Theodore Roe
Encyclopedia
Teddy Roe was an African-American mob boss who built an illegal gambling empire in South Side, Chicago during the 1940s
and 1950s
. Roe earned the nickname "Robinhood" because of his generous philanthropy
among the neighborhood poor. After refusing to pay, "street tax," to the Chicago Outfit
, Roe fatally shot a made man
who had been ordered to assassinate him. In retaliation, Teddy Roe was murdered by the Outfit crew commanded by Sam Giancana
on August 4, 1952.
to an African American
sharecropper, and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas
. As a child, he received no formal education, and when he was of age, he did odd jobs for a tailor and learned how to sew. Some time after that, he got involved in bootlegging
alcohol and gained a notorious reputation as a colorful racketeer who could pass for white. His career as a bootlegger ended after a few years and he moved to Detroit, Michigan
where he worked in an automobile plant for a short while. When he was 31 years old, he took what he learned working for the tailor in Arkansas, and moved from Detroit to Chicago, Illinois and began working for an African American tailor named Edward P. Jones. Shortly after Roe began working for Jones, Jones decided to get involved in the “Policy Racket” and he made Roe his first “runner”, or salesman of lottery chances. Under the protection of politicians Edward Joseph Kelly
and Patrick Nash
, the Kelly-Nash Machine, Jones was making $2000.00 a day by 1930. By 1938 he had increased his earnings to a whopping $10,000.00 a day and Ted Roe was pulling down nice cuts from the profits. They soon caught the attention of Al Capone
and his syndicate, and they set out to take over the numbers racket and consolidate all the numbers wheels in Chicago together. The Jones-Roe wheels where netting over 1.2 million dollars annually, by 1946 and the mob, seeking to move in on the Jones brothers and Roe, kidnapped Ed Jones and held him for a ransom that included $100,000 and a promise to give up their policy business. Ted Roe paid the $100,000 dollar ransom but after Jones was released, he decided not to give up his share of the business. However, the Jones brothers took their cut and fled to Mexico leaving the entire business to Ted.
capo
, Sam Giancana
ordered an attempt to kidnap Ted Roe, but the attempt was unsuccessful and Ted ended up killing a member of Giancana’s crew, Leonard Caifano, who was the brother of Marshall Joseph Caifano
. This brought a lot of heat on Roe. Not only had he killed a "made man
," but it was also a case of a black man killing a white man. Roe pleaded self-defense and his crack defense team was also able to link prosecutors to the mob causing key evidence against Roe to be thrown out. Roe eventually beat the case, but not before being denied bail six times before and during the trial proceedings.
. In the early part of the 20th century, segregation and economic discrimination had a devastating effect on African American
communities throughout the United States
, and at least in Chicago
and some of the other major cities in the north, the policy industry generated a lot of cash money to poor cash-starved black neighborhoods. Policy kings put a lot of their earnings into legitimate businesses such as car dealerships and even churches. Aside from running a smooth operation, Ted Roe is remembered for paying hospital bills for newborns, and funeral tabs for the deceased. On one occasion, an elderly woman who had hit the number with one of the shady gangster wheels in town, came to Roe to complain that the gang had not paid her her money for the hit. Ted and some of his boys went over to the men and persuaded them to give her her winnings. He has also been known to walk the streets of poor black neighborhoods passing out fifty dollar bills like they were bus transfers to needy people.
with wife Carrie until his death. He also had several relatives who lived in Dermott, Arkansas
in Chicot County including a brother and a sister.
masterminded a month long shakedown campaign against the Black bookmaker
s of Chicago. Dozens were shot at or blackjack
ed and others simply fled the city for ever. Meanwhile, Theodore Roe was holed up in his mansion on South Michigan Avenue
, protected by a small army of bodyguards.
