Exclusive: Erie’s Gangster Anglers

GANGSTER GETAWAY

Now a nature preserve, Lake Erie’s Middle Island hides a notorious past as a key rum-running centre, complete with a luxury fishing lodge and casino

The ruins of the Lake Erie Fishing Club compound; (right) Middle Island

BY CRAIG MITCHELL

The waves crash upon the limestone shores of Middle Island, a small, woody 18.5-hectare speck of land in Lake Erie, lying a mere 150 metres from the U.S. border. Sitting atop a rocky shoreline outcropping, the rotted-out hull of a long-forgotten fishing boat overlooks the aquamarine shallows. Nearby, an old car, brought over years ago when the lake was frozen solid, is slowly being reclaimed by Mother Nature. And just inside the treeline, you’ll find the ruins of the once great Lake Erie Fishing Club, founded by Italian-American gangster Joe Roscoe from Toledo, Ohio. While some sportfishing

definitely took place at the resort on Canada’s southernmost point of land, it mainly served as a notorious destination for lavish parties, a cover for illicit activities and a strategic waypoint for rumrunning during Prohibition (see “The dry years” on page 58).

When the U.S. began its nationwide ban on booze in 1920, it wasn’t long before organized crime and gangsters such as Roscoe began to ship alcohol across Lake Erie from Canada. Knowing the vulnerability of the maritime border, and fearing the lake’s strong storms, they also started looking for suitable locations for safe houses. That’s when Roscoe built his sanctuary on Middle Island, conveniently located next to the U.S. border yet still in Canada, where manufacturing and possessing alcohol was largely legal.

It’s not that the area didn’t already have a fishing history. Back in the early 1900s, the region was regarded as the “Fresh Water Fishing Capital of the World,” renowned for its plentiful walleye, lake sturgeon, whitefish, ciscoes and nowextinct blue pike. The fishing continued year round, with local recreational anglers modifying their cars with large skis during winter, pulling sleighs, and using other creative do-it-yourself inventions to shuttle people and gear across the ice to various icefishing honey holes.

In fact, it was the area’s fishing history, along with the island’s strategic location, that purportedly attracted Roscoe in the first place. A gangster in every sense of the word, he rose to the top of the criminal world by smuggling large quantities of contraband into the U.S. and running lavish illegal gambling operations in the early years of Prohibition. Described by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover as “the reputed gambling king of Toledo,” Roscoe had a criminal rap sheet spanning many years.

He certainly recognized the immense opportunity Middle Island afforded. A haven from storms, it was located safely in Canadian waters but close to a multitude of U.S. ports. Even better, it allowed Roscoe to operate hidden from suspicious government bodies under the guise of a recreational fishing club, something the area was already famous for. But behind the facade of fishing boats, nets, tackle and bait, he built a sophisticated smuggling operation of the highest order.

Roscoe’s criminal compound boasted staff houses, docks for fishing boats, maintenance sheds, and even an airstrip, but the main attraction was the hotel and casino. It comprised a lavish seven-room mansion, complete with electricity, running water and grandiose architecture adorned with extravagant art and decor. The focal point and main attraction was the basement, carved out of solid limestone, with a casino fit for the Vegas strip. Roulette, slot machines, cards and craps were apparently the favourite games of the day. Former groundskeeper Thomas McCormick recalls the building still had the craps table sitting in the basement when he worked on the island in the 1970s. “It was a beautiful place,” he says. M iddle Island certainly attracted the kings of the underworld, including the original Scarface himself, Al Capone, who was reportedly an avid angler. In her book Al Capone: His Life, Legacy and Legend, noted biographer Deirdre Bair said that when Capone was told he could go fishing towards the end of his life, “he exhibited the joy of a boy being told he was about to get the treat of his dreams.” Capone had suffered for many years from syphilis, which ravaged his brain and left him a shadow of his former self, but fishing apparently brought him joy until his death in 1947.

Paul Feltz, whose father was hired to build Middle Island’s airstrip, tells a story from his youth about how he and a friend “borrowed” a rowboat to visit the island years after the resort fell to ruin. Filled with youthful exuberance and fueled by stories of rum-runners, stashed firearms and hidden treasure, they hoped to find the secret compartments rumoured to contain the booty of Al Capone and others. After a » long row, they made it into the old mansion and located one of the

Joe Roscoe was the mastermind behind the resort on Middle Island

hidden stash spots, but were disappointed to find it empty.

With the lure of easy money too much to resist, local fishermen also got in on Middle Island’s illicit action, using their boats and ice-going contraptions to help transport illegal spirits. As Wil and Pat O’Connell revealed it in their book Ohio Lighthouse, it didn’t take long for fishermen and others with boats to realize money could be made by bringing whisky into the U.S. via the island.

“It was rumoured that a fishing boat ferrying whisky from Middle Island to Put in Bay could bring in $10,000 per month,” the O’Connells wrote. “Most bootleggers were ordinary people, simply fishermen who wanted to make a little money. When the Depression hit in 1929, most people viewed bootlegging as a way to make a living and keep from going hungry.”

In a 2014 article for the weekly Erie Reader, writer Cory Vaillancourt wrote: “Local fishermen, utilizing their existing skills and equipment, participated enthusiastically in that drug war. That drug was alcohol. That war was Prohibition.” Smuggling became so popular with area fishermen that it spawned a new phrase: “Fishing for midnight herring.”

