August 22, 2023 • 34 mins
Remus reaches his breaking point with Imogene, and Mabel faces a dilemma in how to deal with her corrupt agent, Franklin Dodge.
Remus: The Mad Bootleg King is a Curiosity Podcast and is a co-production of iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans. This podcast is based on Abbott Kahler’s book, “The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America.”
You can learn more about Abbott and her books here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
There's violence against women in this episode.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Please take care where and when you listen.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
As strange as this story may seem, this is a
work of nonfiction with no invented dialogue. Every reenactment you
hear comes from government files, archives, diaries, letters, newspaper articles, books,
or trial testimony. When George Connor sees the pearl handled
(00:41):
pistol in Imagen Remas's hand, he knows negotiations have broken down.
For weeks. Connors had worked with his boss, George Remis
to fashion a divorce settlement that Emagen would accept. But
tonight she walks into the Cincinnati mansion unannounced and deeply aggrieved,
and then she draws a gun.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I will settle this myself.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Connor's moves like lightning, rustling pistol and the handbag she
had brought it in from Imagean's hand. He replaces the
pistol back in her purse and lays it on the
fireplace mantle. He gently grabs her shoulder and guides her
away from Remus and into the library. He closes the
door and faces her, waiting for her to speak alone
(01:24):
with Connor's imagine immediately grows hysterical. The expression on her
face flashing from fury to gloom.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
That man cannot treat me that way. He has abused me.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
He's been cruel.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And selfish without any justification. George has ruined my reputation.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
She keeps ranting. Connors decides to stay quiet and let
her finish.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Then he speaks, are you finished? Look, if you would
be reasonable and wanted a divorce, you could get it.
You could get a much better settlement working directly with
George instead of fooling around with your own lawyers and
that boyfriend of yours.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Franklin dodge Imageen grimaces and glares at Connor's He is incensed,
but doesn't say another word, just turns to leave the room.
As she's walking toward the front door, Connors pushes past
her toward the mantle. Quickly before she can see him,
he slips the revolver out of her purse and into
his pocket. For now, at least, the pearl handled pistol
(02:22):
belongs to Remus. I'm abbot Kaylor and this is Remus,
the mad bootleg King. In nineteen thirty four, Fiarela LaGuardia
(02:46):
of Airport fame, would become one of New York City's
most legendary mayors, but during Prohibition he was a US
Congressman Representative. LaGuardia hated Prohibition. His constituents were the immigrant
communities of Lower Manhattan. He'd seen prohibitions steal their livelihoods,
He'd seen the violent that came with the illegal liquor trade,
(03:07):
and he would soon get the chance to tell the
entire House of Representatives how he felt about it. Mcguardia
had watched the prosecution of George Reamas closely, and he
believed that the Justice Department was sweeping its own corruption
under the rug. And the worst examples of that corruption,
in his eyes were the disgraced prohibition agent Franklin Dodge
and his former boss, Assistant Attorney General Mabel Willembrandt. Dodge
(03:31):
was running around breaking laws with Immagen Remus, and willem
Brandt was praying on the people that LaGuardia represented. The
congressman had had enough. Mcguardia stood as tall as his
five foot two frame would allow, and held a sheaf
of paperwork aloft like a weapon. Those papers had been
given to him privately by George Connors, and all of
them recounted the misadventures of Franklin Dodge.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
Mister Chairman and gentleman, I do not desire at this
time to start a debate on prohibition. Instead, I have
some facts which tend to show a disgraceful disregard for
the law on the part of officials who are or
were responsible for its enforcement. When a prominent investigator in
(04:18):
the Department of Justice leaves the United States government in
order to go into the bootlegging business, it is about
time Congress takes notice. In the early part of nineteen
twenty two, George Remas and others were tried and convicted
on violations of the Volstead Act. The case was worked
(04:40):
up by a Department of Justice agent, one Franklin L. Dodge,
who took pride in making himself known as the Ace
of the Department of Justice.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Mcguardia spent the next twenty minutes alleging a different conspiracy,
not by Remus and his associates, but by the Department
of Justice. Mcguardia explained that after Remus was sent to
the Atlanta Penitentiary, Dodge investigated corruption in the prison.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
And while he was there, Franklin Dodge became very friendly
with the wife of the prisoner Remus, and their conduct
in the Warden's office is too obscene to relate at
this time.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
To drive home the point, Laguardier wrote a letter written
by John Marshall, the prosecutor who had handled the Jack
Daniels case. It was addressed to Marshall's boss at the
Justice Department, Mabel Willebrand.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
When we have a situation where a government agent works
up a case and puts his man in jail, and
while that man is in jail, he acquires the very
same property for which this man was sent to jail,
and succeeds in having the Department of Justice prosecute this
man and hold him while cases against others are dismissed.
(05:57):
I think it is an outrageous condition, and I think
some action should be taken.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Mabel will and Brand found herself in a dilemma. She
was a wash in documents recounting Dodge's misdeeds, but she
knew she could never act on them. Prosecuting Dodge or
even publicly condemning his behavior, would highlight her own core
judgment in trusting him, a mistake for which she, as
a woman especially, might not be forgiven. Laguardier repeatedly harassful
(06:25):
in Brent's office, demanding Dodge's file. She refused. Meanwhile, Jagger
Hoover launched a new investigation into Dodge, uncovering a variety
of unscrupulous and possibly illegal behavior. In his report to Willembrandt,
Hoover included evidence that Dodge had handled and sold whiskey
certificates in Cleveland six months before he resigned his position,
(06:46):
and with his report, Hoover enclosed a personal.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
Note, needless to say, I'm astounded that some of the
statements attributed to Doutge allegations made in the attached to
EFFI Davids, would indicate that Dodge has violated certain federal statutes.
I would appreciate receiving your instructions as to the action
you think should be taken.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Will and Brandt was direct in her response, I do
not think there is anything here on which action can
be taken or future investigation based.
Speaker 6 (07:13):
Sale of whiskey certificates is accepted from the National Prohibition Act.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
It is not unlawful, and I see nothing else in
this report on which we could base prosecution.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
As if to validate her decision, she squwt a note
to herself on Hoover's memo, there is nothing else, Hoover
disagreed had pledged a target corrupt agents, regardless of their
connections to powerful government officials. Even though Dodge was no
longer with the Bureau, the director would continue the investigation
on his own. Three months later, the U. S. Supreme
(07:47):
Court refused to hear Reims's final appeal, his last hope
to avoid a jail sentence for the Death Valley nuisance conviction.
On July first, reem Was was driven to the Miami County
Jail in Troy, Ohio. The warden led him to sell thirteen,
where a guard handed him a blanket, a pillowe, a sheet,
a towel, and a tin cup. For the next year,
(08:09):
he would own nothing else. From the first day, Remus's
health began to deteriorate. His cell measured four by eight feet,
lit only by a sliver of glass etched along the roof,
just enough to glimpse what he called the heavenly bodies above.
