Ghosts on Truman Road

For more than 15 years, the venetian-blinded office among the second-hand stores had served as Democratic headquarters for Kansas City's Second Ward. The address, after Fifteenth Street was renamed in 1949: 716-718 Truman Road. But things had never been the same since the morning of April 6, 1950, when the bullet-riddled bodies of Gangster Charlie Binaggio, boss of the district, and his chief henchman, Charles Gargotta, were found there. At party meetings, somebody was always pointing out exactly where Binaggio's body was found (facing the big portrait of Native Son Truman), and where Gargotta lay, a few steps away. This had a quieting effect on the enthusiasm of present and prospective members of the club. Last week Binaggio's successor, Boss Henry McKissick, took down the pictures of Harry S. Truman and Missouri Governor Forrest Smith, and moved out. He announced that the club was looking for more suitable quarters.

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