The Pigtails
From Omnictionary
The nature and history of the underground mafia based in Winner, South Dakota is shrouded in mystery. Commonly referred to as "The Pigtails," this small-town gang has had a surprisingly far reach in recent years. They are the primary suspects for the May, 2008 disappearance of English psychologist Ruby Marchlook. As Marchlook disappeared immediately following suspicions of her involvement in the murder of her husband, William S. Wright, it is rumored that the Pigtails were in cahoots with Marchlook and were possibly involved in the murder of Wright, a controversial novelist and modern Renaissance man.
History
However, the murky and unsavory actions of the Pigtails are not a recent development. The first sources found on the Pigtails date from the 1920s. The following quote, taken from the diary of Jazz Age, Winner, South Dakota housewife Gertrude Fiske, is the one of the earliest known sources referencing the ever-elusive mafia:
"I rode the horse into town today. Elizabeth had told me that the general store was to receive a new shipment of pattern books straight from New York. Well, when I got to the store, I saw right away that Elizabeth had been lying again; she just wanted me with her while she showed off her stupid Model-T to Mr. Gornoff and everyone else at the store. She knows that I told Charley we should get a Model-T so I could ride into town easier-like, and he refused, but she went to her Teddy and he off and bought her one. Well, anyway, we were standing outside the store while she explained her combustion engine and up rode this gang of 5 or so young girls in the shiniest Model-T I ever did see. They were young; couldn't be more than 18, I bet they rode up from the high school down in Colome. They were tough looking, angry on their faces, but scrubbed clean. Each and every one of them had short hair like the women in the pictures from New York, except they had theirs in two bunches on the sides of their heads. Well, they filed out of the T and into the store, walked right up to Mr. Gornoff's brother Eddie who works the pharmacy counter. We heard shouting from inside. We looked into see what all the fuss was about and saw 2 of the girls holding back Eddie (which is quite a feat, as he's not exactly small) while the others searched for something behind the counter. Well, we hear a bang, and the girls jump aside, and there stands Eddie with a pistol in his hand, yelling something serious, and the girls are off and running, back into their shiny car and gunning down the road. Mr. Gornoff ran into tend to Eddie and bid us go, so we left. I think Liz was a bit put off that the appearance of the pigtailed girls so outshone her Model-T, but I think she should just be glad no one got hurt."
As can be seen from this quote, the Pigtails were involved in shady business long before the disappearance of Marchlook. This source from the diary of Ms. Fiske combined with other sources from the same time period suggest that the young girls of the Pigtails were the masterminds behind the biggest bootlegging operation in the Midwest. Ms. Fiske witnessed only 5 girls, but hundreds of young women across the Dakotas and into Nebraska and Kansas were involved in the gang. Fiske suspected that these girls were from Colome, South Dakota, to the southeast of Winner, which is probable, as that unsuspecting village was the base of the Pigtails for Tripp County and the surrounding area of South Dakota, including Rosebud Indian Reservation. The fact that the girls in Ms. Fiske's story go for the pharmacy supports the theory that they were bootleggers, as the pharmacy was one of the few places where alcohol could be sold in the Prohibition era and was a common venue for bootlegging. The Eddie mentioned in Fiske's diary is Edward Gornoff, the pharmacist, who disappeared within the week of Ms. Fiske's entry and was found a month later, drowned in Lake Andes to the Southeast of Winner. The nature of Edward Gornoff's argument with the Pigtails is unclear, a common characteristic of most Pigtail murders.
Several similar events to the one recorded by Fiske occured in the Northern midwest during Prohibition, though only a few of them have evidence enough to be traced to the Pigtails. The gang remained active during the Great Depression, struggling like everyone else to maintain a living. As young, probably single girls, they had few opportunities and a life of crime was one of the more certain ways of staying alive. During World War II, however, the Pigtails seemed to almost disappear--government jobs would have provided a livelihood to those girls who were perhaps a bit squeamish about what was required of them in this female mafia. The Pigtails remained virtually silent into the 1960s, with only a few disturbances around their base areas. During the Vietnam war, however, Pigtails-related crime sore to new heights. For the first time, the Pigtails reached outside of the midwest. Their involvement and funding is evident in the bank accounts of several California radical cult organizations, including that of the Manson family. The pigtails were known to be in contact with Squeaky Fromme, who attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford in 1975. The Pigtails remained active through the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton eras and have continued criminal activity through the present day.
