Episode Four: The Horse Mafia

A prison inmate named Maurice “Slab” Ferguson claims he can lead investigators to the body of missing candy heiress Helen Brach—sparking a nationally televised search that sends police and reporters racing to Minnesota. But investigators begin to question Ferguson’s motives—and the people who may have been influencing him.

That trail leads to one of the most feared figures in Chicago’s horse world: Silas Jayne. In this episode, the investigation dives into the violent history of the man at the center of the so-called “Horse Mafia”—a network of horse dealers, trainers, and middlemen accused of exploiting wealthy clients through fraud, intimidation, and worse.

From bombings and murder conspiracies to a decades-long feud that ended in assassination, Jayne’s criminal past reveals the kind of power and fear that surrounded the horse industry Helen Brach had entered. And as investigators begin connecting Jayne’s circle to people in Helen’s life—including horse dealer Richard Bailey—the case takes a darker turn.

The question now becomes: how deep did the Horse Mafia’s influence run—and what did they know about Helen Brach’s disappearance?

Be sure to follow us on instagram and hop on over to Substack where you will find bonus content AND the podcast in one place. https://themissingcandyheiress.substack.com/

We would love to hear from you if you have questions, comments or information related this story - DM us on instagram or email us hello@themissingcandyheiress.com.

The Missing Candy Heiress is produced, directed, and written by Jonathan Rocks and Beth McNamara. All material is copyrighted.

Legal Disclaimer:  All individuals referenced in this podcast are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law in the United States.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:02

Well, I heard it through, you know, side conversation. A lot of people are interested in the hell on Brothers Body. I wouldn't only implicate myself in the mirror. I would only say this here. If I had 24 hours of freedom, I could do something that the police haven't did in 10 years. And what is that? Use your imagination.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

This is an interview from the 1988 news documentary about Helen Brock, you first heard in episode three.

SPEAKER_08 0:38

In 1981, Glenview Police heard of a convict in Parchman, Mississippi, who claimed to have intimate knowledge of Helen Brock's disappearance. His name is Maurice Ferguson, and he's currently serving time for armed robbery at the Mississippi State Penitentiary.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Janet Davies stands beneath a sunbaked sign over the entrance to Mississippi's oldest and most notorious prison. Davies remembers that film shoot like it was yesterday.

SPEAKER_06 1:06

It was awful, I'm going to be really frank. That is not a good facility.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Built in 1901, Mississippi State Penitentiary is also known as Parchman Penitentiary, a maximum security prison infamous for its harsh conditions. It's remote, surrounded by treacherous swampland, and has a long history of reported inmate abuse, earning it the nickname The Parchment Plantation. The inmate population here is primarily African American, as is 36-year-old Maurice Ferguson.

SPEAKER_07 1:41

I will say they were very uh open to us coming in and sitting down and interviewing him. I thought we were going to be told we couldn't do it, but we were able to. And without a lawyer there. I don't even know if he had a lawyer.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

This is her producer, Tina Herga.

SPEAKER_05 2:00

This man named Maurice Ferguson, his nickname was Slab for his ability to kill people. Slab slab. And that was they put you under a slab. Like, or a slab of meat, I don't know. He was hired in 1979 when he was out on parole. He was hired to kill Matlik and move her body.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Ferguson agrees to an on-camera interview because he says he has information about Helen Brock's whereabouts that has never been revealed before.

SPEAKER_05 2:29

He said he's willing to tell the truth now. He gave us his lie detector test, which we have.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

So they cleared his release, put him in handcuffs, and take him to an awaiting Illinois State Police helicopter.

SPEAKER_05 3:11

They decided to take him out of jail and to fly to Minnesota to dig for the body.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

This is the investigative podcast, The Missing Candieris. Episode 4, The Horse Mafia. Maurice Ferguson has only two requests as part of his 72-hour release agreement. One, that when he arrives in Minneapolis, he'll have a chance to speak with Illinois police. And two, he wants producer Tina Hergott to be there.

SPEAKER_05 3:46

Maurice says, I'll only talk to Tina. And I was dying. This was the last thing I wanted. We gotta keep this private. Nobody can know. Well, the night before we were leaving for Minnesota, Channel 2 broke the story, and then all the stations broke it.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

By the time they land, the news about the search for Helen Brock's body is everywhere.

SPEAKER_05 4:16

There's a press conference, and USA Today is there, the New York Times, and helicopters were following me around.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

The headline in the Chicago Tribune reads, Search for Brock's body, moving to Minnesota. And the New York Times ran with Search resumes for Eris, missing for 10 years.

