During the first half of the 20th century, gang leaders Carl, Earl and Bernie Shelton made Fairfield a household name.

Based on testimony of Charlie Birger himself, the Shelton Brothers were convicted for a 1925 unsolved mail carrier robbery of $15,000 and were sentenced to 25 years.

Birger dominated bootlegging in Southern Illinois until he himself was hanged in Benton for the murder of West City Mayor Joe Adams in 1928.

Based in East St Louis, one of the most prosperous cities of its day, they controlled all vice from Peoria and southward.

They met their demise at the hands of the Chicago mob and an insider Charles "Blackie" Harris.

A land dispute led to Blackie joining forces with the Mob to kill off members of the Shelton gang.