Flukey Stokes

William Morris "Flukey" Stokes (December 12, 1937 – November 19, 1986) was an American reputed mobster from Chicago, Illinois.

Stokes was from the South Side and well known for his silk suits,[8] diamond rings, and flamboyant lifestyle[9] as a drug trafficking kingpin and pool hall owner.

[10][11] The elder Stokes had his son buried in a Cadillac-style coffin with $100 bills stuffed between his diamond ring-laden fingers.

[12] Two years later in November 1986, Flukey would also be murdered, along with his chauffeur, sitting inside a 1986 Cadillac limousine[5] while talking on his wireless telephone.

The casket had functioning headlights and taillights that blinked, whitewall tires, a windshield and a vanity license plate that read "Wimp", Stokes' nickname.

Much of the song's lyrics came directly out of the column including a quote from Willie the Wimp's mother where she described her and her husband's reason for wanting an extravagant funeral for their son.

Notwithstanding the $200,000 anniversary bash Flukey arranged for his wife, nor the wedding vows they renewed on that occasion, he was with a mistress the day he was murdered.

Stokes was killed by two men who lay in wait for him as he stopped to drop off his girlfriend, Diane Miller, outside her residence on 79th Street and S. Ellis Avenue.

The woman ducked the assailant's line of fire sprawling the back seat and survived the attack; uninjured.

[8][14] Stokes was described, by authorities, as: "the richest and most flamboyant drug dealer on [Chicago's] South Side"; further stating that "[he] was known to win or lose as much as $250,000 over a single weekend in Las Vegas" – and that he "seldom missed a night at local race tracks".

The floral arrangements that surrounded him included "cars and dice fashioned from polystyrene foam, illustrating his passion for luxury automobiles and his claim on his income tax returns that his riches came from gambling.