In with the Devil Read online

  But the two found a way to keep their distance. Jimmy says, “I just bought my time until it was over and I finally got out of there.” It was August 1999, and practically a year had passed since the U.S. marshals had taken Keene to Springfield, but it could have been another lifetime.

  To pick up Jimmy in Terre Haute, Big Jim drove a van for the three-hour trip from Kankakee and brought along Keene’s brother and sister for the ride. After his stroke, he had recovered nearly all of his robust vitality, although one corner of his mouth still drooped slightly. Jimmy had already had one tearful reunion with his father in the MCC after he was released from Springfield. This time, there were no tears—just buoyant happiness. “We went and grabbed this gigantic meal and I had fish. Not the deep-fried crap they gave us in the prison chow halls, but something that was real fresh and tasted as good as any meal I ever had.”

  As they ate, Keene’s sister teased him about how muscle-bound he had gotten after all those months of lifting weights in prison. “Look at your arms,” she said. “You are getting way too big.”

  Big Jim disagreed. “I think it looks good on him. He looks like he used to look when he played ball.” It was as if there had never been any drug dealing or prison sentence or failed business ventures. It was as if Big Jim’s golden son had the chance to start all over again.

  But from then on when father and son got together, they were no longer so focused on the obsessions of their earlier lives. Jimmy Keene says, “Before, if we saw each other, it was always about something else—the sports when I was a kid or the business deals when I was older—but after I left prison, we would just hang out. Go on his boat, maybe fish a little or do nothing more than sit around on a couple of lawn chairs. It was crazy, but after all I had been through, it wasn’t so important that we get rich anymore. We just enjoyed each other’s company.”

  On the night of November 28, 2004, five years after Jimmy got out of prison, James Keene died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of sixty-seven. If Jimmy had not accepted Larry Beaumont’s mission to Springfield, he would still have been in the Milan correctional center.

  I still can’t believe my dad died. I think about him every day. There are times after something happens when I pick up the phone, ready to give him a call and tell him about it. I can never forget his voice—that deep, booming voice. I hear it like we just talked yesterday.

  Once, we were driving around town together when I was fourteen or fifteen, and Dad pointed out the car window to a storefront and said, “Now that’s a lucrative business, Son.”

  “What does lucrative mean?” I asked him.

  He got a big laugh out of that. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said. “What are they teaching you guys in school these days? I want you to go home and I want you to learn what the word lucrative means, and you come back and tell me when you know.”

  And he meant it, too. I couldn’t just shrug it off and hope he’d forget about it. He really expected me to look that word up, and I did. I memorized the dictionary definition, and the next time we were together, I told him the meaning of lucrative without him having to ask me. He said, “That’s very good, Son. Why aren’t they teaching you those things in school?”

  I heard that a lot from him. He wanted me to go to school and do well, but he always thought that life’s lessons were the most important learning I could do. Now, when I look back on my mission to Springfield, I understand what that whole experience really taught me. Until that time, I don’t think I fully appreciated life and the importance of just being around the ones I love. After my early release, the five years I had with my father meant more to me than all the money in the world. I’m sure the families of Larry’s victims would say the same if they could bring those girls back.

  Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Beaumont didn’t pull me out of Milan. I was pretty set in that prison with the mob guys, and if I had hung around with them for ten years, I would probably have gone to work for them once I was released. Who knows? I didn’t have anything else going for me.

  Now, I can’t imagine doing anything that takes advantage of other people’s weakness. Since I got out in 1999, I haven’t had any trouble with the law, and everything I’ve done to earn a living has been honest. Lately, I’ve been working on some book and movie projects related to my experiences. If a movie about me does come along, that would be pretty ironic—especially with my father’s passing. After I got out of prison, nobody else believed that I would ever amount to anything. When I used to tell people I could make something of my story, they practically laughed in my face. But my dad was different. He never let me forget that I gave up a chance to go to Hollywood after I met Tom Cruise and Martin Scorsese. He actually thought I could move mountains and the best in life was yet to come. But I can hear him saying, in that big booming voice, “It’s about time, Son. It’s about time.”

  Notes

  Introduction

  The jail dated back to the nineteenth century . . . Ford County Historical Society, Atlas of the State of Illinois (Mt. Vernon, IN: Windmill Publications, 1992), 11.

