The Syndicate: The Murder of Don Bolles

THE SYNDICATE The Murder of Arizona Republic Reporter, Don Bolles

D

on Bolles wanted to be the best reporter in Arizona. That was all he wanted. It had always been enough for him. Above all, Bolles was a shrewd reporter, a writer of cautionary tales—tales to which few of his readers paid much attention. Suffice it to say that Don Bolles lived for little more than his work and his family. He did not die satisfactorily.

Bolles had been an investigative reporter for fourteen years. He prided himself on his accuracy. It was a quality on which he placed the highest value.

Since going to work for the Arizona Republic in 1962, Bolles had rapidly become the state’s leading journalist.

On Tuesday morning, June first, Bolles agreed to meet an informant at the swanky downtown Phoenix Clarendon Hotel. After a no-show from the informant, Bolles got into his car to leave. Reversing a few yards, it was then that the explosion occurred. The blast ripped the car’s four hubcaps off, blew out the windshield, and cut a 2’ hole in the floor beneath the driver’s seat. Windows in nearby cars were blown out, and a huge cloud of white smoke billowed up from the shattered Datsun. The explosion blew open the door on the driver’s side and Bolles flopped out onto the pavement.

He was semiconscious. His legs were all shattered. The right leg, the kneecap, had been blown off, and part of the calf, and the same on the left. He was trying to get up. But Bolles could not move. Lifting up his head, his glasses gone, his face blackened from the blast, Bolles spoke his final words —

“They finally got me—the Mafia, Emprise. Find John Adamson.”

Cactus & Cannolis: A History Lesson The land of Cowboys & Indians has a lesser known and more nefarious group of settlers. In the wake of the population boom, crime had predictably followed. According to Phoenix police, there are more than 200 members or associates of the Mafia living in the state in 1960. Many of them have acquired holdings in local restaurants, bars, and hotels. Their operations include ownership or partial ownership of loansharking syndicates, grocery chains, and the bribing of local government officials. Tucson, only 60 miles from the Mexican border, may now be the country’s chief drug-distribution center. Arizona is also known as the land-fraud state — a state in which local “white-collar criminals” have bilked the American public of more than $500 million in the last ten years. In Arizona, crime is commonplace.

There were known Mafia members in Arizona before the war, but the first major family head to arrive was Joseph “Joe Bananas” Bonanno in 1943.

Moving from New York to Tucson, he bought a home and invested in, among other things, land, a parking lot, and an Italian bakery. He claimed he had come to Arizona to retire. By 1968 Bonanno and his wife held some $329,823 in Pima County real estate. His personal wealth is estimated at about $1 billion.

Along with eastern Mafia infiltration into Arizona came eastern-style gangland murders. During the late 60s and early 70s, Bolles wrote extensive pieces on Emprise Corporation, the Buffalo-based firm that, along with the Funk family of Arizona, controlled the state’s dog tracks.

Part One...

Bolles was working on a story about the mob using Vegas skim money to finance a robbery ring in AZ that was stealing millions of dollars in gold from the Motorola plant in PHX every month, then washed the cash through Greyhound Park.

Max Dunlap died there. And finally this case has never been solved.

In a 1986 interview from death row, Jana Bommersbach AZ Republic Reporter (one of our sources) asked Adamson what story Bolles had written that led to his murder. His response was “He wasn’t killed for a story he wrote, he was killed to stop a story he was about to write.” which turns the state’s theory on its head.

First-of-all, Don Bolles wrote a story about Kemper Marley and the racing commission AFTER Marley had already left the racing commission, his story did not cause him to be fired, his story was a background on him being fired.

“There are four things you need to understand about the Don Bolles case. Number one, the state’s theory is totally wrong. Number two, the police sabotaged their own investigation into this murder. Number three, two innocent people went to prison.

Okay, that’s, that’s the first thing you got to know. So, when the basic foundation of your house, you know is made out of tissue paper rather than cement, then the whole thing comes crumbling down.” ~ Jana Bommersbach AZ Republic

So, if that’s the framework you start off with, then you’ve got a good way to move forward. The state’s theory is ridiculous because it’s based on a lie.

So, the basic idea that he causes great harm to Marley is wrong.

Part Two...

In 1970, Bolles wrote a series of articles titled The Menace Within about organized crime in AZ, as well as their ties to prominent businessmen, politicians, etc...Bolles finds out that the Funks have him under surveillance and have tapped his phone.

A lawsuit develops between Bolles, The AZ Republic & the Funks.

leading up to the killing, there were numerous occasions when Adamson came to his office, including the morning of the bombing. Immediately after the bomb went off, Roberts made travel arrangements to sneak Adamson & his wife off to Lake Havasu on a private plane. In a drunken confession to his secretary, Roberts said Max Dunlap was “a patsy.”

This, along with Bolles’ investigative reporting into organized crime, and corruption, would eventually lead to Immediately after the killing, there are allegations that Phoenix PD dishis murder. appeared files on Emprise, the Funks Brad Funk, the young hothead in the & certain political officials.

Funk family, first made inquiries as early as 1973 about ‘shutting Bolles Bruce Babbit, AZ AG at the time up’. In ’76, Funk asked Joe Bonnano owed big money to Vegas casinos.

His marker was purchased by the for his blessing to kill a reporter. mafia & they leaned on him to take A professional ‘mechanic’ was a dive in the Bolles investigation. quickly dispatched for $50K. Neal Two weeks after arrests are made in Roberts, an attorney who got the Bolles case, Babbit ‘purchases’ a immunity, appeared to be the shot caller of the murder. His secretary, in house from a known mafia figure in a deposition, stated that in the days Phoenix.

Max Dunlap One of two co-conspirators named by Adamson along with James Robison.

Small who B Clare

Neal roberts Connected to all the main figures in the Bolles plot and some believe he was the mastermind.

His fa of Em ate, in

BOLLES CONFIDANTES

THE MURDERERS ACCORDING TO PHX PD

Don Bolles

Tom Sanford

KAthy Kolbe

Bolles’ editor who also was killed by a car bomb.

Wife of John Kolbe, writer for Phx Gazette.

POLITICOS W/MOB TIES

John Adamson

l-time but menacing hood, Bolles went to meet at the endon.

Jimmy Robison “Jimmy the Plumber,” a friend of Adamson’s, hit the switch that detonated the car bomb.

kemper marley Bolles’ reporting on Marley cost him a coveted position on the state Racing Commission.

bruce babbit The future Arizona governor was serving as state Attorney General when Bolles was killed.

WHO REALLY KILLED BOLLES

Brad Funk

amily was the local partner mprise, the sports conglomern running AZ dog tracks.

JIMMY burdick A friend of Adamson’s, hit the switch that detonated the car bomb.

Harry Rosenzweig Ties to land fraud, organized crime, and protecting favored lowlifes such as Ned Warren.

barry goldwater In early ‘76, Goldwater engaged Adamson to plant a dynamite bomb in the Navajo capital,

MOBSTERS IN AZ

carl verive Another Chicago hitman.

Gus Greenbaum Gangster known for managing the Flamingo after the murder of Bugsy Siegel.

“Fat Willie” Bioff Chicago mob hitman.

Joe Bonnano Mob Boss, head of crime family.