Presidents, Mob Ties, and Roundabouts (Hour 2)

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Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Peach Wabba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now, a guy who likes to talk trash, but only when he's at the dump.

Pete Schwabba.

Hey, welcome back.

Ladies and gentlemen, as we kick off act two here tonight at Night Light, great to have you with me.

Fun show tonight.

We have a great question.

If you want to get in on the conversation, folks, it is national start over day.

So what is something in your life you wish you could redo?

National start over date.

What do you wish you could redo?

I said I would probably not stop doing stand-up comedy.

I just kind of segued into writing and got lucky enough and sold some stuff and just kind of stopped doing it.

I never made a conscious effort to quit.

And I wish I would have put a little more money away.

My kids are smarter about that than me.

Like, do you know this Conrad?

You're a young buck.

You put some money away at your age and before you know it, you're worth $2 billion.

Really?

Yeah.

It just takes a few years.

How much, like a dollar?

No, gotta put at least 100 bucks away.

100 bucks in your pocket.

Yeah, so I would do that.

Conrad said he would not play a game of pickup basketball that set him back physically.

a while because he had a very

bad

ankle sprain, which these are the kind of things you regret when you're 25, right?

So if I hope that's the biggest regret you have in your life, Conrad, but we've got some great answers.

We'll read your texts in just a bit.

We also talked and got the popcorn pick of the week during the first hour with my current guest, Wayne Thomas York.

We will be back with Wayne in just a second.

He picked Harold Maud as his popcorn pick of the week.

And we made some fun of.

Was it Kenny G?

I seem to black out every time I hear Kenny G and then I don't know what happens.

So what's the deal with Kenny G?

Oh, yeah, yeah, hey.

You know, that bit only works if people are listening and not watching on the stream.

They still see me sitting here laughing and giggling

at my lips.

That means you gotta play to the part now.

Every time we do it, you gotta walk my head on the

desk.

Exactly.

So that's our question of the night.

That's our popcorn pick.

Bob Dennis folks will be here in studio at 720.

We're going to talk about the connection between US presidents and the mafia.

And there's more of a connection there than you would think, even maybe with some presidents you don't anticipate.

But we'll do that at 720 with Bob.

Right now, we have a few more minutes with my pal.

actor Wayne York.

He is here on the stream.

He made the popcorn pick of the week, like I said, and he has a really cool... Is this a Facebook thing, Wayne?

A site or... I know you've done video for it.

Tell us a little bit about what Hurray for Hollywood is and how people can find it.

Oh, you bet.

You bet.

And just so you know, I found that movie title that made me cry way back in 1993.

The Piano.

Oh.

I think we might have said that.

The Piano 1993.

No, I said the pianist, I think.

But the piano, yeah, that was, piano was like an Oscar-nominated film.

I can't believe I couldn't think of that.

No, me too, me too.

Holly Hunter.

Holly Hunter, yeah, yeah, right.

All right.

Well, thank you for doing your research during your, your downtime.

Of course.

During

intermission, yeah.

Of course.

So, yeah, so tell us all about Hurray for Hollywood.

Well, I started on TikTok.

First, because work was slow in both the acting world and the location world,

My friends were saying, Wayne, you have to be creative.

You have to do something.

And I thought, well, if we're going to be leaving Los Angeles in maybe three, four years or something like that, I thought maybe I should focus in on LA and study it more and kind of share some of the love that I have for it and have always had on TikTok.

So I started a TikTok account and Instagram account.

And

then just not long ago, I thought, well, maybe I can put it on Facebook.

So I started Facebook and I put it on YouTube.

They're all the same.

Wow.

But I try and do a segment every two weeks celebrating Hollywood.

Very nice.

So obviously, I can see why you did this, but how do you pick your stories?

Like, how do you, you know, find something that's worth, that's worth spending that much time with?

think I just I go I either go down my list or when I'm driving around I go I'd love that building I want to learn more about that or I think that's where you know Somebody was discovered or something like that So I'm gonna go home and see if I can find out more about that and then I do and then I start the pictures and then I start the research

and

it usually takes about two to three days to put one together longer than I thought and then I see and then I'll get

you know, some nice views and everything.

People are fantastic.

But then I'll see somebody who has taken up one photograph of one hotel, get thousands of hits.