Connors visited him as many as five times a week,
and he feared for his friend's life. He assessed Remus's
(08:32):
sallow skin, the way his one stout frame now seemed
lost in his clothes. Reemas declined every meal slid under
his cell door. He couldn't stand a sight or scent
of food. As the weeks rolled by, Remus became more
strange from reality. He became aware of a bizarre apparition.
It wasn't like his brainstorms, which consisted of voices inside
(08:56):
his head. This time, he said he could see the apparition.
He called it a halo. It hovered brightly just above
his head, vanishing and appearing at whim. This halo felt
like electrical stars aligning in his mind, resting control, directing
and guiding him in the outside world. He claimed that
(09:16):
the halo spoke in a language only he understood, and
impelled him to do things. Back in Cincinnati, Remus's longtime watchman,
William Muller, closely monitored the mansion. He recorded everything and
everyone who came and went, including Imaging. She often brought
(09:39):
a man Mulla recognized, Franklin Dodge. One afternoon, he watched
Imogen and Dodge carry every last plant from the home,
reducing the lush, exotic atrium to a few stray twigs
and leaves. They loaded the plants into Imaging's silver roadster, which,
in homage to her husband, once had the initials g
R imprinted on each door. Muller approached the car for
(10:04):
a close her look. The original monogram had been removed
and replaced with the initials FD in bright gilded lettering.
Maller often spied Dodge staring down the driveway, where the
two stone lions Remas had installed still stood proud. After
the couple stole the plants, they set about stripping the
house room by room, hiteem by aum. Muller wrote down
(10:27):
every piece as it passed with the front door, and
was loaded into a caravan of trucks. When Imogen and
Dodge finished their work, even the lions were gone. When
Remus was finally released from jail, he wanted only one
thing for Connors had taken him home to the mansion
so he could sleep in his own bed. As they
(10:49):
pulled into the driveway, Rema saw that the house was
completely dark and every door padlocked. He finally throw a
brick through a window and scrambled inside. The house was bare.
The only things left inside were a bed and a
pair of Franklin Dodge's shoes. He staggered toward the indoor pool.
(11:13):
If he closed his eyes, he could conjure the memory
of New Year's Eve nineteen twenty one, when he and
Imaging hosted revelers from across the country to celebrate the
new year and unveil the Imaging baths. The two lovers
had plundered it completely, the Grecian statues, the silver sconces,
the priceless urns gone. All that remained was the water,
(11:35):
and he stood over it now his rippled reflection, gazing back,
broadcasting his horror, he shouted maniacally at Connor's.
Speaker 7 (11:44):
Well, she left the water. I think I'll hop in
and take a swim.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
In that moment, it was the funniest sentence he'd ever heard.
His laugh started low in his gut and hit the
air as a shriek, sliding up the scales and back
down again, Deepening into a sob. He fell to his knees,
tears dropping through his fingers, and lost all sun of himself.
Remus would have several more breakdowns about the plundering of
(12:10):
his home, witnessed by many different people. Some would begin
to question whether Remas was legitimately crazy, or if the
brilliant bootlegger knew exactly what he was doing. Remas's home
was now nothing more than his skeleton, and George Connors
knew he could not let his friends stay there. It
took all of Connor's strength to pull Remis under his
(12:32):
feet and walk him to the car. As Connors drove,
Remus screamed and raved his neck, beans and gorged, and
his pupils, sliding out of sight. Eventually, Remas's brainstorm passed
and Connor's guided him to his bed. The next morning,
Connor's told Remis he could stay for as long as necessary.
He tried to reanimate Remis and help him focus on
(12:53):
the tasks at hand as the divorce trial approached, but
every night Remus would appear at Connor's bedroom door, mumbling
about Immogen and Dodge.
Speaker 7 (13:03):
I see them right before me all the time.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Every memory of Imaging became a ghost, and Connors knew
well how terrified Remus was of ghosts. Remus hired private
detectives and gave them two tasks, find his money and
trail his wife and Dodge from city to city. If
the detectives encountered them, they were to call rooms at
once so that he could catch them together personally. One
(13:30):
detective reported seeing Dodge and Imaging at the Roosevelt hotel
in New York City with a briefcase full of whiskey certificates.
Remus boarded the next train east, only to be told
upon arrival that the couple had just checked out. Another
advised remis to hustle to Canada. The couple had been
spotted over the border with one hundred thousand dollars worth
(13:51):
of his securities. This time, Remus missed them by a
half hour. He chased them the Washington, Detroit, Saint Louis, Atlanta,
and Chicago, but they were always one step ahead of him,
robbing him of the chance to either gather at vidence or,
in Remus's words, crack a skull. Remus, seethed with frustration,
(14:11):
invented it to Connors, if.
Speaker 7 (14:13):
I ever meet Dodge, it'll be goodbye Dodge.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Drama. Aside, tracking imaging was a pointless exercise because she
always turned up at her lawyer's office for divorce negotiations.
She would sit across the table from Remus, a smug
and wretched smile on her face, intensifying his fury. Their
divorce hearings stretched over the summer and became progressively more absurd.
(14:38):
Every week seemed to bring a new suit or countersuit
or accusation of contempt. During one deposition, Remas lifted Imagen's
lawyer from his seat and attempted to hurl him out
the window. Following that outburst, Remas's own lawyers quit, and
he announced that from now on he would be representing himself.
(14:58):
At the end of August nineteen twenty seven, Remus received
a call from a Bureau of Investigation agent named Tom Wilcox.
To Remus's delight, Wilcox explained that he was investigating Dodge
per the orders of Director j Edgar Hoover. Wilcox believed
Dodge should be arrested and indicted for violating the National
Prohibition Act. He wired his conclusions to Hoover, but again
(15:23):
Will and Brant refused to take action.
Speaker 6 (15:25):
I know he is guilty of inexcusable conduct and transactions
of a questionable nature, but his actions do not warrant
criminal prosecution.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Before hanging up, Wilcox shared one last piece of news.
There was a new plot of foot set in motion
by Imaging and Dodge to murder Remis before the divorce trial.
Remus immediately summoned Connors to the mansion.
Speaker 7 (15:50):
My god, she surely is desperate, trying to kill me
before the divorce case even takes place. You and I
have got to watch ourselves, because sooner or later they
are bound to get us.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Connors watched as Remus raved and tore around, pacing and
rubbing his head and throwing his hands from side to side. Suddenly,
he stood still again and turned to Connors.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
They will never take me if I see them first.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Remus went straight to the butler's pantry, where he'd kept
Imageen's pearl handled revolver since the night Connors filched it
from her purse. From that day forward, Remus carried the
gun with him at all times. Harry Trusdale, a young
(16:37):
man with receding hair and a thick build, had developed
a certain reputation in the underworld. He was someone who
could do the dirty work, the dirtiest work, in fact,
contract killing. In August nineteen twenty seven, Trusdale got a
tip about a job and drove to a dog track
in Springdale, Ohio. In the grandstand, he felt a tap
(16:57):
on his shoulder and turned to face a stranger whose
smile revealed a mouthful of gold teeth. The strange leaned
over and spoke quietly.
Speaker 8 (17:07):
Now, I know how you could make ten thousand dollars
if you would kill a man, you could get that
much money.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I'm interested.
