Eighth Time's the Charm

[Henry Whalley]

The Eighth Time's the Charm: The Murder of Stanley Guy Willetts - Paperback - January 14, 2010

by Theodore P. Panaretos [[Author)

Those who remember the twin assassinations of Henry Normile at Cobb's Corner Bar and Guy Willetts at the Soup Kitchen Saloon may enjoy this book, whose title may be an ironic reference to Elizabeth Taylor's eighth marriage, but also refers to the fact that there were seven failed attempts to shoot Willetts before the eight successful endeavor outside the Soup Kitchen Saloon. Defense attorney Ted Panaretos, it seems to me, is suggesting that the two killings were related, the common element being sleeze-ball Harold Jackson Jr., who has forever disappeared into witness protection.

This book is hastily written with more than a few uncorrected grammatical and typographical errors because [[my guess is) Panaretos wished to tell his story before Time took him where it goes.

[Henry Whalley]

BTW, Ted Panaretos is a native Detroiter whose family had a restaurant on the city's far west side over toward Redford -- it may have been on Telegraph, may have been a chophouse, may have been Greek. Does someone know the place?

[Kathleen]

Per this obituary for Ted Panaretos, the family restaurant was Paul's Steak House. No mention of its location.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/fr...611&fhid=11932

[Henry Whalley]

Per this obituary for Ted Panaretos, the family restaurant was Paul's Steak House. No mention of its location.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/fr...611&fhid=11932

Thanks Kathleen. The obit shows that he was working on an appeal to the Supreme Court at age 90 when he died.

[jcole]

This if from 1960

Thanks Kathleen. The obit shows that he was working on an appeal to the Supreme Court at age 90 when he died.

[Henry Whalley]

Thanks! I'm trying to imagine what Plymouth at Telegraph looked like in 1960.

At that time my mom's uncle had a farm on Hoover Rd. south of Masonic in Warren.

[jcole]

Here's the father's obit with the address of the restaurantclipping_58535551 [[1).pdf

[Henry Whalley]

Common to both the Willetts and Normile assassinations was that the Young administration wished to squash all mention of assassins before the 1980 Republican Convention came to town. Possibly for that reason, Normile's assassination was investigated hardly at all. A second reason for ignoring the case was the possibility that Harold Jackson Jr., was involved and would have needed his connections to arrange for a second helping of immunity.

One of Normile's friends who considered reviewing the police homicide file with a view to stirring the pot concluded that they didn't have the stomach for it; and in truth such endeavors are best left to strangers.

[EastsideAl]

I hung around Cobb's a lot in those days and had a nodding acquaintance with Henry. I think everyone around there pretty much knew what happened to Henry, since he had a habit of both allowing the wrong people in his place and pissing the wrong people off. As for the actual person who pulled the trigger, there were a few suspects around at the time, and a lot of whispers, but all those folks are long gone now.

[Henry Whalley]

As for the actual person who pulled the trigger, there were a few suspects around at the time, and a lot of whispers, but all those folks are long gone now.

Agreed, often those in his avocation have lives that are nasty, brutish, and short, if not solitary and poor. At least he didn't go all the way to the dark side by becoming a politician, priest, or preacher, in which case City Hall would have made great efforts to find the assassin.

Going back to the most intriguing aspect of the book: Obviously Panaretos didn't write it for lucre. He had an important story to memorialize. As an attorney he was a careful wordsmith, but he didn't give much heed to having this text edited for style, grammar, etc. Instead he seems to have been in a hurry to publish it.

[Lowell]

I hung around Cobb's a lot in those days and had a nodding acquaintance with Henry. I think everyone around there pretty much knew what happened to Henry, since he had a habit of both allowing the wrong people in his place and pissing the wrong people off. As for the actual person who pulled the trigger, there were a few suspects around at the time, and a lot of whispers, but all those folks are long gone now.

Cobb's was my hangout back then too so we probably were in the same room listening to Bobby McDonald on the piano a few times.

I knew Henry too. Nice guy. Good handball player who used to play with our Tuesday night group at the downtown YMCA. We would go to Carl's Chop House after play and one night he told of how he had hired an exterminator to get rid of the rats in Cobb's but didn't want poisoned rats to end up dying in his walls and stinking up the place. The first night the guy put out chunks of meat and powdered the floor to pick up the tracks. The next night he put out chunks of meat laced with cyanide [highly illegal] along the trails. In the morning Henry found dead rats all over the place inches away from the meat and not in his walls.

Henry dealt some drugs too, some say even at middleman level, and, since no assailant was ever identified, the consensus at that time was that the hit was related to that.

[Henry Whalley]

I avoided places with loud music but knew Henry from Verne's. I imagine the authorities could have solved the case had they wished to do so.

In the Willetts fiasco all conspirators went scot-free except the stupid kid who pulled the trigger for chump-change and was thrown to the wolves by Harold Jackson Jr., and whom Panaretos defended pro bono, and whose story illustrates how justice misfires in a failed city or state.

[Henry Whalley]

P.S. I'm not familiar with Berman's Chop House. Does anyone have memories to share regarding Berman's when it was owned by shady Harold Jackson Jr.?

[jcole]

Here is an address for it; a subscription to Newspapers.com really is handy:

[jcole]

Now, this clipping gives the address as 1431 Times Square 10 yrs earlier; this would be Savannahblue now

[Henry Whalley]

Thanks for the clipping. So, the Hoffa incident happened circa 1969? Makes me question whether Lavin was on the take or simply careless.

[jcole]

There is an article in the April 15th 1979 Freep tying the two murders together: The second page is a full page and too large to post here

The Eighth Time's the Charm: The Murder of Stanley Guy Willetts - Paperback - January 14, 2010

by Theodore P. Panaretos [[Author)

[jcole]

Then finally in April of 83 they get somewhere. Gil Hill was involved in this too

[Danny]

This is the place...

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3713...7i16384!8i8192

This is the place of Soup Kitchen Saloon.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3340...7i16384!8i8192

[Danny]

BTW, Ted Panaretos is a native Detroiter whose family had a restaurant on the city's far west side over toward Redford -- it may have been on Telegraph, may have been a chophouse, may have been Greek. Does someone know the place?

It was on 24000 Plymouth Rd and Telegraph Rd in Redford TWP. The restaurant was torn down long ago. It's now a gas station.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3713...7i16384!8i8192

[Henry Whalley]

Gil Hill was involved in this too

How so?

[Henry Whalley]

The 1983 Detroit Free Press article says that Harold Jackson Jr. was living in Atlanta at the time of Milton Hunt's testimony. Since there’s no statute of limitations on murder, prosecutors may charge him at any time if there's a case. Does anyone recall who the Wayne County Prosecutor was in 1983?

https://www.publicpolicerecord.com/m..._MILTON/123743

[MikeM]

Thanks for the clipping. So, the Hoffa incident happened circa 1969? Makes me question whether Lavin was on the take or simply careless.

Considering the hijacking debacle - which sounds like an unbelievable movie script - I'd say careless. Wonder how his appeal turned out.

[jcole]

He questioned a possible hit man but "couldnt remember it"

How so?

[Henry Whalley]

Thanks jcole. Police HQ was a puzzle-palace in those days.