It's like, wait a minute, I wrote a script.

I went and filmed something.

Watch mine.

I like

made

a

little movie

here,

people.

That's hilarious.

I can't figure that stuff out, either, though.

But I love that you do that.

And I've really enjoyed some of your posts.

So please keep it up.

I think it's a lot of fun.

And I

love

those little nuggets.

Like last night, we had a fellow host here from Civic Media, and he does a show here every day from two to four, Todd Alba, the Todd Alba show.

It's more political.

So when he comes on my show, he really gets into it and has fun.

And he went to a spot in Madison, Wisconsin, last night, where Elvis got out of a limo and broke up a fight.

with two bullies picking on a younger kid.

It was older, heavier set Elvis, but nonetheless, there's a plaque there and everything commemorating.

So

now that's Madison is

constant in LA.

You've got that kind of stuff everywhere.

I mean, you're, you're never going to run out of material there Wayne.

No, I don't think so.

I think it's, it's kind of everywhere.

And, uh, and I love it.

I just, you know, I say to my wife, baby, look, I don't think we could leave in three years.

I think we might need four or five because I've got work to do.

There's a lot to explore still.

Wayne, do you mind if I take a quick call and then I'd like to ask you the question of the night if you don't mind?

All right, Conrad, who do we have?

Ollie from the

Northwoods.

Ollie from the Northwoods.

Hello, Ollie.

How are you tonight?

I'm fine.

This'll be a little lesson to Wayne.

Okay,

okay.

He's listening.

That's what he just said.

I wouldn't have spent so much time working

making sure that my family was secure and that they had a house, a roof over their head when I passed away.

Because all the time that I spent working, I missed out on special memories and time with my grandchildren.

And I wouldn't, would do that, definitely do that over and change that.

Well, that's it.

Wow, that's a great call, Ollie.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you for telling it to Wayne.

Yeah, you got to find a balance, right, Wayne?

You got to take care of people.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much, Ollie, as always.

Have a great

night.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Very helpful.

Do you have something, Wayne, that you wish you hadn't stopped doing or did more of or redo, so to speak?

Oh

boy, I heard when you said that and I thought what what what would it be?

Hopefully

you don't have anything.

Yeah Well, I let the kids grow up So instead of keeping them where I could carry them on my shoulders and and snuggle and cuddle and all that they grew up and you know

Now, 23 and 20, it's like, hey, listen, I want to tell you a story.

Sorry, Dad.

I just have to make a call.

As they say on the show, Modern Family that did a great episode, they're cats on the cradling you.

Wayne, you've had some great credits over your career, and you've got so many of them.

I have to ask you, though, I loved the show, The X-Files, for a while.

And then I thought it sort of meandered and lost its way, in my opinion.

But when it first came out, I loved it.

You did an episode of The X-Files.

What was that like, and what did you play?

I did.

If I remember correctly, they were giving a nod to The Simpsons.

It was like on

a

Sunday night, I think.

So every episode that they were going to air that night from whatever different shows, they had to somehow give a nod to The Simpsons.

So I think if I'm not mistaken, I was like a technical guy in a booth and my name was Homer.

And I said, really, my name's Homer?

They went, yeah, it's a nod to The Simpsons.

But it was

Really a good experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed it Yeah, I mean if Go

ahead.

Sorry win

No, no, no, no, I was just gonna say I have to say That when I was blessed and got cast on the black stallion the TV show Mickey Rooney was in it.

Oh my and when he found out that I liked old Hollywood He would not let me go

So when it would be like Wayne we need you that for such-and-such He'd be like well wait, and he would take my arm and kind of go Yeah, so then then she said this and I said yeah, I love it.

I love it, but I gotta go they're calling me to say he was fabulous

What a great memory that is that is fantastic?

Absolutely, please no no no go ahead

I was in diagnosis murder with Dick Van Dyke

Dick Van Dyke is a huge Laurel and Hardy fan.

I'm a Laurel and Hardy fan and I just happened to have this on my computer.

So this is Dick Van Dyke and I playing Laurel and Hardy.

What?

Oh my gosh.

Heaven.

What a great picture.

Now when was that Wayne?

Like what year was that?

1996.

That's

a fine year.

And

Dick Van Dyke was a was a

was a young was a young buck and he's like a hundred now.

