{{Short description|20th-century American journalist; reporter for the Chicago Tribune (1891-1930)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Jake Lingle | image = Jake_Lingle.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Screenshot from ''The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults'' (1986) | birth_name = Alfred Lingle | birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|07|02}} | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, United States | death_date = {{Death date and age|1930|06|09|1891|07|02}} | death_place = Chicago, Illinois, United States | death_cause = Gunshot to back of head | body_discovered = Found June 9, 1930 in a Chicago train station | resting_place = Mount Carmel Cemetery | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = John Calhoun North Elementary (8th grade) | alma_mater = | occupation = Journalist, crime reporter | years_active = 1912–1930 | employer = Chicago Tribune | known_for = Working with Al Capone | opponents = Leo Vincent Brothers | spouse = Helen Sullivan | partner = | children = 2 | parents = }} '''Alfred''' "'''Jake'''" '''Lingle''' (July 2, 1891 – June 9, 1930) was an American reporter for the ''Chicago Tribune''. He was shot dead gangland-style in the underpass leading to the Illinois Central Randolph Street station on the afternoon on June 9, 1930, as dozens of people watched.<ref name=nydailynews>{{cite web|last=Krajicek|first=David|title=Corrupt Chicago Tribune newsman Jake Lingle gunned down by Mafia thug|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/justice-story/corrupt-chicago-tribune-reporter-meets-bloody-article-1.1367171|newspaper=New York Daily News |date=2013-06-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615015002/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/justice-story/corrupt-chicago-tribune-reporter-meets-bloody-article-1.1367171 |archive-date=2013-06-15 |url-status=dead |accessdate=2024-06-25}}</ref><ref name=chicagotribune>{{cite web|last=O'Brien |first=John |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-chicagodays-jakelingle-story,0,3962612.story |title=The shooting of Jake Lingle |publisher=chicagotribune.com |date=1930-06-09 |accessdate=2014-04-15}}</ref> The man convicted of the murder was Leo Vincent Brothers.
Lingle was initially lionized as a martyred journalist, but it was eventually revealed that he was involved in racketeering with the Capone organization and that his death had more to do with his own criminal activities than his journalism.<ref name=nydailynews /><ref name=Time>{{cite magazine|title=Martyr Into Racketeer|magazine=Time|date=July 7, 1930|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,846858,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328064849/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,846858,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 28, 2008}}</ref>
==Early life== {{more citations needed section|date=May 2014}} Jake Lingle was born on July 2, 1891, and raised on the West Side of Chicago. When he was eight years old, his parents converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism.<ref name=novels>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-46L-yswV8C&q=%22Jake+Lingle%22+Catholic |title=Characters and Plots in the Novels of Horace McCoy|author=Robert L Gale|isbn=9781477259719|date=2013-01-21|publisher=Author House }}</ref> He received an education up to the eighth grade at John Calhoun North Elementary. His longtime friend, William F. Russell, later became the police commissioner in Chicago.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/chicagotribuneri00wend/page/530/mode/1up |title=Chicago Tribune: The Rise of a Great American Newspaper |first=Lloyd |last=Wendt |author-link=Lloyd Wendt |publisher=Rand McNally |isbn=0528818260 |page=530 |date=1979 |access-date=2024-06-25 |via=Internet Archive |url-access=registration}}</ref> Before becoming an office boy for the ''Chicago Tribune'', Lingle played semi-professional baseball and worked for a surgical supply company.
==Career== Jake Lingle began his career in journalism in 1912.<ref name=novels /> Lingle was known for his work as a legman covering gang-related crime stories. He reported from the scene by telephone to a writer at the ''Chicago Tribune'' office and then that person would write up his story. During this period, Lingle made connections outside journalism, and while he earned $65 ($1,065 in 2021 money) a week reporting, he had more than $60,000 ($982,875 in 2021 money) in the bank.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/crystalro/true-crime-jake-lingle-murder|title=True Crime History: The Strange Murder Of Corrupt Journalist Jake Lingle|first=Crystal|last=Ro|website=BuzzFeed|date=June 11, 2021}}</ref>
==Death== [[File:Grave of Jake Lingle (1891–1930) at Mount Carmel Cemetery, Hillside, IL.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Lingle's grave at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois]]
In Chicago, on the afternoon of June 9, 1930, Lingle left the Sherman House Hotel, where he had conversed with some power brokers, to catch the 1:30 pm train to a racetrack in Homewood where he gambled on horses. On his way through the Randolph Street Terminal, he was followed by two men. One of them, described as thin, with blonde hair, and blue eyes, raised his .38 caliber pistol and shot Lingle once directly in the back of the head, killing him.<ref name=nydailynews />
===Investigation=== To find the killer quickly, the ''Chicago Tribune'' told readers the newspaper would give them a $25,000 reward if they had information that led them to the killer. Other local newspaper companies said they would throw in an extra $30,000. ($55,000 = $900,969 in 2021 money.)
