On
9th June, 1930, Alfred Liddle, a crime reporter working for the Chicago
Tribune, was walking down Randolph Street, in Chicago,
on the way to catch a train to the racetrack. A well-dressed man moved
up behind him and calmly took out a revolver shot him in the head.
Liddle died immediately and at first it was assumed that it was an
attempt to stop the city's newspapers from investigating well-known
crime figures.
Newspaper owners got together and offered $55,000 to anyone who provided
information that led to the arrest and conviction of the killer. However,
when fellow journalists began to investigate the case, they discovered
that although Liddle was only earning $65 a week, he lived the life
of an extremely wealthy man. Further research revealled that the reason
for this was that he had an annual income of $150,000. Journalists
were unable to discover who was paying him this money, but it was
possible to trace several expensive gifts back to gang bosses such
as Al Capone.
The police eventually arrested Leo Brothers for the murder. Although
Brothers had no money of his own, someone paid for him to be defended
by a team of five of the most expensive lawyers in Chicago. During
the trial Brothers refused to say why he killed Liddle. Brothers was
convicted but surprisingly received only a short sentence of fourteen
years.
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