In Waller’s retelling of this story over the years, he entertained Capone and his men for the next three nights. Staying in a room at the Hawthorne Inn, he rose in the afternoon, ate a big meal, and performed late into the night and the following morning. By the time he left, Capone had stuffed his pockets with cash—$3,000, claimed Fats, which today would total over $40,000. Fats left Chicago and returned to New York with a great story to tell. Not only had he emerged unscathed from his encounter with some notorious gangsters, he had come through it all with a pocket full of dough. Not all
...more
