July 25, 2024 • 33 mins
Step into the twisted world of elite equestrian intrigue with host Jay Harris, as he traces the vengeful journey of a scorned criminal turned informant. Learn how one man's desire for retribution against the high-profile clients who betrayed him exposed a sinister underbelly of corruption and deception.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome back to Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. I'm Jay Harris,
your host and barista magnifique when it comes to stirring
up and spilling out the scandalous sports stories you grave.
Over the past twenty years my career as a journalist
and sportscaster, I have hosted ESPN shows from Sports Center
to Outside the Lines. But on Playing Dirty, I am
all about the juice. Today's tale on Tap picks up
(00:36):
where we left off last week, smack in the middle
of a very dark, murky period in the nineteen eighties
when elite equestrians were hiring Tommy the Sandman Burns to
murder their horses for insurance payouts. Nothing about that heartless
criminal enterprise sits well. So before we find out how
this scandal snowballed, I vote we clear our palettes. Okay,
(01:07):
now we're hydrated, embraced for the horror, because unfortunately, this
story only gets darker. In the aftermath of Tommy Burns's
arrest on February second, nineteen ninety one for his role
in the killing of the horse street Wise, he rang
all his high and mighty elite friends from jail, expecting help,
but no one picked up his calls ouch. Tommy now
(01:30):
found himself with a hunger for revenge, and the FBI
was only too happy to listen to what their new
vitriolic informant had to say. The ghastly secrets of the
equestrian world rolled off Tommy Burns's tongue as he disclosed
shocking allegations such as George Lindemann, the billionaire CEO of
(01:50):
Southern Union, paying him twenty five thousand dollars to have
his horse Charisma eliminated, and Paul Valliere, the owner of
Acres Wild Farm in Island, leaving payment under a golf
cart's cushioned seat for Tommy to collect after the electrocution
of show horse rosseau Platier. I feel terrible about what
(02:11):
I did, Tommy Burns insisted to the authorities after he'd
been caught and abandoned by those who contracted his services.
But I did not advertise, he continued, I did not
do any sales calls. People found me and came to me,
very important people, very wealthy people. Tommy Burns's revelations were nauseating,
(02:31):
but invaluable to the FBI for his cooperation, which led
to the indictment of more than thirty individuals on a
variety of charges. Tommy Burns was sentenced to a mere
year and one day in prison, of which he served
only six months in a county jail. Since his release,
Tommy has seemingly turned his life around, becoming a successful
(02:53):
businessman in the autoparts sector and ironically an owner of
his own horse farm in Florida. But Tommy's spade of
horse murders and subsequent slap on the wrist punishment for
their deaths is sadly just one of the many dark
doings in the annals of high society equestrianism. Because even
as he was creeping into stables across the country, there
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was an interconnected, equally disturbing figure on the loose, Richard Bailey.
Unlike Tommy, Richard didn't target horses. He targeted women, rich women.
Known in the circles of Chicago's elite as a charming
con man akin to Dirty John, Richard Bailey's name became
(03:36):
synonymous with manipulation and deceit on the equestrian circuit. His
reputation among most horse enthusiasts was that of a wolf
in sheep's clothing. Richard preyed on the wealthy but unsuspecting,
targeting women who had come into significant wealth through inheritance
or divorce. For Richard Conning, his way to the top
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was a myopic focus, and the modus operandi Floyd was premeditated, consistent,
and cruel. Step number one, he would whine and dine
his target at Chicago's finest establishments, lavishing them with attention
and gifts. Step number two, he would establish their mutual
(04:17):
interest in horses. Step number three. Once sufficient trust had
been established, Richard would advise his female target to make
an investment in a champion horse, promising returns that were
as fictitious as the pedigrees he presented, because you see,
the woman would be purchasing the horses from him. He
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operated his business, Bailey Stables and Country Club Stables, with
the overriding purpose to separate women from large sums of
their money under the guise of horse ownership, often for
animals that were either non existent or of negligible financial value.
For the women who couldn't afford the costs upfront. Richard
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Bailey even devised loan scheme that left his victims financially
entangled and responsible for the upkeep of horses that rarely,
if ever, held real showing or racing promise. Richard Bailey's
sinister enterprise preyed on the hopes and dreams of those
who sought to immerse themselves in the equestrian lifestyle, turning
what should have been a journey of passion into a nightmare,
(05:20):
financial ruin, and heartbreak. As Richard Bailey was lurking around
the stables and tracks, always on the hunt for his
next mark, there was a kind animal lover finding her
path to horse ownership. Helen Vorhees Brock was striking and
full of life in her sixties, but she was struggling
to fill the gaping void left by her husband, Frank
(05:41):
Brock's death. After all, her marriage to Frank had in
many ways defined the trajectory of her life, because, as
some of you may have clocked, Frank Brock was none
other than the heir to the Brock Candy Empire, which
even today turns out below sweets from jellybeans to candy corn,
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conversation hearts, small balls, almonds, supremes, and everything in between.
Helen's early life couldn't have differed more from Frank's lavish
upbringing born on November tenth, nineteen eleven, on a small
farm in Union Port, Ohio, Helen's youth was a simple
(06:23):
rural experience. She married her high school sweetheart in nineteen
twenty eight, but they had divorced by the time she
was twenty one. In the United States in the nineteen twenties,
divorce carried a heavy stigma and had to be fault based,
meaning that there needed to be abuse, infidelity, or some
other reason to justify split, and if that split was
(06:43):
granted by the court of law, then it was almost
always the divorced woman who faced harsh judgment from the
court of society. Young and divorced, Helen decided to dodge
the condemnation that must have surely been lurking behind every
corner in her small Ohio community and moved to sunny
Palm Beach, Florida. It was in Palm Beach that Helen's
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fortune changed. While in her thirties, working as a co
check girl at the Palm Beach Country Club, Helen met
Frank Brock, the son of legendary Candy mogul Emil J. Brock.
Sweet After a whirlwind romance, Helen and Frank were married
with the union, catapulting the bride into a newfound world
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of exceptional luxury. The newly weds built a home in
Fisher Island, Florida, which even today has the highest per
capita income of any place in the United States, and
embarked on a happy, exceedingly privileged life together. Despite being
born into wealth, Frank had inherited more than money. He
had his father Emil's get up and go spirit. Under
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frank stewardship, Brock's candy empire grew, burgeoning into a global
confectionery powerhouse. The money poured in while Frank was building
their family fortune into a twenty million dollar estate, which
is equivalent to more like one hundred and sixty million
by today's standards. Helen busied herself with her passion animal welfare.
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Dubbed affectionately by the public as the Candy Lady. Helen
used her newfound wealth to make significant contributions to institutions
like the Chicago Zoo, and when it came to her
own pets, no price was too great for their care
and comfort. She once famously charted a plane to transport
a sick pet from the Bahamas for treatment by her
favorite veterinarian. But in nineteen seventy, Helen's idyllic existence was
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upended when Frank died at age eighty, leaving the massive
Brock's fortune and a great deal of grief for her
to carry alone. Helen fell to lingering yearning for purpose
following Frank's death, and it led her to spend more
time seeking solace with and direction from her favorite animals, horses.
