STACATION:
Put ‘em UP Sucker
Part II
In the afternoon we went on the Gangster bus Tour around St. Paul. Our guide for this tour was Dapper Dan Hogan, a lad with a twinkle in his eye and a great Dublin Irish brogue.
Dapper Dan provided a running commentary, with great detail, as our bus maneuvered the streets of St. Paul and its suburbs.
He ran a joint called The Green Lantern.
Dapper Dan was one of the people who collected the protection money from the gangsters when they came to St. Paul for a vacation. Of course the police couldn't collect the protection money-it just wouldn't look right!
The tour focused mostly on the Ma Barker gang and John Dillenger and his henchmen.
Dillenger actually spent most of his time in the Twin Cities, contrary to many of the movies made about him.
John Dillenger only killed one person in his short career. He usually shot to mame, not to kill. He robbed more banks in 16 months than Jessie James did in 16 years.
It was said of many of the gangsters, that they were very "charming." The exception to this was the Barker boys. They were just down right nasty!
We drove by many of the landmarks (some still in tact) of that era.
The gangsters of the 20's and 30's plied their trade effectively. They robbed banks, staged kidnappings, gambled, some of the smarter thugs ran prostitution rings, and of course engaged in the occasional shootout.
If a gangster violated the police chief's rules, he got it right between the eyes!
The whole mess got cleaned up in short order in 1934 when J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI moved in to clean house in the St. Paul Police Department.
Once the corrupt police were gone, the gangsters didn't have a safe haven.
Dapper Dan met his end in 1928 after taking on a partner who claimed to be good at math. He was so good that he figured out if he didn't have a partner, there was more money for him. So, one day Dan went out to his garage to start his car and ca boom....
Dan came back to this world just to make sure we all got the story right!
He worked from a script, but what was most interesting was the stories he collected along the way from people who have taken his tour over the years that are relatives or friends of the infamous ones.
Our tour included the nephew of Dan's counter part in Minneapolis, Jack Peipffer. Jack ran the same kind of joint in Minneapolis as Dan did in St. Paul.
The tour was a great look into one of the Twin Cities more colorful periods. I haven't shared all of the secrets... It's worth checking out if you're ever in town.
