During the 1970s and early 1980s, the blue-collar community of East Chicago, Indiana, was run by the local political machine. Such organizations run on money, and one of the Windy City’s most powerful rainmakers was Jay Given. The fifty-one-year-old former city attorney, nicknamed the “Midnight Mayor,” was an adept fundraiser and behind-the-scenes operator who forged alliances by trading favors. Given was a shrewd manipulator who had mastered the art of quid pro quo.

The evening of May 15, 1981, was business as usual for Given. The business, of course, was politics, as he was attending a fundraiser at East Chicago’s Elks Club.

Ensconced in the public affairs on the outskirts of perhaps America’s most corrupt city, it was “given” that the politico pro would have his share of enemies. One of them apparently wanted him silenced, turning the Elks Club from a political venue into a crime scene.

Some consider the murder of Jay Given a quintessential “Whodunit.” Others contend the culprit is obvious and question why he was not charged.

Jay Given

A native of East Chicago, Jay and his wife Phyllis had three children, sons Jeffrey and David, and daughter Leslie.

Jay And Phyllis

1960s Photo

Given served as East Chicago city attorney from 1963-74. In 1970, he helped elect City Controller Bob Pastrick as mayor. The city’s new leader then appointed Given as his legal consultant and advisor to the city’s sanitation board. In big city politics, however, alliances are rarely eternal.

As Pastrick was re-elected to two more four years terms, his and Given’s relationship became strained after a falling out over a number of political issues. In addition, several city councilmen at odds with Given voted against many of Pastrick’s projects if Given had involvement. As a result, Given was removed from the sanitation board by Pastrick halfway into his term.

Given was also forced to resign as city attorney in March 1974 following his bypassing the planning commission in issuing a special land use permit for the construction of a nursing home in a designated zoning area for industry. Afterwards, he returned to private law practice but remained ensconced as a powerbroker in city politics.

Given and Pastrick’s deteriorating association broke three years later, during the bribery trial of former city Sanitary District Superintendent Joseph Rakowoski, who was ultimately convicted of misusing city money for purchasing gifts for political fundraisers and rallies. Pastrick testified such impropriety was common and was authorized by Given in his capacity as city attorney.

The mayor’s claims led to a deeper investigation into Given’s conduct during his years as city attorney. In 1980, after allegations of bribery, conspiracy, and professional misconduct were levied against him during his tenure, the calls were growing for the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission to conduct disbarment hearings against him.

A decade after helping install Bob Pastrick in the mayor’s chair, Jay Given was bent on unseating him. He spearheaded a movement to solidify East Chicago’s white and black voters against the growing political strength of Hispanic-Americans who supported Pastrick’s re-election bid.

Jay Given and Bob Pastrick

On the evening of May 15, 1981, a fundraiser was held at the Elks Club for Atterson Spahn, a Lake County Commissioner and one of East Chicago’s most prominent black politicians, who was considering a mayoral run against Pastrick.

Atterson Spahn

Given did not attend many political fundraisers, but he made his presence known that evening, commingling with multiple people. The night was going well as he worked the room for a couple of hours and won a $300 raffle at the Las Vegas-style event.

Shortly after 11:00, Given said goodbye to several people, telling one he and Phyllis were flying to Cleveland early the following morning. He was seen walking from the lobby, heading outside with cigarettes in hand. Within seconds puffs of smoke were in the air . . . coming from gunpowder.

Working The Crowd

Before Given made it through the eleven-by-nineteen-foot vestibule, a single gunshot to the back of his head killed him. Many of the nearly four-hundred people attending the fundraiser heard the gunshot, but none claimed to have seen the actual shooting or the culprit.

The bullet’s shell casing landed in the club’s entryway.

Where Jay Given Was Gunned Down

n their panic, many of the political patrons fled the Elks Club, trampling over Given’s lifeless body in the process.

Attendees Stampeded Like Bulls

Out Of the Elks Club

Inspector Paul DiCharia said the bullet had exited through the middle of Given’s forehead, went through the glass front doors, struck a brick building across the street, and then landed on the street.

The Shattered Elks Club Glass Door

The .45-caliber bullet was in perfect condition, with the exception of its nose.

Instead of following the standard procedure of placing the items in the evidence vault, Inspector DiCharia marked the bullet and locked it in his desk drawer. His stated reason for the unusual action: He was amazed at the bullet’s condition and wanted other officers to observe it.

The Bullet

When Inspector DiCharia retrieved the bullet four days later, he found it had been altered. A hole had been made in the primer of the shell casing and cut marks were on the lands and grooves on the projectile.

Someone had gone to great lengths to alter the bullet’s features. The only people with access to the evidence drawer worked in the police department.

Bullet Recovered But Altered

Despite the damage, FBI analysts were able to identify the weapon the shell had come from as a Detonics 1911-style Combat Master, a rare handgun. The shell casing was eventually linked to one of only fifty-eight Detonics with a specially modified ejecting mechanism.

One of the Detonics guns was owned by East Chicago Police Department Deputy Chief John Cardona. He had access to the evidence drawer housing the tampered bullet and also owned a similar Detonics handgun, though he claimed it had been stolen six months earlier.

Shortly before Jay Given’s murder, Cardona had asked another officer more experienced in ballistics about tracing bullets and shell casings to a specific gun.  A gunsmith at a Detonics factory said he had worked on Cardona’s gun and that the shell found at the crime scene was from the gun he fixed, but his claim could not be corroborated.

