The Gary Theater Bombings
The “King of Lake County”
Nicholas “Nicky” G. Bacogiannis was born in 1889 in Peloponnisos, Greece. His family immigrated to the United States in 1903, settling in New York City. At some point, his name was Americanized from Bacogiannis to Bikos.
Nick and his brother moved to Gary, Indiana, in 1909. After a few financial setbacks, Nick joined the Gary Police Department and was first listed as a patrol officer in 1912. By 1916, the press listed him as a detective. Later newspaper records state Nick was a Junior (or 1st) Patrolman. I don’t think Mr. Bikos was a detective, but we’ll let someone smarter than me have the last word. Regardless, Nick was a patrolman with his beat inside “the Patch,” a place that needs no introduction.
“Nicky” worked in the city as an advocate for Greek causes. He helped found the Greek Orthodox Community of Gary in 1913. In 1916, he advocated for workers at the Aetna Powder Works, who were striking due to money troubles. One hundred Greek workers were arrested during the strike, which Nick assisted with as a translator.
The following year, Nick was indicted for “keeping a house of ill fame.” He ran a gambling joint at 1333 Washington Street —smack in the middle of the Patch. There is no word on how the indictment affected Nick or his law enforcement career. His boss, Mayor Thomas Knotts, was on the out. When Knotts lost political power, a lot of his loyalists were fired or forced to resign. Nick was a part of this group.
Bikos got into more controversial trouble when his cousin, James, was considered missing in action for a time in France. The family thought James was indeed dead, while the Army concluded he was simply MIA, probably an absconder. James was in a war hospital in Washington, D. C., and Nick worked to get James out of the hospital and the Army. James was so severely wounded that he could not speak or communicate for himself, which led to confusion. It was around this time that he got into the theater business.
Coming Up
Nick founded the Venus Amusement Company in 1919. He bought and controlled several theaters, which Motion Picture News Magazine referred to as “the seven-theater circuit.” He purchased the Cosmo Theater in 1919 at 1238 Broadway. Nick also had deals in which he operated equipment inside other theaters outside of Venus Amusement, but did not own them outright.
The Bikos now controlled the Cosmo, Lyric, Venus, Royal, and Gem theaters in Gary, Indiana; the Star Theater in Whiting; and the only theater located in Hegewisch.
In the 1917 mayoral election, Mayor Hodges won due to the support of the black male vote. He vowed not to ban the showing of The Birth of a Nation in Gary’s theaters, which earned him their votes. I’m sure it was shown at one of Bikos’ theaters.
By 1921, he was a city councilman, serving with Gary’s first black councilman, Arthur B. Whitlock. Bikos was highly corrupt and known in certain circles as “The King of Lake County.” However it happened, Nick was not a councilman by 1925.
The Bikos Brothers Theater Company was founded in October 1927. Its headquarters were at 1134 Broadway, which would later become the Indiana Sandwich Shop. The Bikos Bros (Nick, Dan, and James) owned, leased, operated, controlled, bought, sold, and held moving picture shows, theaters, and amusement places. They also owned numerous businesses in Gary, including the Dickerson Pharmacy on Ridge Road and Broadway.
They owned or controlled the Plaza Theater, the Broadway Theater (located at 1640 Broadway), the Lyric Theater, the Venus Theater, the Indiana Theater, and the Roxy Theater in Glen Park. The Broadway Theater would later become Vivian Carter’s record shop.
The Lyric, a 10-cent theater situated between 7th and 8th Streets and Broadway, opened in 1907 and shut down in 1909 when the owner relocated to St. Louis. The Bikos Brothers would arrive in Gary in 1909, according to the Gary’s Golden Jubilee book.
The Indiana Theater was the former Federal Schlessinger Building. It later became the Gary Savings and Trust Bank building, located at 1112 Broadway, on the midblock of the southwest corner of 11th and Broadway.
According to Cinema Treasures, the Roxy was built by the Bikos Brothers in 1927. The location, 3764 Broadway, is now Backstage on Broadway. Amazing that it still stands.
Bikos owned a theater at the McNair Building, located at 1313 W. 5th Avenue, off 5th and Buchanan Street. I don’t know the name of that particular hall. It was two stories tall and had several storefronts on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floor. The building with his name at 2200 W. 11th Avenue (11th & Roosevelt) was built in 1949. It hosted multiple pharmacies and churches. It still stands, for now.
In all, according to Gary’s Golden Jubilee 1906–1956, the Bikos Brothers owned or built at least 13 theaters in Gary alone.