Speaker 8 (17:17):
I'll make the necessary introductions.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Four days later, Trusdale found himself outside of imaging Remis's
sweep at Cincinnati's hotel Alms. Imageing answered his knock and
appraised Truesdale slowly from his flat cap to his Oxfords.
She curtly stated her business. She wanted him to kill
George Remas. Trusdale would receive half of the fee from
(17:41):
her and half from someone else.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Who is this other party, Franklin Dodge. I feel very
better toward daddy. I mean my husband. I just wish
someone would beat his brains out.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
She handed him two hundred and fifty dollars for expenses.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
You'll get the rest when you bump off my husband.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Truesdale began tailing Remiss, learning his schedule and habits. The
hitman perched himself in a chair near the elevator bank
in the Sittin Hotel, a spot with a clear view
of Remus's suite. Once, when Remus left his door open
a crack, Trusdale considered slipping into the suite and killing
Remus on the spot. He watched Remas for two straight weeks,
(18:26):
then visited Imagen at the Hotel Alms. When he arrived,
he found her busy packing a suitcase.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I'm going away. I'm going to Michigan.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
She told Trusdale the time for waiting and watching was over.
He needed to kill Remus right away before the divorce
trial started. She told him to call the Hotel Alms
regularly to check in with her. The next day was
October fourth, two days before the trial would begin. Truesdale
drove thirty miles north to Hamilton, Ohio, where he knew
(18:56):
Remus had some business. He watched Remas get into a
limousine and head to the Grand Hotel, a well known
haunt for bootleggers. He called Imojeen. She told him she
would meet him outside the Grand Hotel at midnight sharp,
at the appointed hour. As Truesdale walked toward Immojean, he
noticed a man across the street, tall and broad and
(19:19):
backlit by the moon.
Speaker 7 (19:21):
Is that man with you? He is?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That's Franklin Dodge. It's the same man who's going to
give you five thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Imajean and Trusdale entered the Grand Hotel to scan the register,
checking for Remus's name or a name written in his handwriting.
They found neither, so they decided to wait outside, hopefully
they would catch him coming or going. Within a moment,
a car filled with men pulled up next to Dodge.
Imagein excused herself, walked over and poked her head into
(19:49):
the car. When she returned to Truesdale, she was carrying
a pistol. Trusdale had a sudden and disturbing thought. Imaging
never intended to pay him. She had never mentioned any
associates besides Franklin Dodge, and yet there was a car
full of men across the street who were aware of
their plans. In fact, at this point, it was fair
(20:12):
to assume that Imagen was planning to double cross him,
either killing him to insure his silence or turning him
into the police anonymously as a hired gun. He had
failed to execute the plan on her schedule. He knew
too much and had done too little. As they talked,
Trusdeale watched her play with the gun in her lap,
(20:33):
turning it over, running a finger along the barrel. He
felt a hot stab of fear.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
If I see him now, I will kill him myself.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
They sat and waited, but Remus never appeared. Imaging decided
to return to Cincinnati with Dodge. She told Trusdale to
stay behind and keep watch. When Dodge's tail lights faded
into the distance, Trusdale drove back to Cincinnati with an
entirely different plan. The next afternoon, one day before the
(21:04):
divorce trial, Remus heard a knock on the door of
a suite at the Senten Hotel and found the young
man at the door. He introduced himself as Harry Trusdale
and said it was imperative that they talk. He was
there with a warning his wife wanted him dead. Truesdale
filled Remus in on all the details. When he finished,
(21:24):
Remus jumped from his chair and began raving. He ran
across the room like he was going to jump out
of the window. Trusdale didn't know which Remus was more dangerous,
George or Imaging. A few hours after Harry Trusdell left,
Remus called his driver for a ride back to the
Price Hill mansion. Remus was quiet until they pulled up
(21:46):
into the driveway, then he gave the driver an order.
Speaker 7 (21:51):
Be here in the morning about seven o'clock. It will
take me to the Hotel Alms. I want to see
my wife before the trial starts. I want to talk
things over with her.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
In the morning, Remus dressed himself for the bit trial,
selecting a chocolate brown suit. He chose a Fador with
the brim turned down instead of his usual bowler, no
wonderwear as always, and his blue Buick was parked in
the driveway, driver at the ready. By seven thirty a m.
They had arrived at the Hotel Alms and parked at
the corner. It was rush hour and his stream of
(22:25):
pedestrians crowded around the hotel. The ladies in closeed hats
and the men in garish ties, all full of direction
and purpose. Cars swerved and hunked along Victory Parkway, model
tees and packers merging and accelerating. From the back seat
of the buick, Remus had a clear view of the entrance.
If he did nothing, he would be divorced within ninety minutes. Later,
(22:49):
Remus would say it was about that time when the
halo appeared above his head and shooting stars launched into
an orbit around him and his mind began speaking to
him in that odd language, the words forming a directive.
He had no choice but to obey. He spoke to his.
Speaker 7 (23:06):
Driver, when she comes out, you call her. I want
to talk to her. I want to talk to her
on the outside.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Suddenly, there she was, wearing a black silk dress and
matching turban. A small purse dangled from her forearm. Remus
clocked every movement of her swinging limbs, the way she
drew the sun spot light. Her daughter, Ruth, walked alongside her.
Tomorrow would be his stepdaughter's twentieth birthday, a maddeningly exact
(23:33):
replica of her mother in both appearance and temperament. Ruth, too,
wanted nothing to do with him. Remus's eyes shifted back
to Imageing, who was smiling and laughing. The halo sent
him a message that answers that. Before Remus's driver could
call out the Imageing, she and Ruth disappeared into a
(23:54):
taxi cab. Remas barked in.
Speaker 7 (23:56):
Order catch that car.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
His driver obliged, lunging and lurching, gaining speed. Is Emajeen's
taxi raced into Eden Park. Remus's car charged up to
the taxi's bumper. Through the CAB's rear window, Remus could
trace the outline of Imajean's head, the curve of her shoulder.
He imagined a revolver in her handbag, a bullet ready
for him. His halo intensified. The stars shot faster and brighter,
(24:27):
a fireworks display that only he could see. Remas was
almost on her now, both cars hurtling toward Mirror Lake.
With one last push, he passed her, taking in her
face as he blurred by. His driver swerved to a
stop five feet in front of the cab, making a
tea and trapping her. He watched his Imageing left from
(24:48):
the cab, graceful even in terror. Ruth followed, exiting from
the same door. Imageing frantically pushed her back inside, then
sprinted down the road toward the spring House gazebo. A
pink slip peeked out from beneath the hem of her dress.
Remus walked after her, his steps quickening, his halo blazing.
(25:09):
He could hear her breath coming in stunted gasps. She
was an arm's length away. He reached and caught her
by her lovely wrist. He held her tight as she
twisted and turned. From a distance, it might have looked
as if they were dancing. She spun back toward him
and stayed still, this time raising her face to his.
