September 23, 2025 • 39 mins
Get ready for a thrilling Crook County bonus episode! Kyle dives into the voicemails you, our passionate fans, have sent in, tackling your burning questions and sharing raw, unfiltered reactions to the show’s wild ride. Plus, Kyle unearths exclusive, never-before-heard interview clips with Ken that will leave you speechless! From shocking revelations to untold stories, this episode is packed with surprises that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat. Don’t miss this special dive into the heart of Crook County! To leave Kyle a Voicemail go to Speakpipe.com/CrookCountyPodcast
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
If you're listening to a ten or foot TV podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Or girls, what's up Crook County fans, it's been a while, Frankly,
I missed you. I just got back from Crime Con
and it was such a great experience to meet fans
face to face. I've never really done anything like that before.
(00:33):
It really actually may be quite emotional. You know, you
build this stuff and you create these stories, these podcasts
in a box by yourself for the most part, and.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Then they go out into the world.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Then, yeah, you get comments, and I've wanted people to
send me voicemails, and that's cool.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Been really great listening to those.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
But to in person talk to people face to face
about a story that has meant so much to them
and that story just happens to be my story.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
It's a very surreal experience.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
And I'm extremely grateful for those interactions and to meet
so many people and to talk about it and to
connect with them and to relate with them with their
own issues and their own struggles that they're trying to overcome,
and to hear that, you know, my story can help
them in some way very powerful stuff. So, yeah, it's
(01:29):
been it's been a really interesting week. And I'm just
very humbled and grateful. And it reminded me about those
voicemails that I told you guys to said during the season,
and I hadn't listened to them in a long time,
and so when I got home, I opened them up
and I said, you know what, I'm going to answer these.
I need to answer these. It's about damn time. So yeah,
(01:51):
let's get into it. This is Crook County Voicemails.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Here we go.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Yeah, you got a lot of fucking questions.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Fuck yeah, let's fucking go.
Speaker 6 (02:05):
When I heard your podcast in the radio, like number
one podcast, Mafia Guy, whatever, firefighter, but it's a fucking.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Banger, a fucking banger, no fucking joke. Yeah, well that's
a good way to start this, I guess.
Speaker 7 (02:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I don't know if there was a question in there, buddy,
but you sound like you're a fun guy, sound like
you're having a good time.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I appreciate it. I appreciate that you listen to this,
and I appreciate that you liked it. I'll just leave
it at that, all right, Let's uh, let's try the
next one. This one is from David from Indiana. What
do we got? Good morning, Kyle.
Speaker 8 (02:59):
This is Dave Heckel, morning producer for JED in the
region on AM twelve thirty w j olb out of Ham, Indiana.
We do a morning show and our on air personality,
Jim did Low and I had both listened to your
podcast and we're very intrigued and would like to discuss
it with you on air if possible, and if you're interested,
(03:22):
we'd like to sit down and chat with you on air.
If it sounds like something you're interested in, give me
a call and we'll get something. Schedule something that's conducive
to your schedule.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
We'll work around it. Oh yeah, I remember this one.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I opened this one up when they sent it like
eight months ago and I responded. So apparently they didn't
want to interview me that bad because I heard nothing back.
So David with the morning show in Indiana, Sorry, buddy,
you missed the boat. All right, who's next?
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Kayla?
Speaker 9 (03:55):
Hi, my name is Kayla.
Speaker 10 (03:58):
I just finished listening to the second episode.
Speaker 9 (04:03):
Man, it's really hard to hear this stuff. I come
from a family of first respect as well. All four
were officers and putting my step parents and I have
a brother who died of a heroin overdose, and just
we have a lot of you know, rough drug use
in the family, and then like that juxtaposition of first
(04:24):
responders and you know, addicts, and and.
Speaker 7 (04:29):
I'm just so sorry for your brother and what he
went through and just all the things that I witnessed
in my own life of you know, the violence and
the chaos that comes with people who can't stop using
drugs and inflict it all over their families.
Speaker 10 (04:48):
And those of us that love them and just want
them to be better. And I'm just so sorry to
you guys, because it really is just like a very
special situation. And I don't mean specially in a good way,
but once you've.
Speaker 9 (05:06):
Been through it, you're really the only one who can
understand it. So anyway, this podcast is incredible.
Speaker 7 (05:12):
I'm going to be listening further, and I just I
just my heart goes out to you guys, and I'm
just so sorry that this is what you guys have
had to go through.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Oh wow, wow, Hey, Kayla, thank you so much for
calling in and for just being so open and honest.
I could feel your pain. I could feel, you know,
the trauma that you've been through with your own experiences
with drug abuse. And you know family that just refuses to,
(05:46):
I don't know, live a productive life, a cohesive family life.
You know, there's a lot of selfishness that goes with
drug addiction. There's a lot of pain and emotional stunted
behaviors that come with it, and everyone is affected. It's
not just a single person. It's not just the addict
(06:08):
to is suffering. It's the whole family. It's not a
victimless crime. And it's just so hard to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
What do you do?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Do you drain your finances and your emotional capital trying
to help this person or people over and over again.
When do you stop? Should you stop? You know, like,
at what point do you say enough is enough? At
what point do you say, I won't let you drag
(06:39):
me down with you? At what point do you say
that's it, I'm done.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I don't have the answers to those questions, and I
don't think anybody really does. It's a really tough situation,
and I guess my only advice is to remember that
this isn't your fault. You had nothing to do with
(07:11):
these people choosing a life that is counter to yours,
that is at odds with yours that is destructive to yours.
You shouldn't feel guilt, You shouldn't feel like you are
responsible to fix these people. They have made these choices
(07:35):
themselves at the end of the day. Yes, of course
they are external factors, but they have made these choices themselves,
and it's completely up to them at the end of
the day whether or not they're going to remedy their issue,
whether they're going to try and get help, whether they're
going to try to clean up, whether they're going to
(07:57):
try to redeem themselves. In your eyes, you can't put
that pressure and responsibility on yourself. If you have your
own family, kids, a significant other, just focus on them,
focus on being the person that you wish these other
(08:17):
people would be for you.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
I wish you the best, Kala, I really do. Thank
you so much for sharing with me.
Speaker 11 (08:27):
Hey, I had a quick question. I don't know if
your dad ever mentioned this, but my father off and
on had mentioned different ways that the outfit had done
some different embuzzling and little money laundering through business at all,
(08:53):
so I wanted to see if your father had ever
mentioned how the object laundered money.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Really interesting question. I mean, of course, the outfit had
strangleholds over dozens and if not hundreds of legitimate businesses
across the Chicagoland area, running money through them, running drugs,
or utilizing them in some way that could help push
their agendas and assist in the running of their operation.
