presenting
himself to Sam Giancana
as an equal.
[Harriet Jones]
Sam Giancana proposed to my
father to work for him,
and that he would give him
something like $100 a week.
And my father said,
"Are you crazy, man?"
That's when he revealed...
to this white Italian gangster
how much money there was
in the Policy business.
[Ford] I'm sure he bragged.
I mean, I'm sure they were
all bragging.
That's what people do in jail.
You know, that's what men
do out of jail.
That's what men do, they brag
about what they've got.
Huge mistake.
Of course he shouldn't
have talked.
He should've kept it,
but it's easy to say that
afterwards.
Maybe it was a way of--
maybe he wanted to impress
these guys.
Maybe it was a way
of keeping safe.
Maybe it was, I don't know.
But whatever it was,
but, yeah, obviously
he shouldn't have talked.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Lombardo]
When Jones got out,
he wanted to get involved
with the Mob,
putting jukeboxes all over
the South Side of Chicago,
because the Outfit
controlled the jukeboxes.
He saw that as a way to really
expand his own empire,
and that was a big mistake.
The way that the Outfit
always worked,
once they brought you in,
now they owned you.
Once they brought him in
to the jukebox racket,
they wanted more.
Mr. Jones' colleagues
did not look favorably on his
interactions with the Italians.
Theodore Roe
forewarned him to stay away,
and he was right.
[laughs] The Giacanas.
Now the Capones weren't there,
they didn't play, boy.
They'll take you out.
Chicago is a rough city, honey.
[Harris] Your business
get so big, then they say,
"Okay, now you've gotta
turn it in to us.
Now we your--
you've got a new partner."
And when you resisted,
they gave you a warning.
The warning was,
you was a hospital case.
And they would break your legs
with a baseball bat,
put you in the hospital.
Come back out and you go
back to work.
The second warning,
you was gonna be buried.
So you don't get
another chance.
That's how they operated.
[bell tolling]
[]
[tires squeal, crash]
I remember my father,
he took the phone
and I knew intuitively
that something terrible
had happened.
[Mason] My husband told me
that he was murdered,
that he was shot down
by the gangsters.
Now, I don't know
what gangsters.
The story was never
confirmed to me.
Lydia didn't-- well, naturally,
you know, she didn't want
to talk about it.
And Ed never mentioned it.
The only thing, you know,
we knew that he was killed,
and that was sort of kept
very, very quiet.
The Italians
started threatening Ed.
They threatened
to kidnap their children
and Ed had all sorts of
bodyguards around the school.
And he decided to just say,
"Okay, this is it.
My family is in danger."
And that's when he took his
family and went to Mexico.
[Lurigio]
He fled with his brother,
taking with him, supposedly,
as much as $14 million
to Mexico.
[Ford]
I credit your grandfather
for disengaging then.
Because a lot of people
do well, and they just
can't do well enough.
[Harriet Jones]
We always travelled by train.
Because my father
had a phobia for planes.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Harriet Jones]
We were privileged because
we had our own compartments.
When we got to Texas,
my father would say,
"Pull down the shades.
We don't want people coming in
and pulling us out."
Because there was
a lot of discrimination.
[]
When we first came to Mexico,
it was only my father
and mother
and the three children.
We realized that
we weren't going back
and we started school.
I don't think the teacher
was very happy
having someone who didn't
speak one word of Spanish.
She put me in
the back of the room
and gave me a book,
and she said,
"Write this--
write down the whole book."
So you can believe me,
I know how to write Spanish
so well.
My father would import cars
from the United States
into Mexico.
The things that my father
loved the most in Mexico
was his silkscreen factory,
and all of the people
who worked there,
they loved him.
It was very successful.
[Mason]
When Ed went to Mexico,
everything was legitimate.
Lydia had a wonderful shop
on Reforma Boulevard.
She had modelling,
she had beautiful clothes.
[Thompson]
While this is happening,
Ted steps up.
So all these times
Ed is taking off out of here,
it's Ted that's running
the business,
because it's Ted
that he trusts the most.
[Quincy Jones]
We went by the house in Mexico.
He said,
"This is Quincy Jones."
He said, "Quincy Jones?
He said, "You that
little bastard that cut
my daughter's hair?"
[laughs]
I said, "Oh, God, no!"
[Harriet Jones]
Josephine Baker came to Mexico.
My father financed her tour
to the States.
She was really a feisty woman.
She was incredible in that.
We would take the train
because my father wouldn't let
her either take the plane.
She would go where everybody
was sitting and she would
begin saying,
"It's terrible
what's happening here
in the States.
How can you people
be discriminated?"
My mother would say,
"Josephine, you're gonna
get us all killed."
The debut was in Boston,
and very few people came out.
