Talk:William Morris Bioff

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For the May 2005 deletion debate on this article, see Votes for deletion/Willie Morris Bioff.

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This page has been moved from Willie Morris Bioff to William Morris Bioff, per Wikipedia naming convention. -- BD2412 talk 02:07, 2005 May 19 (UTC)

1st Person Account of Knowing Willie Bioff A.K.A. Bill Nelson
At the young age of 8 years old I came to know Willie Bioff as Mr. Bill Nelson. My step-father and mother build the eight unit Builtwel Apartments (now increased in size and called Falling Water Apartments) on North 24th Street; Phoenix, AZ, north of Indian School Road in 1948 or 1949. Apartment #6 was our residence. Unit #1 was the first unit available for rent. Willie Bioff (A.K.A. Bill Nelson)and his wife rented unit #1 paying a full year rent in advance.

Mr. Nelson, as we knew him, was somewhat of a mystery man. He claimed to be a retired cattle buyer. He never wanted his picture taken and tried to be very "low key." Yet he would take me to rodeos, horse back riding, etc.

My first encounter with Willie Bioff was on my first night in Arizona. My step-father (whose first name was William) sent me out to turn off a water sprinkler. I became disoriented and instead of returning to unit #6 I went to unit #1. Finding its screen door locked I pounded on the door and yelled, "let me in!" A head appeared within and I thought it was my step-father playing games and I said, "come on out Willie, I know you are in there." I than realized my mistake and found my way back to unit #6. Early the next morning Bioff came to the office (our kitchen) very concerned about the incident until he saw me and realized it was a kid at his door and not a hit-man.

My step-father also owned a movie theatre in Michigan. Union troubles had developed and he flew back to Michigan to work out a solution. Early in the morning after my step-father's return, Bioff came to our unit and asked my step father how things went with the union. In the conversation my step-father asked Bioff (Bill Nelson as we knew him) "have you ever heard of that son-of-a-bitch Willie Bioff. If we only knew then--.

A few months before the apartments were sold in 1951 and we moved back to Michigan, Willie Bioff moved to a huge beautiful home. The home was furnished with many beautiful things he apparently had in storage for many years. Apparently his returning to an open, rich life style enabled the mob to catch up with Bioff. We only found out his true identity after his death. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Canonshot (talk • contribs)