Editor’s Note: This write-up is not meant to be the gospel when it comes to the names and locations of the Bikos Brothers’ theaters. They had theaters and other businesses all over Gary. It would take a year of research to finalize everything. This was written in a week. A great starting point would be the Cinema Treasures online archive. Additionally, there are conflicting stories about when and where the Bikos family opened businesses and when they closed.
Bikos got in trouble again for running an illegal gambling establishment at 13th & Washington Street, this time with the added caveat of selling alcohol during Prohibition. Bikos threatened a collaborator, Alex Mouroutis. He was investigated, along with sixty-three other defendants. Mouroutis testified that Nick paid $140 every two weeks to corrupt Mayor R. O. Johnson for protection. Alex was the delivery boy who brought Johnson the collected protection funds from everyone involved, including himself. Others paid smaller dues to Johnson, but the frequency of payment varied among individuals. The following dialogue is paraphrased.
“I understand you’re heading back to Indianapolis,” Nick was said to have told Alex in the press. “I sure am,” Alex replied. “Are you going to talk against me?” Nick asked quizzically, fishing for signs of deception. “What? I don’t know…”
“Well, Alex,” Nick interjected, “I must say–if you go to Indianapolis, staying there would probably be in your best interest.”
The threats served to intimidate Alex, but the jury is unsure if they ever had any substance. Nick ended up skipping town and living in Arizona to “improve his health,” as the press reported.
In 1926, Nick began work on a second, exclusively owned theater, located at 15th and Broadway, known as the Roosevelt Theater. As the 1930s rolled in, the Bikos company owned two theaters and had operational rights to several others. Though the list of credentials was vast, Bikos’ operations were “indie” in nature, as described by the Times.
No Idle Threats
The Moving Picture Operators Union dispute arose from the National Allied Theater Owners Association’s demand that film houses employ men from at least two different unions within each theater. This action was dictated in 1931, and strike action was taken immediately. This strike affected 150 theaters in Chicago and the Region. Roosevelt workers attempted to stop operations the following year due to a union dispute.
Here is a short video that briefly talks about the bombings in Michigan.
The MPOU tried to persuade Bikos to terminate the non-union employees. They used tactics such as rockily picketing the entrance and setting off stink bombs in the theater rooms. This sparked an “unemployment war” between movie operators and workers, but Bikos was perceived as the primary antagonist to the workforce.
Allied Theaters then threatened to dismantle their projectors, import foreign projectors, and use non-union workers to operate them. This did not bode well. During the bombing, the police patrolled movie theaters at night, looking for vigilantes who might try to take matters into their own hands.
Much like the Steel Strikes of 1919, theater owners hired outside workers to replace the striking ones, paying them half the wages of the striking workers. Union workers saw the hired help as “strikebreakers.” The Unioners, on average, were paid $90-$150 a week, roughly $1,900. $3,100 a week in today’s money. A sane individual could see why they would be pissed. Additionally, it did not help that the Operators Union president was allegedly under indictment for racketeering.
Organized Chaos
This is the point in time when bombs started going off in Chicagoland. The explosions began in the City of Chicago, with three theaters bombed to hell in August of 1931. The concussions blew out windows for blocks around them, injuring the occupants, even children.
The Hammond Times printed a Chicago Tribune article about the Chicago bombings, but it was little more than a footnote. Over time, small acts of defiance plagued each Gary theater. Little did they know the bedlam that was in store.
Immediately after the Chicago explosions, some MPOU strikers, already striking at nearly every theater in the city, began escalating their tactics. Several theaters were hit with stink bombs during operating hours, to the annoyance of paying customers. Stench bombs were also placed inside Chicago’s theater venues. Their motivation was to force Allied Theater owners to resume hiring Union workers.
The perpetrators would pay children candy and small amounts of money to enter different theaters and throw stink bombs throughout the premises. Theaters were not the only businesses targeted. Dry cleaning establishments and restaurants were also accosted. It got so bad that proprietors threatened children, snatching them up on the streets and telling them to stay out of Gary. Perhaps some knew who the children were and recognized them as the ones responsible for the stink bombs; perhaps not. That information is lost.
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In Indiana, one particular suspect was MPOU member Ralph K. Hirsch. The Bikos Company obtained a temporary restraining order against Hirsch and several others through Circuit Court Judge E. Miles Norton, who found that the mischievous crew had hampered business operations. I don’t know if Hirsch lived in the Region. He may have been from Chicago. Hirsch was known to threaten the non-union workers in the city. The Times reported that he allegedly told a concession stand worker to “join the union or prepare for trouble.”