The place was empty.
I remember turning around
and it was very empty.
People admired her
so much in France
and she was used to that.
They gave her
the Lgion d'honneur,
and she was a personality
in France!
And in the States, she was
just another Black person.
[man speaking French]
[crowd cheering]
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Thompson] They were leaving
the Ben Franklin Store.
They come down South Parkway,
and as soon as they park,
out of nowhere,
here comes another car.
One guy jumps out of the car
and puts a shotgun
in front of Brock's face.
Brock is the driver, one of
the long-time bodyguards
for the Jones brothers.
They snatch Ed
out of the car,
throw him on the floor
of the back of the getaway
car, take off.
[]
Ed's wife, Lydia,
is screaming for help.
-[siren wailing]
-As it so happened,
a police car just happened
to be coming along.
She points out what happened,
the chase ensues.
[siren wailing]
Really?
He had been kidnapped?
I have never heard of that.
Was it in Mexico?
My grandmother used
to tell me the story of how
he got kidnapped.
They took him out of the car
and she used to tell me
that she ran after
the car, and they started
shooting at her.
[Lombardo] Ed Jones
was kidnapped by the Mob
in order for them
to force their way in.
Jones refused
to let the Mob in,
so they now
were gonna take him.
When my father was kidnapped,
I had no idea.
People didn't tell
their children about different
things like that, no.
[]
He told me that he was
blindfolded the whole time.
And they put a gun
to his head.
And he thought that
maybe this is my last day.
[heart beating]
[Thompson] The initial ransom
was for $250,000.
But somewhere along the way,
it was reported that
the demand had been dropped
down to $100,000.
The drop was made,
and at some point,
Ed was released
in the middle of the night.
The kidnappers
were never caught.
That's what
I imagine Sam Giancana
said to your grandfather,
"You've lost
Chicago privileges.
You can continue to live
and you can go out and take
the money that you've made,
but from now on,
this is my business."
[]
Supposedly, Sam Giancana
visited Teddy Roe in his bar
and Teddy Roe punched him
and knocked him on the ground,
which showed that
Teddy Roe was a fearless man,
to strike the boss
of organized crime.
[Thompson]
Ted carried two guns,
was a very good shot,
and wasn't taking any crap
from anybody.
Sam Giancana
liked to push people around.
And Ted wasn't
being pushed around.
[Lurigio] Sam Giancana
tried to assassinate him.
[gunshots]
But Teddy Roe
and his bodyguard struck back
and killed a made member
of the Outfit,
Marshall Caifano's brother,
Fat Lennie.
[gunshot]
[]
[Lombardo]
He wasn't like most people.
When gangsters showed up
at your door,
people more or less gave up.
Teddy Roe didn't.
He fought them.
That was something
that was totally unheard of
at that particular time.
[Harriet M. Jones]
We have shown
the interstate connections
of the wire service,
of the Policy racket,
of other kinds of gambling,
and we will also,
in our investigation,
will show certain economic
effects of organized crime.
And the Kefauver Commission
was one of the first...
governmental entities
to actually expose
the amount of money that was
being earned out there
through crime
and criminal enterprise.
It brought a bright light
on something
that was really unknown
to 90% of America at the time.
[Kefauver]
Have you given contributions
to any political organizations
while you were in Chicago?
Well, I wouldn't say--
no, nothing
in a very definite manner.
Maybe if I had a precinct
captain or someone in there
who was looking for a donation
or something at election time,
possibly I'd give him something
to help him out.
Would you make a practice
of that every election?
Well, I wouldn't say
you make a practice of it,
but I guess if he came around.
You wouldn't make
a practice of refusing
in any event, would you?
Well, I don't think so.
I don't think I--
I never gave that
much thought.
Did you contribute to
any one party in particular,
or to both?
To both.
Anybody who asked,
you would give a contribution?
Well, that was
the natural thing.
[man] You'll have to speak
a little louder!
The reporters are having
difficulty understanding.
Did the precinct captains
in your district
know the business
you were in?
Well, I don't think
they were so interested.
Maybe, I guess so,
but not to any great extent.
They were more interested
in getting the votes.
Did the police
in your district know
the business you were in?
-Oh, I never knew that.
-Try to speak up.
I'm trying as hard as I can.
If I'm not speaking
loud enough.
-Now you're just whispering.
-No, am I?
[Thompson] The joke was,
Estes Kefauver
was one of the biggest gamblers
in this country.
How are you gonna trust
these guys?
We know for a fact
they're crooked
because we're the ones
that's been paying them off.
Uh...
you have an automobile agency
in Mexico City?
Yes, sir.
And what is Jones & Payne?
That was a milk
business that we had.
It was on the South Side.
-Do you still have that?
