Detroit’s First Black Godfather “Eddie Wingate Sr.”

Eddie Wingate Jr. was born November 13, 1919 in Moultrie, Georgia. He’s the eldest brother of James, Sonny, Lawrence, Corrine, and Johnny Wingate. Early on in his life things were tough growing up in the Jim Crow Georgia where black people were killed at will. They were by no means rich but they were a strong family. Eddie didn’t speak of his parents much he only spoke of them with his family. During his teenage years there was a rich white man that owned the farm ranch he on Eddie saw him working and he approached him for a job on his farm and it was just Eddie’s luck he ironically needed a field hand to pick cotton and to chop hickory wood all afternoon until night time for $2 per day. The white farmer was rich he could have paid much more. But in the early 1930s went a long way just not long enough. Eddie had quit school to work so the house would have another revenue stream coming in constantly. He worked and worked for little to nothing until he heard about how all these black people were moving to Detroit to work in the plant. The people made it a legend in Moultrie they said “Detroit is where black folks go to get rich or at least come close to it.” Eddie’s ears burned listening to the old timers talk then he decided that he had to go and see about all this black prosperity for himself. So in the late 1930s he took every dime that he had drove his rundown Ford to Detroit.

Eddie got to Detroit like a young adult fresh out of film school looking to strike at rich in Hollywood. He was 18 or 20 years old when he got a job to be a line worker at Ford. Eddie was a disciplined and stern man he worked that job for almost a decade until he saved up enough money to open a restaurant. Eddie had found out about “The Numbers” from the hustlers that were all over the black community. The illegal lottery or “Number Policy” the most formal term for the racket was actually bigger than drugs were at the time only rich people did drugs or people who wanted them and could a afford them. But almost anybody had a nickel or a dime to play for a chance of them winning 150 to $300 off of less than a dollar. So after careful calculation and consulting with others that knew the policy business he started a “Numbers” racket of his own an empire that he independently built from the ground up.

Working at “Ford Motor Company” gave Wingate the ability to win clients that played numbers because they could afford to. The people played with Eddie because it was cheaper than going to the horse racetrack. The “DRC Racetrack” and “Hazel Park Racetrack” were hubs for all sorts of illegal gambling as well as other frowned upon activities and they were also meeting grounds for organized crime figures. Eddie being the hungry and enterprising young man that he was it was inevitable that he would meet the top mafiosos of Michigan that sparked decades long friendships that would end up making him richer than he’d ever imagined. The timeframe that Eddie really came of age in Detroit was in the early 1940s by this time he’d already secured over $100,000 from his job and his numbers policy racket that was steadily growing. Nearly every black person at the Ford plant were playing their numbers with Eddie daily and when he loss he always paid that’s what kept people playing he was great winner and he loss with class.

As more and more years went by Wingate grew financially and his business model evolved by the end of the 1940s he was nearly a millionaire and he started his own restaurant and quit his job as a line worker at Ford. Then he moved his numbers racket into his own restaurant and his clients loved the idea of being able to play their numbers while eating some good old-fashioned Georgia style soul food after work or at lunch time. The people that played their numbers with Eddie because he was professional and he had a genuine love of seeing black people live prosperously. Maybe it was because he came from “Jim Crow Georgia” that he felt such a family bound with most black people that he met. Though he was a no nonsense person and people knew what would surely happen if they got out of pocket and hurt or disrespected Wingate or his family in any way he demonstrated great character and always spoke as a gentleman.

He made sure that as he grew that he empowered whoever he called a friend making many of them rich and providing opportunities for them to lift themselves it was up to them and how hard they were willing to work for it. It wasn’t a question of possibility Detroit’s black community was the #1 middle class in the country the “Big Three” were paying well and hiring all the time and the “Number Men” became great lenders to first time homeowners that were getting no support from racist banks. Once Eddie reached millionaire status he brought his entire family up from Georgia and made his younger brothers the generals and lieutenants of the #1 policy numbers organization in Michigan with help the of Detroit’s Italian mobsters “The Combination.” Eddie was primed to expand into the music business, real estate, and sports betting. Eddie became a residential real estate tycoon he even owned a few commercial buildings that had a designated floor with rooms only used for policy offices. They called the policy rooms simply “offices” mostly. At the 20 Grand hotel “The Hole” was used as jargon and a fun nickname for the policy rooms because it was so many rooms occupying space and only for one purpose and that was for adding up each person’s number bill, counting money, and payouts for the winners of the lottery.

