Len Small was governor of Illinois during most of the 1920s. Almost all of Al Capone's career in Chicago happened at the same time, and there definitely was a tie between the governor and the gangster. In his second term as state treasurer from 1917 to 1919, Small embezzled more than a million dollars in a money-laundering scheme by depositing state money in a bank that did not exist! After becoming governor in 1921, Small was indicted for the embezzlement. He had his lawyers argue in court that as governor, he was above the law, citing the Divine Right of Kings. Their argument was, The King Can Do No Wrong. Small ran from the sheriff to avoid arrest, threatening to call out the National Guard to keep the sheriff away at the point of a bayonet. When he went to trial, jurors were bribed and intimidated by Al Capone's gangsters. Small was acquitted. Most of the jurors soon got state jobs. Another grand jury looked into jury tampering charges. Two gangsters who had bribed the jurors were granted immunity but still refused to testify. They were jailed for contempt of court -- and Governor Small quickly pardoned them. And even though a jury acquitted him in his criminal trial, a civil lawsuit brought by the state resulted in the Illinois Supreme Court forcing Governor Small to repay the state $650,000 of the money he stole. Governor Small sold thousands of pardons and paroles, including pardons to gangsters, murderers, white slavers and even cop killers. Some were sold by Len Small and his emissaries to Al Capone and to other mobsters. Some of the more notorious gangsters who bought their way out of prison were Harry Guzik, Fur Sammons and Bugs Moran. Small's administration operated a pardon mill where thousands of convicts could buy their way out of prison. When Small became governor, he wrecked the civil service system and brought back the spoils system, giving jobs based on politics rather than merit. He changed the utilities commission for the same political reasons. He tried to change the tax commission so that he could trades bribes for lower tax assessments. Small thwarted attempts at impeachment, and in one instance, he successfully had his Republican majority ram through a bill that exempted the present governor from the constitutional quo warranto provision for removal from office. If that wasn't enough, Len Small was a favorite of the Ku Klux Klan, which endorsed his campaigns in 1924, 1928 and 1932. Governor Small failed to send National Guard troops to prevent the Herrin Massacre in 1922 because he was too busy bribing his jury. When he left office in 1929, he stole the silverware and other valuables from the governor's mansion. The research for this book settles some debate and corrects some myths which have been accepted since the 1920s. For example, it has been accepted that the attorney general obtained an indictment against Small as revenge because the governor cut his budget. This is false. In fact, the opposite is true. Small cut the attorney general's budget to cut off funds for an investigation that was under way. The questions and myths surrounding the phony Grant Park Bank and the Good Roads Governor are addressed. The book also includes a chapter about George Ryan, another crooked governor from Kankakee whose corruption was massive. INDEX includes Alpiner, Altiere, Armour, Bauer, Birger, Blagojevich, Boyle, Browne, Brundage, Capone, Carlstrom, Cermak, Chicago SunTimes, Chicago Tribune, Crowe, Curtis, Daley, Deneen, Emmerson, Esposito, Faherty, Fink, Giancana, Granady, Grant Park, Guzik, Herrin, Hochstein, Jenkins, Kankakee, Kass, Kennedy, Kerner, Ku Klux Klan, Lorimer, Lowden, Lundin, McBroom, McCormick, McErlane, Messlein, Miller, Ness, Newmark, Nitti, OBanion, ODonnell, Potz, Ryan, Sammons, Serritella, Smith, Sterling, Stevens, Thompson, Torrio, Weiss, Wilkerson and more.