As Winston Churchill once observantly equipped, there was some thing
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about the outside of a horse that is good for
the inside of a man. And so it was for
the wealthy but lonely Helen Brock, who found herself increasingly
captivated by the world of equestrian sports. Helen's homes in
Florida and Glenview, Illinois, became hubs for horse activities. Her philanthropy,
coupled with more frequent appearances at horse racing and show
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jumping events, quickly made her a well known figure in
the equestrian community. Unfortunately, it also put her on the
map as a target for the con man Richard Bailey.
You remember how I described his ideal mark right wealthy
women who had been divorced or widowed, check and check,
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seeing Helen Brock at the track must have set Richard
salivating more than any of the world famous candies her
in laws Corporation had produced. Richard made his way into
Helen's orbit with a vengeance. Following his three step modus
operandi for conning wealthy widowed equestrians. He facilitated a friendship
with Helen cultivated amidst the excitement and glamour of Gulf
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Stream Park, a renowned racetrack in Florida. It was at
Gulfstream Park where Helen first expressed a burgeoning interest in
horse ownership, rather than just horse philanthropy and attending horse
shows and races. This declaration must have sent Richard Bailey
into an absolute fervor of delight, and he seized upon
(10:27):
the opportunity. Richard Bailey made himself Helen Brock's go to
guy for horse buying, Leveraging the connections and credibility lent
by his brother PJ. Bailey, who was a jockey with
insider access to the sale and acquisition of race horses,
Richard subtly guided Helen towards making her first investments in
the equine world. The first transaction he broke it was
(10:49):
for a pair of mayors. Richard presented them to Helen
as a prudent venture into horse ownership, and took fifty
thousand dollars off her in exchange for the animals. Henry reality,
Richard and PJ. Bailey had only paid nine thousand to
originally acquire the horses. The heavily inflated price of this
transaction was just the beginning of Richard Bailey's deception. His
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manipulation of Helen deepened with the subsequent sale of Potensiato,
a stallion whose name carried the promise of untapped potential
and racing glory to her. Helen, trusting Richard implicitly as
a newfound confidant, agreed to a purchase price of forty
five thousand dollars, unaware that her investment was grossly overvalued,
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since the horse had been acquired by Richard and PJ
for a mere eight thousand, five hundred. Now, no one
really knows exactly when the relationship between Richard and Helen
became uneasy, but it is undeniable that Richard played a
role in the horse murder insurance scandal. After all, if
he was selling overvalued horses to divorcees and widows. Then
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it stood to reason that those women would be unable
to realize anything close to her return on their financial investment.
And when people find themselves underwater financially, they sometimes do
terrible things to alleviate their money problem, like hire Tommy
the Sandman Burns to snuff their losing horse to collect
the insurance money. In other words, Richard Bailey was a
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top of the funnel guy and Tommy Burns was a
bottom of the funnel guy for the horse murders scandal.
And if any cog in a criminal wheel becomes loose,
it endangers all the bad guys who are part of
the dirty business. So criminals are very careful not to
let that happen and will protect their operations cycle at
all costs. So while we can't say with certainty that
(12:39):
Helen Brock grew wise to what Richard Bailey was up
to and that she discovered horses were being killed for
insurance payouts, what we can say is this, given her
history of advocating for the welfare of animals, she would
almost certainly have done the right thing and reported any
concern she had along these lines to the authorities. As
Helen became increasingly involved in the horse business, she would
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have been ever more likely to hear stories of cruelty
and fraud. Remember in our last episode when I told
you about the West Virginia horseman who spilled the beans,
saying people knew what was going on. Well, there's every
likelihood that Helen, now when a questrian insider, was one
of those people. Helen Brock's growing awareness, coupled with her
outspoken nature when it came to animal advocacy, made her
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a serious threat to those who operated in the industries
under belly like Tommy this sadman Burns. In this scenario,
you can imagine that Helen wasn't just another wealthy mark
to be cond She had become a potential whistleblower, unless,
of course, she was stopped. This is what investigators believe
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is most likely to have happened on February seventeenth, nineteen
seventy seven, when Helen Brock had the misfortune to transfer
from a prominent socialite into the subject of a perplexing mystery.
From Helen's standpoint, it might have seemed a day like
any other. She had a doctor's appointment at the Mayo
Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. It would have been extremely cold,
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typically anywhere between eight degrees fahrenheit and twenty five degrees
fahrenheit with freezing winds and snow, but the city of
Rochester has adapted to its brutal winters and provides tunnel
passages between the renowned Mayo Clinic and nearby accommodations for
out of town medical visitors. It was within this climate
controlled labyrinth, returning from her doctor's appointment, then Helen Brock
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was last seen. For sure. She was observed making her
way back to the hotel briskly, pausing only momentarily to
speak with a gift shop clerk named Phyllis Radalin. Phyllis
worked at the Buckskin gift shop in the subway level
of the Zumbro Hotel where the Rochester Marriott Mayo Clinic
area stands nowadays, and she remembers her exchange with Helen
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well it was as if someone was waiting for her
or she he had somewhere to go, remembered Phyllis. Helen
Brock brought a twenty seven dollars and fifty cent jewelry
box and a twelve dollars and fifty cent soap dish,
and then implored Phyllis to pack up her purchases quickly.
I'm in a hurry, Helen told Phyllis. My houseman is waiting.
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Helen's reference to a houseman, the term that paints an
image of domestic assistance rather than companionship, was puzzling, especially
since Helen was believed to have gone to Rochester alone.
The only man who might conceivably fit this description, Jack Mattlick,
had long served the Brox family in a capacity that
blurred the lines between employment and friendship. Was he a
(15:39):
butler an assistant. No one seemed sure what his specific
employment tasks were for the Bronx, but Jack insisted that
he did meet Helen after her doctor's visit on February seventeen,
nineteen seventy seven. Further, he claimed that Helen had flown
back to Chicago from Minnesota as planned, that he had
seen her in Chicago with his own eyes, and that
(16:02):
she had been on her way to Florida from there.
But there were problems with Jack Matlick's story about his
jet setting employer, and investigators weren't convinced. For one thing,
no one on the flight crew remembers Helen having been
on the plane heading back to Chicago for another thing.