On August 1, 1952, Roe was told by doctors that he had stomach cancer
and that it was inoperable. As a result, Roe stopped hiding and dismissed his bodyguards. On August 4, 1952, he dressed in a three-piece suit and hat and strolled down South Michigan Avenue
. At around 10:00 p.m., as he was unlocking his car on the street outside his apartment, a voice called, "Roe!" He turned and was cut down by several shotgun blasts. He died slumped against a tree which still stands outside his former apartment at 5239 S. Michigan Ave.
Theodore Roe was laid out in a $3,500-$5,000 casket and received the biggest funeral of any Chicago African American
since Jack Johnson
in 1946. Thousands lined the streets to catch a glimpse of Roe's 81-car funeral procession. At Roe's funeral, Minister Clarence H. Cobb said: "He was a friend of man, and he had a pure heart."
The Outfit seized control of his policy wheels, and many felt that Theodore Roe had pushed his luck too far. That is, until his widow revealed a secret. Lucky Ted had terminal cancer, and had been given only months to live.
1940s
File:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events which happened during World War II : From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching "Omaha" Beach on "D-Day"; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurred during the war as Nazi Germany...
and 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
. Roe earned the nickname "Robinhood" because of his generous philanthropy
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
among the neighborhood poor. After refusing to pay, "street tax," to the Chicago Outfit
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
, Roe fatally shot a made man
Made man
A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy...
who had been ordered to assassinate him. In retaliation, Teddy Roe was murdered by the Outfit crew commanded by Sam Giancana
Sam Giancana
Salvatore Giancana , better known as Sam Giancana, was a Sicilian-American mobster and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957-1966...
on August 4, 1952.
Early life and career
Theodore L. Roe was born in Galliana, LouisianaLouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
to an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
sharecropper, and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
. As a child, he received no formal education, and when he was of age, he did odd jobs for a tailor and learned how to sew. Some time after that, he got involved in bootlegging
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
alcohol and gained a notorious reputation as a colorful racketeer who could pass for white. His career as a bootlegger ended after a few years and he moved to Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
where he worked in an automobile plant for a short while. When he was 31 years old, he took what he learned working for the tailor in Arkansas, and moved from Detroit to Chicago, Illinois and began working for an African American tailor named Edward P. Jones. Shortly after Roe began working for Jones, Jones decided to get involved in the “Policy Racket” and he made Roe his first “runner”, or salesman of lottery chances. Under the protection of politicians Edward Joseph Kelly
Edward Joseph Kelly
Edward Joseph Kelly served as chief engineer of the Chicago sanitary district in the 1920s, and later as mayor of Chicago, Illinois for the Democratic Party....
and Patrick Nash
Patrick Nash
Patrick A. Nash was a political boss in the early and mid-twentieth century in Chicago, which is in Cook County, Illinois, United States. He was in large part responsible for consolidating what became the Chicago Democratic political machine, which was regarded as the first political machine in...
, the Kelly-Nash Machine, Jones was making $2000.00 a day by 1930. By 1938 he had increased his earnings to a whopping $10,000.00 a day and Ted Roe was pulling down nice cuts from the profits. They soon caught the attention of Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
and his syndicate, and they set out to take over the numbers racket and consolidate all the numbers wheels in Chicago together. The Jones-Roe wheels where netting over 1.2 million dollars annually, by 1946 and the mob, seeking to move in on the Jones brothers and Roe, kidnapped Ed Jones and held him for a ransom that included $100,000 and a promise to give up their policy business. Ted Roe paid the $100,000 dollar ransom but after Jones was released, he decided not to give up his share of the business. However, the Jones brothers took their cut and fled to Mexico leaving the entire business to Ted.
The Caifano killing and trial
Chicago OutfitChicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
capo
Capo
A capo is a device used on the neck of a stringed instrument to shorten the playable length of the strings, hence raising the pitch. It is frequently used on guitars, mandolins, and banjos. G.B...
, Sam Giancana
Sam Giancana
Salvatore Giancana , better known as Sam Giancana, was a Sicilian-American mobster and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957-1966...
ordered an attempt to kidnap Ted Roe, but the attempt was unsuccessful and Ted ended up killing a member of Giancana’s crew, Leonard Caifano, who was the brother of Marshall Joseph Caifano
Marshall Joseph Caifano
John Caifano was a Chicago mobster who became a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit criminal organization...