(25:29):
He reached into his jacket pocket. The smooth pearl handle
of Imagen's pistol felt cool against his palm.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Daddy, Dear, I love you, Daddy, dear, don't do it.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
But Remus heard the voice in his head speaking to.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Him, She who dances down the rim nose plow must
die from the Femis path.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Rema shoved the guns so deeply into a gut that
he barely heard the shot. A flock of birds launched
themselves from the trees and scattered overhead. She fell against
him and slid down, a thin stripe of blood on
his pants. Remus felt a yanking at his elbow. Turning halfway,
he saw Ruth, her face contorted as she screamed.
Speaker 7 (26:14):
Do you know what you were doing?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
As Ruth tried to hold Remas still, her mother rose
to her feet and began to run, Remus broke free
and started after her. From the side of his cab.
Immagean's cab driver saw her coming down the hill, a
ring of blood blooming across her abdomen. Remus followed it,
steps long and delivering his gate steady. His left hand
(26:38):
still gripped the gun. Immajean faced the oncoming traffic and
summoned the strength to scream.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
By God, somebody help.
Speaker 8 (26:47):
This man is killing me.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I'm shot, Help me, I'm shot.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Terrible that a long queue of cars had stopped, their
drivers watching in horror, but no one moved to help.
Imaging yanked in the door of an idling car, but
the driver refreed he used to unlock it. She tried
the next car. This time the driver flung his door
open and told her to get in. She had just
enough energy left to slump into the seat. Ruth slid
(27:16):
in beside her and propped her mother up, cupping her
under the shoulders.
Speaker 9 (27:21):
Drive straight ahead, take her to the hospital.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
The driver began speeding away. Ruth wrapped her arms around
her mother and sobbed into her shoulder. Remus looked down
at his hand and realized he was no longer holding
the gun. His driver was nowhere to be found. He
strolled past the gazeba where Imaging had fallen moments earlier,
followed the bend in the reservoir and found himself on
(27:46):
Martin Drive. The sidewalk was lined with flowers in their
final bloom and trees just beginning to brown. He quickened
his pace to a near jog, fearing crookedly along the path,
as though he were both in a hurry and helplessly lost.
The passing driver noticed Remus, assumed he was running lead
for something, and guided his car to the path.
Speaker 8 (28:08):
Can I give you a lift?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Remus hurried to the car.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
Yes, I got lost in the park.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
He settled into the back seat and said he'd like
to go to the Pennsylvania Depot.
Speaker 7 (28:20):
Beautiful morning. Thank you for the lift. What a beautiful
morning it is at.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
The Pennsylvania Depot. Remus thanked the man for the ride
and then went inside to call a cab. He told
the driver to take him to the Cincinnati Police Department's
Central Station, where he arrived at eight thirty am. Officer
Frank McNeil was on duty.
Speaker 7 (28:42):
I just shot my wife and I came to surrender.
My name is George Remas.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
Where did this occur?
Speaker 7 (28:51):
Somewhere on the driveway in Eden Park?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
What did you do with the gun?
Speaker 7 (28:56):
I lost that in the scuffle.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Remus began to pace walking to one end of the room,
pivoting on a heel and striding back. McNeil asked him
to stand still and answer questions, but Remus wouldn't stop walking.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
How many times did you shoot?
Speaker 7 (29:13):
I don't know. I think three times. The gun jammed
on me. So what became of her?
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Rema shrugged, tilted his head toward the ceiling, and smiled.
Speaker 7 (29:25):
This is the first piece I've had in two years
and a half.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
During the drive to the hospital, Ruth's mother grew heavier
in her arms. Emma Jean's dress was scorched where the
bullet had entered. Ruth tried not to look at the wound,
but she would never unsee all that blood rivulet streaming
down her mother's steal gray stockings, seeping into her patent
leather pumps. Ruth wanted her to speak, to say something, anything,
(29:55):
just a small promise that there remained enough of her
to save.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I know I'm dying, Oh mother, No, you are not. Yes,
I am. Isn't George terrible for doing this? I'm dying.
Speaker 9 (30:11):
Be a good girl.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
The forward carrying Imajeen stopped at a light on the
corner of Locust and Gilbert, where a police officer named
William Knight stood on traffic duty. He heard a scream
and saw a young woman leaning out her window, waving.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Him over my mother's shots.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Knight saw Imageing on the back seat's floorboard. Her chin
was on the seat and her legs were folded. She
was kneeling in a pool of her own blood.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Who shot you, George Greinus? Knight knew the name your
husband from Price Hill.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yes. Knight let himself into the car, sitting next to
the driver, who took off again. He rotated in his
seat and continued talking to Imagean, hoping to keep her alert.
They pulled into Bevezda Hospital. Knight checked his watch twenty am.
He lifted Imaging from the car, her bloody body imprinting
(31:10):
on his Ruth scrambled from her seat, dashed into the
hospital and returned with a wheelchair. On the way. Knight
studied Imaging's wound and saw the jagged hole in her dress,
singed by gunpowder. She had been shot at point blank range.
At the commotion, Imageing stirred and looked up at officer Knight.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Do you think I'm going to die?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
It was the last thing she ever said.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
On this date.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
November twenty fifth, nineteen twenty seven, this session of the
Criminal Division of Common Please Court in Hamilton County will
come to order.
Speaker 8 (31:59):
I call Ruth Remus to the stand. Had your father
made any threats against your mother.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
In the past two years? Continually he said he would
follow her to the ends of the earth and see
that she didn't have a dime or thread of reputation left.
Speaker 8 (32:23):
When you got up on the morning of the divorce hearing,
was it your plan to go to the courthouse? Yes, sir,
did you see Remus in his car?
Speaker 9 (32:34):
Just as we approached the bridge, Mother said, there is Remus.
Her first instinct was pleasure. She was pleased to see him.
Her eyes sparkled. I think her impression was that he
was coming to try to make up.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Next time. On the finale of Remus the Mad Bootleg King.
Speaker 7 (33:01):
This decomposed mass of Clay and her pimp broke up
my home and now have gone from George Remis the
Millionaire to George Remis the murderer.
Speaker 8 (33:13):
Call the Jerry. The claim of the defense is that
the defendant was insane at the time the crime was committed.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Remus the Mad Bootleg King is a co production of
iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans. It's hosted by me Abbot, Kaylor,
Chuck Reese and I wrote the show. Our producer is
Miranda Hawkins. Our senior producer is Jessica Metzker. Executive producers
are Virginia Prescott, Brandon barr Els Crowley, and Jason English.
Sound design and mixed by Chris Childs. Elise McCoy composed
(33:44):
original music. Additional scoring by Chris Childs. Voices in this
episode provided by Ben Bolan, Lauren Vovobaum, Julia, Chris Gall,
Noel Brown, Matt Frederick, James Morrison, Miranda Hawkins, Nate Beegle,
Mike Coscarelli, Judah Andrews, Zubin Hensler, Charles Edwards, Brittany Wilkerson,
Tiago Mack Glynn, Cleek Cooper, and Jeremy Thall. Casting support
(34:09):
services provided by Breakdown Services. Special thanks to John Higgins
from Curiosity Stream and the team at CDM Studios in
New York. If you're a fan of the podcast, please
give it a review in your podcast app. You can
also check out other Curiosity podcasts to learn about history,
pop culture, true crime, and more.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
School of Humans,
There's violence against women in this episode.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Please take care where and when you listen.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
As strange as this story may seem, this is a
work of nonfiction with no invented dialogue. Every reenactment you
hear comes from government files, archives, diaries, letters, newspaper articles, books,
or trial testimony. When George Connor sees the pearl handled
(00:41):
pistol in Imagen Remas's hand, he knows negotiations have broken down.