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Jax claimed that Helen had headed to Florida next didn't
jive what the authorities were discovering that she hadn't prepared
for the trip in her usual meticulous fashion, nor with
her normal luggage. Jack said he drove Helen to the
airport on Monday, February twenty at nineteen seventy seven, without
any luggage and without a flight reservation. But apparently Helen
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typically traveled with trunk loads of clothing and always had
a very buttoned up itinerary, So why would she have
thrown all of her typical habits to the wind. Something
wasn't adding up and Jack's claim. James went from curious
to downright improbable when he told investigators that Helen had
signed a series of checks over to him before leaving
(17:07):
for Florida. What Seven of the checks, which are worth
more than fifteen thousand dollars, were accrued to Jack's benefit,
according to an April nineteen, nineteen seventy seven Chicago Newsday article,
and while handwriting specialists determined the checks to be forgeries
that were not signed by Helen Brock, they had to
concede that they didn't seem to be signed by Jack Mattlick. Either,
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Jack insisted Helen had signed the checks, attributing the differing
signature to a hand injury she had sustained while packing
for Florida. Funny since, according to Jack, she hadn't taken
any luggage. According to Matthew Staally of Inforum, as investigators
continued to peel back the layers of Jack Mattlick's claims,
they became increasingly perplexed and worried his story didn't add up,
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and some seriously dark details were spilling out. On the
Sunday night before Jack Matlick said he had taken Helen
Brock to Chicago O'Hare Airport, he called a cleaning and
decorating service to request that a crew come for inside
cleaning and painting as soon as possible. In Forum reported,
and on the Monday morning after, when he claimed to
(18:17):
have used one of Brock's Cadillacs to drop her off
at O'Hare, there was evidence that Jack Matlick had in
fact had the Cadillact shampooed inside and out, and visited
Helen's safe deposit box. But perhaps most disturbing was the
fact that Jack Mattlick had ordered a meat grinder attachment
from Marshall Fields. Investigators centered their attention on Jack Mattlick because, frankly,
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he was highly suspicious. Even if the handwriting analysis didn't
implicate him in the forged checks, the fact that Jack
claimed Helen had signed the checks and flown to Florida
without any luggage or planned itinerary put him squarely in
the suspicion box when Helen disappeared. The fact that he'd
also been making urgent cleaning plans and meat grinder purchases, well,
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that was just downright alarming. But despite all the signs
pointing to Jack, the evidence implicating him was all circumstantial.
Authorities couldn't prove that Jack had murdered Helen Brock despite
rigorous interrogation and multiple inconclusive polygraph tests, plus the contractor's
jacket hired for cleaning and painting later testified that nothing
(19:23):
was out of the ordinary at the Brox, Illinois property,
And to everyone's relief, the notorious meat grinder attachment, which
had fueled widespread speculation that Helen Brock had been murdered,
ground up, and fed to her beloved pets, was later
found to be much too small to accomplish that grisly task.
I'll drink to that awful thought being tabled. Whoof one
(19:43):
spinach juice for stress relief? Coming right up? That meat
grinder is one nightmare scenario we can shut the door on.
But the nightmare for glen View police was just getting
started because Helen Brock's disappearance was confronting them with a
wildly challenged case. Without a body, a crime scene, or
(20:03):
a coherent narrative, Investigators found themselves ensnared at an endless
mystery that kept throwing up more questions than answers. As
investigators ran out of options for tying Jack Mattlick to
Helen Brock's disappearance with hard evidence, another suspect came to
the foreground. Richard Bailey, the notorious con man who whined
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and dined divorcees and widows with the aim to snag
their overblown investments in mediocre horses. You remember Richard right,
Helen Brock's confident who facilitated several horse purchases on her behalf.
When Assistant US Attorney Stephen Miller learned that Richard Bailey
had been hanging around Helen Brock in her final months,
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he decided to delve deeper. The information he turned up
was a game changer. Apparently, Richard had taken Helen to
New York over New Year's Eve, and it had been
him who arranged for her visit to the Mayo Clinic
in Rochester, Minnesota, the last city in which investigators believed
she had truly been alive. Well. This information was certainly
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enough to get Assistant US Attorney Stephen Miller and his
team excited. In nineteen seventy nine, two years after Helen's disappearance,
it seemed more and more signs reporting to Richard Bailey
being their man. Glen View police commander John O'Connell reported
a scrawled, spray painted message on the road near Helen
Brock's seven acre estate, reading Richard Bailey knows where Brock's
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body is, and John Mink, a court appointed attorney for
Helen Brock's massive estate, claimed that Richard behaved suspiciously when questioned.
In fact, John recalled Richard Bailey showed up at his
office with his attorney in tow and refused to even
admit his name under questioning. Further, Richard had his attorney
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state that he would not be answering questions based on
his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. Since John Mink's
estate work wasn't in and of itself a criminal investigation,
he couldn't compel Richard Bailey to cooperate with him. But
John certainly could relate to the investigating authorities that Richard's
entire demeanor seemed suspicious, so he did. Years passed as
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investigators tried to find hard evidence to stick to Richard Bailey.
Life moved on and the case grew colder and colder.
In nineteen eighty four, seven years after Helen Brock had
gone missing, she was officially declared dead. An assistant US
attorney Stephen Miller was still chasing after her killer. By
this time, his strategy had shifted to focus on the money,
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who stood to gain and who stood to lose by
her death. The beneficiaries of Helen's will were her brother, Charles,
a retired railroad worker who had never seem particularly interested
in his sister's money, and several animal protection organizations HMM.
The financial winners from Helen's will see semed unlikely to
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have brought about her demise. Richard Bailey and his horse
fraud buddies were far more likely to have facilitated Helen's
inn to protect their lucrative equine scams, so that's what
the assistant US attorney focused on. In an interview with
NBC's Dateline years later, Stephen Miller remembered how his deep
investigation into Richard Bailey really got rolling. A local investor
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asked me if I wanted to investigate a fifty thousand
dollars fraud involving a transaction with a horse. Stephen Miller explained,
I was told that Richard Bailey, who was rumored to
have defrauded many women over the years in transactions involving horses,
had even dated Helen Brock, and once he said that really,
in a flash, the investigative plan for solving Helen Brock's
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disappearance came into being. By nineteen eighty nine, Stephen Miller
had built a broad investigation that implicated Richard Bailey in
extensive horse industry related fraud, and Stephen believed that he
could conclusively link Richard numerous financial frauds to Helen's apparent murder.
Follow the money solve the murder was his mantra. The
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breakthrough moment in the case finally came after so many
years of chasing, thanks to doctor Ross Hugey, a veterinarian
entangled in Richard Bailey's fraud schemes under pressure. Doctor Huges's
revelations about the horse scams provided Assistant US Attorney Stephen
Miller with the leverage he needed to unravel the wider conspiracy,
a conspiracy that turned out to be bigger than Jack
(24:30):
Mallick or Richard Bailey alone. Doctor Hugy's testimony led authorities
to believe that the kind hearted candy lady Helen Brock
had managed to inadvertently get herself mixed up with a
notorious Jane Gang. Helen didn't know who she was dealing with.