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I can hardly wait for the mailman to come because author Jim Ridings from downstate Illinois has, at last, written the definitive book on the most egregious political crook ever to have served public office in Illinois--one who easily tops Blago, George Ryan and exceeds the general lumping together of all the mayors of Chicago plus outsiders like Earl Long of Louisiana, Aaron Burr of New York, sleazes like U. S. Senators Billy Lorimer and Roland Burris, alderman like Bathhouse John, Hinky Dink Kenna, Pat Nash and Orville Hodge and Boss William E. Tweed of Tammany Hall. Unless you are a genuine Illinois political scholar you will be surprised to learn it is one Len Small [1862-1936]. To get the book you must run, not walk, to your computer keyboard and order it from Amazon.com where you can get it for $24.95. When I was a boy, my father showed me a copy of The Tribune which he nurtured from the mid-twenties. The paper had, to its credit, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in printers ink defaming...justly...this viper. And when he was reelected, the paper s editorial page said: It Seems Len Small Was Re-elected. Thereupon followed at least an acre of white space, signifying the paper had utterly nothing good to say about him or his victory. Jim Ridings, a Hersher, Illinois author, has written the book that I am eagerly awaiting entitled: Len Small: Governors and Gangsters. Believe me the usual history of governors, written by Bob Howard entitled curiously Mostly Good and Competent Men is outrageously bland and skips over much of the real story of Small...but we have Ridings to thank for this obviously great work of scholarship. Buy the book and once read it thank God that our crooks have been minor league next to him. And thanks to Jim Ridings for writing it! --Tom Roeser, legendary Chicago commentator and political analyst, Oct. 15, 2009
I recently read a book about corruption in Illinois, and I was shocked at the tales of greed and graft, tentacles of organized crime, control of politics and government by Chicago bigwigs and biased reporting from a politician-owned newspaper. Did I mention that the book is about Illinois Gov. LEN SMALL, a Republican from Kankakee who was governor from 1921 to 1929? If the name doesn t ring much of a bell, author JIM RIDINGS thinks the time has come for Small to get his due. Len Small was one of the most corrupt public officials in American history, the book states. Len Small sold thousands of pardons and paroles as governor, including pardons to gangsters, murderers, white slavers and even cop killers, it alleges. Some were sold by Len Small and his emissaries to AL CAPONE and to other mobsters. The author provides a very comprehensive at times exhaustively comprehensive look at the news from Small s day. Much of it is told through news outlets, including stories by the Chicago Tribune which Small railed against Time magazine, and the old Kankakee Daily Republican, which Small owned. The old Kankakee Daily News, which was anti-Small, also is quoted freely. One example of the book s detail involves Small s 1922 trial on charges that he embezzled more than $1 million from the state while state treasurer before his term as governor. Small beat the charges in court. The book goes on to name each of the dozen jurors, which seems excessive until Ridings later spells out the state jobs most of the jurors were given. A former cab driver from Antioch was named a deputy game warden. Two others were appointed state highway patrolmen. The jury foreman got a job as drainage inspector at Stateville prison, then under construction. Small was accused of depositing the stolen state money in a phony bank that had a name, but no building, no room, no furniture and no sign. Two gangsters who had bribed the jurors were granted immunity but still refused to testify, Ridings reports. They were jailed for contempt of court and Governor Small quickly pardoned them. Small attempted to avoid arrest in the first place by claiming protection from the constitution saying the judicial branch of government could not interfere with the executive branch. Despite Small s victory in criminal court, he was sued to recover interest money on the state funds that he allegedly kept for himself. He vetoed a $75,000 appropriation to pay for prosecution of the civil suit, and he also vetoed the entire $250,000 the attorney general was planning to use for law enforcement, the book reports. And even though Small maintained his claim that he didn t steal, he did pay the state back $650,000 in 1927. Ridings also explores Small s relationship to some of Illinois history s other lesser lights, including mob-connected Chicago Mayor BIG BILL THOMPSON. Len Small sold his soul to Big Bill Thompson, and Al Capone held the mortgage, it says. Ridings also devotes a tough chapter to another Kankakee politician, former Gov. GEORGE RYAN, who is serving prison time for corruption in office. George H. Ryan was not a pin-striped gangster with a tommy-gun, in the mold of the Roaring Twenties although Hollywood casting agents might agree that he looked like one, Ridings wrote. Ridings also spends five pages describing the sometimes-grisly crimes of many of the 167 inmates whose death sentences were commuted by Ryan. --Bernard Schoenburg, Springfield Journal-Register, Oct. 4, 2009