(09:23):
But you know, my dad, as we know, he had
his sort of little niches that he was in charge of,
the whorehouse being one of them. Now he was around,
he did a lot of stuff. He saw a lot
of things. I just don't think he can speak on
a high level about exactly the kind of intricacies that
are going on other than just simple observations. But I
(09:45):
do remember a conversation during the interviews where he started
to kind of dabble into a couple examples, and I
just didn't really find, I guess a place in the
show to put it, so I didn't put it anywhere.
But you've reminded me of this, So why don't we
just hear from the man himself?
Speaker 12 (10:05):
Here's ken anyway, I did anything and everything in the outfit.
I did muscle work, I repossessed furniture for a company
called Swingles, who was directly involved in the outfits. I
don't know if anybody out there knows that, but they
(10:27):
were Swingles furniture rental to delivering paper checks from Chicago
to Wall Street in New York a couple of banks
that were involved and taking the hard paper check time
(10:50):
stamping them for interest.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
But back then you did everything by hand.
Speaker 13 (10:55):
You actually took the checks on an airplane in a
big bag, would a gun, got picked up at either
La Guardia or Kennedy and Drew, and you would take
a helicopter to a bank on Wall Street. I just
remember flying around the Statue of Liberty with my two
(11:17):
big bags paper checks that no one was allowed to
touch except me, and delivering it to a bank. So
I believe back then the interest from the time the
check was deposited at the particular establishment or personal to
the time it got to that particular company, central bank
(11:40):
or somebody central I don't know a bank on Wall Street,
money was made.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Interest was made on every one of those checks.
Speaker 14 (11:49):
And there was thousands of them, thousands and thousands of them.
And I don't know if the outfit got all the
money for that already got a piece of it.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I'm not sure, but I know my.
Speaker 13 (12:04):
Job was to protect that money from Chicago to Wall
Street Boom.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
It's been a while since I've heard that. I kind
of forgot the details of it, but yet Swingles Furniture.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
How funny is that.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I just did like a business search, and it looks
like this thing went out of business a long time ago.
There may have been a version of it that ended
up in Florida. I don't know if it's connected in
any way, but that is also out of business.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
A furniture store, furniture rental.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Just how innocent and random is that. I think it's
actually a perfect example of the kind of influence the
outfit had on everyday regular folk who were just trying
to make a living, and they use them to their advantage.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And then the helicopter stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I mean, geez, that sounds like something straight out of
a movie. I know everything is electronic these days, but
with the checks, I mean, I know carried interest is
a real thing. So yeah, I mean, someone much smarter
than me should answer this question and dig into it.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
That's fascinating. Who's next.
Speaker 15 (13:14):
My name is Kyle Murray, and I grew up in
the Takla household for probably four years. Corey and I
were we met through a mutual friend and him and
I hit it off, and so myself, him and Frankie.
(13:38):
You know, we were in separa bowl for you know,
a few years, and it was nice there. It was
I loved going there. You know, Hollie I would see
quite a bit, you know, she was always home, but
I didn't see Ken until morning time and he would
(14:01):
come down to the basement, you know, after we were
down there whatever, smoking weed, playing music, being you know,
stupid fucking kids. But he he never scared me. He
came off as a person that you don't want to
fuck with, but he was never mean. He was never
(14:25):
an asshole. He was just like, hey, if you guys
are fucking doing this and fucking do it right, And
I appreciate that about him. And to find out, you know,
what he was doing while we're smoking weed in his
basement is pretty fucking crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Kyle, what's up, buddy? Oh man, I haven't heard from
that guy in a long time. There were so many people,
so many friends over at the house growing up. It
was we kind of did have the house like it
was the spot to hang out where everyone would come
and so many sleepovers, just huge gatherings of people. We
had a little pool, above ground pool. It just felt
(15:08):
like we were a clubhouse. It felt like people. The
kids felt comfortable at our place, and man, so many
incredible memories. My brother's friends, we were three years apart,
so by the time we got into high school, we
were all kind of hanging out together and it was
a really great time. And yeah, I've talked to quite
(15:30):
a few of the old crew and very similar you know,
take as you man is like, what the hell are
you talking about? Like, how is that even possible? We
never could have guessed that in million years kind of thing.
So yeah, I mean he fooled everybody, right, he really did.
(15:51):
And to his credit, you know, he really created him
and my mom really created a welcoming, friendly, fun environment
to grow up in. And I'll never forget those times,
and I'll always remember them fondly and be grateful for
those times, for the good times.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
While they were there. Great to hear from you, Kyle.
Thanks for calling me.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Hey, Kyle, I just wanted to share my message. Hearing
your father's story makes me think of my own. I
grew up in a rough, a rough neighborhood, and purely
for survival, I joined a gain, and I did a
(16:40):
lot of stuff. I'm not proud of a lot of
stuff I've never told nobody.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I am married.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
My wife only knows extremely surface level stuff. She knows
not depressed. I know not to overshare, and it's not
something I'm ever going to tell my kids because it's
not something they ever need to know. You know, my
story was all about survival. I did what I had
to do to survive. It was either I joined again
(17:12):
and did what I did, or I could have been
dead by twenty no problem. I couldn't, you know. And
that sounds silly, you know, in hindsight, is I put
myself in more danger to survive, But it was really
my only option, my only option out of the situation
I was in. So thanks for sharing your dad's story,
(17:34):
and thanks for sharing your view of it. Makes me
think of how my kids might react if they ever
found out they wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Ay Stan, Thanks for sharing.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Man.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, you know, throughout this process, I've had quite a
few people reach out to be kind of.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Similar ish stories.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
You know, they had their own you know, CD past,
I guess you could say, and you know they're they've
straightened out in their family people now and they're just
to live a decent life and move on, and I
think that's great.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I'm glad that you found your way.
Speaker 7 (18:17):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Look, I mean, obviously everyone knows my story because I
put it out there into the world, and I don't
think I ever would have known anything if my dad
hadn't basically been on the edge of death from heroin
and alcohol addiction and reached out to me in total
desperation asking for my help. I think that if he
(18:41):
didn't have that addiction, that crutch, I think he probably
would have taken this to his grave and none of
us ever would have known. So, you know, I'm just
trying to put myself in your shoes, and also in
your kid's shoes, your wife. You know, just because you've
had a life that you don't want to share it
doesn't mean you need to share it with them. Everyone
(19:05):
reacts to things differently. If my dad was a normal
guy and lived a normal life and we had a
normal relationship and I never knew about this stuff, that
would be great.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I would prefer that.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
I would much prefer to have a loving, normal, healthy
relationship with with my dad. And you know that that
goes from my mom too. You know, the whole family
would be completely different if this went a different way.