So You probably thought you were pushing it then like I better get this picture.

He's getting up there.

Nope.

He's still going.

It's pretty amazing.

I know that's I sent him this picture a couple years ago.

What a great

that's

fantastic

Anyway, I just had to share those.

I appreciate that.

That's that's hooray for Hollywood and hooray for Wayne.

That's outstanding.

On the stream, Jim says Harold Mudd was an excellent choice, fun picture show.

I could not agree more, Jim.

So, Wayne, you were on all these shows.

We just have about a minute or two left.

What was your best experience?

You were on, like, Drake and Josh.

You were on the show called Winging It.

You know, Conrad's 25.

What Disney show did you do?

I know you had kind of a run where you did some of the kid shows or played a teacher or something like that.

Yeah, I played a teacher in Winging It, but that was shot up in Toronto.

OK.

And I'm not sure if it aired down here, but I think

My fun most fun kid show was Hannah Montana and working with

Miley Cyrus.

Thank you

so

much.

Oh, that's wow.

She turned into a huge like that's really impressive.

I mean, because some of those Disney kids they have a good run and you hope they put

the

money away.

But she's like she's went above and beyond.

She's amazing.

and she doesn't call me anymore.

She doesn't know lunches, nothing.

Oh, God, don't put up with that, Wayne.

You want me, I'll make a

few phone

calls.

Conrad, take a memo.

Let's get on that

and we'll see what we can do.

Sounds good.

Yeah, yeah.

I'll get her phone number and give her a call.

Wayne, this was so

much fun.

Thank you,

Conrad.

Thank you, buddy.

I appreciate your time tonight.

Say hi to the family and let's actually do a catch up one of these days.

It would be great to talk to you.

I would love that.

All right.

Thank you, buddy.

Thank you very much, Pete.

It was just a pleasure.

Likewise.

Keep up the great work.

All right.

That's Wayne York.

Check out Hurray for Hollywood on TikTok and YouTube and Facebook.

Wayne's a great follow and a great guy.

So there you go.

Conrad, we've got, that was a great call from Ollie.

I like that a lot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

PJ says, he's watching on the stream.

He says, I'd go back and redo the 90s.

I need to make a few changes.

Yeah, me too.

But then he doesn't

elaborate.

Me too.

You weren't even born.

I was born in the 90s.

Were you really?

99?

Six months.

You had six months of the 90s.

So

your redo would be you'd live more of the 90s.

I thought the 90s were good.

Dave on the stream says, I learned how to golf when I was three.

This is going back to our conversation earlier.

He says, my grandpa was the club champion at Little River Country Club.

Awesome.

Very

nice, Dave.

He says, I wish I would have focused on golf.

I think a lot of people, I think a lot of people will realize that and they get their kids into golf earlier, right?

Because it is one of those games you can... Dave, was your grandpa, Judge Smales?

Who is that?

Oh, Caddyshack?

Come on.

Oh, wow.

We got to get Bob

Dennis in here.

I make a

Caddyshack joke.

All right.

Todd from Dupir is having a laugh at Wayne.

He says...

That was a quote as if that will make it okay.

Funniest part of the story.

Thank you, Todd from Depeer.

We'll read the rest of your texts when we come back.

Bob Dennis coming up next for some mob talk.

It's Peach Wabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get

started.

from Sly and the Family Stone, recording a live concert from 1967 that was recently discovered.

And they'll be releasing it, which is kind of cool.

This is Pete Schwabba at Nightlight.

Welcome back, folks.

There's a little showbiz nugget for you as we, before we get into our next segment here, our question of the night, you still got time is, what would you redo about your life?

It's National Start Over Day.

What would you redo?

Have some fun with it.

And we haven't heard from steady Eddie yet, have we, Conrad?

No, it's not an early text from SETI tonight.

It's going to be a late

one.

No pressure, steadfast Edward.

Sydney from Oregon says, I've been too forgiving.

I should have been more intentional about seeking revenge on my enemies.

Do it, Sydney.

Go get them.

And please give us a full report.

All right, folks, I'm excited.

This is a big night because Bob Dennis is back in the studio.

We always have fun when Bob is here.

We talk typically, I would say, about mob stuff.

A little, yeah, some urban stuff, some mob stuff.

We've had some great talks and Bob is always fun to have here.