I've just now finished Len Small: Governors and Gangsters. It is truly a comprehensively great contribution to Illinois historical literature. Until now no one has done a thorough job on Illinois' most evil governor...and I mean evil in the abject sense. Blago was a combination of self-serving, duplicity and conscience-lessness...but Small took money to spring convicted kills and mob figures so they could go back to the public. Every history of Illinois that I've read glosses over Small-but thanks to Jim Ridings, an investigative reporter, Small's whole career is meticulously documented. Ridings shows no mercy but also is scrupulously fair. The book is self-published but can be purchased via Amazon-or you can send for it at: Side Show Books, P. O. Box 464, Herscher, Illinois 60941. The subject is long-long overdue and from now on every Illinois historian who refers to governors will be indebted to Jim Ridings. He has written a book that covers the subject of Len Small so completely that nothing more needs be said. --Tom Roeser, legendary Chicago commentator and political analyst, Oct. 15, 2009
I recently read a book about corruption in Illinois, and I was shocked at the tales of greed and graft, tentacles of organized crime, control of politics and government by Chicago bigwigs and biased reporting from a politician-owned newspaper. Did I mention that the book is about Illinois Gov. LEN SMALL, a Republican from Kankakee who was governor from 1921 to 1929? If the name doesn t ring much of a bell, author JIM RIDINGS thinks the time has come for Small to get his due. Len Small was one of the most corrupt public officials in American history, the book states. Len Small sold thousands of pardons and paroles as governor, including pardons to gangsters, murderers, white slavers and even cop killers, it alleges. Some were sold by Len Small and his emissaries to AL CAPONE and to other mobsters. The author provides a very comprehensive at times exhaustively comprehensive look at the news from Small s day. Much of it is told through news outlets, including stories by the Chicago Tribune which Small railed against Time magazine, and the old Kankakee Daily Republican, which Small owned. The old Kankakee Daily News, which was anti-Small, also is quoted freely. One example of the book s detail involves Small s 1922 trial on charges that he embezzled more than $1 million from the state while state treasurer before his term as governor. Small beat the charges in court. The book goes on to name each of the dozen jurors, which seems excessive until Ridings later spells out the state jobs most of the jurors were given. A former cab driver from Antioch was named a deputy game warden. Two others were appointed state highway patrolmen. The jury foreman got a job as drainage inspector at Stateville prison, then under construction. Small was accused of depositing the stolen state money in a phony bank that had a name, but no building, no room, no furniture and no sign. Two gangsters who had bribed the jurors were granted immunity but still refused to testify, Ridings reports. They were jailed for contempt of court and Governor Small quickly pardoned them. Small attempted to avoid arrest in the first place by claiming protection from the constitution saying the judicial branch of government could not interfere with the executive branch. Despite Small s victory in criminal court, he was sued to recover interest money on the state funds that he allegedly kept for himself. He vetoed a $75,000 appropriation to pay for prosecution of the civil suit, and he also vetoed the entire $250,000 the attorney general was planning to use for law enforcement, the book reports. And even though Small maintained his claim that he didn t steal, he did pay the state back $650,000 in 1927. Ridings also explores Small s relationship to some of Illinois history s other lesser lights, including mob-connected Chicago Mayor BIG BILL THOMPSON. Len Small sold his soul to Big Bill Thompson, and Al Capone held the mortgage, it says. Ridings also devotes a tough chapter to another Kankakee politician, former Gov. GEORGE RYAN, who is serving prison time for corruption in office. George H. Ryan was not a pin-striped gangster with a tommy-gun, in the mold of the Roaring Twenties although Hollywood casting agents might agree that he looked like one, Ridings wrote. Ridings also spends five pages describing the sometimes-grisly crimes of many of the 167 inmates whose death sentences were commuted by Ryan. --Bernard Schoenburg, Springfield Journal-Register, Oct. 4, 2009
I've just now finished Len Small: Governors and Gangsters. It is truly a comprehensively great contribution to Illinois historical literature. Until now no one has done a thorough job on Illinois' most evil governor...and I mean evil in the abject sense. Blago was a combination of self-serving, duplicity and conscience-lessness...but Small took money to spring convicted kills and mob figures so they could go back to the public. Every history of Illinois that I've read glosses over Small-but thanks to Jim Ridings, an investigative reporter, Small's whole career is meticulously documented. Ridings shows no mercy but also is scrupulously fair. The book is self-published but can be purchased via Amazon-or you can send for it at: Side Show Books, P. O. Box 464, Herscher, Illinois 60941. The subject is long-long overdue and from now on every Illinois historian who refers to governors will be indebted to Jim Ridings. He has written a book that covers the subject of Len Small so completely that nothing more needs be said. --Tom Roeser, legendary Chicago commentator and political analyst, Oct. 15, 2009
About the Author
Jim Ridings has worked for daily newspapers in Ottawa (The Daily Times) and Aurora (The Beacon-News), Illinois, where he won several awards for investigative reporting at both newspapers. He also has written several books of local history (including Cardiff: Ghost Town On The Prairie), which have won awards from the Illinois State Historical Society and the Illinois Humanities Council (a Studs Terkel Humanities Award).
