Roger Milton Wheeler Sr. (February 27, 1926 – May 27, 1981) was an American businessman from
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
, the former chairman of
Telex Corporation, and former owner of World
Jai Alai
Jai alai (: ) is a sport involving bouncing a ball off a walled-in space by accelerating it to high speeds with a hand-held wicker ''cesta''. It is a variation of Basque pelota. The term ''jai alai'', coined by Serafin Baroja in 1875, is also of ...
. He was murdered by members of organized crime who discovered that Wheeler had uncovered their embezzlement scheme at World Jai Alai.
Early life
Roger Milton Wheeler was born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
on February 27, 1926, the son of Sidney Sea Wheeler and Florence Edith (née Kendall) Wheeler.
He was raised in Boston and
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
, and graduated from Reading High School in 1943. After graduating from high school, Wheeler served in the
United States Navy Reserve
The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...
while attending the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
and
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities ...
. He graduated from Rice in 1946 with a bachelor of science degree in engineering.
Career
While still in high school, Wheeler was involved in several business ventures, including owning and operating a neighborhood newspaper and a stamp collecting service. He then started the Reading Wood Company and used a truck purchased on credit to haul the product from
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
for resale in Reading.
Wheeler worked for Gulf Oil and Standard Oil in Texas, and in 1946 relocated to Tulsa to work for a company that produced
anode
An anode is an electrode of a polarized electrical device through which conventional current enters the device. This contrasts with a cathode, an electrode of the device through which conventional current leaves the device. A common mnemonic ...
s for use in the petroleum industry. In 1949, he started his own anode production enterprise, Standard Magnesium and Chemical. Fifteen years later, Wheeler sold Standard Magnesium for $10 million (more than $70 million in 2021).
In the mid-1960s, Wheeler and a group of investors purchased
Telex Corp., a maker of
hearing aid
A hearing aid is a device designed to improve hearing by making sound audible to a person with hearing loss. Hearing aids are classified as medical devices in most countries, and regulated by the respective regulations. Small audio amplifiers s ...
s,
speakers
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
, and other sound equipment. Wheeler was the largest shareholder, and served as chairman an chief executive officer. Under his leadership, Telex branched out to the manufacture of computer accessories, including
printers
Printer may refer to:
Technology
* Printer (publishing), a person or a company
* Printer (computing), a hardware device
* Optical printer for motion picture films
People
* Nariman Printer ( fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist
* Jam ...
and
tape drive
A tape drive is a data storage device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape. Magnetic tape data storage is typically used for offline, archival data storage. Tape media generally has a favorable unit cost and a long archival stability.
...
s. Telex grew to employ 5,000 people in the Tulsa area, and Wheeler was a multimillionaire.
Death
On May 27, 1981, Wheeler was murdered in his car while he was preparing to leave
Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa.
[ ] Subsequent investigation revealed that Wheeler was killed after uncovering an embezzlement scheme at one of his other business ventures, World
Jai Alai
Jai alai (: ) is a sport involving bouncing a ball off a walled-in space by accelerating it to high speeds with a hand-held wicker ''cesta''. It is a variation of Basque pelota. The term ''jai alai'', coined by Serafin Baroja in 1875, is also of ...
in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
After retiring from the FBI,
H. Paul Rico took a job as head of security for the jai alai organization. While he was head of security, Rico's former informants
Whitey Bulger
James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. (; September 3, 1929 – October 30, 2018) was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, a city directly northwest of Bos ...
and
Steve Flemmi of Boston's
Winter Hill Gang
The Winter Hill Gang is a loose confederation of organized crime figures in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. The gang members and leadership are predominantly Irish-American and Italian-American descent.
The organization itself derives its ...
ran a skimming operation that embezzled $10,000 per week from World Jai Alai's parking lot revenues. Upon discovering the theft, Wheeler investigated; this created major problems for Bulger's gang, and led to between four and six murders, two of which remain unsolved.
On March 14, 2001, three members of the Winter Hill Gang — Bulger, Flemmi and
Johnny Martorano
John James Vincent Martorano (born December 13, 1940; also known as "Vincent Joseph Rancourt", "Richard Aucoin", "Nick", "The Cook", "The Executioner", "The Basin Street Butcher") is an American former gangster and former hitman for the Winter Hi ...
— were indicted for Wheeler's murder; two other alleged co-conspirators were already dead. In a plea bargain, Martorano confessed to some 20 murders by the gang, including Wheeler's. He was given a 15-year sentence, but was released in 2007 after serving only six years. Flemmi also pleaded guilty to the murder of Wheeler and others and received a life sentence. Bulger fled to avoid prosecution and was on the
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives is a most wanted list maintained by the United States's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, and William K ...
list from August 19, 1999 until his capture on June 22, 2011.
In 2003, Rico was also indicted for Wheeler's murder.
["Former FBI agent Rico dies in hospital had pleaded not guilty in businessman's slaying"](_blank)
''The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' Obituary, January 18, 2004 He pleaded not guilty and died of natural causes while in custody awaiting trial.
In popular culture
Wheeler's case was covered in the first-ever episode of long-running investigative show ''
Unsolved Mysteries
''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Ka ...
'' in January 1987.
In the Whitey Bulger biopic ''
Black Mass'' (2015), Wheeler is portrayed by David De Beck.
[ ]
References
External links
Voices of Oklahoma interview with Detective Mike Huff First-person interview conducted on June 13, 2013 concerning his investigation into the murder of Roger Wheeler.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, Roger
1926 births
1981 deaths
People murdered in Oklahoma
Deaths by firearm in Oklahoma
Businesspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma
People murdered by the Winter Hill Gang
American murder victims
20th-century American businesspeople
1981 murders in the United States