In January 1931, the police received a tip and arrested a man by the name of Leo Vincent Brothers from St. Louis, Missouri. Many people swore that he was Lingle's killer. Others, including Brothers himself, denied his involvement. Convicted, Brothers was given the minimum sentence for murder of 14 years, and he served 8 years of the sentence.<ref name=nydailynews2>{{cite web|last=Krajicek|first=David|title=Corrupt Chicago Tribune newsman Jake Lingle gunned down by Mafia thug|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/justice-story/corrupt-chicago-tribune-reporter-meets-bloody-article-1.1367171?pgno=1|newspaper=New York Daily News |date=2013-06-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614014042/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/justice-story/corrupt-chicago-tribune-reporter-meets-bloody-article-1.1367171?pgno=1 |archive-date=2013-06-14 |url-status=dead |accessdate=2024-06-25}}</ref>
===Discoveries=== Lingle's death brought to the public's attention his connections with gangsters.<ref name=nydailynews /><ref name=Time/> Lingle turned out to have been setting the price of beer in Chicago and involved in organized dog racing and gambling. He had maintained two homes plus a suite at the Morrison Hotel and had a six-figure stockbroker account. High-placed friends of his in the police department resigned.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Thomas G. |last1=Aylesworth |first2=Virginia L. |last2=Aylesworth |title=Chicago: The Glamour Years (1919–1941) |location=New York |publisher=Gallery-W. H. Smith |year=1986 |isbn=9780831712549 |pages=165, 167 }}</ref> Not only did people discover what Lingle's occupation really was, but they also learned about the gangs and about those with whom Lingle was associated.<ref name=Silverman>{{cite web|last=Silverman|first=Gary|title=A Chicago twist on the tabloid troubles|url=https://www.ft.com/content/1d15fa58-a8c7-11e0-b877-00144feabdc0|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221211221245/https://www.ft.com/content/1d15fa58-a8c7-11e0-b877-00144feabdc0#axzz2z3r64xTv|archive-date=December 11, 2022|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|work=Financial Times|location=London, England|date=July 7, 2011|accessdate=3 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Walter N. |last1=Burns |title=The One-way Ride: The red trail of Chicago gangland from prohibition to Jake Lingle |publisher=Stanley Paul |location=New York |year=1931}}</ref>
===Reactions=== Lingle had initially been considered a martyr, and an immense crowd attended his funeral in the West Jackson Boulevard District, with mourners overflowing onto the street outside the Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vintage Chicago Tribune: Jake Lingle lived well beyond the means of a Tribune reporter. After his slaying, it became clear how. |date=29 May 2022 |author=Ron Grossman |website=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/history/ct-tribune-history-jake-lingle-20220529-wk4w6nqycrfjlgadbkaolfopaq-story.html}}</ref>
However, once other journalists learned about Jake Lingle's association with mobsters and his gambling activity, they began questioning the ''Chicago Tribune'' about it. In response, the ''Tribune'' said that it had not been aware of Lingle's activities. However, Frank Wilson, an IRS agent, said Robert McCormick, who was the ''Tribune's'' proprietor, had arranged a meeting between Lingle and himself when he was investigating the Al Capone case, and claimed this proved that the ''Tribune'' knew about Jake Lingle's involvement with gangs.<ref name=Silverman />
==In popular culture== The book ''Jake Lingle, or Chicago on the Spot'' by John Boettiger, published in October 1931 by E.P. Dutton & Co., gave a detailed account of the investigation into Lingle's killing and the resulting capture, trial and conviction of Leo Brothers. Boettiger, a fellow reporter for the Chicago Tribune, had known Lingle for ten years and was assigned by the paper to cover the story of his murder.
The 1931 film ''The Finger Points'' was loosely based on Lingle's life and death, and starred Richard Barthelmess as the reporter, Fay Wray as his love interest, and Clark Gable as the gangster who corrupts him.
In 1959, the Jake Lingle murder was dramatized on a television episode of ''The Untouchables'' titled "The Jake Lingle Killing," in which Lingle is portrayed by Herb Vigran.
In the 1959 film ''Al Capone'', Martin Balsam played a fictional corrupt reporter named Mac Keely, who was Lingle in all but name.
In the 1979 film ''The Lady in Red'', Lingle is seen as the reporter harassing John Dillinger's escort/girlfriend, Polly Hamilton (called "Polly Franklin" in this film). But this is fiction, as Dillinger first met Hamilton in 1934, four years after Lingle's murder.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ellen |last=Poulsen |title=Don't Call Us Molls: Women of the John Dillinger Gang |place=New York |publisher=Clinton Cook Publishing |year=2002 |url=http://www.dillingerswomen.com/molls/anna.html |access-date=April 15, 2010 |archive-date=March 24, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324013215/http://dillingerswomen.com/molls/anna.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The 1988 novel by Howard Browne, ''Pork City,'' depicts Lingle's murder and the subsequent investigation by the Cook County State's Attorney's office.
In the 1993 series ''The Untouchables'', Jake Lingle's murder is depicted in the two-part story, "Murder Ink," and is portrayed by David Perkovich.
==See also== * {{section link|List of homicides in Illinois|Organized crime}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Jake Lingle |sopt=t}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lingle, Jake}} Category:1891 births Category:1930 deaths Category:People murdered by Italian-American organized crime Category:Chicago Tribune people Category:People murdered in Chicago Category:Deaths by firearm in Illinois Category:Murdered American journalists Category:Murdered American gangsters Category:Jewish American gangsters Category:20th-century American journalists Category:20th-century American Jews Category:People murdered in 1930 Category:20th-century American male journalists