A more severe bombing occurred in Chicago in January 1932. However, this one was not at a theater. It happened at an undertaker’s facility on the streets of an upscale shopping district. An explosive device was placed inside a door frame. The fuse was lit, and the suspect hurriedly fled the scene. When it went off, victims were thrown off their feet, eardrums shattered, and wounded from flying shards of glass and other debris.
At the same time, stench bombs went off in numerous other establishments across the Loop. The Chicago Tribune attributed these particular bombings to disgruntled cleaning service firms. Business owners ranted about the lack of police protection they received after being warned of worse bombings if they did not close. While these acts may not have been directly related to the movie theater unions, the proverbial fuse had been lit, and various industries were exploring the use of violent tactics to get their grievances taken seriously.
That February, the Lyric Theater of Gary was fire-bombed. First, its movie projector was mutilated and destroyed when it was thrown from its perch in the projection box to the floor. A costly business component, its movie screen, was damaged beyond repair. Since the establishment was closed at the time, the fire generated little press.
To the best of my knowledge, none of the theater bombings have resulted in fatalities. However, other bombings left many Regionites gravely injured. There’s a Times story of a later bomb being thrown at the home of Gary Judge, John P. McGroorty. His daughter and a neighbor’s son attempted to defuse the bomb, either pulling the fuse string out of the bomb or trying to stamp it out. They both ended up mutilated when the bomb exploded. The boy had his eyes blown out, and his nose and a foot ripped off.
In the spring of 1932, Judge Norton began to write a new permanent restraining order. However, Nick Bikos’ lawyers convinced Norton that a new venue was needed. So, Norton got three outside courts to agree to consider the venue change request.
The Gary Theater Bombings
It has been challenging to determine precisely what triggered the subsequent events. They may have been planned over a long period. Yet, the exact “straw” that broke the camel’s back is unknown.
Gary’s anarchist employees went on a rampage. They were Michael Rukavina (a disgruntled former employee), Antone Rubic, Ned Hills, Joe Gennero, and John Hren. Rukavina was the de facto “leader” of this group. On April 24, 1932, Rukavina executed his vengeance against the Bikos Brothers.
Three theaters owned by Bikos were targeted. The Bikos’ Broadway Theater was set ablaze. The fire was so severe that the entire building was destroyed. The Roosevelt Theater and Roxy Theater were bombed and set smoldering. The suspects left letters for the police at each scene, threatening to outright murder Nick Bikos in particular.
Two other theaters were also bombed, the Gary Theater and the Family Theater. When the Gary Theater was attacked, it was holding patrons, school children, and their parents. While the public was used to hearing about the bombings, having so many occur in one day was new. They were ostensively terrified. Unfortunately, thus far, I have not been able to find any images of the bombings in Gary. Not much has been written in the publicly available local press archives about how this affected the city.
As for Nick Bikos himself, he did not escape the wrath. The death threats he received were not new, as he had gotten them ever since the strikes began nearly a year prior. Yet, tonight, Nick would get tested like never before.
He was nearly killed when, in the middle of the night, four assailants pulled into his driveway at his home at 4208 Maryland Street. As his theaters burned, as the embers crackled in the Gary air, thugs jumped out of their car (which was reported as stolen but belonged to one of the gang members, Ned Hills) and, armed with melee weapons and at least one revolver, roughly threatened him with a brutal death, saying they would “take him for a ride.” Though they accosted him, Nick somehow could scramble to his car and flee.
Yet, he was followed by Rukavina alone.
The Chase
A frantic car chase occurred as the ashes of the theater fires cooled in the midnight air. Glen Park was filled with the sounds of tires squelching and angry engines revving. The pop of bullet rounds woke the neighbors as Bikos allegedly drove for his life, leaving his family at home alone. Nick peered into his rearview mirror, into the angry headlights of a revved-up death sedan.
After some slick maneuvering through Glen Park, they found themselves on the outskirts of Black Oak. Black Oak was an unincorporated area and far from the retail goldmine that The Village Shopping Centre would become almost 20 years later. It was sparsely populated and rural; the area became very dark when the sun went down. The few homes stood surrounded by acres and acres of swampland and black oak trees.
According to Nick, he caused his attackers to swerve and veer into a ditch near today’s 36th & Grant Street.
Feeling as if the tide turned, Nick made a U-turn, his headlamps illuminating the ditched vehicle. As Rukavina exited his wrecked car, Nick hit the gas. His tires spun, gravel went flying behind his car, and in an instant, he was launched forward. Mike Rukavina could not move out of the way fast enough and was struck by the steel machine. He was thrown many tens of feet and was unconscious before hitting the ground. Nick exited his car and made a citizen’s arrest against his foe until the police could arrive.