SPEAKER_05 4:35

It was the number one story of the news.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

And now Tina Hergott herself has become a part of the story. She's photographed sitting beside Ferguson as he recounts to police what he claimed he did with Helen. Ferguson's story is that he had been hired to dig up Helen's body in Illinois and move it to Minnesota, where she was last seen in February 1977 by a clerk at the Buckskin gift shop. He even draws for police a crude map, saying it would help them locate her body. The map, drawn with a pen on lined notebook paper, shows Interstate 94, an unnamed graveyard, and a large area of trees with a farmhouse. There's nothing to indicate north or south, east or west, but with just 48 hours left of Ferguson's release, police follow his lead, with the press right on their heels. When Ferguson leads state and federal authorities through cemeteries and vacant fields in and around the Twin Cities, investigators sweep the area. Some begin to break through the frozen topsoil with pickaxes. Others consult the roughly sketched map Ferguson provided. Just 30 feet away, Ferguson himself watches through the window of a prison van as the search unfolds. By the next day, after inspections across multiple sites, law enforcement had still found nothing. Meanwhile, back in Glenview, a call comes into the police dispatch.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Glenview police, who's calling? John Matwick. Hold on a minute. Yeah, Jack. I just had a call from my sister. Uh-huh. Supposedly on last night's news. Uh-huh. They had a thing on Mrs. Brock. Uh-huh. They said somebody has been fit to killing her and is willing to show the police where the body is. Ready to then? No. Oh shit. Not that I'm aware of, Jack.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

That's Helen's houseman, Jack Matlik. He's been watching the search unfold in real time on the national news. Just hours later, the search is called off. Police found no remains, no physical evidence, nothing at all tied to Helen Brock. Ferguson would be escorted back to the airport and returned to Mississippi, where he'll serve out the rest of his 35-year prison sentence. The Chicago Tribune runs the headline. Officials feel calmed. Tina and Janet's one-hour documentary, The Disappearance of Helen Brock, premieres just two days after Maurice Ferguson is back behind bars. Their documentary brought the Brock case back into conversation around Chicago.

SPEAKER_05 7:48

What was the response from viewers? We were the numb it was the number one rated documentary in the history of Channel Sun.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

As far as Maurice Ferguson's story, Janet Davies tells us she wasn't surprised it was a dead end.

SPEAKER_06 8:03

I think this guy knew something, but he didn't know that much. And he was angling to get some sort of deal to get out of there.

SPEAKER_05 8:15

He promised he would bring me her head. From prison, he would call. I don't know. I was a lot cuter back then. But I mean, that's so freaky. It was my husband was panicking, but that he was calling me at my house. He knew where I lived.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Tina Hergott still thinks Ferguson could be a key to solving the case.

SPEAKER_05 8:40

I believe Maurice Ferguson moved her body, but he couldn't remember where it was. I mean, it was so many years later. And of course, we didn't find the body. And he says his last words there was, Oh, I enjoyed Minnesota. So that was wonderful. Faith Slab.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Investigators never found anything to support Ferguson's claims. Nothing he said about the Brock case was ever independently corroborated. And many investigators already knew why. This wasn't new behavior. Ferguson had misled authorities six years earlier, offering specious directions, crudely drawn maps, and stories that never held up. FBI records and phone transcripts show Ferguson gave information he would later admit was false, raising questions about whether Ferguson's involvement was ever meant to help locate Helen's body, or if it was simply to complicate the investigation. But why? After Ferguson's story unraveled, new questions would ultimately lead investigators away from Minnesota and back towards someone with deep connections to Glenview and to Helen Brock. It was someone Maurice met while serving time in the Cook County Prison back in Illinois, a fellow inmate named Silas Jane.

SPEAKER_05 10:04

Maurice gave me a phone transcript that his attorney recorded of him talking to Silas Jane about the body.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Janet Davies had a copy of the transcript with her when she interviewed Maurice Ferguson.

SPEAKER_08 10:20

This is obviously a transcript of a conversation you had with Silas Jane.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_08 10:27

In 1979.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

1981. This is from our copy of the transcript of the call between Maurice Ferguson and Silas Jane. Silas says, You know where the body's at. Now god damn you, dig it up and collect that$250,000. Ferguson asks, Is it okay with you? Is it okay to dig it up? To which Silas says, Yeah, well certainly. Ferguson tells him, Alright, well, look, you know they might question me about some more. You know I gotta go to Nutville on that. By Nutville, Ferguson means a psychiatric facility. Silas asks, What do you mean question you about some more? Ferguson responds, I gotta go to Nutville if they question me about more people. You know how they are. They'll try to implicate me. And Sai tells him, Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

Silas had met Maurice Ferguson in Cook County Jail when he was being held for trial.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

This is Gene O'Shea, the journalist and author you first heard in episode three.

