Tom Pendergast
Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1873 – January 26, 1945) controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri as a corrupt political boss from approximately 1925 to 1939. "Boss Tom" Pendergast gave workers jobs and helped elect politicians, becoming wealthy in the process. He was eventually convicted of income tax evasion and served 15 months in a Federal prison.
Pendergast was a patron of the early political career of Harry S. Truman, a fact that caused some controversy after Truman became Vice-President and then President.
Read more about Tom Pendergast: Early Years, Chairman of The Jackson County Democratic Club, Downfall and The Later Years
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“New York state sentence for a Peeping Tom is six months in the workhouse. And they got no windows in the workhouse. You know, in the old days they used to put your eyes out with a red-hot poker.”
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