Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Alleged Gambling House Operating In North Minneapolis, FOX-9 REPORTS, JNS Blog DECIDES To Dig Up More Info...

MNDOC mug shot, therefore public domain, blog
post by John Hoff

FOX-9 has a pretty good story, click here, about an illegal gambling operation which was allegedly taking place at 2507 West Broadway. Charles Wilson Ware, (DOB 1/9/1950) pictured above, is accused of being one of the armed security guards. 

Ware is on probation for homicide, according to FOX-9. Right away I wondered, well, who did he kill? In fact, like most stories published by television stations instead of print media, it left me wanting more details. 

So I went looking on my own...

In an "unpublished" appellate case there is a discussion of something interesting that happened during Ware's trial, when a juror being polled on the guilty verdict appeared to state some reservations about her verdict and spectators became rowdy. Click here for that interesting document. But I couldn't find anything online about who Ware killed. The murder trial took place in 1993 before the internet took over our lives.

Ware is currently sitting in the Hennepin County jail, which lists his home address as 1702 Newton Ave. N., a homestead owned by his family with the same surname. Family should take care of its own, even after they've been to prison for murder. Nothing wrong with that. 

The building where the gambling operation allegedly took place, 2507 West Broadway, is a gray house-like building owned by Thomas H. Johnson III. People in the neighborhood talking about the story in Facebook forums say the address used to be a neighborhood bar. The FOX-9 story mentions Johnson's ownership of the property and repeats the police allegation that Johnson was involved. 

Another name mentioned by FOX-9 is Ulisyie Powell. 

The name "Powell" makes hair on the back of Johnny Northside's neck stand up a little, because it's one of the half dozen names a high-ranking, behind-the-scenes source says is a family frequently associated with crime in North Minneapolis. But searching the name "Ulisyie Powell" on MNCIS turns up surprisingly little: three traffic charges. 

Further search turns up a mortgage that went south at 623 Elwood Ave. N. in Minneapolis, click here for that notice. This happened quite recently; the sheriff's sale was in August. I'd never heard of "Elwood Avenue N." but turns out this short little piece of street does exist and 623 Elwood Ave. N. was once the location of "Big Mamas (sic) Candy Shop," click here for that info. 

Even after coming to the end of my own search, I am hungry and wanting more: It's like some candy from Big Mama was placed in front of me but without a correctly-placed possessive apostrophe was not actually POSSESSED by Big Mama, therefore could not be shared with me or anybody else. 

(Sulky face) 

I look forward to learning more about these interesting charges about a gambling den in North Minneapolis.  Also, it's SO NICE to see mainstream media doing the kind of "check out this guy on Facebook" journalism that JNS blog has been doing for a few years, now. 

Here's an image of Ulisyie Powell from Facebook. His profile, (click here to check it out) doesn't reveal very much.  



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just don't google Charlie Wilson's War.

"Details of the homicide for which Ware apparently was convicted

http://mn.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19940809_0011.mn.htm/qx

" 08/09/94 STATE MINNESOTA v. CHARLES WARE

COURT OF APPEALS OF MINNESOTA


August 9, 1994

STATE OF MINNESOTA, RESPONDENT,
v.
CHARLES WARE, APPELLANT.

Appeal from District Court, Hennepin County; Hon. Daniel H. Mabley, Judge. Dist. Ct. # 90064584

Considered and decided by Klaphake, Presiding Judge, Randall, Judge, and Norton, Judge.

The opinion of the court was delivered by: Norton

NORTON, Judge

Appellant was convicted of second degree murder following a trial by jury. The evidence is sufficient to support the verdict. The trial court's exclusion of a photograph showing the lighting conditions from an eyewitness' vantage point did not deny appellant his constitutional right to present a complete defense. Improper statements made by the prosecutor in closing argument are not grounds for reversal here. We affirm.

FACTS

Appellant was charged with second degree murder following the shooting death of Robert Cole, his wife's nephew, just before 10:47 p.m. on August 26, 1990. See Minn. Stat. § 609.19, subd. 1 (1990). Cole was shot to death in his car at an intersection just down the street from appellant's home. Two neighbors heard the fatal shots and witnessed events which occurred immediately prior to and after the shots."

Johnny Northside! said...

This post has been corrected in light of further information. The murder TRIAL took place in 1993, the actual MURDER took place in 1990.

The post has been corrected by insertion of the word "trial" in the appropriate sentence.

JNS blog strives for accuracy. When error is brought to my attention or I figure out an error has occurred, I leap to make correction.