Talk:Claude Maddox

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John Moore was to be my godfather when I was born in September of 1958. He died in August of that year so his son Terry was my godfather. I never met Terry because he died when I was three or four years old. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:100A:B115:DB2C:0:3C:93A3:4E01 (talk) 06:16, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

Correcting year of death
John Edward Moore, aka Claude "Screwy" Maddox, died in June of 1958 (not 1955 as indicated). There was a lengthy article in the Chicago Tribune about his death, outlining his many alleged criminal activities, including possible involvement in the famous and unsolved St. Valentine's Day Massacre. According to his son Terry, my high school friend at the time, he'd been released from a light security prison farm in Ohio where he was serving time for tax evasion. Terry said his father had received a subpoena that spring of 1958 to appear before the Senate Commission on organized crime, headed up by Senator Estes Fefauver. Bobby Kennedy was a Justice Department attorney serving the committee. He had a bad heart, and it was thought by his wife Alice and the family that the stress of the possible Senate hearing led to the heart attack. I attended the wake. Larry L Cox 20:56, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Hmm..according to the website My Al Capone Museum information from his obituary states the following:


 * Claude "Screwy" Maddox real name John Edward Moore, Ex St.Louis egan's rat later Capone member who ran the Circus Cafe at 1857 North Avenue and overlooked the gang of the same name. Chief suspect in St.Valentine's day massacre of 1929 and who was at least involved in the planning stages. On January 1929 Claude Maddox is arrested in the Circus cafe with a thompson drum full of cartridges and many overcoats strewn about the back of the cafe.A loaded .45 is found in one overcoats. The garage next to the cafe is later used to torch cut one of the getaway cars from the massacre.Instead it explodes and catches fire. Maddox is let go as a suspect as he was in court at the time of the massacre.Maddox later climbs up in the Capone organization.
 * On June 21,1955 Maddox 58 is found dead in bed by his wife Alice in their home at 3536 South Harlem Avenue, Riverside.


 * Although admittedly a brief biography, The True and Complete Story of Machine Gun Jack McGurn by Amanda Jayne Parr claims the date of death as December 28, 1968 and buried in St. Charles Cemetery. Interestingly enough, the book suggests Maddox may have been the victim of strychnine poisoning. MadMax 01:32, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

The day used by Binder may be right, but the year of death is incorrect, which is why I added my two cents. Like I said, I was at the wake. John Moore the father of my relatively new friend of high school age, Terry Moore (he attended St. Patrick's on the north side of Chicago, I Lyons Township in LaGrange), of 3536 South Harlem Avenue, a long, narrow, fortified yellow brick house bordering a large expanse of empty lots facing Harlem and stretching to the north and a city park to the west (rear of the property). I visited the home many times, which is an interesting story in itself. It had a 3" thick Oak back door on a roller on the bottom of the edge that opened, to slam shut easier, a bullet-proof window in the office at the rear of the house, and a completely furnished downstairs, including a mammoth kitchen and over-sized restuarant utensils for cooking for at least a dozen people. The lower level was built to accommodate "going to the mattresses" during gangland warfare, and according to Terry, during the late 1940s and early 1950s, was used for that purpose on more than one occasion. Also, if the 1897 birth date is correct in the Wikipedia entry, Moore would have been 61 at his death. As to Amanda Parr's assertion of a 1968 date of death -- where she arrived at that wildly incorrect date is hard to fathom. However, the suggestion that Moore, alias Maddox, died by means other than a heart attack was widely floated -- outside of the family, of course, who maintained he died by natural causes -- at the time of his death. The suspicion was that he was silenced to prevent his "talking" to the Kefauver Senate Committee. At that time, Moore was partners with Joey "Doves" Aiuppa in Cicero, and Tony Accardo was truly the "big tuna," in charge of the Chicago mob. 65.175.169.141 12:50, 26 March 2007 (UTC) APOLOGIES: Correction to my assertion that it was the Senator Estes Kefauver hearings that Robert Kennedy was associated with. Those hearings were earlier in the 1950s. In the 1958 time frame i referred to, the time of John E. Moore's death, Kennedy was associated with Sen. McClellan in the 1958 hearings (which Terry Moore referred to in saying his father had received a subpoena). Unfortunately, Terry was killed in an automobile accident late at night while returning from a part-time job at a service station in 1962 while attending the University of Miami, so he cannot verify.65.175.169.141 21:12, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Correcting year of death
John Edward Moore, aka Claude "Screwy" Maddox, died in June of 1958 (not 1955 as indicated). There was a lengthy article in the Chicago Tribune about his death, outlining his many alleged criminal activities, including possible involvement in the famous and unsolved St. Valentine's Day Massacre. According to his son Terry, my high school friend at the time, he'd been released from a light security prison farm in Ohio where he was serving time for tax evasion. Terry said his father had received a subpoena that spring of 1958 to appear before the Senate Commission on organized crime, headed up by Senator Estes Fefauver. Bobby Kennedy was a Justice Department attorney serving the committee. He had a bad heart, and it was thought by his wife Alice and the family that the stress of the possible Senate hearing led to the heart attack. I attended the wake. Larry L Cox 20:56, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Hmm..according to the website My Al Capone Museum information from his obituary states the following:


 * Claude "Screwy" Maddox real name John Edward Moore, Ex St.Louis egan's rat later Capone member who ran the Circus Cafe at 1857 North Avenue and overlooked the gang of the same name. Chief suspect in St.Valentine's day massacre of 1929 and who was at least involved in the planning stages. On January 1929 Claude Maddox is arrested in the Circus cafe with a thompson drum full of cartridges and many overcoats strewn about the back of the cafe.A loaded .45 is found in one overcoats. The garage next to the cafe is later used to torch cut one of the getaway cars from the massacre.Instead it explodes and catches fire. Maddox is let go as a suspect as he was in court at the time of the massacre.Maddox later climbs up in the Capone organization.
 * On June 21,1955 Maddox 58 is found dead in bed by his wife Alice in their home at 3536 South Harlem Avenue, Riverside.


 * Although admittedly a brief biography, The True and Complete Story of Machine Gun Jack McGurn by Amanda Jayne Parr claims the date of death as December 28, 1968 and buried in St. Charles Cemetery. Interestingly enough, the book suggests Maddox may have been the victim of strychnine poisoning. MadMax 01:32, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

The day used by Binder may be right, but the year of death is incorrect, which is why I added my two cents. Like I said, I was at the wake. John Moore the father of my relatively new friend of high school age, Terry Moore (he attended St. Patrick's on the north side of Chicago, I Lyons Township in LaGrange), of 3536 South Harlem Avenue, a long, narrow, fortified yellow brick house bordering a large expanse of empty lots facing Harlem and stretching to the north and a city park to the west (rear of the property).

I visited the home many times, which is an interesting story in itself. It had a 3" thick Oak back door on a roller on the bottom of the edge that opened, to slam shut easier, a bullet-proof window in the office at the rear of the house, and a completely furnished downstairs, including a mammoth kitchen and over-sized restuarant utensils for cooking for at least a dozen people. The lower level was built to accommodate "going to the mattresses" during gangland warfare, and according to Terry, during the late 1940s and early 1950s, was used for that purpose on more than one occasion.

Also, if the 1897 birth date is correct in the Wikipedia entry, Moore would have been 61 at his death.

As to Amanda Parr's assertion of a 1968 date of death -- where she arrived at that wildly incorrect date is hard to fathom.

However, the suggestion that Moore, alias Maddox, died by means other than a heart attack was widely floated -- outside of the family, of course, who maintained he died by natural causes -- at the time of his death. The suspicion was that he was silenced to prevent his "talking" to the Kefauver Senate Committee. At that time, Moore was partners with Joey "Doves" Aiuppa in Cicero, and Tony Accardo was truly the "big tuna," in charge of the Chicago mob. 65.175.169.141 12:50, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

APOLOGIES: Correction to my assertion that it was the Senator Estes Kefauver hearings that Robert Kennedy was associated with. Those hearings were earlier in the 1950s. In the 1958 time frame i referred to, the time of John E. Moore's death, Kennedy was associated with Sen. McClellan in the 1958 hearings (which Terry Moore referred to in saying his father had received a subpoena). Unfortunately, Terry was killed in an automobile accident late at night while returning from a part-time job at a service station in 1962 while attending the University of Miami, so he cannot verify.65.175.169.141 21:12, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Incomprehensible text
''Born 'John Edward Moore in police discover a drum full of ammunition for Thompson submachine guns as well as numerous overcoats strewn about the back of the cafe (inside one of the coats, a loaded .45 pistol was found). It was speculated that the garage next door was used to "torch cut" one of the getaway cars used in the massacre, however it later caught fire and exploded. Although initially held in custody, Maddox was later released having been in court on an unrelated charge during the time of the massacre. Although the gang was reduced to a satellite by the end of Prohibition, Maddox himself held a high position in the Chicago syndicate up until his death in 1959, in his Riverside home. His funeral was attended by The Outfit heavy hitters and FBI surveillance.''


 * What are we supposed to make of that? --  JackofOz (talk) 21:53, 10 May 2009 (UTC)
 * A paragraph of text about the subject's early life was removed with this June 2008 edit and the article seems to have been further whittled away over the years, without information about the subject's early career being reinstated. Perhaps because it was not sourced well. - Cameron Dewe (talk) 02:22, 7 May 2022 (UTC)