  Notations at the bottom of the photo . . . Grant County, IN, Sheriff’s Department, “Larry Hall Mug Shot” (November 16, 1994).

  Beaumont added, “We think he’s responsible for more than twenty other killings” . . . Associated Press, “Report: Hall linked to 20 murders,” Wabash (IN) Plain Dealer, January 21, 1995.

  His clients have ranged from . . . Maria Kantzavelos, “Profile: Jeffrey Steinback,” Chicago Lawyer, November 13, 2008, http://www.chicagolawyermagazine.com/2008/11/13/profile-jeffrey-steinback/.

  1. Fathers & Sons

  “It’s the judgment of the court . . .” United States of America v. James Keene (CD IL 1997), sentencing hearing transcript at 154.

  “I know I did something wrong . . .” Ibid. at 152.

  George [Ryan who] would also end up in prison . . . The other Illinois governors who preceded Ryan to prison were Otto Kerner in 1973 and Dan Walker (also from the Kankakee area and a friend of Big Jim’s) in 1987. Ryan, who started out as a pharmacist, also served as Speaker of the House of Representatives, lieutenant governor, and secretary of state. Matt O’Connor, “Feds say Ryan is greedy, 2-faced—prosecutors tee off in closing arguments,” Chicago Tribune, March 7, 2006, Chicago Final edition; Matt O’Connor, “Ryan gets 6½ years—ex-governor regrets conviction, but doesn’t admit to wrongdoing,” Chicago Tribune, September 7, 2006, Chicago Final edition; “Verdict is talk of the town where Ryan makes home,” Chicago Tribune, April 18, 2006, Chicago Final edition.

  But such was the Kankakee pedigree of power and corruption . . . Lennington “Len” Small was yet another Kankakee politician who went on to become governor and was indicted soon after his election in 1921. He was acquitted and served a second term, during which he commuted the sentences of thousands of prisoners—supposedly in return for a fee that he split with their lawyers. Among the men he let out were some of Capone’s top henchmen. Mark Grossman, Political Corruption in America: An Encyclopedia of Scandals, Power, and Greed, 2nd ed. (Millerton, NY: Grey House Pub, 2008), 304–5.

  Their team ultimately went all the way . . . “Keene in Control,” Kankakee (IL) Daily Journal, November 6, 1980.

  If Big Jim had any illusions . . . United States of America v. James Keene (CD IL 1997), Presentence Investigation Report at 12.

  For nearly the next twenty-four hours . . . Ibid., 4–9.

  It took another few weeks . . . Ibid., 3.

  What Richards alone said he bought . . . Ibid., 10.

  Jimmy’s lawyer tried lamely . . . Keene sentencing hearing transcript at 150.

  “It’s well-known,” he said . . . Ibid., 146–47.

  2. On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away

  When the sister found it abandoned . . . United States of America v. Larry D. Hall (CD IL 1995), trial transcript 37–45.

  Georgetown, Illinois (population) . . . U.S. Census Bureau, “Georgetown City, Illinois—Fact S
heet—American FactFinder,” factfinder.census.gov, 2000.

  When he called his chief investigator . . . Hillel Levin, Gary Miller interview, December 2007.

  Miller, then forty-five . . . Margie Yee, “Deputy retires after 31 years,” Danville (IL) Commercial-News, January 4, 2004.

  At first, Miller had his hands full . . . Levin, Miller interview.

  he came across [a report] about a man in a van . . . Hall trial transcript, 322–27.

  On a hunch . . . Levin, Miller interview; Hillel Levin, Jeffrey Whitmer interview, February 2008.

  The Miami, the native tribe . . . William Bright, Native American Placenames of the United States (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004), 537.

  It is the longest river . . . “WabashRiver.us—History,” WabashRiver.us, http://www.wabashriver.us; Mark Bennett, “Paul Dresser: Popular songwriter crafted state song,” Terre Haute (IN) Tribune-Star, February 2, 2005, sec. Special Reports.

  Despite the sentimental attachment . . . “Canal Society of Indiana—Impact on Indiana Geography,” http://www.indcanal.org/Geography.html; “WabashRiver.us—History.”