Rum-runners were as clever as they were nervy, devising creative ways to not only discreetly transport alcohol from place to place, but to also dispose of any evidence that could send them to prison. One tactic was to transport the bottles in burlap sacks hanging over the sides of their boats. That way, they could be easily cut away if police or bandits showed up unannounced. For decades after Prohibition ended, in fact, both commercial and recreational anglers continued to snag sacks of sunken bottles from the depths, their preserved contents commanding a premium price on the open market.

Despite his success and connections to high-profile crime networks, Joe Roscoe was able to stay off the radar of the authorities, mostly by offering access to the Lake Erie Fishing Club as an

The hull of an old fishing boat sits along Middle Island’s shoreline

exclusive bribe. Capone and the other gangster guests weren’t the only ones who enjoyed getting out on Lake Erie to wet a line, it seems—so did police, public officials, journalists and judges. Roscoe would frequently invite various people of importance and influence to his resort, plying them with women, gambling, fishing and all the libations they could drink. After they had their limit of fish, sex, cards and booze, they would be ethically compromised and in Roscoe’s pocket.

If bribes weren’t enough to sway someone’s opinion or guarantee their silence, a fishing trip into the wild waters of Lake Erie provided an excellent opportunity to eliminate any opposition. One of Roscoe’s underworld friends, and a frequent guest on Middle Island, was Alvin “Creepy” Karpis. On one such fateful fishing trip, Karpis reportedly killed off the very doctor he’d hired to remove his fingerprints. While out celebrating with Karpis following the successful procedure, Dr. Joseph Moran was overheard saying, “I’ve got you guys in the palm of my hand.” Not long after, Karpis invited the doctor to go fishing, and that was the last time he was seen alive. Moran was later found washed up on a beach in Ontario, minus his hands and feet, and identifiable only by his dental records.

It wasn’t long, however, before »the authorities began to get

Gangster Alvin “Creepy” Karpis was a frequent guest at Middle Island

wise to the tactics and strategies used by organized crime and their rum-runners. Eventually, the fishermen’s prized local knowledge of the waterways and hidden obstacles wasn’t enough to avoid capture, with their slower moving fishing boats no match for the upgraded fleet of police and coast guard speedboats. At that, the smugglers upped the ante by getting even faster boats. For example, Roscoe’s own supercharged speedboat, named Rainbow, sported a 12-cylinder, 500-horsepower engine, propelling it much faster than any police boat of the day.

In the end, Roscoe’s downfall came about because of his fishing friend Karpis. After a botched kidnapping and extortion attempt, Karpis and his gang went on the run, so Roscoe offered up his apartment in Toledo as a place to lay low. Then in 1935, Karpis continued his crime spree by robbing a mail train in Garrettsville, Ohio. Once again, he turned to Roscoe for help, asking him to facilitate a flight out of Ohio for him and his accomplices. Karpis was ultimately arrested and Roscoe was captured in Miami, Florida, in 1937 for aiding and abetting him.

Following his release after seven and a half years in prison, Roscoe

Nature has been slowly reclaiming the Lake Erie Fishing Club

THE DRY YEARS

DURING THE EARLY part of the 20th century, both Canada and the U.S. were going through a period of economic and social upheaval. Men were returning home from the First World War carrying the physical and emotional tolls of the brutal conflict, all the while needing to find work to support themselves and their families. On top of it all, the bank accounts of countless Canadians had been rocked by the hard-hit economy. It was around this same time that the Prohibition era began, seeing restrictions and outright bans on alcohol. In Canada, most provinces had gone dry by 1919, while in the U.S., Prohibition went into effect nationally in 1920, making it illegal to produce, import, transport or sell alcohol until 1933. Despite the best efforts of both countries to stop the flow of booze, the public’s thirst wasn’t easily quenched and the value of alcohol soared. Before long, organized crime outfits in the U.S. and Canada recognized the opportunity to supply throngs of eager customers with alcohol at a significant mark-up. Criminal organizations began to devise plans to smuggle contraband into the U.S. by exploiting the porous U.S.-Canada border, much of which runs through isolated, remote areas—including far out in the middle of Lake Erie. Moreover, even when Prohibition was enacted by the provinces (and nationally from 1918 to 1920), it provided loopholes that still allowed for the legal manufacturing and distribution of alcohol abroad. This provided enterprising criminals on both sides of the border with a legal source of booze for their illicit distribution networks in the U.S. —Craig Mitchell

returned to Toledo to live out the rest of his days as an ordinary citizen. While the buyer isn’t known, Roscoe reportedly sold Middle Island and the Lake Erie Fishing Club shortly before his death in 1965. By then, the hotel had long transitioned away from wayward fisherman and gangsters to catering to more sophisticated businesspeople and outdoor enthusiasts. At the resort’s peak, 200 guests a day would visit to enjoy the fantastic fishing, scenic views and famous pheasant dinners.

Today, the property is part of Point Pelee National Park, and sits as a natural wildlife sanctuary. The casino and hotel were long ago reclaimed by Mother Nature, with the island now home to a large population of cormorants and snakes. If you’re interested in taking a look for yourself, contact Pelee Island Charters, which organizes sight-seeing trips to check out Middle Island’s fossils, wildlife and remains of the once great Lake Erie Fishing Club. And if you do go, don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for Al Capone’s infamous hidden treasure. OC

TORONTO WRITER CRAIG MITCHELL IS A SPORTFISHING HISTORY BUFF.

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