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Jim Ridings was born in Joliet, IL. He has lived in Herscher, IL, since 1984. He has worked for daily newspapers in Ottawa, IL (The Daily Times) and Aurora, IL (The Beacon-News), where he won several awards for investigative reporting at both newspapers. He also has written 20 books of local history, and four of these have won awards from the Illinois State Historical Society. He was presented a Studs Terkel Humanities Award from the Illinois Humanities Council in 2006.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Mario Gomes
Format:Hardcover
It's been a long time coming, but author Jim Ridings made it well worth the wait. What an intriguing persona was that of one named Len Small. His last name was the opposite of what greasing his palms could have achieved. He was archetypal politician who could smooze anyone into electing him into office by promises of fairness and then once elected, pull a 180 in helping criminals get released by offering parole and pardons for payola. Len Small was not a discriminating Governor. He helped gangsters and their rivals be set free with the right connections, big names such as Moran,O'Donnell and Harry Guzik, just to name a few.(Gangland armourer Peter Von Frantzius had the same motto when offering his services).
Jim Ridings takes us through the inner workings of the Len Small machine, and makes us understand what made this infamous Governor tick. Rather than just chastise Small, I can sort of understand why he did some of the things he did. Simply because he could get away with it.
The author did an excellent job on his subject and kept me interested throughout this fine read.
I shook my head in disbelief many times while reading about Small's gall and antics, but then I realised that things haven't changed at all. Today it's just kept more hush hush.
Highly recommended in understanding the connection between the gangster and the politician.
Mario Gomes
Founder of
Myalcaponemuseum
Jim Ridings takes us through the inner workings of the Len Small machine, and makes us understand what made this infamous Governor tick. Rather than just chastise Small, I can sort of understand why he did some of the things he did. Simply because he could get away with it.
The author did an excellent job on his subject and kept me interested throughout this fine read.
I shook my head in disbelief many times while reading about Small's gall and antics, but then I realised that things haven't changed at all. Today it's just kept more hush hush.
Highly recommended in understanding the connection between the gangster and the politician.
Mario Gomes
Founder of
Myalcaponemuseum
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a long overdue biographical examination of Governor Len Small, a thoroughly corrupt Illinois politician who lined his pockets with embezzled tax dollars for close to forty years. What makes the book especially valuable is that the author, Jim Ridings, a journalist, has told the story from the perspective of Downstate Illinois by focusing upon Small's hometown of Kankakee.
Small twice served as state treasurer and laundered money through a fictitious bank while skimming off profits from the high interest rates that he charged when loaning the money to meatpacking companies. Afterwards, he belatedly repaid the state treasury, but only with nominal interest added. During the Roaring Twenties, Small achieved his life's ambition by serving two scandal plagued terms as governor. While in office he had to defend civil and criminal suits related to his official misconduct while serving as treasurer. Small's main claim to fame was as "the Hard Roads Governor" who paved the state highways, but in actuality the road construction work was carefully utilized to reap political dividends for Small in the form of kickbacks and votes. Law enforcement efforts were handicapped by Small's policy of issuing paroles and pardons in return for bribes.
Many other writers have attempted to interpret the political culture in Chicago without reckoning on the fact that the city is corrupt because the entire state of Illinois has been similarly corrupt for a much longer period of time. Too many writers treat Chicago and Cook County as anomalies rather than as being part of the same fabric as the larger state. Bribery and vote fraud are not limited to the City of Big Shoulders. Ridings provides valuable context to his narrative by examining neglected regional and state newspapers other than relying upon the often cited back issues of the "Chicago Tribune" alone.
Ridings takes strong exception to those misguided individuals who romanticize the criminal exploits of murderous gangsters such as Al Capone. Those who treat Capone as a latter day Robin Hood are perpetuating a myth that does not square with reality. Likewise, the author deflates the mythology maintained in Kankakee, where the Small family continues to operate a chain of newspapers, that treats the former governor as a local hero and humanitarian rather than as con artist and a swindler.