Former alcohol, tobacco, and firearms agent Jimmy Delordo would later
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lament she figured she was dealing with Richard Bailey, But
Richard Bailey was just a front man. The hard guys
were all in the back. These guys were killers their
whole life. These killers behind Richard Bailey's front were the
Jane Gang, and they had been shipping horses into Chicago
since the nineteen thirties. Silas Jane had started the gang
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and murder was a regular tool in his kit. People
were deathly afraid of Silas Jane. Assistant US Attorney Stephen
Miller explained the criminals flocked to him as a mentor
and as a teacher. Silas Jane was a cold blooded killer,
and they knew it. He had his own brother killed.
Once Stephen Miller had linked Richard Bailey to the Jane Gang,
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it was only a matter of time before justice was served.
By nineteen ninety four, US Attorney Miller and his team
had compiled a compelling case against Richard Bailey and more
than two dozen other defendants to take the case to
a federal grand jury. This was a landmark moment, even
coming so many years after helen Brock's presumed murder, investigators
(25:59):
had uncovered a sprawling criminal network that extended far beyond
fraudulent horse sales. The trial that followed was not just
about financial deceit now it hinged on the accusation that
Richard Bailey had orchestrated helen Brock's murder to silence her
on behalf of his own interests and the interests of
the entire Jane Gang. Despite the lack of physical evidence
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traditionally associated with murder cases such as a body. The
circumstantial evidence presented by US Attorney Stephen Miller was now
so overwhelming that it painted a damning picture of Richard
Bailey's motives and actions. The prosecution felt ready to finally
seek justice for Helen Brock. Richard Bailey, meanwhile, was on
the hot seat and had to make a serious decision
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about his defensive strategy. He faced a choice go to
trial by jury and risk getting convicted of murder, or
plead guilty to the fraud related charges only and take
his chances with the judge, Milton Shadour. Ever, the gambler
elected to plead guilty to fraud and face the judge.
But luck was not on Richard's side this time. Judge
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Shadour decided to hold a trial like sentencing hearing regardless
of Richard's guilty plead, and announced he would hear all
the evidence in the case and not just the evidence
related to the fraud charges. During the sentencing hearing that followed,
the court heard a mix of compelling, if sometimes questionable testimonies.
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Witness Arthur Katz testified that his father had been a
close friend of Helen Brock's and that she had visited
his office shortly before her disappearance. According to Arthur, Helen
had complained to his father about being cheated on a
horse steal by a younger man she was dating, who
had made arrangements for her trip to the Mayo Clinic.
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Then there was the witness of Kathy Jane Olson with
an even more dramatic narrative. Kathy was the forty one
year old daughter of horsemen Frank Jane Junior and ther
and niece of the late horseman and Jane Gang founder
Silas Jane. Kathy testified that she had known helen Brock,
that she had given her riding lessons and once sold
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her a gray horse. Cathy also said that she'd been
hiding in a supply closet in her father's office one
day when she overheard Richard Bailey and her father talking.
According to the Chicago Sun Times, Kathy testified that the
men said we had to shut her up when discussing
helen Brock. That's pretty damning testimony, but Kathy's credibility was
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swiftly challenged by the defense based on discrepancies in her
story and her history of substance abuse. Next, Joseph Plemans.
Another key witness for the prosecution was called Joseph. Like
Richard Bailey, was a con man, but unlike Richard, who
showed off horses and sold them at inflated prices to wealthy,
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unwitting female buyers, Joseph sold horses by showing photographs of
animals he never owned nor had any intention of delivering,
so he wasn't exactly an upstanding guy. But Joseph was affable,
and the court ate up his account of a lunch
he shared in February nineteen seventy seven with Richard Bailey
and fellow horseman Kenneth Hanson. Richard said that he was
(29:16):
in trouble. Joseph Plemmons testified, and he looked at me
and said the candy lady wasn't so sweet anymore, and
he was in trouble that he thought that she was
going to go to the authorities. He could not stand
the heat, and he wanted to know if Kenneth and
I could make her disappear for five thousand dollars. At
(29:36):
this point, Joseph told the court that Kenneth said he
wouldn't kill an old lady and excused himself to go
to the toilet. Joseph said he also turned down Richard
Bailey's request. Two weeks after this alleged lunch between the
three dirty horse dealers, helen Brock disappeared. Joseph Plemman's testimony
was the government's most direct evidence that Richard Bailey had
(29:59):
solicited it at Helen Brock's murder. US attorney Stephen Miller
succinctly captured what Joseph Pleman's words had conveyed. Richard's motive
was damage control and the only way to protect himself
was to silence her. When Richard Bailey finally took the stand,
he denied any wrongdoing towards Helen Brock. When questioned about
(30:20):
specific dates and events, his testimony was marred by inconsistencies,
and he came across as a man willing to go
to extreme lengths to maintain his own fraudulent, excessive lifestyle.
While the prosecution's witnesses had certainly not all been slam dunks, Ultimately,
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Judge Milton Shadour determined that it was more probable than
not that Richard Bailey did commit the offenses of conspiring
to murder and soliciting the murder of Helen Brock. If
Richard Bailey had shown remorse for his actions, Judge Shadour
said he would have been content to punish him with
ten years in jail. Due to the defendant's arrogance, he
(31:01):
was ultimately sentenced to thirty years in prison. It may
as well have been a life sentence for the then
sixty seven year old Richard Bailey. Bailey was finally released
from a federal prison in Florida a few years earlier
than his full sentence, in July twenty nineteen, at the
age of eighty nine. He died in twenty twenty three.
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Helen Brock's body has still to this day never been found,
but the investigation into her disappearance and presumed murder ultimately
resulted in a total of thirty three convictions against Richard
Bailey and his associates on a range of charges including fraud, arson,
and obstruction of justice. The equestrian world's dirty players had
(31:44):
been fully exposed at last, and in a roundabout way,
it was Helen Brock who had put an end to
the terrible horse murders for insurance money scandal. It might
have pleased animal lover Helen to know that her presumed
murder was at least the impetus for the subsequent life
saving investigation that shut down Tommy the Sandman Burns Richard
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Bailey in all their crooked cronies for good. To close
today's scandal, which ended with justice that came at a
tragically high priced I'm blending up some fresh pineapple juice.
After all, we must drink something sweet in honor of
the Sweet Candy Ladies memory, Helen Brock. Here's to you
(32:26):
and your enduring legacy of animal welfare and philanthropy. Join me,
your barista, and host Jay Harris for next week's episode
of Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports Scandals is
(32:46):
a production of Dan Patrick Productions, Never Ever Productions and
Workhouse Media from executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson, Nick Panella,
Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Clary. Hosted by Jay Harris, Written
and produced by Jen Brown, Francie Haiks, Maya Glickman, and
Jennifer Clary,
Welcome back to Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. I'm Jay Harris,
your host and barista magnifique when it comes to stirring
up and spilling out the scandalous sports stories you grave.
