Macoupin County Historical Society Holding Monthly Meeting May 6

The monthly program of the Macoupin County Historical Society will be held Monday, May 6 at 7 p.m. in the Ruyle Building on the Historical grounds in Carlinville. The program is free and open to the public.

The speaker for this month's program is Taylor Pensoneau talking about "The Incredible Gangsters of Downstate Illinois."

Pensoneau is a onetime political reporter, a former leader of the Illinois coal industry and best-selling author. Of the eleven books he has written, two cover an incredible era of law breaking in downstate Illinois beginning in the Roaring Twenties and ending in the 1960's.

They cover from start to finish, the lawless exploits of the infamous criminals who instigated a headline-grabbing reign of terror involving bootlegging, murderous gang warfare, labor racketeering and illegal gambling in the lower part of Illinois.