And I love that you come into the studio too.

I appreciate that.

I know you just said you live like three miles away, but that's still an effort to get

off the couch.

It depends

on where we park the van.

Yeah, fair enough.

Where did you park?

Did you find street

parking?

Yeah, right out here.

It was amazing.

I actually parallel parked.

Really?

Yeah.

A

lot of people can't do that.

I can't do a lot, but I can parallel park.

Yeah.

I used to be great at it.

I had a job when I was in college in Chicago where I had to parallel park like an 18 foot van.

And

I could do it.

I got really good at it.

And then I tried to do it.

Right here outside the studio.

It took me like five minutes.

People were watching like, he's not gonna do this.

And I've got a little Honda.

It was embarrassing.

Do you have a regret, Bob, or something you'd like to redo?

You've had a good life.

I can't imagine you have too many.

I have no regrets.

None?

None.

Wow.

I don't believe you, but okay.

Well, if I didn't do things the way I did, I wouldn't be who I am today.

You wouldn't be sitting here right now with

one

minor derivation.

or deviancy on your path.

A lot of deviance in my background, but go ahead.

Maybe you should have started with

the redo with there.

But no, like, it's amazing.

Like, I always say, I wouldn't do anything differently about my life that didn't result in my kids and the rest I can live with.

I'm fine

with it.

I really don't have, this is, my parents were, you know, depression-era children and World War II, greatest generation.

And they had a philosophy of we don't look back.

We're not going to worry about tomorrow.

We're going to do today right now.

And that's kind of a good way to be very very Zen.

It well, they would have not really gone with that because the whole World War Two thing was going on.

But anyways, no, I mean, you know, I just like I like living in the moment.

I live it like living today.

You know, I screw up or don't do something wrong.

You know, we'll do it better next time.

Yeah,

that's a great philosophy.

All right, Bob, you have, God, I don't even know where to start.

We've got, you sent me a list of presidents, because I wanted to talk to you initially about urban legends, because every time I have you on, I'm like, all right, let's talk some urban legends.

And we get sidetracked with mob stuff, because I love mob stuff too.

So I did think it was interesting, the real estate listing you sent me with Capone's home for sale.

Tell us about that.

It was a home that, well, they think he lived there, but it had secret exits out to the lake, out to the barn.

Was this in Milwaukee?

Yeah, it was outside of Milwaukee.

I have never heard of

him living or having a place.

I knew

about up north and down like Kettle Marine or somewhere

out

in Walkshaw, but I never heard that before that he was

in Milwaukee.

He had many, many, many houses because he never stayed in the same place two nights in a row.

Yeah.

Because he was afraid of being assassinated.

It's like Conrad.

Is he going to put his clothes back on?

It got really quiet in here,

obviously.

That's kind of weird.

Was the nudity.

I don't

want to look that way.

I'm just, you know, that's what I wish I could change.

He doesn't change clothes.

He just changes houses.

All right, so, but why?

Yeah, that's interesting, though.

He would go right to another big city and hide in plain sight, maybe.

Yep.

Just, you know, and this actually kind of ties in a way.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1932.

And Al Capone, his career was coming to an end because of tax evasion in 1932.

And in, well, on December the 8th of 1941, the day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, they went and got Al Capone's 1928 Cadillac, a black Cadillac, to use to transport

president Franklin Roosevelt to the Congress so he could make that famous speech where he says we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Right.

Because it was bulletproof and they didn't have a bulletproof vehicle to put the president in.

Oh my

gosh.

So that was like the first official limousine for a president.

That's like Al Capone doing a solid for a FDR.

Yeah, and they say that and they don't know if it's true or not But they say, you know, I hope Al approves of this or something, you know Okay, I think he's sitting in jail wait was Al Capone still alive then sure he died in

1948 or 49, I believe.

Oh, that's

so great.

So you sent this.

It was the historic lakefront mansion called Capone Home with secret rooms listed for 4.49 million.

Now it is right on the lake.

It's going to cost a pretty penny in a beautiful area of Milwaukee, but

Four and a half million bucks are people is that the kind of thing people would buy just so they can say they have a Capone house and or they're enamored with secret rooms or something

I think if you're gonna pay four point four nine million You probably have a couple extra bucks in your wallet probably okay, so you're probably gonna go with it's a beautiful house It's a

gorgeous house.