Small twice served as state treasurer and laundered money through a fictitious bank while skimming off profits from the high interest rates that he charged when loaning the money to meatpacking companies. Afterwards, he belatedly repaid the state treasury, but only with nominal interest added. During the Roaring Twenties, Small achieved his life's ambition by serving two scandal plagued terms as governor. While in office he had to defend civil and criminal suits related to his official misconduct while serving as treasurer. Small's main claim to fame was as "the Hard Roads Governor" who paved the state highways, but in actuality the road construction work was carefully utilized to reap political dividends for Small in the form of kickbacks and votes. Law enforcement efforts were handicapped by Small's policy of issuing paroles and pardons in return for bribes.
Many other writers have attempted to interpret the political culture in Chicago without reckoning on the fact that the city is corrupt because the entire state of Illinois has been similarly corrupt for a much longer period of time. Too many writers treat Chicago and Cook County as anomalies rather than as being part of the same fabric as the larger state. Bribery and vote fraud are not limited to the City of Big Shoulders. Ridings provides valuable context to his narrative by examining neglected regional and state newspapers other than relying upon the often cited back issues of the "Chicago Tribune" alone.
Ridings takes strong exception to those misguided individuals who romanticize the criminal exploits of murderous gangsters such as Al Capone. Those who treat Capone as a latter day Robin Hood are perpetuating a myth that does not square with reality. Likewise, the author deflates the mythology maintained in Kankakee, where the Small family continues to operate a chain of newspapers, that treats the former governor as a local hero and humanitarian rather than as con artist and a swindler.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Jack Goodwin
Format:Hardcover
Other states, most notably New Jersey, think they have the corner on corrupt politicians. Maybe every state thinks so, but Illinois is really trying hard to be the undisputed leader. Four governors in the last 40 years jailed (or about to be); hundreds of Illinois pols, particularly from Chicago, indicted, convicted and sent away during those years; not to mention all the mob connections, hits and misses, even recently. It's breathtaking.
Is it any wonder that the biggest crook of all, Len Small, gets missed in the fog of history? A Illinois governor in Al Capone's pocket during the 1920s who thought he was above the law is now thought of as a hero in his home town. And nobody blows the whistle, least of all the local newspaper. Did I neglect to add that Small's family owns it and many other papers in the state?
Ridings' book tells an amazing story, all the more stunning because it comes from the public record. Are Chicago Tribune columnists so busy with current crooked pols that they never look in their own morgue? Where are the sensational books about Small? My wife's family lost money in one of Small's bank swindles; thousands of other families did as well. Where's the rage?
Where are the journalists? Why is Ridings the first?
Is it any wonder that the biggest crook of all, Len Small, gets missed in the fog of history? A Illinois governor in Al Capone's pocket during the 1920s who thought he was above the law is now thought of as a hero in his home town. And nobody blows the whistle, least of all the local newspaper. Did I neglect to add that Small's family owns it and many other papers in the state?
Ridings' book tells an amazing story, all the more stunning because it comes from the public record. Are Chicago Tribune columnists so busy with current crooked pols that they never look in their own morgue? Where are the sensational books about Small? My wife's family lost money in one of Small's bank swindles; thousands of other families did as well. Where's the rage?
Where are the journalists? Why is Ridings the first?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Len Small
Great book to read. The former Govenors of Illinois should have read this. Corruption at its finest ! Read more
Published 8 days ago by Gerald Zeller
5.0 out of 5 stars
Illinois' evolving culture of corruption.
In "Len Small, Governors and Gangsters", Ridings lists the crimes of the godfather of Kankakee and gives an in depth analysis of the how the Illinois culture of corruption has... Read more
Published on November 30, 2010 by ed hammer
4.0 out of 5 stars
Here at last, here at last
"Governor's and Gangsters" by Jim Ridings is a fantastic first step in the introduction of Len Small to the general public. Read more
Published on November 14, 2010 by PaulK
3.0 out of 5 stars
Where are the footnotes?
Interesting (depressing)book, but where is all the ducumentation? There is not one footnote in the book. No teacher would accept this as a term paper without more documentation. Read more
Published on October 24, 2009 by Suzzie Q
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