Isaac Finkelstein had been on a one-man crusade for years, trying to shut down Des Moines’ gambling parlors. Not so much on moral grounds, but because the city wasn’t getting a cut of the take. Eight gambling dens ran wide open, and the city wasn’t making any money from them. Finkelstein had a problem with that, and better yet, he had a plan to change it.
He
tipped off the police about three gambling joints. That single complaint led to
fifty-one arrests, the seizure of $900 in cash, and the destruction of $2,000
worth of gambling equipment. Not bad for a night’s work.
As
expected, Finkelstein made a few enemies, so it wasn’t a big surprise when he
turned up dead in an alley on the evening of August 5, 1902.
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