-No, we sold it.
When did you sell it?
Last year.
Then you have
some property you rent?
-Yes, sir.
-1951, this year.
No, this year.
We sold the milk business
this year, you'll pardon
me, please.
-You sold it this year?
-Yes, sir.
There's an item,
station income.
Could you state what that is?
-Station income?
-Yeah.
No, I don't know
what that is.
Well, item is $700.
-Station...
-Do you have any station
of any kind?
-For me?
-Yeah.
A gasoline station?
Oh, I guess
that must be something--
a revenue derived from
a Policy station.
But it's not--
it's not my income, I think,
it must be my wife's income
or something.
-A Policy station?
-I guess, I don't know.
What kind of a Policy station
would that be?
Excuse me, Judge.
[]
Ted Roe volunteered
to testify in front of
the Kefauver Committee
and he explained everything.
He explained the whole
Policy setup on the South
Side of Chicago.
And I think it was his way of
getting back at Sam Giancana,
to expose the effort
of the Mob
to take over
a Black enterprise.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Lurigio] Teddy Roe
then ensconced himself
in his mansion
on Michigan Avenue.
The building is still there.
And had bodyguards
surrounding him.
[]
This is the home of Ted Roe,
Policy King Ted Roe,
Chief Lieutenant
of the Jones brothers'
Policy and gambling
operations.
This is where he lived
and precisely...
that tree is where he died.
He had left the garage
around the corner
to change cars.
They offered to drop him off,
but he said, "No, I'm just
gonna run home."
So he drove himself
from the garage.
He goes in the house,
comes back outside
just about 10:00 at night.
[footsteps]
[car engine revs]
[Lurigio]
As legend has it,
he learned that he had
terminal cancer,
called his bodyguards off,
knew the end was inevitable,
went outside and walked
the streets unprotected.
[]
[gun cocking]
[gunshots]
[Quincy Jones] Ted Roe,
he was tough, boy! Oh!
He was tough, honey.
He was really tough.
That's why they took him out
in such a brutal way.
After they killed Roe,
it was almost over.
All of the Black communities
in America
were involved in that,
playing the numbers.
"Did you play the number?"
"What figure
did you play today?"
Well, that was as ghetto
as you could get, you know?
[]
This takeover
probably couldn't happen
without political blessing.
Now, you might say,
"Why was that, when they
provided so many votes?"
My personal opinion is that
the regular Democratic party
was afraid of the Black vote.
Black consciousness
was evolving.
They might want
a Black for mayor.
So by denying Policy money
to the Black community,
they were protecting
their long-term interests.
They were denying Blacks
the money to build or support
a strong African-American
candidate to run the city
of Chicago.
[]
[Thompson] The glory days
of Black people
controlling this neighborhood,
all of that was over.
Once the Mob moved in,
they took over the nightclubs,
they took over all
the legitimate businesses
operations,
as well as
the gambling operations.
[chatter]
[Harriet M. Jones]
One day, they were talking
on the phone,
my mother and my father,
and my mother said,
"He's not well."
And I said, "Do you think
it's serious?"
And she said, "Yes, I do."
And then my father came
to Chicago
and they discovered
that he had a cancer.
Then they operated on him
and they told him,
"Well, you probably have
five years to live."
And that's what he had.
My father was there
for my mother always,
and my mother was there
for my father always.
[wind howling]
It was Thanksgiving.
And it was freezing
in Chicago.
It was minus 15.
And Daddy, my father, said,
"No, don't go."
We realized that that he was--
that that was it.
And I remember holding him
and my mother
was right there with him.
And it was so beautiful
the way he died.
It was so beautiful.
Because he looked up
and he saw something.
For about half an hour
or three-quarters of an hour,
he saw something.
And it was just beautiful
to see that.
It took away all the--
you know, you can't be
frightened of death
when you see someone going
in that sense.
Yeah, so...
[]
[Mason] When Ed passed...
we were in the funeral home
and Mack said,
"Giancana is gonna pull up
in the back alley."
[footsteps echoing]
We watched these guys,
and they came in.
It was, like, six of them.
Tall, real big guys.
Just like the movies.
With the long coats
and everything.
And they inspected
the funeral home and then
they threw themselves up,
and he came through
like a king to pay his
respects to Lydia.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Mason] There was property
all over the South Side.
There were big, big
apartment buildings,
beautiful places.
[Thompson] They had money
in 25 different banks
around the world.
They made about
$110 or $115 million,
which was equivalent to
about a billion dollars then.
[]
[LaVerne Stephens]
Uncle George was always
very jealous of that.
After Edward died,
he capitalized
on the situation.
He just completely took over
because now, for the first time,
he could be in charge.