For weeks. Connors had worked with his boss, George Remis
to fashion a divorce settlement that Emagen would accept. But
tonight she walks into the Cincinnati mansion unannounced and deeply aggrieved,
and then she draws a gun.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I will settle this myself.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Connor's moves like lightning, rustling pistol and the handbag she
had brought it in from Imagean's hand. He replaces the
pistol back in her purse and lays it on the
fireplace mantle. He gently grabs her shoulder and guides her
away from Remus and into the library. He closes the
door and faces her, waiting for her to speak alone
(01:24):
with Connor's imagine immediately grows hysterical. The expression on her
face flashing from fury to gloom.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
That man cannot treat me that way. He has abused me.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
He's been cruel.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And selfish without any justification. George has ruined my reputation.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
She keeps ranting. Connors decides to stay quiet and let
her finish.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Then he speaks, are you finished? Look, if you would
be reasonable and wanted a divorce, you could get it.
You could get a much better settlement working directly with
George instead of fooling around with your own lawyers and
that boyfriend of yours.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Franklin dodge Imageen grimaces and glares at Connor's He is incensed,
but doesn't say another word, just turns to leave the room.
As she's walking toward the front door, Connors pushes past
her toward the mantle. Quickly before she can see him,
he slips the revolver out of her purse and into
his pocket. For now, at least, the pearl handled pistol
(02:22):
belongs to Remus. I'm abbot Kaylor and this is Remus,
the mad bootleg King. In nineteen thirty four, Fiarela LaGuardia
(02:46):
of Airport fame, would become one of New York City's
most legendary mayors, but during Prohibition he was a US
Congressman Representative. LaGuardia hated Prohibition. His constituents were the immigrant
communities of Lower Manhattan. He'd seen prohibitions steal their livelihoods,
He'd seen the violent that came with the illegal liquor trade,
(03:07):
and he would soon get the chance to tell the
entire House of Representatives how he felt about it. Mcguardia
had watched the prosecution of George Reamas closely, and he
believed that the Justice Department was sweeping its own corruption
under the rug. And the worst examples of that corruption,
in his eyes were the disgraced prohibition agent Franklin Dodge
and his former boss, Assistant Attorney General Mabel Willembrandt. Dodge
(03:31):
was running around breaking laws with Immagen Remus, and willem
Brandt was praying on the people that LaGuardia represented. The
congressman had had enough. Mcguardia stood as tall as his
five foot two frame would allow, and held a sheaf
of paperwork aloft like a weapon. Those papers had been
given to him privately by George Connors, and all of
them recounted the misadventures of Franklin Dodge.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
Mister Chairman and gentleman, I do not desire at this
time to start a debate on prohibition. Instead, I have
some facts which tend to show a disgraceful disregard for
the law on the part of officials who are or
were responsible for its enforcement. When a prominent investigator in
(04:18):
the Department of Justice leaves the United States government in
order to go into the bootlegging business, it is about
time Congress takes notice. In the early part of nineteen
twenty two, George Remas and others were tried and convicted
on violations of the Volstead Act. The case was worked
(04:40):
up by a Department of Justice agent, one Franklin L. Dodge,
who took pride in making himself known as the Ace
of the Department of Justice.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Mcguardia spent the next twenty minutes alleging a different conspiracy,
not by Remus and his associates, but by the Department
of Justice. Mcguardia explained that after Remus was sent to
the Atlanta Penitentiary, Dodge investigated corruption in the prison.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
And while he was there, Franklin Dodge became very friendly
with the wife of the prisoner Remus, and their conduct
in the Warden's office is too obscene to relate at
this time.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
To drive home the point, Laguardier wrote a letter written
by John Marshall, the prosecutor who had handled the Jack
Daniels case. It was addressed to Marshall's boss at the
Justice Department, Mabel Willebrand.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
When we have a situation where a government agent works
up a case and puts his man in jail, and
while that man is in jail, he acquires the very
same property for which this man was sent to jail,
and succeeds in having the Department of Justice prosecute this
man and hold him while cases against others are dismissed.
(05:57):
I think it is an outrageous condition, and I think
some action should be taken.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Mabel will and Brand found herself in a dilemma. She
was a wash in documents recounting Dodge's misdeeds, but she
knew she could never act on them. Prosecuting Dodge or
even publicly condemning his behavior, would highlight her own core
judgment in trusting him, a mistake for which she, as
a woman especially, might not be forgiven. Laguardier repeatedly harassful
(06:25):
in Brent's office, demanding Dodge's file. She refused. Meanwhile, Jagger
Hoover launched a new investigation into Dodge, uncovering a variety
of unscrupulous and possibly illegal behavior. In his report to Willembrandt,
Hoover included evidence that Dodge had handled and sold whiskey
certificates in Cleveland six months before he resigned his position,
(06:46):
and with his report, Hoover enclosed a personal.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
Note, needless to say, I'm astounded that some of the
statements attributed to Doutge allegations made in the attached to
EFFI Davids, would indicate that Dodge has violated certain federal statutes.
I would appreciate receiving your instructions as to the action
you think should be taken.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Will and Brandt was direct in her response, I do
not think there is anything here on which action can
be taken or future investigation based.
Speaker 6 (07:13):
Sale of whiskey certificates is accepted from the National Prohibition Act.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
It is not unlawful, and I see nothing else in
this report on which we could base prosecution.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
As if to validate her decision, she squwt a note
to herself on Hoover's memo, there is nothing else, Hoover
disagreed had pledged a target corrupt agents, regardless of their
connections to powerful government officials. Even though Dodge was no
longer with the Bureau, the director would continue the investigation
on his own. Three months later, the U. S. Supreme
(07:47):
Court refused to hear Reims's final appeal, his last hope
to avoid a jail sentence for the Death Valley nuisance conviction.
On July first, reem Was was driven to the Miami County
Jail in Troy, Ohio. The warden led him to sell thirteen,
where a guard handed him a blanket, a pillowe, a sheet,
a towel, and a tin cup. For the next year,
(08:09):
he would own nothing else. From the first day, Remus's
health began to deteriorate. His cell measured four by eight feet,
lit only by a sliver of glass etched along the roof,
just enough to glimpse what he called the heavenly bodies above.
Connors visited him as many as five times a week,
and he feared for his friend's life. He assessed Remus's
(08:32):
sallow skin, the way his one stout frame now seemed
lost in his clothes. Reemas declined every meal slid under
his cell door. He couldn't stand a sight or scent
of food. As the weeks rolled by, Remus became more
strange from reality. He became aware of a bizarre apparition.
