Frank Wortman
| Frank Wortman | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Frank L. Wortman December 4, 1904 St. Louis, Missouri, United States |
| Died | August 3, 1968 St. Louis, Missouri |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | "Buster" Wortman |
| Occupation | burglar, bootlegger, gambler, criminal gang leader |
| Allegiance | Shelton Brothers Gang |
Frank L. "Buster" Wortman (December 4, 1904-August 3, 1968) was a St. Louis-area bootlegger, gambler, criminal gang leader, and a former member of the Shelton Brothers Gang during Prohibition. Wortman would eventually succeed the Sheltons, and take over St. Louis's gambling operations in southwest Illinois until his death.
The son of an East St. Louis fire captain, Wortman spent his early years living in north St. Louis. John Worthmann, his grandfather, worked as a proofreader for the Post-Dispatch and was killed when struck by a streetcar in 1894. Frank Wortman turned to crime in his late teens and was arrested for burglary. By 1926, he had begun running errands for the bootlegging Shelton Brothers. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Wortman was a prominent member of the gang, acting as an enforcer in southern Illinois.
In 1933, a federal agent was beaten during a raid on one of the Shelton's distilleries, which he had been guarding. Wortman was taken into custody along with his associate, Monroe "Blackie" Armes. The two were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. Wortman served his sentence from 1934 to 1941, gaining an early release. Contrary to sensationalized reporting and stories over the years, Wortman did not serve any time in Alcatraz prison.
During Wortman's incarceration, the federal prohibition amendment of 1919 was repealed, which again legalized liquor sales in the U.S. in 1933.
Following his release in 1941, Wortman briefly worked as a steamfitter before organizing an army of gunmen whose ranks included "Black" Charlie Harris, Elmer Sylvester "Dutch" Dowling and brothers Monroe and Tony Armes. He then launched a campaign to drive the Sheltons from southern Illinois.
Establishing Wortman's Plaza Amusement Company, he would soon obtain a virtual monopoly on gambling, specifically slot machines, pinball machines, horse parlors, crap games and card games. He would also establish legitimate businesses, including trucking firms and taverns, run by his younger brother Ted. Ted lived on a horse farm on Route 157 on the north end of Caseyville. Ted's place was only about 1.6 km (one mile) from where his brother lived.
By the late-1940s, Wortman assumed control over illegal gambling in southern Illinois and St. Louis.
Involved in local politics as a young adult, by the 1950s Wortman reportedly had extensive political connections on both sides of the Missouri-Illinois border, including Illinois politician and state auditor Orville Enoch Hodge, who was convicted of embezzling over $1 million in taxes in 1956.
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