Now that Eddie Wingate is dead and he can’t come forward and speak the truth there are inaccuracies as to who owned the 20 grand hotel and motel from the beginning. The white elite think of him as a old town dirty secret so they talk about everyone but him. Bill Kabbus and Marty Elser were businessmen that did well for themselves but they did not have the capital or the relationship with the black community to make a nightclub made to cater to black people successful and Ed Wingate had those relationships with the black community that they did not have this was 1953 in Detroit. Through mutual friends of Detroit’s Italian mob Eddie was tapped about the opportunity and of course “The Combination” got their share it was clear who owned the city’s underworld and who ran it and the Italian Mob were the undisputed owners of Detroit’s underworld. The 20 Grand Hotel was renowned in the Midwest and the east coast. All the big black acts of the time came to patronize the club. Even legendary civil rights leader and freedom fighter “Malcolm X” and the Nation of Islam used the 20 grand for an event because they knew Eddie was a black man of means so coming to his place to organize or just for a good time was a win-win for them.

The 20 Grand Hotel was a fruitful investment for Wingate the principle partner because he had the clientele and capital and his partners had the political connections for zoning and the ability to keep the police from giving their customers a hard time. But people get bored and things changed some someone burned up the 20 Grand Hotel and it was later restored not long after. The 20 Grand Hotel played an essential role in the success of Eddie Wingate’s new venture in the record business.

Eddie was no doubt the #1 black underworld figure nearing the of the 1950s and he got too big for a few of the Italian mob members of which Eddie was partners with their bosses. Though they were made mafia men and probably had more than Eddie they wanted to take him out without the permission from their bosses due to jealousy. After Eddie tried to buy Hazel Park race track though he paid his tribute to The Combination they demonstrated how jealous and racist the mob is. They hated to see a black man rise to that level of wealth and power while at the same time run his own organizations when they had all the advantages he didn’t but were still taking orders as mere employees. Frank Nitty was the man the two mobsters that were commissioned to murder Wingate. But Frank tipped him off so he could get out of town. Frank did that because Eddie had been too good to Frank for him to kill over him getting too successful. Eddie moved to Florida where he stayed for five years until those two powerful enemies where taken down by their own bosses because of their greed and disobedience.

He ran things through his brothers and they would come to get rundowns from Eddie and all the extra stuff that was necessary when they met up in Florida or wherever they went. They always met in stealth in those burdensome times but they maintained. Eddie was passionate still about horses he owned 10 race horses but he knew his limit with the mob now it wasn’t the money they could make they never would tolerate a black man being their equal “Bumpy Johnson” had to find out the same thing. This is a picture of one of Eddie’s horses and the horse caretaker.

Wingate formed “Goldenworld” with his favorite younger brother “James” as Vice President and his other partner “Joanne” then the wife of former welterweight champion “Johnny Bratton.” Together the three of them transformed the black-owned record label into a force. Joanne and Wingate’s relationship blossomed from a business partner thing into a fullblown relationship because the champ was physically abusive to his wife and Eddie had the kind of power to put a professional boxer on a peaceful path. Eddie brought his roster of singers from Goldenworld/Ric-Tic and gave them their first notable platform and that was the 20 Grand hotel. The artists connected with the people of Detroit because for the most part they were from Detroit. The most notable singer that Goldenworld signed was Edwin Starr.

Edwin Starr was from Tennessee but he was living in Detroit when he got an opportunity to sign for the Eddie and Joanne they used to A&R and write music from time to time. From the moment they heard him they knew he would be a good investment. Edwin’s most notable song on Goldenworld/Ric-Tik records is “Agent Double-O Soul” and his #1 hit was for Motown the song is played internationally it’s called “War” Edwin went on to do more with Motown but he never had another hit like his trademark song “war.”

Without Edwin Goldenworld/Ric-Tik would have never made Barry Gordy want to buy Eddie’s entire roster and become another branch of the “Motown Records” family tree. Eddie bought Ric-Tik for Joanne to give her a bigger slice of the pie and to honor her 11 year-old that died tragically back in 1951. Her son’s death was a contributing factor as to why Joanne’s marriage was just a shell. Ric-Tik also had the better studio with the latest and best musical equipment of that time. By 1968 Wingate sold his record labels and the masters and contracts of his artists to Barry Gordy for $1,000,000 and it was not because his label wasn’t competitive the artists were unexpectedly hard to control. Wingate’s only vice was women he didn’t understand that drug culture goes hand-n-hand with the music business and it disgusted him. The drug business disgusted him because his son Charles Wingate got hooked on Cocaine hanging out with David Ruffin and other superstars Charles was around on the regular due to his privilege. So Wingate made his exit from the music business at a $1,000,000 profit but with the loss of his son’s soul to drugs. One million dollars then could buy what 10 million can buy now. Eddie and a partner of his also bought a failing historic cab company in Detroit called “City Cab” in the 1960s.

Eddie and his partner another old school street figure with a ton of clout that will go unnamed. Eddie’s partner ended up going to jail for murder for killing the man that killed his son not too long after they bought it making him the lone owner. And he owned it for almost 20 years but he left the cab business to his most trusted brother James. Later in the late 1990s the original land for City Cab still belonged to James but billionaire Mike Ilitch broke ground to build Comerica Park on James’s land without permission so he took Ilitch to court. Ilitch agreed to pay James a small amount of money to a billionaire just to be done with it he paid James $2,000,000. James died in 2012.

