In this episode, we delve into a fascinating tale from the 1950s in Blue Island, Chicago, where Alfred Konecki, the president of F.W. Konecki & Sons Company, a tobacco distribution business, encountered suspicious activity involving a truck from Unity Refrigeration following their delivery vehicles. Two detectives, Bernard Kennedy and George Hanecki, were assigned to investigate the situation, setting up surveillance and observing a complex series of vehicles tailing each other.

The detectives uncovered that the Unity Refrigeration Truck was being followed by a car driven by Robert Bradshaw, a salesman for the Kodaki Company, who claimed he was trailing the Unity truck due to suspicions about its activities. Upon halting the vehicles, the officers discovered familiar faces inside the Unity truck – Chicago Outfit Associate Frank Schweihs, Stanley Bajic and Sam Ciancio, armed with .38 caliber revolvers and a police scanner tuned to Chicago PD frequencies.

Despite the lack of a solid case against them, the officers interrogated the trio, sending a clear message regarding their monitoring of criminal activities. This incident highlights the organized crime presence in Chicago during that era and the tactics employed to protect businesses from theft and extortion. The narrative offers a glimpse into the early days of Frank Schweihs, who would later play a significant role in criminal activities, including extorting money from establishments.

The story underscores the challenges businesses face dealing with criminal interference and the intricate dynamics of law enforcement and organized crime in Chicago in the 1950s. It provides a window into a bygone era where local authorities often struggled to combat such activities, leaving individuals to navigate complex relationships with criminal elements. The intricacies of mob involvement in businesses and the strategies employed to mitigate threats offer a compelling perspective on the historical landscape of organized crime in major cities like Chicago.

Transcript

Introduction

[0:00]So, wiretappers, we’re going to go to the little town, our little community

of Blue Island in southwest Chicago.

It’s down by, it’s north of Chicago Heights, a little bit west and north of

Calumet City, south and west of downtown, like I said, right off of, looks like I-57.

We’re going to look in at 131-36 Southwestern Avenue in Blue Island.

Will find Alfred Konecki.

He was the president of F.W. Konecki & Sons Company, which was a tobacco distribution company.

They would take packages, you know, cartons and cases of cigarettes around for

distribution to different places.

A couple of his drivers reported that they had noticed a truck.

[0:46]Kind of a van kind of a truck, marked Unity Refrigeration had been following

their delivery vehicles around.

[0:52]And they’d looked out, and that truck was parked near the Konecki garage at that time.

So Mr. Konecki calls Chicago PD, and they assign a couple of detectives to come out and investigate.

Detective Bernard Kennedy and George Hanecki, kind of a close name to Konecki,

[1:12]

Surveillance Operation

[1:09]but I guess another one of those big, long German names.

After the detectives respond, they set up a surveillance down the street,

and they must have called Mr.

Konecki by phone and let him know that they were set, because he then dispatched

one of the trucks. One of his employees, an Elmer Jepson, left.

As soon as Mr. Jepson left in the delivery truck, the Unity Refrigeration Truck

pulled out and started following it north and kept following it north and north

and went up to 87th Street.

And about that time, the detectives noticed that a passenger car was also following

the Unity Refrigeration Truck.

So there was a triple surveillance going on here, double surveillance.

They didn’t know what it is. So the first thing they did was stop the car that

was following the Unity refrigeration truck.