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John Looney, was the son of Irish immigrants who was born in 1865 in Ottawa, Illinois He studied law on his own and in 1889 was admitted to the Illinois Bar. He practiced law with his partner Frank H. Kelly and had his first real dealings with the law in 1897 when he and his partner were indicted for fraud in the construction of a storm drain in Rock Island. They were indicted for conspiracy to defraud the city by using inferior materials. But eventually all of the convictions were overturned on appeal.

Eventually Looney ventured into politics, and went on to hold an important position in the Democratic Party. He would eventually run for the Illinois State Legislature but lost the election.. Looney blamed his loss on the Rock Island Argus, The Argus had written a lot negative opinion articles about him.

In response, Looney founded the Rock Island News, which he used as revenge against the Argus. The paper had published many negative articles on John Looney during his indictment. Looney's two brothers came to Rock Island from Ottawa and to help him run the paper. They called The Rock Island News, ``the only truthful paper in Rock Island ”. It could have been a good newspaper but instead it was used to blackmail people who paid to keep their names out of the paper. Looney used the newspaper for his own purposes.

Looney began establishing a business enterprise from his building, The building housed the law offices Looney shared with Frank H. Kelly, It also housed a lounge, the newspaper offices of The Rock Island News. His prostitution and gambling business were conducted in the basement of the building.

Looney sold the newspaper in 1908 to W. Wilmerton, but would not give up the control of the paper. The night after he sold the paper, a bomb went off in the building, which Looney still owned .When Looney refused a large insurance settlement the insurance company canceled his policy. However, the day before the insurance was canceled, a fire broke out in the building and did a heavy amount of damage totaling $75,000. Of course, Looney was accused of setting the fire, but it was never proved.

After the fire Looney again began publishing his paper, but this time from his home. In March of 1912, one of John Looney's henchmen, Anthony Billburg, was arrested for extortion. Looney asked the then Mayor of Rock Island, Harry M. Schriver, not to prosecute Billburg, the Mayor refused, Looney then published an article on the front page of his paper accusing the mayor of having an affair with a woman in Peoria. In response, the mayor had Looney arrested and closed down the Rock Island News on March 22..

Four days later, a large crowd gathered in Market Square, agitated by associates of Looney and people opposed to Mayor Schriver. The crowd was angry that Looney had been beaten and also at having the Rock Island News shut down..

Riots started and people were killed. Marshall Law was imposed and enforced by the National Guard which the mayor had called After the riots, raids were carried out on all prostitution houses. All public gatherings were banned, and every saloon was closed. Afterward, Looney left Rock Island to New Mexico, and he lived there until 1921.

He then returned to Rock Island to regain control of his paper .Now with the prohibition law , his former enemies were now his friends, and he had control of over 100 gambling parlors and brothels. Looney extorted protection money from local business with the help of corrupt police officers and also politicians.

In 1922 before a national convention, Looney's henchmen sold protection for law violators. Prohibition agents met with William Gabel, who gave them canceled checks endorsed by John Looney. Mr. Gabel was murdered shortly after which started a gang war where a dozen people were then murdered. Through all this, the Rock Island Argus blamed the community for having let gangsters gain control of Rock Island. As revenge, Looney's Rock Island News published articles implicating the Argus in the murder of Gabel.

The gang war finally ended in October when Looney and his son Connor were having a conversation in their car on Market Square. Two cars pulled up behind them and began shooting. John Looney ran to the nearby hotel and shot back .His son Connor was killed. John Looney survived.

On October 26 everything under Looney's control was closed down. Mayor Schriver and the former police chief were arrested and convicted of a vice protection conspiracy. Looney was also indicted for the murder of William Gabel and for running a theft ring but before he was caught, John Looney ran to Ottawa and then later to New Mexico.

John Looney was caught in New Mexico in 1924. He was convicted in 1925 of "conspiracy to protect gambling, prostitution and liquor traffic” while in Rock Island ,thanks to his former right hand man, who had been a witness for the prosecution. Looney was also charged and convicted of the murder of William Gabel. The trial being held in Galesburg. .John Looney was sentenced to 14 years, he served eight and a half years. John Looney died at a sanitarium for tuberculosis in Texas in 1947.

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