. This brought a lot of heat on Roe. Not only had he killed a "made man
Made man
A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy...
," but it was also a case of a black man killing a white man. Roe pleaded self-defense and his crack defense team was also able to link prosecutors to the mob causing key evidence against Roe to be thrown out. Roe eventually beat the case, but not before being denied bail six times before and during the trial proceedings.
Roe's "Robinhood" effect
In their heyday, policy kings were the black community's banks and employers in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. In the early part of the 20th century, segregation and economic discrimination had a devastating effect on African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
communities throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and at least in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and some of the other major cities in the north, the policy industry generated a lot of cash money to poor cash-starved black neighborhoods. Policy kings put a lot of their earnings into legitimate businesses such as car dealerships and even churches. Aside from running a smooth operation, Ted Roe is remembered for paying hospital bills for newborns, and funeral tabs for the deceased. On one occasion, an elderly woman who had hit the number with one of the shady gangster wheels in town, came to Roe to complain that the gang had not paid her her money for the hit. Ted and some of his boys went over to the men and persuaded them to give her her winnings. He has also been known to walk the streets of poor black neighborhoods passing out fifty dollar bills like they were bus transfers to needy people.
Personal life
Theodore L. Roe lived in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
with wife Carrie until his death. He also had several relatives who lived in Dermott, Arkansas
Dermott, Arkansas
Dermott is a city in Chicot County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 3,292 at the 2000 census. Dermott was incorporated in 1890.Dermott is home to the Dermott Crawfish Festival.-Geography:Dermott is located at ....
in Chicot County including a brother and a sister.
Death
After Fat Lenny's murder, Sam GiancanaSam Giancana
Salvatore Giancana , better known as Sam Giancana, was a Sicilian-American mobster and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957-1966...
masterminded a month long shakedown campaign against the Black bookmaker
Bookmaker
A bookmaker, or bookie, is an organization or a person that takes bets on sporting and other events at agreed upon odds.- Range of events :...
s of Chicago. Dozens were shot at or blackjack
Blackjack
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...
ed and others simply fled the city for ever. Meanwhile, Theodore Roe was holed up in his mansion on South Michigan Avenue
Michigan Avenue
Michigan Avenue may refer to:* Michigan Avenue * Michigan Avenue , a designation for much of both current and former U.S. Route 12 in Michigan...
, protected by a small army of bodyguards.
On August 1, 1952, Roe was told by doctors that he had stomach cancer
Stomach cancer
Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...
and that it was inoperable. As a result, Roe stopped hiding and dismissed his bodyguards. On August 4, 1952, he dressed in a three-piece suit and hat and strolled down South Michigan Avenue
Michigan Avenue
Michigan Avenue may refer to:* Michigan Avenue * Michigan Avenue , a designation for much of both current and former U.S. Route 12 in Michigan...
. At around 10:00 p.m., as he was unlocking his car on the street outside his apartment, a voice called, "Roe!" He turned and was cut down by several shotgun blasts. He died slumped against a tree which still stands outside his former apartment at 5239 S. Michigan Ave.
Theodore Roe was laid out in a $3,500-$5,000 casket and received the biggest funeral of any Chicago African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
since Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (boxer)
John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion...
in 1946. Thousands lined the streets to catch a glimpse of Roe's 81-car funeral procession. At Roe's funeral, Minister Clarence H. Cobb said: "He was a friend of man, and he had a pure heart."
The Outfit seized control of his policy wheels, and many felt that Theodore Roe had pushed his luck too far. That is, until his widow revealed a secret. Lucky Ted had terminal cancer, and had been given only months to live.
Further reading
- "Kings: The True Story of Chicago's Policy Kings and Numbers Racketeers" by Nathan Thompson-ISBN 0972487506
- "The Lost City" by Alan Ehrenhalt - ISBN 978-0465041930