About Portland's Pinball Racketeers & The FBI's Most Wanted
Presented by Finn John, historian & author
If you were a fan of the classic ABC television sitcom “Happy
Days,” you know The Fonz had a special relationship with two particular
machines: His trusty ’49 Triumph motorcycle, and the pinball machine in Al’s
diner. But it may surprise you to know that when Fonzie was playing that
pinball machine, in 1950s Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was breaking the law — and
so was Al, by having the machine in his restaurant.
Though it is a bit hard for younger Oregonians to believe, just a
few dozen years ago pinball was illegal in most large American cities —
including Portland. And that meant supplying pinball machines to restaurants
like Al's Diner was a job for organized-crime outlaws ... like the Pinball
Racketeers.
In this presentation, we'll explore Portland's Pinball Wars, then
touch on a few other especially interesting stories of post-WWII criminal
activity -- including the FBI's successful quest to lay hands on a
mild-mannered drywall contractor who turned out to be hiding a shocking secret,
and a former small-town police chief turned murderer.
About the Speaker:
Finn J.D. John is the author of the weekly “Offbeat Oregon
History” syndicated newspaper column, published in several dozen community
newspapers since 2008. A Corvallis resident, he teaches New Media
Communications at Oregon State University and is the Principal Creative at
Pulp-Lit Productions, a publishing house specializing in book and audiobook
collections of classic pre-war pulp-fiction stories.