And so if you have a great relationship with your
kids and your wife and you feel like telling them
(19:39):
this stuff would blow the whole thing up, then don't
do it.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Man.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
If you feel like.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
You need to tell them and it's destroying you and
you're going to do something stupid, or you're you're doing
drugs to deal with it, maybe then I don't know,
maybe you consider it. I don't have the answer here,
but but I am happy that you it seems somewhat
come to peace with your past and our moo forward
(20:08):
in a healthy way. That's bravo. Good on you, Bud.
All right, we got a question from Mike.
Speaker 16 (20:16):
Dude, where is your Monday episode? I've already quit other
podcasts because they don't come out weekly, and sometimes they
don't come out at all period, But I respect you
so far. Monday's every day awesome. Hey, carry I'm a man,
but we're looking for today's see you.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Hey, Mike, I'm glad you like the show. This is
a little late.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I probably should have answered this question a long time ago,
but the show comes out on Tuesdays every Tuesday. So
the reason you're not seeing them on that Monday. It's
because it comes out on Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
I hope that helps. Who's next.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Hello listener from Wisconsin.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Right on the border Illinois.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I just wanted to say that.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Your your story has really touched me, and your father's
struggle with drug addiction is one that I also share
and I think it's it's amazing what you did for
him and the progress he's made and that he's opening
(21:36):
up to you.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
It's a beautiful thing. And uh, I just want to.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
State to all the other addicts out there that you
can get help. There is someone out there to help you.
Everyone around you who loves you wants to help, and
just you've got a lot of men and and I
think you're doing You're doing a great thing here, so
(22:02):
just keep it up and stays over uh bit, Thank
you for everything you're doing.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Hey man, appreciate that. Yeah, this kind of pairs up
with what I was saying earlier. It's completely up to
the person and having support helps absolutely.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
It seems like this guy had a loving family that
really cared for him and helped him get through a
really tough time. And it seems like, well, at least
I hope that he's doing okay now and he's he's
gotten through the worst of it, and if so, I'm
happy for you.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And if not, you know, it's a journey.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And I think anyone who's dealing with with this intimately
knows that there's just huge ups and downs, and sometimes
it feels like you've got it all figured out, and
sometimes it feels like the whole damn thing is just
falling apart again, and that's frustrating.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
That's hard. It's hard to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
It is a lifelong journey, and you know, it helps
if it helps when there's love.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
It helps when there's love in the home.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Sometimes it starts out with love and patience, and then
just through all the trials and tribulations and heartbreaks, that
love can go away, and that's when it gets really,
really hard.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Again.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
I don't have an answer for that, but if you
are struggling, or if you do have a family member
that's struggling, just to your best. Sobriety is a journey
best taken together.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Bill.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
What's up, hey, Kyle, Just wondering about your dad.
Speaker 17 (23:45):
If your dad was a firefighter and he got injured
on the job, why did he not get disability or
what we call three quarter pay, because by the sounds
of it like he's struggling. And I mean, if he
went off on three quarter pay, which is a disability pay,
he should be okay.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yeah, but that's a really interesting question. I know that
when he got injured really badly, he was obviously on
disability because he was not working for a while. But
then he went back and continued working as a firefighter
paramedic for a few more years before he ended up
leaving the department and he became a life insurance agent,
(24:31):
like my senior year in high school, and you know,
for a few more years in college until the drugs
just took over and he lost that too.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
So yeah, I'm not quite sure how to answer that.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I'm pretty sure he had some disability and then he
started working again, so I guess it went away.
Speaker 18 (24:52):
Aaron, you're out, Hey, Kyle, I am loving the podcast
so far. I went ahead and purchased the early access
to Tenderfoot so that way I could listen to all
of kirk County ahead of time. I am originally from
the suburbs of Chicago, so I can really a lot
to this story. My mother is one hundred percent Italian
and went to high school and grew up all in Cicero.
(25:16):
Her family all from that side of the town as well.
My grandfather grew up on Taylor Street, so we always
would hear a lot of stories, you know, just some
friends and Shenanigans. I guess that he would get into.
Definitely nothing as violent or as crazy as what I'm
hearing in the podcast, but yeah, I just felt like,
(25:38):
in a small little way, your podcast was a little
bit relatable to my family. Anyways, and I'm again, I'm
really enjoying the podcast. I just heard that you went
to SIU Go su Luki's. Yeah, thanks, looking forward to
finishing it.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Hey Aaron, Yeah I did.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
I went to Southern Illinois University to study film and
dropped out my senior year. But yeah, we were broke
at that time, completely broke, and my I guess we
just couldn't pay for anymore semester. So I just left
in the middle of my senior year and moved to Atlanta,
(26:18):
and that's where I met my wife and started my career.
And you know, it's just been head down and moving
forward since. But but yeah, you know, there's there's a
lot of people out there. You know, Chicago is an
outfit town. There's a lot of Italians there, there's a
lot of Irish. You know, there's all sorts of gang
related activity going back one hundred years. Chicago. It's it's
(26:42):
just one of those story towns, you know, and it
feels like, you know, our our grandparents were just living
through the wild West sometimes, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
But I'm glad you can relate to the show. I'm
glad you like it.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
And you also bring up another good point, which is
Tenderfoot Plus, which is three ninety nine a month, and
you get to listen to all these incredible shows that
Tenderfoot puts out ad free. By the way, one of
the biggest complaints I've had from people on Crook County
is that there's a ton of ads, and they're not wrong.
(27:18):
There's a shit ton of commercials. I don't know why
there's more on mine than others. I have no control
over this shit, but yeah, there's quite a few. iHeart
must be doing really well with it, so I guess
good for them. But you know, look, you guys are
rating my show a one star and just ripping me
a new one in the comments because of fucking commercials.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Will you grow up? There's a fast forward button, Just
click it a couple times and move on. Will you
My God? Who's next?
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Hey, Kyle, My name's Thomas Kennedy's live in West Texas.
I'm a cotton farmer during the long summers. I spend
a lot of time on the tractor and always looking
for interesting podcasts and really enjoyed yours. Question I have
that I never really understood was when your dad from
the time he started getting bed into the drugs to
(28:14):
getting clean, it sounded like his jobs with the mafia
or the outfit kind of disappeared, and it seemed like
he could never actually get away from that. So was
there a specific time he was able to just cut
ties with them, or did he go to rehab and
they just all kind of disappeared, or do you know
exactly what happened?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Thanks, keep up the good work.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
That is a great question. First, let me say thank
you for listening. I'm so glad you found this show.
