From the Archives: Given case remains a mystery

After 26 years, the story can be told as to why no one has ever been charged with the murder of East Chicago political powerbroker Jay Given.

Given was shot as he was leaving a political fundraiser at the Jockey Club inside the East Chicago Elks building on the evening of May 15, 1981, at which more than 500 people were in attendance. This being Lake County, no one saw a thing.

Given, a lawyer, had made a small fortune on bond work for the city. He was shrewd, tough and he knew where all the bodies were buried, perhaps literally.

The .45-caliber shell found in the lobby near the body was damaged while in police custody, and a special task force was assembled, led by Joe Van Bokkelen, now a U.S. attorney and in line to become a federal judge.

The shell became a key clue. It had been fired from a Detonics, a rare and expensive handgun. East Chicago's former assistant police chief, John Cardona, owned one and had been seen quarreling with Given minutes before the shooting.

The trump card was when a gunsmith at the Detonics factory, who said he'd worked on Cardona's pistol, told investigators he had no doubt the shell in the lobby had come from the gun he had fixed.

The stage was set for the net to drop on Cardona. But nothing ever happened, and the case dried up and blew away.

Why? Because investigators did their job and took the facts wherever they led.

"We decided to look at other guns repaired by this guy, and it established a pattern that almost proved that Cardona's gun was not repaired by him but by someone else. The work he had done was very crude, the one on Cardona's gun was very sophisticated," said Tom Vanes, a former prosecutor assigned to the Given task force and now Lowell Town Judge.

"We went the extra step to make our case stronger, and it completely backfired," Vanes said. The shell found in the hallway virtually certainly did not come from Cardona's gun, Vanes said.

With the gun evidence unraveling, the team also found itself with a potential witness telling them she had "heard a voice" telling her to leave the lobby and walk home rather than wait for her ride as she usually did.

Witnesses who "hear voices" tend to flop with juries. Vanes said the team was so desperate they even asked the late crime syndicate figure James "Sonny" Peterson to talk to the woman, which he did to no avail.

"Something scared her, someone intimidated her," Vanes said. "All she'd say is 'I got kids'."

So did Jay Given. And they're still waiting for justice.

The opinions are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at markk@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-4170.