Over the past twenty years my career as a journalist
and sportscaster, I have hosted ESPN shows from Sports Center
to Outside the Lines. But on Playing Dirty, I am
all about the juice. Today's tale on Tap picks up
(00:36):
where we left off last week, smack in the middle
of a very dark, murky period in the nineteen eighties
when elite equestrians were hiring Tommy the Sandman Burns to
murder their horses for insurance payouts. Nothing about that heartless
criminal enterprise sits well. So before we find out how
this scandal snowballed, I vote we clear our palettes. Okay,
(01:07):
now we're hydrated, embraced for the horror, because unfortunately, this
story only gets darker. In the aftermath of Tommy Burns's
arrest on February second, nineteen ninety one for his role
in the killing of the horse street Wise, he rang
all his high and mighty elite friends from jail, expecting help,
but no one picked up his calls ouch. Tommy now
(01:30):
found himself with a hunger for revenge, and the FBI
was only too happy to listen to what their new
vitriolic informant had to say. The ghastly secrets of the
equestrian world rolled off Tommy Burns's tongue as he disclosed
shocking allegations such as George Lindemann, the billionaire CEO of
(01:50):
Southern Union, paying him twenty five thousand dollars to have
his horse Charisma eliminated, and Paul Valliere, the owner of
Acres Wild Farm in Island, leaving payment under a golf
cart's cushioned seat for Tommy to collect after the electrocution
of show horse rosseau Platier. I feel terrible about what
(02:11):
I did, Tommy Burns insisted to the authorities after he'd
been caught and abandoned by those who contracted his services.
But I did not advertise, he continued, I did not
do any sales calls. People found me and came to me,
very important people, very wealthy people. Tommy Burns's revelations were nauseating,
(02:31):
but invaluable to the FBI for his cooperation, which led
to the indictment of more than thirty individuals on a
variety of charges. Tommy Burns was sentenced to a mere
year and one day in prison, of which he served
only six months in a county jail. Since his release,
Tommy has seemingly turned his life around, becoming a successful
(02:53):
businessman in the autoparts sector and ironically an owner of
his own horse farm in Florida. But Tommy's spade of
horse murders and subsequent slap on the wrist punishment for
their deaths is sadly just one of the many dark
doings in the annals of high society equestrianism. Because even
as he was creeping into stables across the country, there
(03:16):
was an interconnected, equally disturbing figure on the loose, Richard Bailey.
Unlike Tommy, Richard didn't target horses. He targeted women, rich women.
Known in the circles of Chicago's elite as a charming
con man akin to Dirty John, Richard Bailey's name became
(03:36):
synonymous with manipulation and deceit on the equestrian circuit. His
reputation among most horse enthusiasts was that of a wolf
in sheep's clothing. Richard preyed on the wealthy but unsuspecting,
targeting women who had come into significant wealth through inheritance
or divorce. For Richard Conning, his way to the top
(03:57):
was a myopic focus, and the modus operandi Floyd was premeditated, consistent,
and cruel. Step number one, he would whine and dine
his target at Chicago's finest establishments, lavishing them with attention
and gifts. Step number two, he would establish their mutual
(04:17):
interest in horses. Step number three. Once sufficient trust had
been established, Richard would advise his female target to make
an investment in a champion horse, promising returns that were
as fictitious as the pedigrees he presented, because you see,
the woman would be purchasing the horses from him. He
(04:37):
operated his business, Bailey Stables and Country Club Stables, with
the overriding purpose to separate women from large sums of
their money under the guise of horse ownership, often for
animals that were either non existent or of negligible financial value.
For the women who couldn't afford the costs upfront. Richard
(04:57):
Bailey even devised loan scheme that left his victims financially
entangled and responsible for the upkeep of horses that rarely,
if ever, held real showing or racing promise. Richard Bailey's
sinister enterprise preyed on the hopes and dreams of those
who sought to immerse themselves in the equestrian lifestyle, turning
what should have been a journey of passion into a nightmare,
(05:20):
financial ruin, and heartbreak. As Richard Bailey was lurking around
the stables and tracks, always on the hunt for his
next mark, there was a kind animal lover finding her
path to horse ownership. Helen Vorhees Brock was striking and
full of life in her sixties, but she was struggling
to fill the gaping void left by her husband, Frank
(05:41):
Brock's death. After all, her marriage to Frank had in
many ways defined the trajectory of her life, because, as
some of you may have clocked, Frank Brock was none
other than the heir to the Brock Candy Empire, which
even today turns out below sweets from jellybeans to candy corn,
(06:02):
conversation hearts, small balls, almonds, supremes, and everything in between.
Helen's early life couldn't have differed more from Frank's lavish
upbringing born on November tenth, nineteen eleven, on a small
farm in Union Port, Ohio, Helen's youth was a simple
(06:23):
rural experience. She married her high school sweetheart in nineteen
twenty eight, but they had divorced by the time she
was twenty one. In the United States in the nineteen twenties,
divorce carried a heavy stigma and had to be fault based,
meaning that there needed to be abuse, infidelity, or some
other reason to justify split, and if that split was
(06:43):
granted by the court of law, then it was almost
always the divorced woman who faced harsh judgment from the
court of society. Young and divorced, Helen decided to dodge
the condemnation that must have surely been lurking behind every
corner in her small Ohio community and moved to sunny
Palm Beach, Florida. It was in Palm Beach that Helen's
(07:04):
fortune changed. While in her thirties, working as a co
check girl at the Palm Beach Country Club, Helen met
Frank Brock, the son of legendary Candy mogul Emil J. Brock.
Sweet After a whirlwind romance, Helen and Frank were married
with the union, catapulting the bride into a newfound world
(07:25):
of exceptional luxury. The newly weds built a home in
Fisher Island, Florida, which even today has the highest per
capita income of any place in the United States, and
embarked on a happy, exceedingly privileged life together. Despite being
born into wealth, Frank had inherited more than money. He
had his father Emil's get up and go spirit. Under
(07:47):
frank stewardship, Brock's candy empire grew, burgeoning into a global
confectionery powerhouse. The money poured in while Frank was building
their family fortune into a twenty million dollar estate, which
is equivalent to more like one hundred and sixty million
by today's standards. Helen busied herself with her passion animal welfare.
(08:09):
Dubbed affectionately by the public as the Candy Lady. Helen
used her newfound wealth to make significant contributions to institutions
like the Chicago Zoo, and when it came to her
own pets, no price was too great for their care
and comfort. She once famously charted a plane to transport
a sick pet from the Bahamas for treatment by her
favorite veterinarian. But in nineteen seventy, Helen's idyllic existence was
(08:37):
upended when Frank died at age eighty, leaving the massive
Brock's fortune and a great deal of grief for her
to carry alone. Helen fell to lingering yearning for purpose
following Frank's death, and it led her to spend more
time seeking solace with and direction from her favorite animals, horses.