I bet it's a really interesting kind of contrast to
be riding around on a tractor in a cotton field
in Texas listening to a mob story from Chicago.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
That's pretty cool man. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, I don't have a real answer for this, because
there have been all sorts of weird happenings around my father.
Now that I know what I know, and looking back,
there's all sorts of weird stuff. You know, there's gunshot
wounds that I mentioned in the show. There's you know,
(29:21):
there's other injuries that seem a little fishy, other disappearances
that are short but somewhat unexplained. Then there's one huge
incident that happened about fourteen fifteen years ago before I
brought him out to California to get help, where I
(29:42):
was living in Los Angeles with my wife, and I
got a call from my mom that Ken had fallen.
It was the winter time and he had fallen while
taking off the trash and his leg was completely broken,
like in half almost and he had crawled from the
(30:03):
curb all the way up into the house screaming saying,
you know, call nine one one, call nine one one.
And he maintained throughout this whole time that he had
fallen and gotten his you know, slipped on some ice
and his leg was caught under the garbage can and
it just snapped when he fell. I mean, I guess
(30:24):
that's a reasonable story. He was also doing drugs at
this time, so maybe he was high.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
But it's just one of those things where you're like,
what really happened? And I had a chance to ask
my dad about that incident, and what he told me
it shocked me. It absolutely shocked me. It just when
I thought I couldn't be shocked anymore. Here's what he said.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
I was out of the business completely. I haven't really.
Speaker 13 (30:59):
Heard anything or experienced anything, except for one time. I
was taking out the garbage, pushing it to the curb,
and we had those large containers that there was a
handle that are about waste time, maybe a little bit higher,
(31:20):
two wheels on the back, pull them towards you, and
you push them out to the curb. Well it was
a little slippery, but you know, not that bad. But
that was good for my story. Three guys pulled up.
I didn't recognize them. I don't know how they were,
(31:42):
but man, they were.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Many. They had me targeted. Baby. I had no idea
what the hell was going on, but that I was targeted.
Speaker 13 (31:54):
I'm thinking to myself, holy shit, I know these guys
are coming at me and I'm.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Racking my brains here.
Speaker 13 (32:03):
Come to find out they were Nefuser I don't know,
associated with what was left of the Italian, not the Italian,
the Irish mob in Chicago. And it was a payback
and I don't know how the hell they found me,
but it was a payback for something I did. I
(32:24):
think I remember what I did do. But it was
simple and it was fast. It probably lasted fifteen seconds.
They bum rushed me, put my right foot under the container.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
And then.
Speaker 13 (32:47):
Left it under there, actually forced it under there with
their feet or feet, and then they pushed me back
and my tibia phibia snacked. Something was gonna give and
it wasn't the garbage container. It was my tib and
fib and I'll crash those bones right through my skin.
(33:12):
And the snapping sound and the way it echoed back
was more terrifying than the actual fracture. These guys were
going on a heartbeat. I can't even remember what car
they were in. So there I am open fracture right
(33:33):
tip fib. No one home. I am pushing myself on
my ass from the sidewalk all the way up the
driveway into the garage and then pulling myself on my
(33:55):
ass still into the kitchen, but managed to get ahold
of Holly, my wife and in the hospital got everything
all patched up. Now, the reason for this was, I believe,
in a sense the remnants of the Irish mob we
(34:21):
took out morel was part of myself and another guy
took out a relative of one of the Irish heavies.
And I thought it was clean. Man, at least I
thought it was clean and they could ever travel us,
you know. But you know, things have a way to
(34:47):
catch up to you sometimes when you at least suspect it.
But I was told as they were leaving payback, which
meant which made me understand that it was probably an
Irish mob thing. And I knew I wasn't going to
get killed because and that was the payback. They fractured
(35:11):
me up really good, you know what. I'll take their
payback anytime over over a murder.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
So what does that mean? Is that real?
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Whether people after him all these years later? Was it
an actual gang mafia related incident if it did happen,
is it a drug related incident? Has nothing to do
with the mafia.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I don't know. I don't think i'll ever know.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
I just, man, it's like I don't even want to
think about it anymore, you know what I mean, Like
I don't even want to know if it's true. At
a certain point, I'm just like, I'm just kind of
over the whole thing. You know, it's a lot, it's
a lot to deal with, and that being such a
(36:04):
recent event, I mean, it's a bit unsettling. Gonna lie,
it's concerning. So yeah, well it's out there now, and
if it's true, God help us all.
Speaker 19 (36:23):
Hello. My name is Aaron. I'm a listener from Minnesota.
I just finished all of that, actually listened to all
of it and one day while I was at work,
and it was fantastic. And one thing I just kind
of wanted to mention is that your dad breaking down
when he was talking about playing God just absolutely ripped
my heart out, because I mean, you see, you know,
(36:47):
like these crime bosses and all this stuff, and you know,
like the Sopranos and the Godfather and all that stuff,
and it's just your dad is the real thing. And
I don't care how awful the people are that you
have a hand in murdering, you don't ever get over that.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
And he's he's.
Speaker 19 (37:06):
Just living proof of that, and the fact that despite
being this badass who runs around punching people in the
face all the time and all those stories that you
had about him being so tough, he was a deeply
broken person by what he experienced. And there's such humanity
in that story and I did not expect that.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
I was deeply moved.
Speaker 19 (37:28):
It's stunning and I will be the first one to
watch it on Netflix or wherever it ends up. And
I've been casting this whole thing in my head and
it was like, Jeffrey Dean Morgan needs to play your
dad and I don't know, but I just wanted to
say thank you very much for being brave enough to
share all of that.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Aaron, thanks a lot for those really kind words. Yeah,
you know you're not the only one that's picturing this
in their head as a TV show. I'm not gonna
drop any bombshells yet, but let me just say it's
in the works.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
To be continued, all right, last question, Ryan, what you got.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Hey, Kyle, my name is Ryan.
Speaker 20 (38:16):
I just want to say that your story is absolutely unbelievable.
The way you tell it is just amazing. I really
enjoy listening to it and I've listened to the series
a couple of times, so I just can't wait for
you to publish another podcast. But your story is just
(38:38):
unbelievable and I wish you the best.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Hey, Ryan, thanks so much for that. Glad you love
the show. Yeah, they're in the works. I have several
more seasons of Crook County deep into production right now,
and a couple other non Chicago related stories that are
just incredible and I am so excited to tell them.
I think you guys are going to love what I
have in store for you, so just be patient. I
(39:06):
know for a fact there'll be one out sometime midnext year.
In the meantime, I would love to do another one
of these, So if you have any questions for me,
go ahead and leave me a voicemail at speakpipe dot
com slash Crook County Podcast. Speakpipe dot com slash Crook
(39:26):
County Podcast.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Leave me a voicemail. Can't wait to answer him, talk soon.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
Yeah, you got a lot of fucking questions.