I watched the video earlier.

It's uh, I'm not gonna make a move on it personally because I broadcast out of Green Bay every night, but

You know, it

looks like finished.

We just paid off our mortgage.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

And years ago, you used to have mortgage burning events where you'd go someplace and you would take your mortgage that was paid off and you'd like go to my father and law went to a restaurant and he held up the mortgage and they got them a silver stainless steel bowl and told everybody we're going to burn the mortgage and everybody was like, yay, and they burned it.

But

now it is.

I said that in the bank, my wife and I did.

We said that in the bank and they're like, what?

It's just like aberrant behavior.

Well, we're old people.

We like to burn

things.

All right, Bob Dennis is here, folks.

Bob, tell people about your podcast.

Where can they hear it?

Well, it's on the Swellcast network.

And for urban legends and stranger truths, if you just type that into your Google or URL, it'll pop right up.

Fantastic.

All right, we're going to come back.

We're going to talk about...

Let's start with Truman.

You say he was the most mobbed-up president.

We'll do that after the news.

We're coming right back.

Bob Dennis is here.

It's Pete Schwabba in Night Light on the Civic Media Radio Network.

I was talking through out of my own snores.

That's a talent I have.

Welcome back to Nightlight.

That was the musical stylings of Kenny G. This is Pete Schwabba in Nightlight.

Great to have you with me on this Thursday.

PJ on the stream says, of course, presidents were associated with the mob, but they refused to say what they did with Jimmy Hoffa to this day.

Boy, I mean...

Some of the mysteries Bob Dennis is my guest.

Check out his podcast, you Google Bob Dennis and then go to Urban Legends.

You could just go directly to Urban Legends.

Okay.

Skip the whole Bob Dennis part.

That part's not

important.

It's important that you're here though, so thank you.

I would love to know who killed Kennedy and what the heck happened to Jimmy Hoffa.

I have an idea what happened to Jimmy Hoffa.

He's part of a freeway or for a while with an end zone or something like that, but.

Basically, they know he was abducted from that.

Was it like the Red Lion restaurant or something outside Detroit?

So they killed him, I know that.

But Kennedy, like all of that, like you just said during the break, Robert Kennedy, the anniversary of his death is tomorrow.

57 years ago.

57 years ago.

What do you think?

It just seems so convoluted, like we were just talking about this two days ago and they said, oh Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby.

I'm like, when does that ever happen?

Of course that was a cover up.

I'm not a conspiracy guy, Bob, but I mean, and then somebody killed Ruby.

Like, is that a, oh, there's just do-gooder citizens that want to make things right.

No.

Something's going on there.

What do you think happened to Kennedy before we get into all this?

Speaking of, we can start with Kennedy and the mob, too, though, too, because

they want.

And their affiliation goes back many, many years.

There are people that say that the old man, Joe Kennedy, was involved with the mob and the mafia, where he was doing a booze.

But he actually, there's no real evidence of that.

However, he did do something where he cornered the market on Scotch whiskey.

And through his company called summer summer set importers and he made 50 cents on every bottle of booze that came to the United States in 1934 was $900,000 and today's dollars.

It would be $21,518,523.

Oh my God, I'd love

to corner the market on something.

I've never even come close to doing that.

Yeah, I'm not even.

So

let's say all right.

So he obviously you say there's no direct link and maybe there's not.

I don't know.

I mean, but.

if you're bootlegging, or if you're in that industry in that time, you're dealing with the mob.

I'm not saying he was killing people,

but

you're making deals to move the product or whatever that kind of, and everybody used to say this, living in Chicago, it's like, well, daily dealt with the mob.

The Chicago mob in the very early, and we've talked about this,

they

had a piece of everything.

You had to talk to them.

You had to negotiate.

Was it the same thing with Kennedy?

Well, sure.

I

mean, through the whole era, and they all had to move things somehow.

And they all knew each other.

But the thing is that you got to give credit to Joe Kennedy, who was a horrible human being.

He really was.

He never got caught.

Yeah.

You know, that's the ultimate of smart.

I mean, there.

Right.

But yeah, it's true in New York today as well, as well as Chicago.

I mean, there's a piece of it that goes to the mafia, no matter what.

Still?