As Winston Churchill once observantly equipped, there was some thing
(09:00):
about the outside of a horse that is good for
the inside of a man. And so it was for
the wealthy but lonely Helen Brock, who found herself increasingly
captivated by the world of equestrian sports. Helen's homes in
Florida and Glenview, Illinois, became hubs for horse activities. Her philanthropy,
coupled with more frequent appearances at horse racing and show
(09:23):
jumping events, quickly made her a well known figure in
the equestrian community. Unfortunately, it also put her on the
map as a target for the con man Richard Bailey.
You remember how I described his ideal mark right wealthy
women who had been divorced or widowed, check and check,
(09:44):
seeing Helen Brock at the track must have set Richard
salivating more than any of the world famous candies her
in laws Corporation had produced. Richard made his way into
Helen's orbit with a vengeance. Following his three step modus
operandi for conning wealthy widowed equestrians. He facilitated a friendship
with Helen cultivated amidst the excitement and glamour of Gulf
(10:07):
Stream Park, a renowned racetrack in Florida. It was at
Gulfstream Park where Helen first expressed a burgeoning interest in
horse ownership, rather than just horse philanthropy and attending horse
shows and races. This declaration must have sent Richard Bailey
into an absolute fervor of delight, and he seized upon
(10:27):
the opportunity. Richard Bailey made himself Helen Brock's go to
guy for horse buying, Leveraging the connections and credibility lent
by his brother PJ. Bailey, who was a jockey with
insider access to the sale and acquisition of race horses,
Richard subtly guided Helen towards making her first investments in
the equine world. The first transaction he broke it was
(10:49):
for a pair of mayors. Richard presented them to Helen
as a prudent venture into horse ownership, and took fifty
thousand dollars off her in exchange for the animals. Henry reality,
Richard and PJ. Bailey had only paid nine thousand to
originally acquire the horses. The heavily inflated price of this
transaction was just the beginning of Richard Bailey's deception. His
(11:12):
manipulation of Helen deepened with the subsequent sale of Potensiato,
a stallion whose name carried the promise of untapped potential
and racing glory to her. Helen, trusting Richard implicitly as
a newfound confidant, agreed to a purchase price of forty
five thousand dollars, unaware that her investment was grossly overvalued,
(11:33):
since the horse had been acquired by Richard and PJ
for a mere eight thousand, five hundred. Now, no one
really knows exactly when the relationship between Richard and Helen
became uneasy, but it is undeniable that Richard played a
role in the horse murder insurance scandal. After all, if
he was selling overvalued horses to divorcees and widows. Then
(11:56):
it stood to reason that those women would be unable
to realize anything close to her return on their financial investment.
And when people find themselves underwater financially, they sometimes do
terrible things to alleviate their money problem, like hire Tommy
the Sandman Burns to snuff their losing horse to collect
the insurance money. In other words, Richard Bailey was a
(12:17):
top of the funnel guy and Tommy Burns was a
bottom of the funnel guy for the horse murders scandal.
And if any cog in a criminal wheel becomes loose,
it endangers all the bad guys who are part of
the dirty business. So criminals are very careful not to
let that happen and will protect their operations cycle at
all costs. So while we can't say with certainty that
(12:39):
Helen Brock grew wise to what Richard Bailey was up
to and that she discovered horses were being killed for
insurance payouts, what we can say is this, given her
history of advocating for the welfare of animals, she would
almost certainly have done the right thing and reported any
concern she had along these lines to the authorities. As
Helen became increasingly involved in the horse business, she would
(13:03):
have been ever more likely to hear stories of cruelty
and fraud. Remember in our last episode when I told
you about the West Virginia horseman who spilled the beans,
saying people knew what was going on. Well, there's every
likelihood that Helen, now when a questrian insider, was one
of those people. Helen Brock's growing awareness, coupled with her
outspoken nature when it came to animal advocacy, made her
(13:27):
a serious threat to those who operated in the industries
under belly like Tommy this sadman Burns. In this scenario,
you can imagine that Helen wasn't just another wealthy mark
to be cond She had become a potential whistleblower, unless,
of course, she was stopped. This is what investigators believe
(13:48):
is most likely to have happened on February seventeenth, nineteen
seventy seven, when Helen Brock had the misfortune to transfer
from a prominent socialite into the subject of a perplexing mystery.
From Helen's standpoint, it might have seemed a day like
any other. She had a doctor's appointment at the Mayo
Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. It would have been extremely cold,
(14:10):
typically anywhere between eight degrees fahrenheit and twenty five degrees
fahrenheit with freezing winds and snow, but the city of
Rochester has adapted to its brutal winters and provides tunnel
passages between the renowned Mayo Clinic and nearby accommodations for
out of town medical visitors. It was within this climate
controlled labyrinth, returning from her doctor's appointment, then Helen Brock
(14:33):
was last seen. For sure. She was observed making her
way back to the hotel briskly, pausing only momentarily to
speak with a gift shop clerk named Phyllis Radalin. Phyllis
worked at the Buckskin gift shop in the subway level
of the Zumbro Hotel where the Rochester Marriott Mayo Clinic
area stands nowadays, and she remembers her exchange with Helen
(14:56):
well it was as if someone was waiting for her
or she he had somewhere to go, remembered Phyllis. Helen
Brock brought a twenty seven dollars and fifty cent jewelry
box and a twelve dollars and fifty cent soap dish,
and then implored Phyllis to pack up her purchases quickly.
I'm in a hurry, Helen told Phyllis. My houseman is waiting.
(15:16):
Helen's reference to a houseman, the term that paints an
image of domestic assistance rather than companionship, was puzzling, especially
since Helen was believed to have gone to Rochester alone.
The only man who might conceivably fit this description, Jack Mattlick,
had long served the Brox family in a capacity that
blurred the lines between employment and friendship. Was he a
(15:39):
butler an assistant. No one seemed sure what his specific
employment tasks were for the Bronx, but Jack insisted that
he did meet Helen after her doctor's visit on February seventeen,
nineteen seventy seven. Further, he claimed that Helen had flown
back to Chicago from Minnesota as planned, that he had
seen her in Chicago with his own eyes, and that
(16:02):
she had been on her way to Florida from there.
But there were problems with Jack Matlick's story about his
jet setting employer, and investigators weren't convinced. For one thing,
no one on the flight crew remembers Helen having been
on the plane heading back to Chicago for another thing.