Speaker 13 (39:37):
Fucking what fucking go go?
Speaker 1 (39:44):
I love this guy.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
He's the best.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
I don't know who he is, but he's the best.
If you're listening to a ten or foot TV podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Or girls, what's up Crook County fans, it's been a while, Frankly,
I missed you. I just got back from Crime Con
and it was such a great experience to meet fans
face to face. I've never really done anything like that before.
(00:33):
It really actually may be quite emotional. You know, you
build this stuff and you create these stories, these podcasts
in a box by yourself for the most part, and.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Then they go out into the world.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Then, yeah, you get comments, and I've wanted people to
send me voicemails, and that's cool.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Been really great listening to those.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
But to in person talk to people face to face
about a story that has meant so much to them
and that story just happens to be my story.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
It's a very surreal experience.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
And I'm extremely grateful for those interactions and to meet
so many people and to talk about it and to
connect with them and to relate with them with their
own issues and their own struggles that they're trying to overcome,
and to hear that, you know, my story can help
them in some way very powerful stuff. So, yeah, it's
(01:29):
been it's been a really interesting week. And I'm just
very humbled and grateful. And it reminded me about those
voicemails that I told you guys to said during the season,
and I hadn't listened to them in a long time,
and so when I got home, I opened them up
and I said, you know what, I'm going to answer these.
I need to answer these. It's about damn time. So yeah,
(01:51):
let's get into it. This is Crook County Voicemails.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Here we go.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Yeah, you got a lot of fucking questions.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Fuck yeah, let's fucking go.
Speaker 6 (02:05):
When I heard your podcast in the radio, like number
one podcast, Mafia Guy, whatever, firefighter, but it's a fucking.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Banger, a fucking banger, no fucking joke. Yeah, well that's
a good way to start this, I guess.
Speaker 7 (02:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I don't know if there was a question in there, buddy,
but you sound like you're a fun guy, sound like
you're having a good time.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I appreciate it. I appreciate that you listen to this,
and I appreciate that you liked it. I'll just leave
it at that, all right, Let's uh, let's try the
next one. This one is from David from Indiana. What
do we got? Good morning, Kyle.
Speaker 8 (02:59):
This is Dave Heckel, morning producer for JED in the
region on AM twelve thirty w j olb out of Ham, Indiana.
We do a morning show and our on air personality,
Jim did Low and I had both listened to your
podcast and we're very intrigued and would like to discuss
it with you on air if possible, and if you're interested,
(03:22):
we'd like to sit down and chat with you on air.
If it sounds like something you're interested in, give me
a call and we'll get something. Schedule something that's conducive
to your schedule.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
We'll work around it. Oh yeah, I remember this one.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I opened this one up when they sent it like
eight months ago and I responded. So apparently they didn't
want to interview me that bad because I heard nothing back.
So David with the morning show in Indiana, Sorry, buddy,
you missed the boat. All right, who's next?
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Kayla?
Speaker 9 (03:55):
Hi, my name is Kayla.
Speaker 10 (03:58):
I just finished listening to the second episode.
Speaker 9 (04:03):
Man, it's really hard to hear this stuff. I come
from a family of first respect as well. All four
were officers and putting my step parents and I have
a brother who died of a heroin overdose, and just
we have a lot of you know, rough drug use
in the family, and then like that juxtaposition of first
(04:24):
responders and you know, addicts, and and.
Speaker 7 (04:29):
I'm just so sorry for your brother and what he
went through and just all the things that I witnessed
in my own life of you know, the violence and
the chaos that comes with people who can't stop using
drugs and inflict it all over their families.
Speaker 10 (04:48):
And those of us that love them and just want
them to be better. And I'm just so sorry to
you guys, because it really is just like a very
special situation. And I don't mean specially in a good way,
but once you've.
Speaker 9 (05:06):
Been through it, you're really the only one who can
understand it. So anyway, this podcast is incredible.
Speaker 7 (05:12):
I'm going to be listening further, and I just I
just my heart goes out to you guys, and I'm
just so sorry that this is what you guys have
had to go through.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Oh wow, wow, Hey, Kayla, thank you so much for
calling in and for just being so open and honest.
I could feel your pain. I could feel, you know,
the trauma that you've been through with your own experiences
with drug abuse. And you know family that just refuses to,
(05:46):
I don't know, live a productive life, a cohesive family life.
You know, there's a lot of selfishness that goes with
drug addiction. There's a lot of pain and emotional stunted
behaviors that come with it, and everyone is affected. It's
not just a single person. It's not just the addict
(06:08):
to is suffering. It's the whole family. It's not a
victimless crime. And it's just so hard to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
What do you do?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Do you drain your finances and your emotional capital trying
to help this person or people over and over again.
When do you stop? Should you stop? You know, like,
at what point do you say enough is enough? At
what point do you say, I won't let you drag
(06:39):
me down with you? At what point do you say
that's it, I'm done.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I don't have the answers to those questions, and I
don't think anybody really does. It's a really tough situation,
and I guess my only advice is to remember that
this isn't your fault. You had nothing to do with
(07:11):
these people choosing a life that is counter to yours,
that is at odds with yours that is destructive to yours.
You shouldn't feel guilt, You shouldn't feel like you are
responsible to fix these people. They have made these choices
(07:35):
themselves at the end of the day. Yes, of course
they are external factors, but they have made these choices themselves,
and it's completely up to them at the end of
the day whether or not they're going to remedy their issue,
whether they're going to try and get help, whether they're
going to try to clean up, whether they're going to
(07:57):
try to redeem themselves. In your eyes, you can't put
that pressure and responsibility on yourself. If you have your
own family, kids, a significant other, just focus on them,
focus on being the person that you wish these other
(08:17):
people would be for you.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
I wish you the best, Kala, I really do. Thank
you so much for sharing with me.
Speaker 11 (08:27):
Hey, I had a quick question. I don't know if
your dad ever mentioned this, but my father off and
on had mentioned different ways that the outfit had done
some different embuzzling and little money laundering through business at all,
(08:53):
so I wanted to see if your father had ever
mentioned how the object laundered money.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Really interesting question. I mean, of course, the outfit had
strangleholds over dozens and if not hundreds of legitimate businesses
across the Chicagoland area, running money through them, running drugs,
or utilizing them in some way that could help push
their agendas and assist in the running of their operation.
(09:23):
But you know, my dad, as we know, he had
his sort of little niches that he was in charge of,
the whorehouse being one of them. Now he was around,
he did a lot of stuff. He saw a lot
of things. I just don't think he can speak on
a high level about exactly the kind of intricacies that
are going on other than just simple observations. But I
(09:45):
do remember a conversation during the interviews where he started
to kind of dabble into a couple examples, and I
just didn't really find, I guess a place in the
show to put it, so I didn't put it anywhere.