To this day, Trump actually had a...

An interview a while back that I saw and he talked about yes, I dealt with him because he said that you know, it's New York Destruction and they say well, how would you do it?

And he said well?

I would take and I would make a contract and I would have that contract overrun by about you know 20% and that was the skim you gave to the mob Wow, I mean he just flat out admitted it.

Yeah.

Wow.

Okay.

That's interesting

so let's get back to Kennedy though in terms of him like I think it'll come out like you have so much

you know, you've got all these presidents going back to Eisenhower or FDR, I should say, that had to deal with the mob in some capacity or another.

But who do you think, was the mob, they were powerful.

But do you think taking out Kennedy, was that like one or two people from every organization, CIA, mob, FBA, whatever it was.

something it couldn't have been too wide, right?

Or

somebody would have talked.

There's a podcast by Rob Reiner, and he talks about this, and he talks about the Kennedy assassination, and how his theory, and he backs it up with whatever information he has, talks about how it's a combination of the military, the CIA, the FBI, and the mob, and that all of it is coordinated with not top level, but like second and third level people.

Okay,

and that they all were given an assignment to do something, but they didn't all know that each other was doing the same thing at the same time.

Oh, wow.

And that they all came together because possible deniability.

Yes, absolutely.

Wow.

Absolutely.

So nobody, you know, supposedly knew which one actually did the job.

So I have a lot of lawyers in my family and they're always talking about evidence and my dad is really thorough when he's like, look, the Warren Commission put out this report and I hear what he's saying.

But the report also could have said they don't have any evidence that it's anybody else.

So they settle on single gunmen.

I mean, what do you, what's your take on

that?

I'm sorry, but the Warren commission is a fantasy.

It's a fiction.

As a matter of fact, the gentleman who just recently died, he was the last secret service member.

He talked about how he was the one who dropped the bullet on the gurney in Kennedy's gurney when he was wheeled into the hospital because he had found that bullet.

and didn't know what to do with it, put it in his pocket when they had taken his body into the hospital, was in the hospital at the time and thought, she's about to get rid of this thing and then drop it on the gurney.

What would that do exactly?

Just get rid of it for

him.

Get rid of it for him, but the bullet is next to Kennedy's body

then?

Yeah, so somebody else would find it.

Okay.

So that bullet, that supposedly the magic bullet that killed everybody.

was just a fallacy.

I met John Conley, who was in the car with, I met him when I was a news reporter.

He got

messed up too.

He

got shot two or three times, right?

He got the bullet hit him in the wrist and in the hip and I think there was something else.

But he was running for president in 1980 and I was a news reporter.

And he was, he was talking in his John Connolly voice.

And I had asked him about how he had spent all this money and how he only had one delegate to the convention and all of his rich friends are going to be disappointed and didn't bother him.

And he looked at me with these brown eyes of death.

And I thought, oh, boy, I've done it now.

And then he stopped and said, well, I was born in a little log house with no water.

You know, and I was like, OK.

And as we left, he walked over and he was a big man.

He was a tall man.

And he went, I'm short, you know, I'm like five, six.

So he's like a foot taller than I am.

And he comes over to me and says, you wanna see it, don't you boy?

Oh, wow.

I'm like, okay, this is kind of creepy, but sure, okay.

I mean, we're just a lot of people around.

This is okay, it's safe.

And so he rolls up his sleeve and he shows me the scar from where the bullet hit his arm and shattered his wrist.

Oh man.

So there was like a piece of history right there.

It was like, oh my God, you know, it was, it was just amazing, absolutely amazing.

Wow.

Yeah.

So.

So.

All right.

So if you had to give a theory about who killed Kennedy, who would you say is behind it, just based on what you know?

Um, I don't like conspiracies.

I'm not big on them.

But at the same time, I say to myself, it's it's pretty tough to knock off a guy so thoroughly and completely.

You know that and they talk about the movement how his body lurches forward and then there's people that say well He had on his his support because he had a bad back so that would have shot him and pushed him back and then brought him forward But then the doctors if you see the 12 doctors who were involved in the emergency room that were all involved They all said that it was a frontal wound and they all signed off on it There's actually a documentary that was released about that after the last of the doctors died

And each of them in this documentary says, yes, it was a frontal wound.

Really?

