Roger Wheeler (businessman)

Roger Milton Wheeler was born in Boston, Massachusetts on February 27, 1926, the son of Sidney Sea Wheeler and Florence Edith (née Kendall) Wheeler.[1] He was raised in Boston and Reading, and graduated from Reading High School in 1943.[2] After graduating from high school, Wheeler served in the United States Navy Reserve while attending the University of Notre Dame and Rice University.[3] He graduated from Rice in 1946 with a bachelor of science degree in engineering.[3]

While still in high school, Wheeler was involved in several business ventures, including owning and operating a neighborhood newspaper and a stamp collecting service.[3] He then started the Reading Wood Company and used a truck purchased on credit to haul the product from Vermont for resale in Reading.[3]

Wheeler worked for Gulf Oil and Standard Oil in Texas, and in 1946 relocated to Tulsa to work for a company that produced anodes for use in the petroleum industry.[3] In 1949, he started his anode production enterprise, Standard Magnesium and Chemical.[3] Fifteen years later, Wheeler sold Standard Magnesium for $10 million (more than $70 million in 2021).[3]

In the mid-1960s, Wheeler and a group of investors purchased Telex Corp., a maker of hearing aids, speakers, and other sound equipment.[4] Wheeler was the largest shareholder, and served as chairman and chief executive officer.[4] Under his leadership, Telex branched out to the manufacture of computer accessories, including printers and tape drives.[4] Telex grew to employ 5,000 people in the Tulsa area, and Wheeler was a multimillionaire.[4][5]

On May 27, 1981, Wheeler was murdered in his car while he was preparing to leave Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa.[6] Subsequent investigation revealed that Wheeler was killed after uncovering an embezzlement scheme at one of his other business ventures, World Jai Alai in Miami, Florida.[6] After retiring from the FBI, H. Paul Rico took a job as head of security for the jai alai organization.[7] While he was head of security, Rico's former informants Whitey Bulger and Steve Flemmi of Boston's Winter Hill Gang ran a skimming operation that embezzled $10,000 per week from World Jai Alai's parking lot revenues.[8] Upon discovering the theft, Wheeler investigated; this created major problems for Bulger's gang, and led to between four and six murders, two of which remain unsolved.[9]

On March 14, 2001, three members of the Winter Hill Gang — Bulger, Flemmi and Johnny Martorano — were indicted for Wheeler's murder; two other alleged co-conspirators were already dead.[10] In a plea bargain, Martorano confessed to some 20 murders by the gang, including Wheeler's.[11] He was given a 15-year sentence, but was released in 2007 after serving only six years.[12][13] Flemmi also pleaded guilty to the murder of Wheeler and others and received a life sentence.[14] Bulger fled to avoid prosecution and was on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list from August 19, 1999 until his capture on June 22, 2011.[15] [16] In 2003, Rico was also indicted for Wheeler's murder.[17] He pleaded not guilty and died of natural causes while in custody awaiting trial.[17]

Wheeler's case was covered in the first-ever episode of long-running investigative show Unsolved Mysteries in January 1987.[6] In the Whitey Bulger biopic Black Mass (2015), Wheeler is portrayed by David De Beck.[18]

• Voices of Oklahoma interview with Detective Mike Huff. First-person interview conducted on June 13, 2013 concerning his investigation into the murder of Roger Wheeler.
• Roger Wheeler at Find a Grave