But you've reminded me of this, So why don't we
just hear from the man himself?
Speaker 12 (10:05):
Here's ken anyway, I did anything and everything in the outfit.
I did muscle work, I repossessed furniture for a company
called Swingles, who was directly involved in the outfits. I
don't know if anybody out there knows that, but they
(10:27):
were Swingles furniture rental to delivering paper checks from Chicago
to Wall Street in New York a couple of banks
that were involved and taking the hard paper check time
(10:50):
stamping them for interest.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
But back then you did everything by hand.
Speaker 13 (10:55):
You actually took the checks on an airplane in a
big bag, would a gun, got picked up at either
La Guardia or Kennedy and Drew, and you would take
a helicopter to a bank on Wall Street. I just
remember flying around the Statue of Liberty with my two
(11:17):
big bags paper checks that no one was allowed to
touch except me, and delivering it to a bank. So
I believe back then the interest from the time the
check was deposited at the particular establishment or personal to
the time it got to that particular company, central bank
(11:40):
or somebody central I don't know a bank on Wall Street,
money was made.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Interest was made on every one of those checks.
Speaker 14 (11:49):
And there was thousands of them, thousands and thousands of them.
And I don't know if the outfit got all the
money for that already got a piece of it.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I'm not sure, but I know my.
Speaker 13 (12:04):
Job was to protect that money from Chicago to Wall
Street Boom.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
It's been a while since I've heard that. I kind
of forgot the details of it, but yet Swingles Furniture.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
How funny is that.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I just did like a business search, and it looks
like this thing went out of business a long time ago.
There may have been a version of it that ended
up in Florida. I don't know if it's connected in
any way, but that is also out of business.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
A furniture store, furniture rental.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Just how innocent and random is that. I think it's
actually a perfect example of the kind of influence the
outfit had on everyday regular folk who were just trying
to make a living, and they use them to their advantage.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And then the helicopter stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I mean, geez, that sounds like something straight out of
a movie. I know everything is electronic these days, but
with the checks, I mean, I know carried interest is
a real thing. So yeah, I mean, someone much smarter
than me should answer this question and dig into it.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
That's fascinating. Who's next.
Speaker 15 (13:14):
My name is Kyle Murray, and I grew up in
the Takla household for probably four years. Corey and I
were we met through a mutual friend and him and
I hit it off, and so myself, him and Frankie.
(13:38):
You know, we were in separa bowl for you know,
a few years, and it was nice there. It was
I loved going there. You know, Hollie I would see
quite a bit, you know, she was always home, but
I didn't see Ken until morning time and he would
(14:01):
come down to the basement, you know, after we were
down there whatever, smoking weed, playing music, being you know,
stupid fucking kids. But he he never scared me. He
came off as a person that you don't want to
fuck with, but he was never mean. He was never
(14:25):
an asshole. He was just like, hey, if you guys
are fucking doing this and fucking do it right, And
I appreciate that about him. And to find out, you know,
what he was doing while we're smoking weed in his
basement is pretty fucking crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Kyle, what's up, buddy? Oh man, I haven't heard from
that guy in a long time. There were so many people,
so many friends over at the house growing up. It
was we kind of did have the house like it
was the spot to hang out where everyone would come
and so many sleepovers, just huge gatherings of people. We
had a little pool, above ground pool. It just felt
(15:08):
like we were a clubhouse. It felt like people. The
kids felt comfortable at our place, and man, so many
incredible memories. My brother's friends, we were three years apart,
so by the time we got into high school, we
were all kind of hanging out together and it was
a really great time. And yeah, I've talked to quite
(15:30):
a few of the old crew and very similar you know,
take as you man is like, what the hell are
you talking about? Like, how is that even possible? We
never could have guessed that in million years kind of thing.
So yeah, I mean he fooled everybody, right, he really did.
(15:51):
And to his credit, you know, he really created him
and my mom really created a welcoming, friendly, fun environment
to grow up in. And I'll never forget those times,
and I'll always remember them fondly and be grateful for
those times, for the good times.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
While they were there. Great to hear from you, Kyle.
Thanks for calling me.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Hey, Kyle, I just wanted to share my message. Hearing
your father's story makes me think of my own. I
grew up in a rough, a rough neighborhood, and purely
for survival, I joined a gain, and I did a
(16:40):
lot of stuff. I'm not proud of a lot of
stuff I've never told nobody.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I am married.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
My wife only knows extremely surface level stuff. She knows
not depressed. I know not to overshare, and it's not
something I'm ever going to tell my kids because it's
not something they ever need to know. You know, my
story was all about survival. I did what I had
to do to survive. It was either I joined again
(17:12):
and did what I did, or I could have been
dead by twenty no problem. I couldn't, you know. And
that sounds silly, you know, in hindsight, is I put
myself in more danger to survive, But it was really
my only option, my only option out of the situation
I was in. So thanks for sharing your dad's story,
(17:34):
and thanks for sharing your view of it. Makes me
think of how my kids might react if they ever
found out they wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Ay Stan, Thanks for sharing.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Man.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, you know, throughout this process, I've had quite a
few people reach out to be kind of.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Similar ish stories.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
You know, they had their own you know, CD past,
I guess you could say, and you know they're they've
straightened out in their family people now and they're just
to live a decent life and move on, and I
think that's great.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I'm glad that you found your way.
Speaker 7 (18:17):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Look, I mean, obviously everyone knows my story because I
put it out there into the world, and I don't
think I ever would have known anything if my dad
hadn't basically been on the edge of death from heroin
and alcohol addiction and reached out to me in total
desperation asking for my help. I think that if he
(18:41):
didn't have that addiction, that crutch, I think he probably
would have taken this to his grave and none of
us ever would have known. So, you know, I'm just
trying to put myself in your shoes, and also in
your kid's shoes, your wife. You know, just because you've
had a life that you don't want to share it
doesn't mean you need to share it with them. Everyone
(19:05):
reacts to things differently. If my dad was a normal
guy and lived a normal life and we had a
normal relationship and I never knew about this stuff, that
would be great.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I would prefer that.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
I would much prefer to have a loving, normal, healthy
relationship with with my dad. And you know that that
goes from my mom too. You know, the whole family
would be completely different if this went a different way.