SPEAKER_03 11:38

They were in the cafeteria, and Maurice was sitting there, like moving his trigger finger like he was shooting a gun, and Maurice's nickname was Slab. And Sy asked, What are you doing? And Maurice said, I'm just keeping my trigger finger warm. And Silas thought that was hilarious, and they became friends.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

That's when Jane first told Ferguson he was, quote, gonna be his guy.

SPEAKER_03 12:06

Maurice Ferguson was supposedly hired by Silas Jane to tell the police that he had buried her body.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

O'Shea spent time investigating the suburban horse world that Silas Jane dominated for decades.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

On Chicago's North Shore, many of those people who live in these well-to-do communities, they have chosen that spot to live because there's larger lots, they run near the lake. You can have a home right on Lake Michigan, and you can commute every day into the city of Chicago. These are wealthy people, kind of the well-to-do and the movers and shakers in Chicago industry. And as wealthy people, they have the hobbies of wealthy people. And among those hobbies, especially in the 1950s, was to have their sons and daughters take writing lessons. And one of the persons that they often went to seeking out the expertise and equestrian arts was Silas Jane.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

O'Shea's 2005 book, Unbridled Rage, focuses on the 1955 murder of three boys in Inverness, Illinois. Silas features heavily in the book, in which O'Shea paints a portrait of Jane as a larger-than-life character.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

Sy was about six feet tall, probably about 240 pounds. He was built. He had barrel chests, he had big arms, he had a tattoo of a dagger with a snake coiled around it on his one arm, and he used to wear like a big 16-karat diamond ring, pinky ring. His face was like saddle leather, and he had very intense, light blue, cold eyes. He was born in 1907, so he had a 1907$20 gold piece fashioned to a belt buckle. He drove a Cadillac, it was always the latest model Cadillac. People in Chicago may recall this of a certain time, a certain era. Because Sai got around town. And if you ever saw a Cadillac with steer horns affixed on the front in the city of Chicago in the early 70s, that most likely was Silas Train tooling down the road.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Silas didn't come from money, but he knew how to get close to those who did. O'Shea spent years investigating the criminal network operated by Silas Jane, which came to be known as the Horse Mafia. Silas owned multiple stables, providing riding lessons, boarding, and care for horses. But all of it was a pathway to his main goal, selling horses to wealthy clients at a considerable markup.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

He was going to uh charge them more money for horses that weren't worth what he was charging. He would resell the same horse to a number of individuals, and they didn't know that you know they all own the same horse. He would go to the parents and say, you know, your daughter's she's she's great. She's got a lot of talent. But the thing is, you know, the horse you got her, it's not that good of a horse, but I have this horse over here would really help her.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

These wealthy clients paid big money so their children would win local horse competitions.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

And I've also been told that, you know, some of those competitions were fixed. And Cy knew enough people in the horse industry, you could make sure, you know, that what a mark, you know, someone you know that's got a lot of money, you're gonna make sure that their daughter starts winning a few blue ribbons here and there. And when they win the blue ribbons, mom and dad are happy, and then they're they're gonna buy a better horse and a better horse.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

But the horses Silas Chain was selling were rarely as good as advertised.

SPEAKER_03 16:06

At some point, if those parents discover they've been taken and go back to Psy and threaten them, that's when that's when the real Psy would come out. There was a factory owner who lived in Riverdale, Illinois, found out that Psy had taken him for a lot of money with the horses that he was buying for his daughter. When that uh factory owner said he threatened Sai that he was gonna go to the police. A week later, a bomb blew up outside his house.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

After that, the factory owner from Riverdale never went to police. But Silas Jane's history of violence extends all the way back to his childhood.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Silas was one of twelve children. He was the fourth child. And his father worked as a truck driver for uh bootleggers during Prohibition.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

The Jane family ran horse stables north of Chicago.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

I had a person who knew one of the Janes very well and and basically described them as rodeo people. They were they were kind of like carnies. They worked with the horses, they were excellent horsemen, but they were lower class and they didn't make a lot of money. And as they went on, they they then they entered the show horse business and they made more money, and and they became very good at that as well. Um within his own family, I think everyone in his family was afraid of Silas.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

There were stories about Silas starting as far back as when he was just six years old. At the center of the Jane family farm, there was a small man-made pond. One day, drawn to the geese floating on the surface, young Silas approaches the pond and is knocked down to the ground by the geese, which then surround him. Frightened, Silas quickly runs back toward the farmhouse. But as the story goes, he doesn't stay there.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