Yeah, so I'm thinking, okay, they were there, they know.

Yeah, so he

grabbed his throat

and then

you're saying there was a wound in

addition to that from the front?

Well, no, the first shot they think was at his throat, because it went in right by his esophagus.

And then the second one was the one that came and took out the greater portion of the back of his head.

Okay, so they're

just two, okay,

I

got you.

So the first one was, okay.

Wow.

All right.

So you're not really, this is not, you're not giving us an actual suspect here, Bob.

And I don't expect you to like make a citizen.

No, I think that the Rob Reiner thing is a pretty good supposition.

I think that there were, you know, multiple people involved, I couldn't say what they were, but right.

And Jack Ruby actually died in prison.

Oh, that's right.

Cancer.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah, heck of a guy.

All right, so let's talk about Truman.

You say Truman.

My guest, by the way, is Bob Dennis.

He is a, I call you a mob authority.

Are you comfortable with that title?

I'm good with

that, yeah.

And you do a mean John Connelly.

I've never met the man.

I can only imagine

that

spot.

I don't

know.

Yeah, I could even do that impression out.

So you have Truman, you say, was the most mobbed up of any president.

Yes, and yet the least affected by it.

Isn't that amazing?

How do you explain that?

Well, all right, it started out in 1924.

The guy named Tom Pendergast and the Pendergast Syndicate, which was in Kansas City, came to Truman and said, we want you to run for judge.

And they got him elected judge in 1924.

And then they helped him to get elected to the Senate in 1923.

They supported him with votes and with money.

And they continued to just promote his career until Pendergas actually ended up going to prison for tax evasion.

But he continued from prison to manipulate money to be supporting Truman.

and to help him get elected and then re-elected in 1940, they gave him what was called a Stafford automobile, which was at the time considered to be like a second level Cadillac.

It

was

pretty amazing.

He also had a very close relationship with Johnny Azia, who was the Kosanostra family in Missouri.

Kansas City?

Yeah, Kansas City and in the area like big time.

Let's see.

All right.

He once let one of the members of the mafia steal $10,000 from the general revenue fund of the government so that the rest of the mafia wouldn't take one and a half million.

Wow.

Isn't that weird?

I mean, it was

a guy like, yeah, I'm going to take this.

OK.

He

himself said he never took anything personally that he didn't have more than 150 bucks in his wallet, which I tend to believe because he lived with his mother-in-law his entire life in a house that she owned.

Wow.

So anyways, let's see what else.

But when you say mobbed up, like he's not, he wasn't doing anything illegal necessarily.

He

himself was not, but

all the way through his entire career.

He had those

contacts.

They guided him.

They, you know, and he was one of the presidents who and all of them do this.

They kind of just say, yeah, we can't really prove anything.

And they look the other way.

Right.

Because there is so much control and so much power.

It's like a secondary government in a lot of ways that.

They just let it go.

Let it go.

It's like I can't really handle it.

Wow.

He also pardoned members of the syndicate and the machine.

He paroled Midwest mafia members who were convicted of extortion, who are of the unions and the show business unions.

He opened an alliance to the quote hardened criminals with gambling of every kind of vice and imaginable.

Let's see.

He but he got by because he was compassionate and he was honest.

And I had it written down here somewhere, there is a phrase, which I can't find right now, but it talks about how somebody who, if they're a politician, even if they do some kind of cruddy things,

if

they're really honest about it, how people just kind of go, yeah, okay, that's politics.

Appreciate his honesty.

Yeah, it's like, whatever.

You know, at least she's being honest.

Shallow Graves in his backyard, but he admits it.

You know, it's okay.

You know, just don't dig in the backyard.

Geez.

And I, and I always like Truman because like,

You said supposedly, here's the two stories I remember about Truman that he played, they were playing cards with Churchill on the train and Churchill got up, went to the bathroom or something and Truman said, this guy just saved the free world.

Nobody beats him at poker or something

for that effect, like let Churchill

win.

And then apparently he and Bess used to really go at it because they always were changing mattresses.

I'm not saying anything.

I'm not

expecting, I'm not asking for it.

I witnessed here Bob.

Well, you know, there was a thing with the microphone.

The Truman's never invited you over with

it.

Well, you know.