And so if you have a great relationship with your
kids and your wife and you feel like telling them
(19:39):
this stuff would blow the whole thing up, then don't
do it.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Man.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
If you feel like.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
You need to tell them and it's destroying you and
you're going to do something stupid, or you're you're doing
drugs to deal with it, maybe then I don't know,
maybe you consider it. I don't have the answer here,
but but I am happy that you it seems somewhat
come to peace with your past and our moo forward
(20:08):
in a healthy way. That's bravo. Good on you, Bud.
All right, we got a question from Mike.
Speaker 16 (20:16):
Dude, where is your Monday episode? I've already quit other
podcasts because they don't come out weekly, and sometimes they
don't come out at all period, But I respect you
so far. Monday's every day awesome. Hey, carry I'm a man,
but we're looking for today's see you.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Hey, Mike, I'm glad you like the show. This is
a little late.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I probably should have answered this question a long time ago,
but the show comes out on Tuesdays every Tuesday. So
the reason you're not seeing them on that Monday. It's
because it comes out on Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
I hope that helps. Who's next.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Hello listener from Wisconsin.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Right on the border Illinois.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I just wanted to say that.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Your your story has really touched me, and your father's
struggle with drug addiction is one that I also share
and I think it's it's amazing what you did for
him and the progress he's made and that he's opening
(21:36):
up to you.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
It's a beautiful thing. And uh, I just want to.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
State to all the other addicts out there that you
can get help. There is someone out there to help you.
Everyone around you who loves you wants to help, and
just you've got a lot of men and and I
think you're doing You're doing a great thing here, so
(22:02):
just keep it up and stays over uh bit, Thank
you for everything you're doing.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Hey man, appreciate that. Yeah, this kind of pairs up
with what I was saying earlier. It's completely up to
the person and having support helps absolutely.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
It seems like this guy had a loving family that
really cared for him and helped him get through a
really tough time. And it seems like, well, at least
I hope that he's doing okay now and he's he's
gotten through the worst of it, and if so, I'm
happy for you.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And if not, you know, it's a journey.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And I think anyone who's dealing with with this intimately
knows that there's just huge ups and downs, and sometimes
it feels like you've got it all figured out, and
sometimes it feels like the whole damn thing is just
falling apart again, and that's frustrating.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
That's hard. It's hard to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
It is a lifelong journey, and you know, it helps
if it helps when there's love.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
It helps when there's love in the home.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Sometimes it starts out with love and patience, and then
just through all the trials and tribulations and heartbreaks, that
love can go away, and that's when it gets really,
really hard.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Again.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
I don't have an answer for that, but if you
are struggling, or if you do have a family member
that's struggling, just to your best. Sobriety is a journey
best taken together.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Bill.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
What's up, hey, Kyle, Just wondering about your dad.
Speaker 17 (23:45):
If your dad was a firefighter and he got injured
on the job, why did he not get disability or
what we call three quarter pay, because by the sounds
of it like he's struggling. And I mean, if he
went off on three quarter pay, which is a disability pay,
he should be okay.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yeah, but that's a really interesting question. I know that
when he got injured really badly, he was obviously on
disability because he was not working for a while. But
then he went back and continued working as a firefighter
paramedic for a few more years before he ended up
leaving the department and he became a life insurance agent,
(24:31):
like my senior year in high school, and you know,
for a few more years in college until the drugs
just took over and he lost that too.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
So yeah, I'm not quite sure how to answer that.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I'm pretty sure he had some disability and then he
started working again, so I guess it went away.
Speaker 18 (24:52):
Aaron, you're out, Hey, Kyle, I am loving the podcast
so far. I went ahead and purchased the early access
to Tenderfoot so that way I could listen to all
of kirk County ahead of time. I am originally from
the suburbs of Chicago, so I can really a lot
to this story. My mother is one hundred percent Italian
and went to high school and grew up all in Cicero.
(25:16):
Her family all from that side of the town as well.
My grandfather grew up on Taylor Street, so we always
would hear a lot of stories, you know, just some
friends and Shenanigans. I guess that he would get into.
Definitely nothing as violent or as crazy as what I'm
hearing in the podcast, but yeah, I just felt like,
(25:38):
in a small little way, your podcast was a little
bit relatable to my family. Anyways, and I'm again, I'm
really enjoying the podcast. I just heard that you went
to SIU Go su Luki's. Yeah, thanks, looking forward to
finishing it.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Hey Aaron, Yeah I did.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
I went to Southern Illinois University to study film and
dropped out my senior year. But yeah, we were broke
at that time, completely broke, and my I guess we
just couldn't pay for anymore semester. So I just left
in the middle of my senior year and moved to Atlanta,
(26:18):
and that's where I met my wife and started my career.
And you know, it's just been head down and moving
forward since. But but yeah, you know, there's there's a
lot of people out there. You know, Chicago is an
outfit town. There's a lot of Italians there, there's a
lot of Irish. You know, there's all sorts of gang
related activity going back one hundred years. Chicago. It's it's
(26:42):
just one of those story towns, you know, and it
feels like, you know, our our grandparents were just living
through the wild West sometimes, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
But I'm glad you can relate to the show. I'm
glad you like it.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
And you also bring up another good point, which is
Tenderfoot Plus, which is three ninety nine a month, and
you get to listen to all these incredible shows that
Tenderfoot puts out ad free. By the way, one of
the biggest complaints I've had from people on Crook County
is that there's a ton of ads, and they're not wrong.
(27:18):
There's a shit ton of commercials. I don't know why
there's more on mine than others. I have no control
over this shit, but yeah, there's quite a few. iHeart
must be doing really well with it, so I guess
good for them. But you know, look, you guys are
rating my show a one star and just ripping me
a new one in the comments because of fucking commercials.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Will you grow up? There's a fast forward button, Just
click it a couple times and move on. Will you
My God? Who's next?
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Hey, Kyle, My name's Thomas Kennedy's live in West Texas.
I'm a cotton farmer during the long summers. I spend
a lot of time on the tractor and always looking
for interesting podcasts and really enjoyed yours. Question I have
that I never really understood was when your dad from
the time he started getting bed into the drugs to
(28:14):
getting clean, it sounded like his jobs with the mafia
or the outfit kind of disappeared, and it seemed like
he could never actually get away from that. So was
there a specific time he was able to just cut
ties with them, or did he go to rehab and
they just all kind of disappeared, or do you know
exactly what happened?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Thanks, keep up the good work.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
That is a great question. First, let me say thank
you for listening. I'm so glad you found this show.
I bet it's a really interesting kind of contrast to
be riding around on a tractor in a cotton field
in Texas listening to a mob story from Chicago.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
That's pretty cool man. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, I don't have a real answer for this, because
there have been all sorts of weird happenings around my father.
