Growing up gangster: Hanks movie made Rock Island infamous

I grew up in a gangster town.

And as far back as I can remember, my dad made a point to explain that to me.

But I never listened.

I knew the big house at Five Points intersection in Rock Island, Ill. is where gangster John Looney lived during Prohibition. I knew he and his gangsters ran all the liquor in the town back then.

I also knew Rock Island's gangsters during the Depression had ties to Chicago mob boss Al Capone.

When the blockbuster hit “Road to Perdition” came out in the 1990s, Tom Hanks and Paul Newman stole the show playing Rock Island gangsters. Much of the movie was filmed in Chicago.

Newman played “Mr. Rooney,” who ruled Rock Island. In real life, the head gangster in Rock Island during Prohibition was named John Looney.

My dad was so excited when the movie came out, he begged me to watch it with him.

I never did. It was the last film Paul Newman ever made.

While writing about crime, bullets riddle my house

Many years later, I began to write about crime in my town. I wrote about missing persons and human trafficking.

The next thing you know, my house gets shot up.

And then it got shot at again.

Police reports were filed.

My entire life my dad preached to me the importance of keeping my mouth shut. And what do I do? Go into journalism.

And when the mainstream news media would not report what I found interesting, what did I do? I created my own website and reported it myself.

The news business is dangerous. Especially when you live in a gangster town.

My dad said it.

Meaning of ‘perdition’ explains a lot

If you look up the meaning of perdition, it is a state of eternal damnation for bad deeds. In the movie, it refers to an actual place in Illinois.

But you can’t miss the double meaning.

I reacted to my house shooting with horror and surprise. I sold the house while not in my right mind, moved to Denver, and ultimately ran out of money and became homeless.

I finally got the help I needed in the state mental institution last year and am doing much better.

I suspect Rock Island still is a gangster town

My dad reminded me from the time I was a tot that I lived in a gangster town. “You better be careful, David,” he would warn before I’d head out the door to the tavern back in my drinking days.

If you sit at a tavern every day for 10 years, you get to know a lot about a town. It’s where reporters get their juiciest tips.

Do I think Rock Island still is a gangster town? Oh yes. But the whole country has turned gangster in my opinion. The corruption among our wealthy, elitist lawmakers is over the top.

But here’s $600 for you.

Who are the gangsters? I don’t think they’re common street criminals. I think they’re filthy rich people who wield a lot of power.

Essentially, I don’t think a whole lot has changed since Prohibition. The rich still regulate everything. The rich buy the politicians who make all the rules.

And break them, too, if they can.

River scene sends chills down my spine

I finally watched “Road to Perdition” by myself last night. It was free to watch with my Amazon Prime subscription.

The show had me on the edge of my seat the entire picture.

The beginning proved surreal. All you hear is the sound of lapping waves while credits roll.

But I knew it was the sound of the Mississippi river.

I began to nose around about missing persons in the Quad-Cities when my friend Sam Davis died. Sam’s body was found floating in the Mississippi River.

I never believed it was an accident. Sam urgently wanted to tell me something before he died.

The movie begins with a young boy, the junior Sullivan, standing on the river’s edge.

Writing about what happened to my friend Sam is how this whole thing began. Then a relative of a missing person reached out. Then the FBI. Then a private investigator.

I don’t know anything beyond what I’ve written.

Woman now most powerful person in Rock Island

“Road to Perdition” is based on a true story and a novel by the same name written by Max Allan Collins.

The men who run Rock Island during Prohibition all are white and wealthy. Most appear to be Irishmen.

And they’re all men.

These days, the most powerful position in Rock Island County still belongs to a wealthy person of Irish heritage. But it’s a woman. It’s U.S. Rep. Cheri Callahan Bustos, my journalism mentor.

‘What’s papa’s job?’

Revenge violence in “Road to Perdition” goes far beyond shot up houses. In several gory scenes, men are executed with a bullet to the head.

In one poignant scene, the younger Sullivan hides in the back of the car to learn where his father works. He finds out when he witnesses a fight among the gangsters followed by an execution.

Several violent scenes later, the elder Sullivan and his boy are all each other has left. Sullivan robs banks while the little boy drives the getaway car.

You can see why my dad wanted me to watch it with him. It is a father-son flick.

When one of Mr. Sullivan’s boys asks the other what papa’s job is, he explains he works for Mr. Rooney. “Papa didn’t have a father, so Mr. Rooney looked after him.”

In other words, little boys born without dads became gangsters. They were forced into it.

I’m sure the same thing happens in organized crime today, too. The vulnerable always are the ones exploited.

Downtown Rock Island full of tunnels

Underground tunnels remain throughout downtown Rock Island, no doubt remnants from the Looney era. A news reporter several years ago was invited down into the tunnels by a property owner.

The report by WHBF-TV 4 revealed dancing elephants painted on the walls of the tunnels, like a speakeasy. Alcohol bottles proclaiming drinking prohibited by federal law were scattered about. There were promissory notes galore.

It looked like someone busted the illegal fun and everything remained frozen in time.

Fresh cement covers the openings to other tunnels, but the reporter could not get any answers about that.

Prostitution lurked in every corner

The WHBF reporter does an excellent job on the story. He interviewed Richard Hamer, the author of the book “Citadel of Sin.” He explains prostitution once lurked in every corner of every building in Rock Island.

My friend Rick Goulet, who died, owned a bar downtown. He explained the upstairs had been a brothel back in the day.

He took me up there once and you could see where a bed had caught fire and burned the floor. It was eerie.

I won’t give away the plot to “Road to Perdition,” but believe me when I tell you it’s one of the best movies I ever have seen.

I never again will take for granted growing up in a gangster town.

And although my dad no longer is with us, I always take two of his favorite words to heart: “Be careful.”