Editor’s Note: Although it is established that a chase ensued, most of what happened was reported in The Times and is presented from Nick Bikos’ point of view. The winner gets to tell the story, and I understand that sentiment. Yet, the story’s flow, particularly the ending, seems fantastical.
With Friends Like These
Their rampage extended beyond Gary. An unknown Hammond theater was bombed. Adding to the list of crimes, three people were kidnapped at gunpoint. Two of the abducted people were Charles Whalen and Zita Gross, a Gary couple. Why they were targeted, I don’t know. The third person was Donald Taylor, a resident of Hammond, IN, and a gas station attendant.
Finally, the gang participated in a slew of armed robberies (with saw-off shotguns) while wearing police badges around the Region with a stolen squad car.
Though the Gary police had arrested many people, Nick Bikos continued to receive death threats from several anonymous people. Strangers appeared at places he frequented, and he was also threatened on those occasions. It’s safe to say Mr. Bikos was not a popular guy.
Yet, it seems the gang had some members killed. One man, Steel City Reality agent Joe F. Leslie, was reportedly found mangled along some train tracks at Lake Station. Another was found buried in a giant pile of quicklime in Gary.
However, Antone Rubic confessed that Leslie, nicknamed “Chief,” was the scheme’s leader and mastermind. They felt he was a liability (for reasons unexplained). Chief was beaten within an inch of his life, then killed and dumped just before the bombings began.
The Investigation
The detectives working the case, George Regal and Cecil Loyd, became more interested in the murder of Leslie. They felt the attempted murder of Nick Bikos and the bombings were part of a larger conspiracy that led to higher places. Joe Leslie was the key to unlocking this mystery.
Joe Leslie was the middleman between the men hired to do the Bikos hit and an unknown group of “higher-ups.” These “up-men” were willing to pay top dollar to ensure that Bikos’ theater empire would collapse and Nick would die.
Before the explosive events, the gang went on a robbing spree. They entered a Glen Park store owned by Quinto Bartolomei with sawed-off shotguns. During this incident, Joe Leslie was the leader. Bartolomei identified him during the detective’s investigation. Just a few days later, Leslie was murdered, his body being run over by a train; his legs were severed.
However, the investigation almost ceased when Rukavina accused Detectives Regal and Loyd of beating him up while interrogating him in Crown Point. Gary Chief Stanley Bucklind suspended the two detectives. However, Stanley couldn’t find any evidence of violence and reinstated the two detectives.
In October of 1932, Ned Hills, owner of the car used to attempt to kill Nick Bikos, was released on bond. Hills used this opportunity to skip town. Later that month, Hills was killed in Davenport, Iowa, by police during an armed robbery. They went to the home of his girlfriend, Alice Heller, who remained in Gary. Upon arrival, law enforcement found an armory, loot from several robberies (including new robberies), and another stolen car that Hills had gifted to Heller.
As interesting as all of this is, I could not find out what happened to any of the remaining suspects or how the bombings affected the city at large.
Later, Bikos helped to found the Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church. It relocated from 13th & Jackson Street in Gary (now Koinonia) to Merrillville in 1967. He also continued to open new theaters and other commercial establishments in the city and elsewhere. Outside of this, nothing of significance was found about Nick for several years.
If one wondered if these attacks saw the cessation of theater bombings in the Region, one would be disheartened to learn it wasn’t the case. The more well-known Hammond State Theater Bombing of 1934 is an example of the sort of anarchy that continued to plague Chicagoland.
Victimized Again
The next time he appeared in the public record for something significant was when he was 70.
By 1961, Nick Bikos still lived in Gary. His home was at 225 E. Ridge Road. On January 24, 1961, Nick sat up watching television upstairs with his wife, Grace, and son.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Bikos answered, and suddenly, another group of five men burst into his home. Only one bothered to wear a mask. They screamed they were the police as they barged their way inside his house. Then, they spoke to Nick in Greek and were his guests for the rest of the time.
Armed, they forced his wife and son into the basement and tied them up. At gunpoint, Mr. Bikos was forced to go upstairs to open a safe. Bikos opened the safe, which was empty. Angered at this, the men tied him up, gagged him, and then ransacked the entire house for an hour.
Bikos got a foot out and escaped outside, still tied to a chair. A neighbor saw him and called the police. Allegedly, Bikos was robbed of jewelry, coins, and other assets worth $1 million.
Later, police found $800,000 in non-negotiable bonds reportedly taken from his home during the robbery. A similar theft happened later at the Gary home of John Feather.
What do you think about all of this?
A significant portion of the Bikos family in NWI can be found in Greek Orthodox publications on the Internet Archive.