Now that I know what I know, and looking back,
there's all sorts of weird stuff. You know, there's gunshot
wounds that I mentioned in the show. There's you know,
(29:21):
there's other injuries that seem a little fishy, other disappearances
that are short but somewhat unexplained. Then there's one huge
incident that happened about fourteen fifteen years ago before I
brought him out to California to get help, where I
(29:42):
was living in Los Angeles with my wife, and I
got a call from my mom that Ken had fallen.
It was the winter time and he had fallen while
taking off the trash and his leg was completely broken,
like in half almost and he had crawled from the
(30:03):
curb all the way up into the house screaming saying,
you know, call nine one one, call nine one one.
And he maintained throughout this whole time that he had
fallen and gotten his you know, slipped on some ice
and his leg was caught under the garbage can and
it just snapped when he fell. I mean, I guess
(30:24):
that's a reasonable story. He was also doing drugs at
this time, so maybe he was high.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
But it's just one of those things where you're like,
what really happened? And I had a chance to ask
my dad about that incident, and what he told me
it shocked me. It absolutely shocked me. It just when
I thought I couldn't be shocked anymore. Here's what he said.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
I was out of the business completely. I haven't really.
Speaker 13 (30:59):
Heard anything or experienced anything, except for one time. I
was taking out the garbage, pushing it to the curb,
and we had those large containers that there was a
handle that are about waste time, maybe a little bit higher,
(31:20):
two wheels on the back, pull them towards you, and
you push them out to the curb. Well it was
a little slippery, but you know, not that bad. But
that was good for my story. Three guys pulled up.
I didn't recognize them. I don't know how they were,
(31:42):
but man, they were.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Many. They had me targeted. Baby. I had no idea
what the hell was going on, but that I was targeted.
Speaker 13 (31:54):
I'm thinking to myself, holy shit, I know these guys
are coming at me and I'm.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Racking my brains here.
Speaker 13 (32:03):
Come to find out they were Nefuser I don't know,
associated with what was left of the Italian, not the Italian,
the Irish mob in Chicago. And it was a payback
and I don't know how the hell they found me,
but it was a payback for something I did. I
(32:24):
think I remember what I did do. But it was
simple and it was fast. It probably lasted fifteen seconds.
They bum rushed me, put my right foot under the container.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
And then.
Speaker 13 (32:47):
Left it under there, actually forced it under there with
their feet or feet, and then they pushed me back
and my tibia phibia snacked. Something was gonna give and
it wasn't the garbage container. It was my tib and
fib and I'll crash those bones right through my skin.
(33:12):
And the snapping sound and the way it echoed back
was more terrifying than the actual fracture. These guys were
going on a heartbeat. I can't even remember what car
they were in. So there I am open fracture right
(33:33):
tip fib. No one home. I am pushing myself on
my ass from the sidewalk all the way up the
driveway into the garage and then pulling myself on my
(33:55):
ass still into the kitchen, but managed to get ahold
of Holly, my wife and in the hospital got everything
all patched up. Now, the reason for this was, I believe,
in a sense the remnants of the Irish mob we
(34:21):
took out morel was part of myself and another guy
took out a relative of one of the Irish heavies.
And I thought it was clean. Man, at least I
thought it was clean and they could ever travel us,
you know. But you know, things have a way to
(34:47):
catch up to you sometimes when you at least suspect it.
But I was told as they were leaving payback, which
meant which made me understand that it was probably an
Irish mob thing. And I knew I wasn't going to
get killed because and that was the payback. They fractured
(35:11):
me up really good, you know what. I'll take their
payback anytime over over a murder.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
So what does that mean? Is that real?
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Whether people after him all these years later? Was it
an actual gang mafia related incident if it did happen,
is it a drug related incident? Has nothing to do
with the mafia.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I don't know. I don't think i'll ever know.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
I just, man, it's like I don't even want to
think about it anymore, you know what I mean, Like
I don't even want to know if it's true. At
a certain point, I'm just like, I'm just kind of
over the whole thing. You know, it's a lot, it's
a lot to deal with, and that being such a
(36:04):
recent event, I mean, it's a bit unsettling. Gonna lie,
it's concerning. So yeah, well it's out there now, and
if it's true, God help us all.
Speaker 19 (36:23):
Hello. My name is Aaron. I'm a listener from Minnesota.
I just finished all of that, actually listened to all
of it and one day while I was at work,
and it was fantastic. And one thing I just kind
of wanted to mention is that your dad breaking down
when he was talking about playing God just absolutely ripped
my heart out, because I mean, you see, you know,
(36:47):
like these crime bosses and all this stuff, and you know,
like the Sopranos and the Godfather and all that stuff,
and it's just your dad is the real thing. And
I don't care how awful the people are that you
have a hand in murdering, you don't ever get over that.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
And he's he's.
Speaker 19 (37:06):
Just living proof of that, and the fact that despite
being this badass who runs around punching people in the
face all the time and all those stories that you
had about him being so tough, he was a deeply
broken person by what he experienced. And there's such humanity
in that story and I did not expect that.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
I was deeply moved.
Speaker 19 (37:28):
It's stunning and I will be the first one to
watch it on Netflix or wherever it ends up. And
I've been casting this whole thing in my head and
it was like, Jeffrey Dean Morgan needs to play your
dad and I don't know, but I just wanted to
say thank you very much for being brave enough to
share all of that.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Aaron, thanks a lot for those really kind words. Yeah,
you know you're not the only one that's picturing this
in their head as a TV show. I'm not gonna
drop any bombshells yet, but let me just say it's
in the works.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
To be continued, all right, last question, Ryan, what you got.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Hey, Kyle, my name is Ryan.
Speaker 20 (38:16):
I just want to say that your story is absolutely unbelievable.
The way you tell it is just amazing. I really
enjoy listening to it and I've listened to the series
a couple of times, so I just can't wait for
you to publish another podcast. But your story is just
(38:38):
unbelievable and I wish you the best.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Hey, Ryan, thanks so much for that. Glad you love
the show. Yeah, they're in the works. I have several
more seasons of Crook County deep into production right now,
and a couple other non Chicago related stories that are
just incredible and I am so excited to tell them.
I think you guys are going to love what I
have in store for you, so just be patient. I
(39:06):
know for a fact there'll be one out sometime midnext year.
In the meantime, I would love to do another one
of these, So if you have any questions for me,
go ahead and leave me a voicemail at speakpipe dot
com slash Crook County Podcast. Speakpipe dot com slash Crook
(39:26):
County Podcast.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Leave me a voicemail. Can't wait to answer him, talk soon.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
Yeah, you got a lot of fucking questions.
Speaker 13 (39:37):
Fucking what fucking go go?
Speaker 1 (39:44):
I love this guy.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
He's the best.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
I don't know who he is, but he's the best.
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