Silas became so enraged that he grabbed an axe, went out and killed the entire flock, came back into the house, was covered in blood, and said, I got every damn one of them.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

From that moment on, people were scared of Silas Jane.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

You know, he and his brothers became known as the Jesse Jane gang, and individuals told me that they were the kind of group of people that might be fun to hang around with, but you didn't want to ever cross them.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

At 17, Silas is tried and convicted for rape and sentenced to a year in prison. Silas exits prison having no remorse for his actions, but now determined not only to re-enter the family horse business, but to dominate the local industry. And within just a few years, he buys his first stable, Our Day Ranch, in Elgin, Illinois.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

Silas didn't take competition well. If there was a stable near him that was doing better, he would just have the stable burn down and put them out of business. He would occasionally show up and show someone that he had a gun, and that would also scare people away.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

But there was one competitor he couldn't intimidate, his half-brother, George Jane.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

I mean, he he hated his brother George, and I think that was first based on sibling rivalry, and then the fact that George was better in the horse business than him, and it was competition.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Silas becomes determined to put George out of business. Beginning in 1961, Silas Jane engages in a bitter feud with his brother George. What begins as a fierce competition in the horse world soon turns into an escalating pattern of terror. In July of 1962, the offices at George Jane's stables are burglarized. The lug nuts on his truck are loosened while he's at the Ohio State Fair with his family. When George's oldest daughter is getting married, Silas threatens to have her kidnapped and assaulted.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

Silas was an out-of-control person. George didn't take it all lying down, but the grief that he caught from Silas. George was a pilot, and a friend of his told me that he would often buzz Silas' barns in his plane, which infuriated Silas to the point that he had one of his henchmen purchase a 20 millimeter anti-aircraft gun. Silas was determined to kill George. It's a Cain and Abel story, it's biblical.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

In March of 1963, someone opens fire on George Jane's farm, the tricolor stables. Police reports list 28 bullet holes in the barn and adjoining buildings, which includes George's family home. He tells police this was orchestrated by his brother. But without evidence or eyewitnesses, it's George's word against Silas.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

A lot of the suburban police departments are very small. There's maybe 10 to 15 patrolmen, and then a few officers, then they only have one detective.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

George becomes hyper-vigilant, always looking over his shoulder in order to protect his wife, his children, and himself. He knows his brother better than anyone else. So he knows Silas won't stop until he gets what he wants. It's an adjustment. But George does what he needs to do in order to keep his business going. And he still sees his brother at the horse shows they compete in, where Silas is.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Threatening them at horse shows and publicly saying, I'm gonna kill you, you son of a bitch, in front of a whole crowd of people.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

June 14th, 1965. It's a routine Monday morning at George Jane's Tricolor Stables. It's a normal place of business. Open, busy, familiar. As George Jane prepares for the day, one of his employees, 22-year-old Cheryl Rudy, arrives for her shift at the stables. One of George's champion riders and a close friend of his daughter's, Cheryl understands the dynamics of the Jane family. Having also previously been a champion rider for Silas Jane's stable, she was aware her former boss had earned his reputation, which explains why she sometimes kept a loaded pistol concealed in her riding outfit. That morning, George's youngest daughter stands at the open door to her father's office. As she waits for him to finish a phone call, she notices a man she doesn't recognize by the door to the stable. When George hangs up the phone, he leans out the window to call Cheryl Rudy over. He asks if she could move his car, a gold two-door Cadillac, and leave it running so he can drive into town to pick up a horse trailer. Cheryl grabs the key and heads for the car. She opens the door, slides into the driver's seat, and as she turns the key, the blast rattles the barn, the stables, and George Jane's office. The shockwave throws the hood of the Cadillac more than 50 feet in the air, suspended for a moment, silhouetted against a clear blue sky, George, his daughters, and everyone at the farm rush toward the car, which is now engulfed in flames. As the smoke clears, they see Cheryl's arms raised, reaching for help. The force of the blast has blown her right leg off at the knee. Before anyone can reach her, Cheryl Rudy dies. Police later determine six sticks of dynamite had been clipped to the car's ignition. Cheryl Rudy hadn't been the target, but George Jane already knew that. Less than a month after her daughter was killed by a car bomb, Cheryl Rudy's mother begins to receive threatening phone calls. The calls, she tells police, come late at night. A man on the line identifies himself as George Jones. He tells her, You've been talking too much. You'll be next. Cheryl's mother responds, You've already taken away everything I loved best. What else can you do to me? After that, the line goes dead. She tells reporters she knew the name was an alias, but she recognized the voice immediately. When she tells George Jane about the calls, he advises her to contact local police. But after years of increasingly dangerous incidents that he attributes to his brother, George Jane privately believes the police were unable or unwilling to help. After Cheryl Rudy's death, they said Silas Jane had urged them to, quote, finish the job. But instead, they went directly to George and told him what they were hired to do.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

