Jake Lingle

Early life

Jake Lingle was born July 1891 and raised on the West Side of Chicago. When he was eight years old, his parents converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism. He received an education up to the eighth grade at John Calhoun North Elementary. His childhood friend William F. Russell later became the chief of police in Chicago. Before becoming an office boy for the Chicago Tribune, Lingle played semi-professional baseball and worked for a surgical supply company.

Career

Jake Lingle began his career in journalism in 1912. Lingle was known as a reporter for his work as a legman covering gang-related crime stories. He reported from the scene by telephone to a writer at the Chicago Tribune office and then that person would write up his story. During this period, Lingle made connections outside journalism, and while he earned $65 a week reporting, he had an annual income of $60,000.

Death

On the afternoon of June 9, 1930, in Chicago, Jake Lingle left the Sherman House Hotel, where he had conversed with some power brokers, to catch the 1:30 pm train to a racetrack in Homewood where he gambled on horses. On his way though the Randolph Street Terminal, he was followed by two men. One of them, described as thin, with blonde hair, and blue eyes, raised his .38 caliber pistol and shot Lingle once directly in the back of the head, killing him.

Investigation

The police sent 664 hoodlums out to perform what they called a "manhunt" in Chicago. to find the killer quickly, the Chicago Tribune told readers the newspaper would give them a $25,000 reward if they had information that led them to the killer. Other local newspaper companies said they would throw in an extra $30,000.

In January 1931, the police received a tip and arrested a man by the name of Leo V. Brothers from St. Louis. Many people swore that he was Lingle's killer. Others, including Brothers, denied his involvement. Convicted, Brothers was given the minimum sentence for murder of 14 years, and he served 8 years of the sentence.

Discoveries

Lingle's death brought to the public's attention his connections with gangsters. Lingle turned out to have been setting the price of beer in Chicago and involved in organized dog racing and gambling. He had maintained two homes plus a suite at the Morrison Hotel and had a six-figure stockbroker account. High-placed friends of his in the police department resigned. Not only did some people discover what Lingle's occupation really was, but also they learned about the gangs and about those with whom Lingle was associated.

Reactions

Once other journalists learned about Jake Lingle's association with mobsters and his gambling activity, they began questioning the Chicago Tribune about it. In response, the Tribune said that it had not been aware of Lingle's activities. However, Frank Wilson, an IRS agent, said Robert McCormick, who was the Tribune's proprietor, had arranged a meeting between Lingle and himself when he was investigating the Al Capone case, and claimed this proved that the Tribune knew about Jake Lingle's involvement with gangs.

In popular culture

The 1931 film The Finger Points was loosely based on Lingle's life and death, and starred Richard Barthelmess as the reporter, Fay Wray as his love interest, and Clark Gable as the gangster who corrupts him.

In 1959, the Jake Lingle murder was dramatized on a television episode of The Untouchables.

In the 1959 film Al Capone, Martin Balsam played a fictional corrupt reporter named Mac Keely, who was Lingle in all but name.

In the 1979 film The Lady in Red, Lingle is seen as the reporter harassing John Dillinger's escort/girlfriend, Polly Hamilton (called "Polly Franklin" in this film). But this is fiction, as Dillinger first met Hamilton in 1934, four years after Lingle's murder.