Has many know the historians of Detroit know the factories made it possible for blacks to buy homes and that meant creating generational wealth for black people. The banks and lenders knew that as well so they made provisions to block it. Veterans coming back from the “Korean War” with money and most factory workers had the required down payment money with proof of a steady job to qualify for a finance plan for homes. But the racist lending services of the banks only gave black folks loans for car down payments or retainer fees for a lease if they weren’t famous. The goal was to keep as many blacks out of ownership of homes as possible. It was bad enough to the racist white people that black people in were control of the city’s urban commerce. Black Wall Street had nothing on Detroit at it’s peak and it lasts longer than Black Wallstreet did.

This is where people like Eddie Wingate and other black and successful men in Detroit became folk heroes. The banks wouldn’t loan for home ownership but people like Wingate and his buddies would. The people who they knew came to them with problems such as loans for house down payments and more because they knew they come to them. They were reliable working people and they had nowhere to run from the people they borrowed from. The people who borrowed and paid their interest on time they were free and clear but those few who did not pay on time for whatever reason either had to work it off (do a favor for the lender for free) or forfeit the house. And believe it not even in a deal sweet as this a few found a way to forfeit their homes and ended up renting from the lender. The incompetent individuals were few in number but it was enough of them to bring to into discussion. The dirty secret to black people having more homeownership than any other state in the country in the 50s and 60s is because of black organized crime figures.

For 15 years allegedly Eddie Wingate made at least a whopping $100,000 a day until the end of 1979 or 1980 when Wingate decided to lean out his numbers business so he made deals with the Chaldeans and Arabs who were friends of Wingate. Eddie called meetings with all his top number books and told them he wasn’t going to be their bank anymore and which of his Chaldean, Arab, and his black friends he made rich that would to take their business. Eddie started to centralize and lean out his organization because he was nearing 50 years in business at the time and he wanted less headaches he had more money than he or anyone could count. No one ever knew how much money Eddie really had his family just knows he had millions some say it could have been in the range of 100 million easily at his time of passing. But that is pure speculation. But for someone who never got caught doing anything he couldn’t handle with the help of the federal agents, corrupt police, and corrupt politicians he had in pockets once again afforded to him by the “The Combination” he never had to take real loss. When a number house gets raided it’s not like a drug house when it gets raided and everybody is done for. Most people got off with a warning and forfeiture of the money they have on their person because it wasn’t the numbers weren’t violent in nature as it was in the beginning.

His nephew Curtis was his most faithful employee and his best earner from the time he started working for Eddie after a he decided to stop working for his Uncle James late 1994. Curtis would grow until he climaxes an average of $250,000 a month for Eddie’s organization by the end of 1999. He did this purely off of his legendary hustle efforts. The Numbers money was not the same as drug money became in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and early 2000s but it was still was a great living and under the radar as possible as just like Curtis loved it. Curtis could have moved his family to the suburbs of Michigan but he didn’t what the attention. He had been running Numbers since he was 15 years old and soon as his uncle Sonny was made aware of his nephew’s ability that he was an earner he gave him an old ran down 1960 something mustang. His uncles knew that he was one of them when Sonny told all his brother how hard Curt grinded. Curtis would serve Eddie Wingate until Wingate died in May of 2006 and he got his blessing to take control of his number business. Curtis had bad breaks and he went bankrupt the next year in 2007 and later died without a dime in 2013 but he was loved deeply by his youngest son Chris and his wife Brenda.

Joanne had finally become Wingate’s official wife after years of being the other woman when his beloved and first wife Ethel Wingate made her transition in 1994. When Eddie’s funeral was over Joanne coldly made a PSA to Wingate’s entire family. And she said that Wingate was not leaving anything to anyone in Michigan except his drug addict son Charles who he loved more than life. Charles got five houses all valued over $60,000 and he sold each house for less than $10,000 to drug dealers. Charles died in 2019 and no one knew he was dead for three weeks. Charles died like a junkie bum and his father was the most powerful and richest man in all of Detroit in his lifetime. Curtis still had money but he was upset because he made his uncle multiple millions through the years and only left him the business without his limitless bank. But Joanne was not alone Eddie was convinced in his weakest moments by his wife to do what he did. He told Curtis when he was still on death bed “the business I’m giving you is better than anything anybody ever gave me if you’re like me you can hold it without my bank.” Curtis wasn’t like his Uncle he was protected his uncle was a proven wolf. Joanne taught Eddie how to read fluently and he trusted her foolishly. Joanne told the doctor to take him off of life support when he could he fought longer to live but then he died instantly. His cancer was in it’s last stage. Eddie Wingate Jr. was not a perfect man by far but he loved Detroit and he will always be the Detroit’s first Godfather.