  Nothing exemplifies that spirit . . . “A brief history of time (in Indiana),” Indianapolis Star, April 30, 2005, sec. Library Fact Files, http://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/history/time.

  Police headquarters . . . Levin, Whitmer interview.

  At first, Miller didn’t know . . . Levin, Miller interview.

  Miller asked first . . . Gary Miller, “Jessica Roach Death Investigation” (Vermilion County Sheriff’s Department, November 2, 1994), 107–9.

  3. Lost in the System

  It held both antsy . . . Blair Kamin, “Jail a prisoner of ill-conceived renovation plan,” Chicago Tribune, October 22, 2006, Chicagoland Final edition.

  One of Green’s codefendants . . . Matt O’Connor, “Noah Robinson Is Found Guilty Again in Retrial—4 High-Ranking El Rukns Also Are Convicted,” Chicago Tribune, September 27, 1996, North Sports Final edition.

  The prison’s low-rise buildings sprawl . . . “BOP: FCI Milan,” Federal Bureau of Prisons, September 24, 2009, http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/mil/index.jsp.

  Cihak, who had another twenty years to serve . . . Among Cihak’s frauds was an excessive loan he provided to Calumet Farm, one of the most successful breeders of thoroughbred racing champions. In return, Cihak was to receive a share of one of the stable’s racehorses. Partly to repay the loan, Calumet’s owners killed Alydar—thrice runner-up to Affirmed in the Triple Crown—to collect on the insurance. They, too, received prison sentences. Skip Hollandsworth, “The Killing of Alydar,” Texas Monthly, June 2001; Associated Press, “Calumet Honchos Found Guilty—CBS News,” http://www.cbsnews.com.

  At sixty, Frank Calabrese Sr. . . . During the Family Secrets trial in the summer of 2007, Calabrese was linked to thirteen murders. Both his younger brother and his son testified for the prosecution. He was convicted of ten of them. “He Killed 14 People. He Got 12 Years—Murder victims’ families react in shock, but judge says that without hit man’s testimony, mob bosses would still be free,” Chicago Tribune, March 27, 2009, Chicagoland Final edition; “10 murders laid at feet of 3 in mob—some families wish verdict went further,” Chicago Tribune, September 28, 2007, Chicago edition.

  “Everybody thinks they were killed out in that cornfield . . .” “Setting Hollywood Straight—Spilotros lured to suburbs, killed,” Chicago Tribune, July 19, 2007, Chicago edition.

  Calabrese’s younger brother confessed . . . “He Killed 14,” Chicago Tribune.

  For some of the media covering the trial . . . Tapes of conversations between Frank Sr. and Jr. were crucial evidence in the case against the father. “ ‘Made’ in the Chicago mob—undercover tape details Outfit initiation ceremony, and reputed mobster’s son tells jurors why he decided to turn on his dad,” Chicago Tribune, July 10, 2007, Chicagoland edition.

  The problem, Beaumont explained, was that no federal prisoner . . . Hillel Levin, Lawrence Beaumont interview, January 2008.

  4. Life in the Cemetery

  Things never went better . . . Hillel Levin, Larry Hall interview, August 2008.

  for the son of a housepainter . . . Roy Hall, Robert’s father, reported himself to be self-employed as a “painter” when he registered for the draft in World War II. He described his occupation as “house moving” on his World War I registration card. “Draft Registration Cards—Roy E. Hall,” Ancestry.com, 1942.

  The Falls is one of the oldest independent cemeteries . . . Background on the cemetery and Wabash was provided by Ron Woodward, a former high school teacher, longtime board member of the Falls cemetery, and the official Wabash historian. Hillel Levin, Ron Woodward interview, January 2008.

  For most of those who grew up in the neighborhood . . . Hillel Levin, Ross Davis interview, February 2008; Hillel Levin, Ron Osborne interview, December 2007.

  When the boys were born . . . “Hospital News,” Wabash (IN) Plain Dealer, December 12, 1962.

  Robert was forty . . . U.S. Social Security Administration, “Social Security Death Index—Robert R. Hall,” Ancestry.com, 2001.

  Berniece thirty-three . . . U.S. Census Bureau, “1930 United States Federal Census—Wabash, Wabash, Indiana” (U.S. Government, 1930).