It wasn't like his brainstorms, which consisted of voices inside
(08:56):
his head. This time, he said he could see the apparition.
He called it a halo. It hovered brightly just above
his head, vanishing and appearing at whim. This halo felt
like electrical stars aligning in his mind, resting control, directing
and guiding him in the outside world. He claimed that
(09:16):
the halo spoke in a language only he understood, and
impelled him to do things. Back in Cincinnati, Remus's longtime watchman,
William Muller, closely monitored the mansion. He recorded everything and
everyone who came and went, including Imaging. She often brought
(09:39):
a man Mulla recognized, Franklin Dodge. One afternoon, he watched
Imogen and Dodge carry every last plant from the home,
reducing the lush, exotic atrium to a few stray twigs
and leaves. They loaded the plants into Imaging's silver roadster, which,
in homage to her husband, once had the initials g
R imprinted on each door. Muller approached the car for
(10:04):
a close her look. The original monogram had been removed
and replaced with the initials FD in bright gilded lettering.
Maller often spied Dodge staring down the driveway, where the
two stone lions Remas had installed still stood proud. After
the couple stole the plants, they set about stripping the
house room by room, hiteem by aum. Muller wrote down
(10:27):
every piece as it passed with the front door, and
was loaded into a caravan of trucks. When Imogen and
Dodge finished their work, even the lions were gone. When
Remus was finally released from jail, he wanted only one
thing for Connors had taken him home to the mansion
so he could sleep in his own bed. As they
(10:49):
pulled into the driveway, Rema saw that the house was
completely dark and every door padlocked. He finally throw a
brick through a window and scrambled inside. The house was bare.
The only things left inside were a bed and a
pair of Franklin Dodge's shoes. He staggered toward the indoor pool.
(11:13):
If he closed his eyes, he could conjure the memory
of New Year's Eve nineteen twenty one, when he and
Imaging hosted revelers from across the country to celebrate the
new year and unveil the Imaging baths. The two lovers
had plundered it completely, the Grecian statues, the silver sconces,
the priceless urns gone. All that remained was the water,
(11:35):
and he stood over it now his rippled reflection, gazing back,
broadcasting his horror, he shouted maniacally at Connor's.
Speaker 7 (11:44):
Well, she left the water. I think I'll hop in
and take a swim.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
In that moment, it was the funniest sentence he'd ever heard.
His laugh started low in his gut and hit the
air as a shriek, sliding up the scales and back
down again, Deepening into a sob. He fell to his knees,
tears dropping through his fingers, and lost all sun of himself.
Remus would have several more breakdowns about the plundering of
(12:10):
his home, witnessed by many different people. Some would begin
to question whether Remas was legitimately crazy, or if the
brilliant bootlegger knew exactly what he was doing. Remas's home
was now nothing more than his skeleton, and George Connors
knew he could not let his friends stay there. It
took all of Connor's strength to pull Remis under his
(12:32):
feet and walk him to the car. As Connors drove,
Remus screamed and raved his neck, beans and gorged, and
his pupils, sliding out of sight. Eventually, Remas's brainstorm passed
and Connor's guided him to his bed. The next morning,
Connor's told Remis he could stay for as long as necessary.
He tried to reanimate Remis and help him focus on
(12:53):
the tasks at hand as the divorce trial approached, but
every night Remus would appear at Connor's bedroom door, mumbling
about Immogen and Dodge.
Speaker 7 (13:03):
I see them right before me all the time.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Every memory of Imaging became a ghost, and Connors knew
well how terrified Remus was of ghosts. Remus hired private
detectives and gave them two tasks, find his money and
trail his wife and Dodge from city to city. If
the detectives encountered them, they were to call rooms at
once so that he could catch them together personally. One
(13:30):
detective reported seeing Dodge and Imaging at the Roosevelt hotel
in New York City with a briefcase full of whiskey certificates.
Remus boarded the next train east, only to be told
upon arrival that the couple had just checked out. Another
advised remis to hustle to Canada. The couple had been
spotted over the border with one hundred thousand dollars worth
(13:51):
of his securities. This time, Remus missed them by a
half hour. He chased them the Washington, Detroit, Saint Louis, Atlanta,
and Chicago, but they were always one step ahead of him,
robbing him of the chance to either gather at vidence or,
in Remus's words, crack a skull. Remus, seethed with frustration,
(14:11):
invented it to Connors, if.
Speaker 7 (14:13):
I ever meet Dodge, it'll be goodbye Dodge.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Drama. Aside, tracking imaging was a pointless exercise because she
always turned up at her lawyer's office for divorce negotiations.
She would sit across the table from Remus, a smug
and wretched smile on her face, intensifying his fury. Their
divorce hearings stretched over the summer and became progressively more absurd.
(14:38):
Every week seemed to bring a new suit or countersuit
or accusation of contempt. During one deposition, Remas lifted Imagen's
lawyer from his seat and attempted to hurl him out
the window. Following that outburst, Remas's own lawyers quit, and
he announced that from now on he would be representing himself.
(14:58):
At the end of August nineteen twenty seven, Remus received
a call from a Bureau of Investigation agent named Tom Wilcox.
To Remus's delight, Wilcox explained that he was investigating Dodge
per the orders of Director j Edgar Hoover. Wilcox believed
Dodge should be arrested and indicted for violating the National
Prohibition Act. He wired his conclusions to Hoover, but again
(15:23):
Will and Brant refused to take action.
Speaker 6 (15:25):
I know he is guilty of inexcusable conduct and transactions
of a questionable nature, but his actions do not warrant
criminal prosecution.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Before hanging up, Wilcox shared one last piece of news.
There was a new plot of foot set in motion
by Imaging and Dodge to murder Remis before the divorce trial.
Remus immediately summoned Connors to the mansion.
Speaker 7 (15:50):
My god, she surely is desperate, trying to kill me
before the divorce case even takes place. You and I
have got to watch ourselves, because sooner or later they
are bound to get us.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Connors watched as Remus raved and tore around, pacing and
rubbing his head and throwing his hands from side to side. Suddenly,
he stood still again and turned to Connors.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
They will never take me if I see them first.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Remus went straight to the butler's pantry, where he'd kept
Imageen's pearl handled revolver since the night Connors filched it
from her purse. From that day forward, Remus carried the
gun with him at all times. Harry Trusdale, a young
(16:37):
man with receding hair and a thick build, had developed
a certain reputation in the underworld. He was someone who
could do the dirty work, the dirtiest work, in fact,
contract killing. In August nineteen twenty seven, Trusdale got a
tip about a job and drove to a dog track
in Springdale, Ohio. In the grandstand, he felt a tap
(16:57):
on his shoulder and turned to face a stranger whose
smile revealed a mouthful of gold teeth. The strange leaned
over and spoke quietly.
Speaker 8 (17:07):
Now, I know how you could make ten thousand dollars
if you would kill a man, you could get that
much money.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I'm interested.
Speaker 8 (17:17):
I'll make the necessary introductions.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Four days later, Trusdale found himself outside of imaging Remis's
sweep at Cincinnati's hotel Alms. Imageing answered his knock and
appraised Truesdale slowly from his flat cap to his Oxfords.