So at that point, the two men, Eddie Moran and Stephen Grodd, are getting a little concerned, and they call up George and say, Hey, George, your brother's trying to kill you.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Now, George goes directly to authorities. At the direction of investigators, one of the men wears a recording device and meets Silas Jane at a horse track, where, on a recording, he says, quote, it's time to buy a horse. Investigators understand this to be code for killing George Jane. Silas is arrested in July 1965. But during his prosecution, one of the key witnesses against him, the man who wore the wire that led to Silas being arrested, has a change of heart. On the stand, he suddenly can't remember the meeting, or the recording, or why he was there at all. Without the witness testimony, the case against Silas falls apart. Silas Jane walks out of court a free man, more determined than ever to kill his brother George. In the summer of 1966, George Jane's offices are again burglarized, and important tax and business documents are stolen. By the end of 1967, Tricolor Farm no longer belongs to George Jane. According to the Palatine Historical Society, the state of Illinois acquired the land by eminent domain for what became William Rainey Harper Jr. College. Whether this was somehow tied to the ongoing conflict with Silas is not documented in any major reporting on the feud. But the loss of the farm marked yet another major upheaval in George's life and business. In 1969, George is the subject of an investigation for tax fraud. Silas is rumored to have taken credit for causing the investigation by handing over information to authorities. George is eventually acquitted of charges, but it causes irreparable damage to his personal and professional life. He and his wife Marion are forced to move with their children to the North Shore suburb of Inverness, Illinois. George Jane is now officially out of the horse business. But Silas isn't satisfied. On October 28th, 1970, George Jane's family gathers at their suburban home. It's George Jr.'s 16th birthday. After dessert, George plays bridge in their finished basement with his wife Marion, their daughter and son-in-law. He believes he's safe at home. He's surrounded by the people he loves. And he has no idea that just 15 feet away, perched at the window to his basement, a gunman has his sights dialed in on the top button of George's shirt. George Jane is shot directly in the heart and dies instantly, cradled in the arms of his beloved wife until the coroner arrives. From the moment he's killed, investigators have a suspect. Everyone does. Silas. The investigation moves quickly. Law enforcement already knows Silas Jane's history, the failed attempts, the paid intermediaries, the pattern. Silas is never accused of pulling the trigger. He didn't have to. Within months, prosecutors charge him with orchestrating his own brother's murder, a conspiracy case built on testimony, money, and motive. This time the case held, despite the fact that Silas retains renowned defense attorney F. Lee Bailey at a reported cost of$250,000. In 1973, Silas Jane is convicted, not of the murder of his brother, but of conspiracy to commit the murder.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

Silas was sentenced to prison for eight years for the murder of his brother.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

And this is where Silas meets a man named Maurice Ferguson, aka Slab. Sending Silas Jane to prison doesn't put an end to his business. Headlines from the Chicago newspaper read, Convicts say Silas Jane plotted arson from prison. Silas Jane has a hit list and fire probed at Jane's stable site. All of these were printed while Silas was behind bars. Helping to keep things running on the outside was his nephew and longtime protege, Frank Jane Jr. While Silas was in prison, a new stable owner comes onto the scene, a man named Richard Bailey. Bailey doesn't operate like Silas Jane. He uses charm, charisma, the ability to make wealthy women, including Candieress Helen Brock, trust him. Right up until she disappears. On February 17, 1977, Tina Hergott contacted Richard Bailey for their 1988 documentary. Bailey hung up on her, refusing to be interviewed. But Janet Davies does mention him in the documentary that everyone in Chicago would see.

SPEAKER_08 31:46

Because in 1978, two spray painted messages appeared. Richard Bailey knows where Mrs. Brock's body is, read one, on the road near the Brock house. The other was spray painted near Bailey's stables. It read, Richard Bailey killed Helen Brock. Stop him, fleas. Richard Bailey, who had been dating Helen Brock for four years prior to her disappearance, was allegedly part of a cabal of horsemen that included the notorious spelling Silas Jane.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

When investigators look into her disappearance, they keep hearing Bailey's name. They wondered, what did he know about Helen's disappearance? And just how deep did his connections to Silas Jane's horse mafia go?

SPEAKER_01 32:31

I wouldn't be talking to you right now, but these people are uh they're worse than Al Capone. Frank told me says you ever say anything whatsoever to anybody, uh, I'll personally kill you myself, and this time we won't miss.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

That's next time. In two weeks, on the Missing Candy Aris.