Undercover State Trooper and the KC Mob

In this episode, the host, Gary Jenkins, interviews retired Missouri State Trooper Tom Gray about his months-long undercover investigation of Kansas City Mafia figures who were buying stolen property. The main target was a man named James H. Bradley Jr. or “Junior” as he was known. Because he operated a popular restaurant across the street from City Hall and Police Headquarters, a Kansas City cop would not be able to operate undercover. A police major had obtained the cooperation of the courts, the prosecutor and the County jail to get a prisoner out without any charges pending. Actually, this man, John Horn, had charges pending, but those charges were held back from public view and he was released into the custody of the KC police Department. The judge, in this case, required the police department to babysit with Mr. Horn and they were not to let him out of their sight until he had proven his worth enough that the prosecutor and the judge would agree to dismiss his charges. The Kansas City Police White Collar Crime and Intelligence Unit joined forces to make sure all the rules were followed. The police borrowed a Missouri state trooper who was working a drug case in Columbia, Missouri and was unknown in Kansas City. During the next several months, Trooper Tom Gray would arrive at the safe house where officers stayed overnight to watch Horn and they would “go to work.” They had a budget to buy property like women’s clothing, jewelry, cigarettes, canned hams, and other items. They took this supposedly stolen property to Junior Bradley’s Pumpernik Deli and sold them to him for about twenty-five cents on the dollar. He paid the sellers in cash and then resold this property out of the back room of his deli or a retail location he operated in the city market. To go to the store or make a donation click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here.  To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To subscribe on iTunes click here, please give me a review and help others find the podcast.