Dectonics 1911 Combat Style Master 

The Kind Of Gun Used To Kill Jay Given

The thirty-six-year-old Cardona was an active member of a Latino political club allied with Pastrick against Given. The latter had made it clear that if his man were elected mayor, Cardona would be given his walking papers.

Cardona attended the Elks Club event and several people reported he was shadowing Given throughout the evening. He said he was at the club’s bar at the time of the shooting, but several people who knew him and who were seated at the bar at the time of the shooting did not recall him being there.

Deputy Police Chief John Cardona

Although no one said they had seen Cardona as Given headed toward the exit, twenty-eight-year-old fireman Mark Warholic said that shortly before the shooting, he saw Given in the Elks Club lobby arguing with a man in a bluish-gray suit who he described as approximately six-feet-one-inch tall with black, wavy hair. Shortly afterward, Warholic went to the restroom and did not see the man as Given walked toward the exit.

Both the man’s attire and physical description fit Cardona. A police composite of the man was made based on Warholic’s description. I could not find anything specifically stating so, but Cardona apparently sported a moustache at the time.

Five days after the murder, another event attendee, Charles Newsome, told police he had also seen Given and a man he believed to be Cardona arguing and shoving each other shortly before he heard the shot. Newsome’s claim, however, was dismissed because he was a convicted felon who was facing a lengthy prison term and because he admitted attending the Elks Club event in the hopes of stealing an attendee’s car.

A Rendering Of The Man Seen 

Arguing With Given

Everyone in the East Chicago Police Department was asked to take a polygraph test. Each person passed with the exception of John Cardona. After refusing to take a second test focusing on his Detonics gun and being found guilty on two disciplinary charges, Cardona was dismissed from the department in August 1983.

Cardona then moved to Florida.

Cardona Canned 

John Cardona was, and still is, the primary suspect in Jay Given’s murder.  Many believe the evidence was sufficient to charge him, but Lake County prosecutor Jack Crawford felt it was not enough for a conviction.

In a macabre irony, charges may not have been filed against John Cardona in the murder of Jay Given for political reasons.

Cardona Is Suspected 

But Not Charged

Robbery has been ruled out as a motive in the murder of Jay Given. The $300 he won from the raffle was still in his pocket, his wallet and credit cards were intact, and his watch had not been taken.

On the day after the murder, someone fired a shot through the living room window of the Given apartment. Phyllis also subsequently received several calls from a man who claimed to know the killer’s identity, but he did not provide a name.

It was never determined who fired the shot or who placed the phone calls.

More Questions

Authorities believe the murder of Jay Given is solvable. None of the estimated four-hundred people in attendance at the Elks Club event that evening claim to have seen the murder, but police believe there are witnesses who refused to speak to them due to fear for their own lives.

The first call received by police reporting the murder was from a young woman with a Spanish accent who is believed to have witnessed the shooting from an apartment building across the street from the Elks Club.  The woman was never positively identified.

A former Lake County prosecutor says a woman who worked at the Jockey Club, located in the same building as the Elks Club, is a “key” to the case. The woman typically waited for her ride home in the building lobby, but she had instead begun walking home at 10:30 that evening, approximately half-an-hour before Jay Given was gunned down. When police questioned her, they say she implied she knew something pertinent, but would not tell them due to fear for her own safety.

Shortly before the shooting, several witnesses reported seeing five people coming down the stairway of the Elks Club. Three of them, all black men, were near the foot of the steps when Given was shot. These men have also never been identified. Police believe at least one of them may have seen the killer of Jay Given and hope, even after all these years, he will come forward.

Investigators are not giving up hope that the killer of Jay Given will be learned. If you have any information on his murder, please contact the East Chicago, Indiana, Police Department at 219-660-0000.

Who Killed The Politico?

A tale involving Chicago politics would not be complete without incidents of corruption. Although East Chicago is in Indiana, the corruption does not stop at the border.

In 1989, Inspector Paul DiCharia was convicted of perjury after admitting he lied when questioned about evidence tampering in the case in an effort to protect Cardona. I could not find what sentence he received.

Inspector Paul DiCharia

Also in 1989, Atterson Spann, the man Jay Given hoped would unseat Bob Pastrick as East Chicago mayor, was convicted of state and federal bribery and conspiracy charges. Spann accepted roughly $30,000 in kickbacks from two cleaning companies seeking county contracts while serving as an East Chicago Commissioner from 1975-86. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison.

Spann died in 2022 at age eighty-three.

Spann Sentenced

Bob Pastrick won his re-election bid for a third term as East Chicago mayor two years after Jay Given’s murder. He wound up winning multiple re-election bids, serving as the city’s leader through 2004. Political pundits still ponder if Pastrick’s record thirty-two years as East Chicago mayor would have occurred if Jay Given had not been murdered.

Pastrick died in 2016 at age eighty-eight.

Popular Pastrick

Chicago is notorious for instances of “dead men voting;” a running joke is that Jay Given is happier dead than he was alive because, in death, he has more ballots to cast.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/163937947/jay-neil-given

Dead Man Voting?

 

SOURCES:

• Chicago Tribune
• Northwest Indiana Times
• Unsolved Mysteries