THE DEVIL LOOKS AFTER HIS OWN
Assassination attempts became a regular part of the workday for Charlie Wall. Tales of his exciting escapes from sure death are legendary in Ybor City. He once dove behind a car as a hitman unloaded ammunition clips at him and escaped any serious injury. On another occasion, he ducked under his steering wheel as bullets ripped through his car seat, whizzing just inches over his head. His most famous escape was when his car was pinned between two hitmen on Nebraska Avenue, one in front of the vehicle and one on the side. To escape, his driver and bodyguard, Joe “Baby Joe” Diez, stood on the car’s running board and returned fire while driving backward through traffic. They escaped unharmed.
But there was one enemy Charlie Wall’s bodyguards couldn’t protect him from–himself. Addicted to morphine, Charlie Wall’s arms were covered with puncture scars. One of his drivers, “Scarface” Johnny Rivera, used to tell tales of neighbors calling him late at night, informing him that Charlie Wall was stumbling around the neighborhood in nothing but his nightshirt. Rivera would always hurry over and bring his boss home.
In 1928, one of Charlie Wall’s former companions, Isabella Knowles, went to him for morphine, complaining of withdrawal pains. Charlie Wall wrote a note for her to bring to one of his lieutenants, George “Saturday” Zarate, asking Zarate to give her what she wanted. But, unknown to both, Knowles worked as a federal informant. As a result, both Zarate and Charlie Wall were arrested and charged with selling narcotics.
But, he had one addiction he could never kick–his habit to power, an addiction that blinded him to a stark reality–there is only so far you can push the limits of corruption before someone is forced to push back.
His downfall began in 1934. Claude Pepper and Park Trammel were competing in an election for the state Senate, and Charlie Wall was backing Trammel. Whether Trammel asked for this support is that Charlie Wall was stumbling-unknown. What is known is that Charlie Wall’s support guaranteed Trammel would win Ybor City and Tampa. The only question was how many votes Charlie Wall would allow Pepper to receive. Charlie Wall decried that Pepper would only receive two votes in one particular district in West Tampa. When all the votes were tallied statewide, Pepper lost the election by 3,000 votes. In Ybor City and West Tampa, he lost by 6,000 votes. It was Wall’s high water mark–he’d won a statewide election for a candidate.
