In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. Running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

E.B. McClain

Positions held: State senator, representative

Wanted for: bribery, conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering

Date of conviction: Jan. 21

Sentence: 5 years 10 months in prison

Criminally fun fact: The Bessemer native and four-term senator passed $760,000 funds to the community program Heritage to Hope Foundation, intended to tutor high school dropouts. McClain received a 40 percent kickback, or $304,000.

After sentencing, he said, as a joke, “I guess I can learn how to play golf now,” referring to his likely prison, minimum-security federal prison at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery. The prosecution sharply rebuked McClain’s quip.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: E.B. McClain
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

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The con artist seemed
genuine enough until
he swore he had lied.

• • •

Read more haiku.

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. Running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Bill Blount

Positions held: Montgomery investment banker, handled Jefferson County’s bond swap deals

Wanted for: bribery and conspiracy, indicted with Al LaPierre and Langford

Date of conviction: today, admitting to bribing county commissioners Langford and Mary Buckelew.

Sentence: Sentencing date to be determined. Blount faces up to 10 years in prison for conspiracy and 5 years in prison for bribery (prosecutors wil ask for 52 months), plus up to $500,000 in fines. Plea agreement says he will forfeit $1 million. Blount is expected to testify in Langford’s trial.

Criminally fun fact: The government says Blount paid for several of Langford’s expensive purchases, including $11,750.40 at Bromberg’s Fine Jewelers and nearly $30,000 in 4 years at Remon’s Clothier.

According to the Press-Register (Mobile), Blount has had a tangled history of bond financing deals gone sour, from two 1995 deals for the City of Mobile that warranted investigation by the FBI and the IRS, and a state warehouse construction project from 2001 pushed by political pal and then Gov. Don Siegelman.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: William Blount
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

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Sweeter than cherries,
more potent than wine are the
kitchen’s warm chuckles.

• • •

Read more haiku.

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. Running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Richard Hawes

Positions held: Atlanta railroad engineer

Wanted for: murder of his daughter May (found in East Lake) and his other daughter Irene and wife Emma (both found chained at the bottom of Lakeview Lake, now Highland Park Golf Course).

Date of conviction: May 23, 1889

Sentence: death by hanging

Criminally fun fact: Hawes’ triple homicide sparked national media attention for the young city of Birmingham. He married Mayes Story, of Columbus, Miss., shortly after the murders. His son Willie, living with Hawes’ relatives in Georgia, survived.

After the discovery of Emma and Irene’s bodies, a mob of 1,000 to 3,000 people came for Hawes at the county jail, but Sheriff Joseph Smith ordered his deputies to fire on the crowd, killing 10 people. A St. Louis circus owner offered to purchase Hawes’ body for his traveling sideshow but was rejected.

The episode is credited with transforming Birmingham from a wild frontier town into a law-abiding New South city.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: Richard Hawes
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

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Each day, a new plan
forms from cobwebs and sad whims,
only to fly free.

• • •

Read more haiku.

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. Running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Al LaPierre

Positions held: executive director of the Alabama Democratic Party; lobbyist for the City of Fairfield and Jefferson County Racing Association; consultant to Montgomery-based Blount Parrish and Company for Jefferson County bond swap deals.

Wanted for: conspiracy and filing a false tax return, indicted with Bill Blount and Langford

Date of conviction: July 30

Sentence: To be sentenced Nov. 19. Maximum is 8 years in prison, but prosecution is expected to recommend 4 years, as part of LaPierre’s plea agreement and testimony in Langford’s trial. He also forfeits $371,932 plus taxes owed from 2003 to 2006.

Criminally fun fact: LaPierre promoted VisionLand (now Alabama Adventure) to state legislators on Langford’s behalf in 1996. His political action committees were among the biggest contributors to Langford’s 2002 campaign for the Jefferson County commission.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: SEC investigation into Jefferson County bond swaps
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

Want more Wade on Birmingham? Subscribe to our free newsletter!

