HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Basil Hugh "The Owl" Banghart Jr. (September 11, 1901– April 5 1982) was an American criminal, burglar, and prison escape artist. Although a successful "stickup artist" during the 1920s and early 1930s, he is best remembered for his involvement in the hoax kidnapping of Chicago mobster Jake "the Barber" Factor, a crime for which
Roger Touhy Roger Touhy (September 18, 1898 – December 16, 1959) was an Irish American mob boss and prohibition-era bootlegger from Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. He is best remembered for having been framed for the 1933 faked kidnapping of gan ...
and he were eventually proven innocent after nearly 20 years in prison.


Biography


Early life and criminal career

Basil Hugh Banghart was born in Berville, Michigan, in 1901. He dropped out of college after one year to become a professional car thief, stealing over 100 cars in the Detroit area before his arrest in 1926. Around this time, Banghart acquired his criminal nickname "The Owl" because of his abnormally large eyes. Banghart escaped from
Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth (USP Leavenworth) is a medium security U.S. penitentiary with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the Unite ...
months into his sentence. Escaping from a window-washing detail, he leapt 25 feet from a window he was washing and over the prison's wall, escaping through the marsh on the other side. He got as far as
Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
, but was recaptured and returned to prison. He made a second escape a year later, but was caught trying to steal a car in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
in October 1928. This time, Banghart was escorted back to prison by
US marshals The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. He was taken to a federal building, and left alone in an office for a few minutes, Banghart used a phone to call local police, claiming he was a federal agent who had been assaulted and overpowered by his prisoner, Basil Banghart. He continued claiming that "Banghart" had escaped after handcuffing him, and described the US marshal who was escorting him, noting that he was "a dangerous, armed felon and a police impostor". When police arrived moments later, they took the escort into custody, while Banghart escaped in the confusion. Banghart was arrested once more in February 1930, and was returned to Leavenworth, but quickly escaped again. He was arrested in Detroit for armed robbery in January 1932 and held in the South Bend, Indiana, jail, but escaped by throwing pepper in a guard's face, then using a
machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
to shoot his way out.


Banghart and the Roger Touhy gang

Banghart headed south and eventually made his way to Chicago, where he joined Roger Touhy's organization. Touhy, a veteran bootlegger from the days of
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
, was then in the midst of a fierce rivalry with
Frank Nitti Frank Ralph Nitto (born Francesco Raffaele Nitto, ; January 27, 1886 – March 19, 1943), known as Frank Nitti, was an Italian-American organized crime figure based in Chicago. The first cousin and bodyguard of Al Capone, Nitti was in charge of ...
over labor racketeering. Banghart became a major asset to Touhy during this time, and no doubt an active participant in Touhy's war with the
Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, tha ...
, but only one incident is recorded in which Banghart was specifically involved. On January 31, 1933, Jimmy O'Brien was killed by Nitti's gunmen in front of the Garage Nightclub. O'Brien was one of Touhy's union men and one of the latest victims of the Touhy-Nitti feud. A week later, a man identified as Banghart returned to the nightclub, where he stepped out of a sedan and tossed a bomb through the front doors of the club. No one was injured, but the club itself was heavily damaged.


Involvement with the Factor kidnapping

When the Chicago Outfit staged the kidnapping of one of their own members, Jake "the Barber" Factor, in July 1933, it was expected to postpone his extradition to stand trial for fraud in Great Britain, as well as rid themselves of rival bootlegger Roger Touhy on whom the kidnapping would be blamed.Newton, Michael. ''The Encyclopedia of Robberies, Heists, and Capers''. New York: Facts On File Inc., 2002. (pg. 12–13) The members of the British consulate refused to believe the story, and won a judgment for Factor's extradition from the U.S. Supreme Court. In desperation, Factor and the Chicago mob sought to make the kidnapping more legitimate by arranging a pickup with the supposed kidnappers. Banghart and his partner Charles "Ice Wagon" Connors were brought into the plan at this point. Hired to be the "bagmen", they were told all they needed was to pick up the money, make it "look real", and they could keep the ransom money. On August 15, the two showed up at the scheduled drop on Manheim Road just outside the Chicago city limits. As soon as they arrived, they found 300 Chicago police officers and FBI agents waiting for them. To make matters worse, inside the ransom package was only $500. In spite of the obvious double cross, Banghart and Connors surprised everyone by escaping after a wild shootout.