(16:23):
Jax claimed that Helen had headed to Florida next didn't
jive what the authorities were discovering that she hadn't prepared
for the trip in her usual meticulous fashion, nor with
her normal luggage. Jack said he drove Helen to the
airport on Monday, February twenty at nineteen seventy seven, without
any luggage and without a flight reservation. But apparently Helen
(16:46):
typically traveled with trunk loads of clothing and always had
a very buttoned up itinerary, So why would she have
thrown all of her typical habits to the wind. Something
wasn't adding up and Jack's claim. James went from curious
to downright improbable when he told investigators that Helen had
signed a series of checks over to him before leaving
(17:07):
for Florida. What Seven of the checks, which are worth
more than fifteen thousand dollars, were accrued to Jack's benefit,
according to an April nineteen, nineteen seventy seven Chicago Newsday article,
and while handwriting specialists determined the checks to be forgeries
that were not signed by Helen Brock, they had to
concede that they didn't seem to be signed by Jack Mattlick. Either,
(17:31):
Jack insisted Helen had signed the checks, attributing the differing
signature to a hand injury she had sustained while packing
for Florida. Funny since, according to Jack, she hadn't taken
any luggage. According to Matthew Staally of Inforum, as investigators
continued to peel back the layers of Jack Mattlick's claims,
they became increasingly perplexed and worried his story didn't add up,
(17:56):
and some seriously dark details were spilling out. On the
Sunday night before Jack Matlick said he had taken Helen
Brock to Chicago O'Hare Airport, he called a cleaning and
decorating service to request that a crew come for inside
cleaning and painting as soon as possible. In Forum reported,
and on the Monday morning after, when he claimed to
(18:17):
have used one of Brock's Cadillacs to drop her off
at O'Hare, there was evidence that Jack Matlick had in
fact had the Cadillact shampooed inside and out, and visited
Helen's safe deposit box. But perhaps most disturbing was the
fact that Jack Mattlick had ordered a meat grinder attachment
from Marshall Fields. Investigators centered their attention on Jack Mattlick because, frankly,
(18:40):
he was highly suspicious. Even if the handwriting analysis didn't
implicate him in the forged checks, the fact that Jack
claimed Helen had signed the checks and flown to Florida
without any luggage or planned itinerary put him squarely in
the suspicion box when Helen disappeared. The fact that he'd
also been making urgent cleaning plans and meat grinder purchases, well,
(19:02):
that was just downright alarming. But despite all the signs
pointing to Jack, the evidence implicating him was all circumstantial.
Authorities couldn't prove that Jack had murdered Helen Brock despite
rigorous interrogation and multiple inconclusive polygraph tests, plus the contractor's
jacket hired for cleaning and painting later testified that nothing
(19:23):
was out of the ordinary at the Brox, Illinois property,
And to everyone's relief, the notorious meat grinder attachment, which
had fueled widespread speculation that Helen Brock had been murdered,
ground up, and fed to her beloved pets, was later
found to be much too small to accomplish that grisly task.
I'll drink to that awful thought being tabled. Whoof one
(19:43):
spinach juice for stress relief? Coming right up? That meat
grinder is one nightmare scenario we can shut the door on.
But the nightmare for glen View police was just getting
started because Helen Brock's disappearance was confronting them with a
wildly challenged case. Without a body, a crime scene, or
(20:03):
a coherent narrative, Investigators found themselves ensnared at an endless
mystery that kept throwing up more questions than answers. As
investigators ran out of options for tying Jack Mattlick to
Helen Brock's disappearance with hard evidence, another suspect came to
the foreground. Richard Bailey, the notorious con man who whined
(20:25):
and dined divorcees and widows with the aim to snag
their overblown investments in mediocre horses. You remember Richard right,
Helen Brock's confident who facilitated several horse purchases on her behalf.
When Assistant US Attorney Stephen Miller learned that Richard Bailey
had been hanging around Helen Brock in her final months,
(20:45):
he decided to delve deeper. The information he turned up
was a game changer. Apparently, Richard had taken Helen to
New York over New Year's Eve, and it had been
him who arranged for her visit to the Mayo Clinic
in Rochester, Minnesota, the last city in which investigators believed
she had truly been alive. Well. This information was certainly
(21:08):
enough to get Assistant US Attorney Stephen Miller and his
team excited. In nineteen seventy nine, two years after Helen's disappearance,
it seemed more and more signs reporting to Richard Bailey
being their man. Glen View police commander John O'Connell reported
a scrawled, spray painted message on the road near Helen
Brock's seven acre estate, reading Richard Bailey knows where Brock's
(21:32):
body is, and John Mink, a court appointed attorney for
Helen Brock's massive estate, claimed that Richard behaved suspiciously when questioned.
In fact, John recalled Richard Bailey showed up at his
office with his attorney in tow and refused to even
admit his name under questioning. Further, Richard had his attorney
(21:52):
state that he would not be answering questions based on
his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. Since John Mink's
estate work wasn't in and of itself a criminal investigation,
he couldn't compel Richard Bailey to cooperate with him. But
John certainly could relate to the investigating authorities that Richard's
entire demeanor seemed suspicious, so he did. Years passed as
(22:17):
investigators tried to find hard evidence to stick to Richard Bailey.
Life moved on and the case grew colder and colder.
In nineteen eighty four, seven years after Helen Brock had
gone missing, she was officially declared dead. An assistant US
attorney Stephen Miller was still chasing after her killer. By
this time, his strategy had shifted to focus on the money,
(22:40):
who stood to gain and who stood to lose by
her death. The beneficiaries of Helen's will were her brother, Charles,
a retired railroad worker who had never seem particularly interested
in his sister's money, and several animal protection organizations HMM.
The financial winners from Helen's will see semed unlikely to
(23:00):
have brought about her demise. Richard Bailey and his horse
fraud buddies were far more likely to have facilitated Helen's
inn to protect their lucrative equine scams, so that's what
the assistant US attorney focused on. In an interview with
NBC's Dateline years later, Stephen Miller remembered how his deep
investigation into Richard Bailey really got rolling. A local investor
(23:24):
asked me if I wanted to investigate a fifty thousand
dollars fraud involving a transaction with a horse. Stephen Miller explained,
I was told that Richard Bailey, who was rumored to
have defrauded many women over the years in transactions involving horses,
had even dated Helen Brock, and once he said that really,
in a flash, the investigative plan for solving Helen Brock's
(23:46):
disappearance came into being. By nineteen eighty nine, Stephen Miller
had built a broad investigation that implicated Richard Bailey in
extensive horse industry related fraud, and Stephen believed that he
could conclusively link Richard numerous financial frauds to Helen's apparent murder.
Follow the money solve the murder was his mantra. The
(24:07):
breakthrough moment in the case finally came after so many
years of chasing, thanks to doctor Ross Hugey, a veterinarian
entangled in Richard Bailey's fraud schemes under pressure. Doctor Huges's
revelations about the horse scams provided Assistant US Attorney Stephen
Miller with the leverage he needed to unravel the wider conspiracy,
a conspiracy that turned out to be bigger than Jack
(24:30):
Mallick or Richard Bailey alone. Doctor Hugy's testimony led authorities
to believe that the kind hearted candy lady Helen Brock
had managed to inadvertently get herself mixed up with a
notorious Jane Gang. Helen didn't know who she was dealing with.