She curtly stated her business. She wanted him to kill
George Remas. Trusdale would receive half of the fee from
(17:41):
her and half from someone else.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Who is this other party, Franklin Dodge. I feel very
better toward daddy. I mean my husband. I just wish
someone would beat his brains out.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
She handed him two hundred and fifty dollars for expenses.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
You'll get the rest when you bump off my husband.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Truesdale began tailing Remiss, learning his schedule and habits. The
hitman perched himself in a chair near the elevator bank
in the Sittin Hotel, a spot with a clear view
of Remus's suite. Once, when Remus left his door open
a crack, Trusdale considered slipping into the suite and killing
Remus on the spot. He watched Remas for two straight weeks,
(18:26):
then visited Imagen at the Hotel Alms. When he arrived,
he found her busy packing a suitcase.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I'm going away. I'm going to Michigan.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
She told Trusdale the time for waiting and watching was over.
He needed to kill Remus right away before the divorce
trial started. She told him to call the Hotel Alms
regularly to check in with her. The next day was
October fourth, two days before the trial would begin. Truesdale
drove thirty miles north to Hamilton, Ohio, where he knew
(18:56):
Remus had some business. He watched Remas get into a
limousine and head to the Grand Hotel, a well known
haunt for bootleggers. He called Imojeen. She told him she
would meet him outside the Grand Hotel at midnight sharp,
at the appointed hour. As Truesdale walked toward Immojean, he
noticed a man across the street, tall and broad and
(19:19):
backlit by the moon.
Speaker 7 (19:21):
Is that man with you? He is?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That's Franklin Dodge. It's the same man who's going to
give you five thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Imajean and Trusdale entered the Grand Hotel to scan the register,
checking for Remus's name or a name written in his handwriting.
They found neither, so they decided to wait outside, hopefully
they would catch him coming or going. Within a moment,
a car filled with men pulled up next to Dodge.
Imagein excused herself, walked over and poked her head into
(19:49):
the car. When she returned to Truesdale, she was carrying
a pistol. Trusdale had a sudden and disturbing thought. Imaging
never intended to pay him. She had never mentioned any
associates besides Franklin Dodge, and yet there was a car
full of men across the street who were aware of
their plans. In fact, at this point, it was fair
(20:12):
to assume that Imagen was planning to double cross him,
either killing him to insure his silence or turning him
into the police anonymously as a hired gun. He had
failed to execute the plan on her schedule. He knew
too much and had done too little. As they talked,
Trusdeale watched her play with the gun in her lap,
(20:33):
turning it over, running a finger along the barrel. He
felt a hot stab of fear.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
If I see him now, I will kill him myself.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
They sat and waited, but Remus never appeared. Imaging decided
to return to Cincinnati with Dodge. She told Trusdale to
stay behind and keep watch. When Dodge's tail lights faded
into the distance, Trusdale drove back to Cincinnati with an
entirely different plan. The next afternoon, one day before the
(21:04):
divorce trial, Remus heard a knock on the door of
a suite at the Senten Hotel and found the young
man at the door. He introduced himself as Harry Trusdale
and said it was imperative that they talk. He was
there with a warning his wife wanted him dead. Truesdale
filled Remus in on all the details. When he finished,
(21:24):
Remus jumped from his chair and began raving. He ran
across the room like he was going to jump out
of the window. Trusdale didn't know which Remus was more dangerous,
George or Imaging. A few hours after Harry Trusdell left,
Remus called his driver for a ride back to the
Price Hill mansion. Remus was quiet until they pulled up
(21:46):
into the driveway, then he gave the driver an order.
Speaker 7 (21:51):
Be here in the morning about seven o'clock. It will
take me to the Hotel Alms. I want to see
my wife before the trial starts. I want to talk
things over with her.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
In the morning, Remus dressed himself for the bit trial,
selecting a chocolate brown suit. He chose a Fador with
the brim turned down instead of his usual bowler, no
wonderwear as always, and his blue Buick was parked in
the driveway, driver at the ready. By seven thirty a m.
They had arrived at the Hotel Alms and parked at
the corner. It was rush hour and his stream of
(22:25):
pedestrians crowded around the hotel. The ladies in closeed hats
and the men in garish ties, all full of direction
and purpose. Cars swerved and hunked along Victory Parkway, model
tees and packers merging and accelerating. From the back seat
of the buick, Remus had a clear view of the entrance.
If he did nothing, he would be divorced within ninety minutes. Later,
(22:49):
Remus would say it was about that time when the
halo appeared above his head and shooting stars launched into
an orbit around him and his mind began speaking to
him in that odd language, the words forming a directive.
He had no choice but to obey. He spoke to his.
Speaker 7 (23:06):
Driver, when she comes out, you call her. I want
to talk to her. I want to talk to her
on the outside.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Suddenly, there she was, wearing a black silk dress and
matching turban. A small purse dangled from her forearm. Remus
clocked every movement of her swinging limbs, the way she
drew the sun spot light. Her daughter, Ruth, walked alongside her.
Tomorrow would be his stepdaughter's twentieth birthday, a maddeningly exact
(23:33):
replica of her mother in both appearance and temperament. Ruth, too,
wanted nothing to do with him. Remus's eyes shifted back
to Imageing, who was smiling and laughing. The halo sent
him a message that answers that. Before Remus's driver could
call out the Imageing, she and Ruth disappeared into a
(23:54):
taxi cab. Remas barked in.
Speaker 7 (23:56):
Order catch that car.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
His driver obliged, lunging and lurching, gaining speed. Is Emajeen's
taxi raced into Eden Park. Remus's car charged up to
the taxi's bumper. Through the CAB's rear window, Remus could
trace the outline of Imajean's head, the curve of her shoulder.
He imagined a revolver in her handbag, a bullet ready
for him. His halo intensified. The stars shot faster and brighter,
(24:27):
a fireworks display that only he could see. Remas was
almost on her now, both cars hurtling toward Mirror Lake.
With one last push, he passed her, taking in her
face as he blurred by. His driver swerved to a
stop five feet in front of the cab, making a
tea and trapping her. He watched his Imageing left from
(24:48):
the cab, graceful even in terror. Ruth followed, exiting from
the same door. Imageing frantically pushed her back inside, then
sprinted down the road toward the spring House gazebo. A
pink slip peeked out from beneath the hem of her dress.
Remus walked after her, his steps quickening, his halo blazing.
(25:09):
He could hear her breath coming in stunted gasps. She
was an arm's length away. He reached and caught her
by her lovely wrist. He held her tight as she
twisted and turned. From a distance, it might have looked
as if they were dancing. She spun back toward him
and stayed still, this time raising her face to his.