Capture, trial and imprisonment

Despite being set up, Banghart and Connors did not seek revenge against the Chicago Outfit, and instead went on the run. On November 15, 1933, they teamed with Ike Costner and Ludwig "Dutch" Schmidt to hijack a U.S. mail truck of $105,000 in
Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
. Banghart and Costner were eventually captured by the time the second trial for Factor's kidnapping was held on February 13, 1934. Facing long prison sentences for the Charlotte mail truck robbery, both men agreed to testify for the prosecution. Although Costner had not been involved in the ransom pickup, when Connors was found murdered on March 14, he took Connors' place and falsely stated that Banghart and he had been hired for the Factor kidnapping by Roger Touhy. When Banghart took the stand, however, he denied these claims and attempted to explain that the kidnapping was staged. Banghart's testimony was largely ignored, and Touhy, two others, and he were convicted and received 99-year sentences.


Escape with Touhy

After years of unsuccessful appeals, Banghart and Touhy escaped Joliet with Edward Derlack, Martlick Nelson, William Stewart, St. Clair McInerney, and James O'Connor on October 9, 1942. The FBI immediately joined the manhunt, justifying its involvement charging that the convicts had violated the federal draft law by not informing
Selective Service The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent agency of the United States government that maintains information on U.S. citizens and other U.S. residents potentially subject to military conscription (i.e., the draft) and carries out contin ...
of their change of address. Soon after their escape, Banghart and Touhy were suspected of taking part in a robbery at
Melrose Park, Illinois Melrose Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 24,796. Melrose Park had long been home to a large Italian-American population. The suburb was the home of ...
, on December 19, which netted $20,000, although no charges were brought against them. McInerney and O'Connor were killed in a gun battle with federal agents less than two weeks after their escape, and the rest were captured at a nearby address on December 29, 1942.
J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation  ...
observed the raid and took part in what would be his last "personal arrest".


Release and later years

The convicts were given even longer jail sentences for their escape, and on January 2, 1943, Banghart was returned to Stateville, where he was placed in
solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...
. He was then transferred, with an escort of 18 federal marshals, to
Alcatraz Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pris ...
. He spent the rest of his time in the prison kitchen working with former
public enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...
Alvin Karpis Alvin Francis Karpis (born Albin Francis Karpavičius; August 10, 1907 – August 26, 1979), a Depression-era gangster nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile and called "Ray" by his gang members, was a Canadian-born (naturalized American) crim ...
in the bakery. Jokingly referred to by inmates as the "Karpis kitchen crew", Banghart and Karpis allegedly learned to produce wine and other alcoholic beverages from cherry pie juices and other material in the kitchen. "The challenge was to avoid becoming an alcoholic," Karpis later wrote in his memoirs. In 1954, a federal judge declared the Factor kidnapping a fraud and that Banghart and Touhy had most likely been wrongly convicted involving the Chicago Outfit and corrupt Chicago officials. Banghart was transferred back to Stateville in 1959, and eventually his kidnapping conviction was overturned and the mail robbery charges were dropped for time served. He was released the following year, when at age 60, he was reunited with his longtime girlfriend Mae Blacock. He had also received a small inheritance from his aunt 15 years before. Banghart retired to a small island in Puget Sound.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banghart, Basil 1901 births 1982 deaths American bank robbers American escapees People from St. Clair County, Michigan Depression-era gangsters Inmates of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary People acquitted of kidnapping