All the bird wanted
was a little company
and our granola.

• • •

Read more haiku.

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. Running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

James Bevel

Positions held: minister; member of U.S. Navy; aide to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; Alabama project coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

He suggested to King that children participate in the civil rights marches in Birmingham. The move eventually led to the police’s use of fire hoses and dogs to turn away protesters from Kelly Ingram Park.

Wanted for: incest

Date of conviction: April 2008

Sentence: 15 years in prison, but was out on bond because of poor health and died Dec. 19.

Criminally fun fact: Bevel was born in Itta Bena, Miss., to a sharecropping family and had 16 siblings. He fathered 16 children among nine women, and married four times.

His erratic behavior included: declaring himself a prophet in a hotel room and asking college students to drink his urine as a loyalty test; supporting claims of innocence by James Earl Ray, King’s assassin; and running for vice president in 1992 with presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche Jr.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: James Bevel
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

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Waves lap at toes. Stars
sparkle overhead and all
around. Moon hides out.

• • •

Read more haiku.

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. Running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Virginia Hill

Positions held: Lipscomb native; waitress; alleged bookmaker, prostitute and blackmailer; Mafia “bag woman”

Wanted for: involvement in organized crime, tax fraud

Date of conviction: never convicted, though she testified before the Senate and later moved to Europe after the Internal Revenue Service sued her for back taxes. When asked by the Senate committee on organized crime why a mobster would give Hill so much money, she replied, “Because I’m the best —-sucker in town.”

Sentence: n/a

Criminally fun fact: Hill was one of 10 siblings. She was rumored to have secretly married gangster Bugsy Siegel. Two actresses have portrayed Hill: Dyan Cannon in a TV movie and Annette Bening in “Bugsy.” Her overdose on sleeping pills appeared to be an apparent suicide, but could have also been a Mafia hit.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: Virginia Hill
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

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A still from the documentary, “Food Inc.”

Following up on our exclusive story from earlier this week, “Food Inc.” tickets are on sale through Bottletree Cafe for the Labor Day weekend screenings in Birmingham. Proceeds benefit Greater Birmingham Community Food Partners, a nonprofit advocacy group for sustainable food.

“Food, Inc.” is a critically acclaimed documentary that examines the modern American food industry.

• Sept. 5, 1 p.m., $7 [buy tickets]
• Sept. 5, 5 p.m., $7 [buy tickets]
• Sept. 6, 4 p.m., $18, includes panel discussion and Sunday supper after screening [buy tickets]

For more information, contact Amanda Storey on her site, Food Revival, or e-mail her at Amanda.storey[at]foodrevival.com.

For more on “Food Inc.,” see our previous story, “EXCLUSIVE: ‘Food Inc.’ to screen at Bottletree Cafe on Labor Day weekend.”

Update: You can also find out more about the screenings on Food Revival.

To be or not to
be? We have shuffled off this
mortal coil, yo.

• • •

Read more haiku.

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. Running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Danny Ray Miles

Positions held: bartender, felon and federal witness

Wanted for: murder, kidnapping and robbery

Date of conviction: 1977

Sentence: life in prison

Criminally fun fact: Born Danny Milar, Miles hid guns in his garage in Ohio before testifying against the gun-running operation. The Witness Protection Program moved him to Florida, then Birmingham, where he was given a job tending bar at Pat James Tavern on Southside.

He and Samuel Yarber kidnapped and murdered two men on Nov. 3, 1975. Police recovered 17 bullets from the bodies and the ground. Miles, denied parole in 2007, will have another parole hearing in 2012.

Barbara Bearden, sister of Miles’ victim Ronald White, co-founded victims’ rights group Victims of Crime and Leniency.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: Danny Ray Miles
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

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The upside-down squirrel
would not leave the window screen,
showing off a bit.

• • •

Read more haiku.