So also let's do Eisenhower because this is Eisenhower fascinates me for the reasons you said during the break because he's kind of considered like he didn't do anything.

But that's not really the case.

Everybody considered him to be a do nothing president.

And it couldn't be further from the truth.

Eisenhower didn't want to ruin his image.

He loved being known as the grandfatherly person.

And yet he had his hands on the control of everything in Washington DC and instructed people on what they needed to do from the time that he was elected in 1953.

until he ended his time in 1961.

He had committees and commissions that were studying things, examining things, and going after people.

1957, they actually had, well, first they had, this is Kip Hoffer back in the early 1950s.

Let's pick up right there, Bob.

We'll come back.

We're talking about Eisenhower and his connections and how much he actually did contrary to his image.

This is Pete Schwab at Nightlight.

We'll have a few more minutes with Bob Dennis coming up next on the Civic Media Radio Network.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

Welcome back, folks.

This is Pete Schwabba.

And you've got nightlight for a few more minutes here on a Thursday.

Bob Dennis is here.

Our question tonight was, what is something in your life you wish you could redo?

It's National Start Over Day, and we've got a couple texts here to finish off here.

Steady Eddie says, Pete, to paraphrase, old blue eyes, that's Frank Sinatra for your listeners, younger than 85.

Regrets, I've had a few, but here is one that we'll mention.

In high school, there was this girl who I was in love with.

Uh-oh.

But I know, I hope he keeps this PG.

In love with, but I was just too afraid and shy.

I let my chance go by.

The chance that she might have loved me too.

I saw Kenny Bruce Gorlich, Kenny G in person.

That might be his real name.

Conn, can you Google?

I will, yes.

Kenny G in person 30 plus years ago, my girlfriend's idea, of course.

And about 10 years ago, I shook the hand of Aaron Rodgers.

I don't understand the correlation there.

He says, regrets, I've had a few, but through it all, I stood tall and I did it my way.

Is he saying he regrets shaking Aaron Rodgers' hand and seeing Kenny G?

Is he equating the two?

I think so.

Steady Eddie.

It is Kenneth Bruce Gorlich.

Okay.

Well

done, Steady

Eddie.

I still have questions.

608 says, oh, this is Rachel from Milwaukee.

I wish I would have continued to learn cursive after they stopped teaching it in school.

I have so many cards from family members and have no idea what they're saying.

That's great, Rachel.

Thank you very much.

Tomorrow night, folks, on the show, we've got a great show.

Mike Clemens will be here, Civic Media Sports Authority at 635.

My pal Mark Unger, an actor, will be here to talk about the last shot of the Sopranos.

He went on a rant on Facebook, and I can't wait to talk to him about it.

And then filling in for Terry Barr on Bar Band Friday night will be rocker.

That's all tomorrow night.

We've got a few more minutes here with our pal, Bob Dennis.

We're talking about presidents and their connections to the mafia.

So Eisenhower we were on did we should we move on or

did you want I

mean so he did a lot I Was Eisenhower like I feel like Clinton was president at a great time the dot-com boom Was that kind of how it was for Eisenhower like they're building all these interstates and GI housing and all that kind of

stuff Well, okay, they built the interstates because Eisenhower wanted to have a way to move Military rockets throughout the United States.

He had a mandatory height of 13 feet 9 inches on a bridge so that the trucks could

go through with the truck mounted rockets.

Link with the rocket.

Wow.

No kidding.

And he realized that by having the interstate system that he'd be able to move troops quickly, which was then only like maybe 60 years later realized and adopted by China,

which is

if you go to China, if you look at it, their interstate system is almost exactly identical to America's.

It's built exactly the same way.

Wow.

I hope they get stuck in roundabouts.

I'm sorry.

I almost got hit today.

Roundabouts are supposed to prevent accidents.

But it's also like, oh, didn't see it.

Like there's no, it's not, it's a little harder to get bad drivers out of

roundabouts.

A few years ago, they had the roundabout convention here in Green Bay.

This is true.

They had a convention for roundabouts.

This city had more roundabouts.

How many nerds were at that convention?

Well, just besides myself.

I knew you were

gonna say that.

But they had, they had the convention here and because they have more roundabouts here per capita than almost any other city in the country.

Really?

My only fear was they'd have a parade.

Let's see that, I would

love to see.

Be like just seen in vacation.

So