income on his tax returns to account for his wealth. Unbeknownst to Stokes, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was concluding an investigation and was preparing to serve him with a federal grand jury indictment for "drug racketeering, operating a continuing criminal enterprise and income tax evasion". Garfield Hammonds, assistant special agent in charge of the Chicago Drug Enforcement Administration said, "Chicago has lost one of its biggest sources of supply for cocaine and heroin", regarding Willie Stokes. Stokes was renowned for his flamboyance: usually wearing suits of fine silk, with his "fingers weighted with diamond-cluster rings as big as silver dollars, his forearms festooned with gold bracelets, a gem-emblazoned watch on his right wrist and a gold chain with a diamond-studded 'F' for 'Flukey' around his neck." However, on the day he died he was wearing jogging clothes and no jewelry at all. The Cook County medical examiner recorded that Stokes died wearing "blue sweatpants, powder blue undershorts, a red leather jacket, a red T-shirt underneath a blue T-shirt with the word 'Michigan' written on it, white sneakers, brown socks and a black cap." Funeral Compared to his son's funeral, "Flukey" Stokes' arrangements were considerably modest. The service was held at the A.R. Leak Funeral Home on 78th Street and S. Cottage Grove Avenue, which also conducted the ceremony for the younger Stokes. Over 7,000 people filed past Flukey's casket for a final glimpse of the slain mobster. Stokes was mostly spoken of with reverence by the crowd in attendance—one young mourner said of Flukey: "I was walking on the same street he was walking, I went up to him. I spoke to him. He spoke back. I introduced myself. He shook my hand and everything." Mothers were seen lifting their young children above the coffin so they could see Stokes; adorned for his final viewing. He was laid "in a mahogany coffin with a custom-designed powder-blue interior". Stokes wore tinted sun-glasses, "a blue suit, blue silk shirt, blue tie and handkerchief and blue python shoes" and he was holding a portable telephone. 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." References Bibliography Tucker, Donald W. (July 19, 2010). The Two-Edged Sword. Indianapolis, IN: Dog Ear Publishing. . Deparle, Jason (August 30, 2005). American