  She already had a sixteen-year-old . . . Levin, Hall interview; “People Search & Directory Services—Eugene Cloe,” Intelius.com, http://www.intelius.com.

  Larry emerged from the womb looking blue . . . Levin, Hall interview.

  A more recent diagnosis . . . Elizabeth M. Bryan, Twins, Triplets, and More: From Pre-Birth Through High School—What Every Parent Needs to Know When Raising Two or More, 1st ed. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), 28.

  Because of Larry’s complications . . . “Hospital News,” Wabash (IN) Plain Dealer, December 17, 1962.

  Despite their modest means . . . Levin, Davis interview.

  Some friends believe they were led into the mischief . . . Ibid.; Levin, Woodward interview; Levin, Osborne interview.

  Wabash detective Ron Smith and his partner were assigned . . . Hillel Levin, Ron Smith, Phil Amones interview, January 2008.

  Growing up, the twins were inseparable . . . Levin, Davis interview; Hall trial transcript at 1171.

  While searching the woods and fields around Wabash . . . Levin, Davis interview.

  Besides the name of Wabash itself . . . Stewart Rafert, The Miami Indians of Indiana: A Persistent People, 1654–1994 (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1996), 72–76.

  Each year, reenactments . . . Mississinewa Battlefield Society, “Mississinewa 1812,” mississinewa1812.com, 2009.

  The government ultimately prevailed . . . Rafert, Miami Indians, 108–13.

  She chose to remain . . . Ibid., 103–4.

  In the 1960s, as if to further obliterate . . . The reservoir’s most controversial collateral damage was to Miami burial grounds, particularly the grave site of Frances Slocum, whose body had to be disinterred and moved elsewhere. Ibid., 252–53.

  The twins avidly read stories . . . Levin, Hall interview.

  Little of the twins’ curiosity . . . Levin, Woodward interview.

  “We used to say our high school . . .” Levin, Davis interview.

  From the time he was a little boy . . . Levin, Hall interview.

  Allen has only fond memories of Larry . . . Hillel Levin, Robert Allen interview, January 2008.

  The experience with Allen . . . Levin, Hall interview.

  But for all of Larry’s expertise . . . Levin, Osborne interview.

  “Gary had a mouth on him . . .” Levin, Davis interview.

  None of his friends remember him having a girlfriend—ever . . . Levin, Hall interview; Levin, Davis interview; Hillel Levin, Micheal Thompson interview, January 2008.

  But with his long hair . . . Levin, Davis interview.

  The twins could not share . . . Hall trial transcript at 1171.

  It would get even worse in 1984 . . . Levin, Woo
dward interview.

  Larry’s bed was crammed into the tiny living room . . . Levin, Thompson interview.

  after she became pregnant with a daughter born in 1985 . . . The birth year of their daughter, Kayla, puts her in the Wabash High School class of 2002. She is among the alumni that classmates seek to contact via posts on the Web. Natalie Graf, “Wabash County Class Reunions—Class of 2002,” ingenweb.com, August 22, 2009, http://ingenweb.org/inwabash/reunion.html.

  Although she was five years younger . . . “Wabash County Marriage Licenses—Gary Wayne Hall, Catherine Elaine Dome,” July 6, 1987.

  Despite the upheavals in the twins’ relationship . . . Gary later described the trip to retired Wabash City detective Ron Smith. Levin, Smith, Amones interview.

  Gary bounced among several different jobs . . . Hall trial, transcript at 778.

  He was also employed by a janitorial service . . . Levin, Hall interview.

  Despite the confidence he inspired in his employer . . . Levin, Thompson interview.

  He may have been shy . . . Levin, Hall interview.

  No wonder then, friends thought . . . Levin, Davis interview.

  By the late eighties, another diversion . . . Levin, Hall interview.

  Known for their distinctive high “Hardee” hats . . . Lance J. Herdegen, The Men Stood like Iron: How the Iron Brigade Won Its Name (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997), 11.

  Most of the Iron Brigade reenactments . . . Levin, Thompson interview.

  For Larry, the events were a welcome break . . . Levin, Hall interview.

  True to form, Gary made himself so popular . . . Ibid.; Levin, Thompson interview.