(25:29):
He reached into his jacket pocket. The smooth pearl handle
of Imagen's pistol felt cool against his palm.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Daddy, Dear, I love you, Daddy, dear, don't do it.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
But Remus heard the voice in his head speaking to.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Him, She who dances down the rim nose plow must
die from the Femis path.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Rema shoved the guns so deeply into a gut that
he barely heard the shot. A flock of birds launched
themselves from the trees and scattered overhead. She fell against
him and slid down, a thin stripe of blood on
his pants. Remus felt a yanking at his elbow. Turning halfway,
he saw Ruth, her face contorted as she screamed.
Speaker 7 (26:14):
Do you know what you were doing?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
As Ruth tried to hold Remas still, her mother rose
to her feet and began to run, Remus broke free
and started after her. From the side of his cab.
Immagean's cab driver saw her coming down the hill, a
ring of blood blooming across her abdomen. Remus followed it,
steps long and delivering his gate steady. His left hand
(26:38):
still gripped the gun. Immajean faced the oncoming traffic and
summoned the strength to scream.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
By God, somebody help.
Speaker 8 (26:47):
This man is killing me.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I'm shot, Help me, I'm shot.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Terrible that a long queue of cars had stopped, their
drivers watching in horror, but no one moved to help.
Imaging yanked in the door of an idling car, but
the driver refreed he used to unlock it. She tried
the next car. This time the driver flung his door
open and told her to get in. She had just
enough energy left to slump into the seat. Ruth slid
(27:16):
in beside her and propped her mother up, cupping her
under the shoulders.
Speaker 9 (27:21):
Drive straight ahead, take her to the hospital.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
The driver began speeding away. Ruth wrapped her arms around
her mother and sobbed into her shoulder. Remus looked down
at his hand and realized he was no longer holding
the gun. His driver was nowhere to be found. He
strolled past the gazeba where Imaging had fallen moments earlier,
followed the bend in the reservoir and found himself on
(27:46):
Martin Drive. The sidewalk was lined with flowers in their
final bloom and trees just beginning to brown. He quickened
his pace to a near jog, fearing crookedly along the path,
as though he were both in a hurry and helplessly lost.
The passing driver noticed Remus, assumed he was running lead
for something, and guided his car to the path.
Speaker 8 (28:08):
Can I give you a lift?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Remus hurried to the car.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
Yes, I got lost in the park.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
He settled into the back seat and said he'd like
to go to the Pennsylvania Depot.
Speaker 7 (28:20):
Beautiful morning. Thank you for the lift. What a beautiful
morning it is at.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
The Pennsylvania Depot. Remus thanked the man for the ride
and then went inside to call a cab. He told
the driver to take him to the Cincinnati Police Department's
Central Station, where he arrived at eight thirty am. Officer
Frank McNeil was on duty.
Speaker 7 (28:42):
I just shot my wife and I came to surrender.
My name is George Remas.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
Where did this occur?
Speaker 7 (28:51):
Somewhere on the driveway in Eden Park?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
What did you do with the gun?
Speaker 7 (28:56):
I lost that in the scuffle.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Remus began to pace walking to one end of the room,
pivoting on a heel and striding back. McNeil asked him
to stand still and answer questions, but Remus wouldn't stop walking.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
How many times did you shoot?
Speaker 7 (29:13):
I don't know. I think three times. The gun jammed
on me. So what became of her?
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Rema shrugged, tilted his head toward the ceiling, and smiled.
Speaker 7 (29:25):
This is the first piece I've had in two years
and a half.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
During the drive to the hospital, Ruth's mother grew heavier
in her arms. Emma Jean's dress was scorched where the
bullet had entered. Ruth tried not to look at the wound,
but she would never unsee all that blood rivulet streaming
down her mother's steal gray stockings, seeping into her patent
leather pumps. Ruth wanted her to speak, to say something, anything,
(29:55):
just a small promise that there remained enough of her
to save.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I know I'm dying, Oh mother, No, you are not. Yes,
I am. Isn't George terrible for doing this? I'm dying.
Speaker 9 (30:11):
Be a good girl.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
The forward carrying Imajeen stopped at a light on the
corner of Locust and Gilbert, where a police officer named
William Knight stood on traffic duty. He heard a scream
and saw a young woman leaning out her window, waving.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Him over my mother's shots.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Knight saw Imageing on the back seat's floorboard. Her chin
was on the seat and her legs were folded. She
was kneeling in a pool of her own blood.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Who shot you, George Greinus? Knight knew the name your
husband from Price Hill.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yes. Knight let himself into the car, sitting next to
the driver, who took off again. He rotated in his
seat and continued talking to Imagean, hoping to keep her alert.
They pulled into Bevezda Hospital. Knight checked his watch twenty am.
He lifted Imaging from the car, her bloody body imprinting
(31:10):
on his Ruth scrambled from her seat, dashed into the
hospital and returned with a wheelchair. On the way. Knight
studied Imaging's wound and saw the jagged hole in her dress,
singed by gunpowder. She had been shot at point blank range.
At the commotion, Imageing stirred and looked up at officer Knight.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Do you think I'm going to die?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
It was the last thing she ever said.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
On this date.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
November twenty fifth, nineteen twenty seven, this session of the
Criminal Division of Common Please Court in Hamilton County will
come to order.
Speaker 8 (31:59):
I call Ruth Remus to the stand. Had your father
made any threats against your mother.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
In the past two years? Continually he said he would
follow her to the ends of the earth and see
that she didn't have a dime or thread of reputation left.
Speaker 8 (32:23):
When you got up on the morning of the divorce hearing,
was it your plan to go to the courthouse? Yes, sir,
did you see Remus in his car?
Speaker 9 (32:34):
Just as we approached the bridge, Mother said, there is Remus.
Her first instinct was pleasure. She was pleased to see him.
Her eyes sparkled. I think her impression was that he
was coming to try to make up.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Next time. On the finale of Remus the Mad Bootleg King.
Speaker 7 (33:01):
This decomposed mass of Clay and her pimp broke up
my home and now have gone from George Remis the
Millionaire to George Remis the murderer.
Speaker 8 (33:13):
Call the Jerry. The claim of the defense is that
the defendant was insane at the time the crime was committed.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Remus the Mad Bootleg King is a co production of
iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans. It's hosted by me Abbot, Kaylor,
Chuck Reese and I wrote the show. Our producer is
Miranda Hawkins. Our senior producer is Jessica Metzker. Executive producers
are Virginia Prescott, Brandon barr Els Crowley, and Jason English.
Sound design and mixed by Chris Childs. Elise McCoy composed
(33:44):
original music. Additional scoring by Chris Childs. Voices in this
episode provided by Ben Bolan, Lauren Vovobaum, Julia, Chris Gall,
Noel Brown, Matt Frederick, James Morrison, Miranda Hawkins, Nate Beegle,
Mike Coscarelli, Judah Andrews, Zubin Hensler, Charles Edwards, Brittany Wilkerson,
Tiago Mack Glynn, Cleek Cooper, and Jeremy Thall. Casting support
(34:09):
services provided by Breakdown Services. Special thanks to John Higgins
from Curiosity Stream and the team at CDM Studios in
New York. If you're a fan of the podcast, please
give it a review in your podcast app. You can
also check out other Curiosity podcasts to learn about history,
pop culture, true crime, and more.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
School of Humans,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.