Former alcohol, tobacco, and firearms agent Jimmy Delordo would later
(24:50):
lament she figured she was dealing with Richard Bailey, But
Richard Bailey was just a front man. The hard guys
were all in the back. These guys were killers their
whole life. These killers behind Richard Bailey's front were the
Jane Gang, and they had been shipping horses into Chicago
since the nineteen thirties. Silas Jane had started the gang
(25:12):
and murder was a regular tool in his kit. People
were deathly afraid of Silas Jane. Assistant US Attorney Stephen
Miller explained the criminals flocked to him as a mentor
and as a teacher. Silas Jane was a cold blooded killer,
and they knew it. He had his own brother killed.
Once Stephen Miller had linked Richard Bailey to the Jane Gang,
(25:34):
it was only a matter of time before justice was served.
By nineteen ninety four, US Attorney Miller and his team
had compiled a compelling case against Richard Bailey and more
than two dozen other defendants to take the case to
a federal grand jury. This was a landmark moment, even
coming so many years after helen Brock's presumed murder, investigators
(25:59):
had uncovered a sprawling criminal network that extended far beyond
fraudulent horse sales. The trial that followed was not just
about financial deceit now it hinged on the accusation that
Richard Bailey had orchestrated helen Brock's murder to silence her
on behalf of his own interests and the interests of
the entire Jane Gang. Despite the lack of physical evidence
(26:23):
traditionally associated with murder cases such as a body. The
circumstantial evidence presented by US Attorney Stephen Miller was now
so overwhelming that it painted a damning picture of Richard
Bailey's motives and actions. The prosecution felt ready to finally
seek justice for Helen Brock. Richard Bailey, meanwhile, was on
the hot seat and had to make a serious decision
(26:45):
about his defensive strategy. He faced a choice go to
trial by jury and risk getting convicted of murder, or
plead guilty to the fraud related charges only and take
his chances with the judge, Milton Shadour. Ever, the gambler
elected to plead guilty to fraud and face the judge.
But luck was not on Richard's side this time. Judge
(27:07):
Shadour decided to hold a trial like sentencing hearing regardless
of Richard's guilty plead, and announced he would hear all
the evidence in the case and not just the evidence
related to the fraud charges. During the sentencing hearing that followed,
the court heard a mix of compelling, if sometimes questionable testimonies.
(27:28):
Witness Arthur Katz testified that his father had been a
close friend of Helen Brock's and that she had visited
his office shortly before her disappearance. According to Arthur, Helen
had complained to his father about being cheated on a
horse steal by a younger man she was dating, who
had made arrangements for her trip to the Mayo Clinic.
(27:48):
Then there was the witness of Kathy Jane Olson with
an even more dramatic narrative. Kathy was the forty one
year old daughter of horsemen Frank Jane Junior and ther
and niece of the late horseman and Jane Gang founder
Silas Jane. Kathy testified that she had known helen Brock,
that she had given her riding lessons and once sold
(28:11):
her a gray horse. Cathy also said that she'd been
hiding in a supply closet in her father's office one
day when she overheard Richard Bailey and her father talking.
According to the Chicago Sun Times, Kathy testified that the
men said we had to shut her up when discussing
helen Brock. That's pretty damning testimony, but Kathy's credibility was
(28:33):
swiftly challenged by the defense based on discrepancies in her
story and her history of substance abuse. Next, Joseph Plemans.
Another key witness for the prosecution was called Joseph. Like
Richard Bailey, was a con man, but unlike Richard, who
showed off horses and sold them at inflated prices to wealthy,
(28:53):
unwitting female buyers, Joseph sold horses by showing photographs of
animals he never owned nor had any intention of delivering,
so he wasn't exactly an upstanding guy. But Joseph was affable,
and the court ate up his account of a lunch
he shared in February nineteen seventy seven with Richard Bailey
and fellow horseman Kenneth Hanson. Richard said that he was
(29:16):
in trouble. Joseph Plemmons testified, and he looked at me
and said the candy lady wasn't so sweet anymore, and
he was in trouble that he thought that she was
going to go to the authorities. He could not stand
the heat, and he wanted to know if Kenneth and
I could make her disappear for five thousand dollars. At
(29:36):
this point, Joseph told the court that Kenneth said he
wouldn't kill an old lady and excused himself to go
to the toilet. Joseph said he also turned down Richard
Bailey's request. Two weeks after this alleged lunch between the
three dirty horse dealers, helen Brock disappeared. Joseph Plemman's testimony
was the government's most direct evidence that Richard Bailey had
(29:59):
solicited it at Helen Brock's murder. US attorney Stephen Miller
succinctly captured what Joseph Pleman's words had conveyed. Richard's motive
was damage control and the only way to protect himself
was to silence her. When Richard Bailey finally took the stand,
he denied any wrongdoing towards Helen Brock. When questioned about
(30:20):
specific dates and events, his testimony was marred by inconsistencies,
and he came across as a man willing to go
to extreme lengths to maintain his own fraudulent, excessive lifestyle.
While the prosecution's witnesses had certainly not all been slam dunks, Ultimately,
(30:41):
Judge Milton Shadour determined that it was more probable than
not that Richard Bailey did commit the offenses of conspiring
to murder and soliciting the murder of Helen Brock. If
Richard Bailey had shown remorse for his actions, Judge Shadour
said he would have been content to punish him with
ten years in jail. Due to the defendant's arrogance, he
(31:01):
was ultimately sentenced to thirty years in prison. It may
as well have been a life sentence for the then
sixty seven year old Richard Bailey. Bailey was finally released
from a federal prison in Florida a few years earlier
than his full sentence, in July twenty nineteen, at the
age of eighty nine. He died in twenty twenty three.
(31:23):
Helen Brock's body has still to this day never been found,
but the investigation into her disappearance and presumed murder ultimately
resulted in a total of thirty three convictions against Richard
Bailey and his associates on a range of charges including fraud, arson,
and obstruction of justice. The equestrian world's dirty players had
(31:44):
been fully exposed at last, and in a roundabout way,
it was Helen Brock who had put an end to
the terrible horse murders for insurance money scandal. It might
have pleased animal lover Helen to know that her presumed
murder was at least the impetus for the subsequent life
saving investigation that shut down Tommy the Sandman Burns Richard
(32:05):
Bailey in all their crooked cronies for good. To close
today's scandal, which ended with justice that came at a
tragically high priced I'm blending up some fresh pineapple juice.
After all, we must drink something sweet in honor of
the Sweet Candy Ladies memory, Helen Brock. Here's to you
(32:26):
and your enduring legacy of animal welfare and philanthropy. Join me,
your barista, and host Jay Harris for next week's episode
of Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports Scandals is
(32:46):
a production of Dan Patrick Productions, Never Ever Productions and
Workhouse Media from executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson, Nick Panella,
Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Clary. Hosted by Jay Harris, Written
and produced by Jen Brown, Francie Haiks, Maya Glickman, and
Jennifer Clary,
Host
Jay Harris
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