When Ed died,
Lydia was made the president
of the corporation.
Lydia spent a lot of time
with Harriet in France,
and Uncle George would send
all these business papers over
for Lydia to sign.
She didn't take time to really
read what she was signing.
She would just sign
and send it back.
[]
[Stephens] He used to come
up from Mexico
and have tons
and tons of paper.
And he would say, "Okay, Lydia,
I need you to sign here."
And she would sign
all these papers.
And finally, I said to her,
"Grandma, what are you doing?
Why aren't you reading these?
What are you signing?"
And she would say,
"It doesn't matter.
My husband's not here anymore."
And she would continue signing.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Marin] Mom would never
talk about her past.
Was it painful memories?
In terms of the loss,
that she still
hadn't accepted it?
I think she was ashamed
of having had all that money
and all that wealth.
[]
[Coles speaking French]
[Harriet M. Jones]
Ed was a person that believed
the sky was the limit
and there was nothing
that a Black man could not do.
He asked me,
in his deep voice,
"What do you wanna be, baby?"
And I said, "All I know is
I want to go to college."
He paid my way
and it's because of him
that I did get my degree.
He was busy trying to help
other Black people
become business owners
because he understood
that you can't work for other
people your entire life
and expect to live your life
exactly the way you want.
One of the people
that he helped
is Mr. Johnson
of Ebony Magazine.
He gave him
the money that he needed
to start his business
and the rest is history.
["Say it Loud - I'm Black
and I'm Proud" by James Brown]
[broadcaster] In Chicago,
in America, these days,
the new mood and message
of the country's Negros
comes over loud and clear:
Negro-owned radio stations
punch home the theme.
Good morning, Chicago!
Eddie Morrison here,
and it's so nice to have you.
Say it loud!
I'm Black and I'm proud!
Go ahead, James.
[song continues]
I'm Black and I'm proud!
Mom would have us repeat all the
time "I'm Black and I'm proud."
I'm Black and I'm proud!
I'm Black and I'm proud!
Which was funny
when you think about it.
A bit ridiculous,
because at the time,
honestly,
I had no notion of race.
I didn't see myself differently
from any white, Black,
or any other kids.
I was just a kid.
[speaking French]
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
I haven't finished cleaning up,
but it's presentable enough.
These are Policy slips
from the 1920's.
Policy was an economic arm
of the Black community.
It was the arm
that kept the Black community
in a position to be
independent politically.
Lou Caldwell
was the state representative.
He really championed
the cause of Policy.
He wanted to make Policy
a legal business
because African Americans
controlled it.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[TV lottery jingle]
[broadcaster] Welcome to
the Illinois' State Lottery.
As "evil" as they tried to paint
this picture of Policy
when it was in the hands
of Black men,
somewhere along the way,
it became good enough
for white men to turn into
the state lottery.
So I don't think God
had anything to do with that.
[TV lottery jingle]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[Thompson] The money
that used to be generated
by your grandfather
and his guys
took care of the people
in the neighborhood.
It doesn't anymore.
In the 1980's,
states formally legislated
lottery money
to pay for public education.
Public schools have been closed
down all across this country.
The money from state lottery
is still being generated,
but it hasn't been spent on
public education.
So the big question is,
where is all this money?
[]
Poverty without inspiration
and examples,
took over this neighborhood.
[]
[Harriet M. Jones]
You're talking about a people
that was once,
despite what history
has told us,
were on a very progressive,
self-sufficient track.
Well, that does not always
make your oppressor happy.
What these guys did
was virtually lift
that foot of oppression
off the neck
so we were able
to move forward.
That's what it was all about,
progression.
[]
[Black Jr.]
Barack Obama,
would he have gotten
to the top so fast
anywhere else in the country
than Chicago?
We had some guys called
the Jones brothers
who financed businesses
and other things
that made us all successful
so that he could see
the success.
The door was gonna be open.
Be ready to walk in.
[Harriet M. Jones]
[]
[Laurent speaking French]
It is so important to
understand your history.
Because to know where you
come from, that helps you
get where you're going.
[]
[Coles speaking French]
[Harriet M. Jones]
[record static]
["Feeling Good"
by Nina Simone]
Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky,
You know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by,
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
Yeah, It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
Ooh
And I'm feeling good
Fish in the sea,
You know how I feel
River running free,
You know how I feel
Blossom on the tree,
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
And I'm feeling good
Dragonfly out in the sun
You know what I mean,
Don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun
You know what I mean
Sleep in peace
When day is done
That's what I mean
And this old world
Is a new world
And a bold world for me
Yeah, yeah
Stars when you shine,
You know how I feel
Scent of the pine,
You know how I feel
Oh, freedom is mine
And I know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
[scatting]
I'm feeling good