One of the most notorious Hot Springs personalities was a guy named Owney Madden, a killer from the Hells Kitchen Irish mob in New York. He came to Hot Springs later in his life to hide out and to run some casinos for his bosses back home. He became a real fixture in the local community with a huge house on trivista avenue where he lived until the mid 1960s. He went from being a notorious killer to a civic leader in the bible belt. An unbelievable story, really. Once my dad told me about his house being bombed. You'd never believe this stuff if you came to Hot Springs, I swear to God, but it's all true.
And recently I was going through some old stuff my great aunt left behind when she passed away and came across a bunch of old letters and photos and junk and found this letter that I am convinced was penned by Madden himself. I even think the "L.L." he mentions is Lucky Luciano, another Hot Springs underworld refugee. Check it out and tell me what you think...
