Gypsy Places Curse On Spokane Washington

It all began...

It all began in 1986 when 18 police officers raided the homes of Jimmy Marks and his family during a fencing investigation.

Authorities confiscated over $1.5 million dollars in cash...

Authorities confiscated over $1.5 million dollars in cash and $160,000 in jewelry. Which took over an hour and a half to haul away.

They took earrings straight off a 5 year old girl, searched a baby's diaper, ripped cash out of the family's quilts and even took "gold" fingernails off of the women's hands.

The family claims that they were holding the money for Romani families who were un-trusting of banks and that the jewelry the police took were family heirlooms. Police say that 35 of the items confiscated were from robberies.

*It is not unusual for gypsy people to stash cash in their homes.

Marks was charged with 4 felonies...

Marks was charged with 4 felonies of property trafficking.

Although it was breaking of their tradition of passivity and silence, Marks decided to sue the city of Spokane, Washington for over $50 million. This also caused him to be an outcast with his own family. Marks sued on the basis of unlawful search and seizure because it was done with out a search warrant and that family members not having been suspected of any crimes were also included in the search.

Jimmy Marks put a curse on the city...

Marks was so upset by what he felt was an injustice that he put a curse on Spokane. Spokane's crimes, like the rape of a retarded woman by a police sergeant, another woman who was stricken with cancer, a crazy man's killing rampage and the unexpected deaths of the daughter of a city official and another of the son of a former Spokane administrator, who also happened to be on the top of Marks' hate list. Marks even attended the funeral just because he knew it would irritate some of the people there. There was a fire that also ripped through the city's Riverfront Park.

Marks claimed that all these tragic events were the result of the curse he put upon the city. And even called the city to "remind" them of it.

When a swarm of bees built their hive on City Hall, Jimmy called and said that he must have gotten it wrong, he thought it was supposed to be an invasion of snakes.

Spokane settles for $1.43 million...

The lawsuit took over 10 years to an end. The court ruled that the search was illegal because it was done with out a warrant. In 1997 they settled the

civil-rights lawsuit with the city settling out of court and agreeing to pay the Marks family $1.43 million of which Jimmy Marks claims he only took $1.00 of it for himself.

This was a big deal in their community as they are usually not ones to fight the system.

The settlement was considered one of the nations highest paid settlements in a police misconduct case. Not too long afterwards, a police abuse case was settled in Seattle for $1.97 million.

Afterward, Mr. Marks said "The settlement was a victory for the civil rights of a people who have been oppressed throughout history."

Gypsies have always been considered the lowest of all minority groups.

Funeral of Grover Marks...

Not too long after the settlement, Jimmy's father Grover Marks, who was the patriarch of the family, passed away. Jimmy made a stop in front of Spokane's City Hall during the procession and opened the doors to the hearse and as part of the curse, he invited his father's spirit to go live forever in Spokane's City Hall.

“Beware, City Hall.”...

Jimmy Marks was described as a man who wasn't too forgiving when people wronged him. A family member also said he was a tribute to his family and compared him to being like Martin Luther King.

Jimmy passed away in 2007, a week after suffering some brain damage following a cardiac arrest while being put under anesthesia at the dentist office.

While Jimmy was alive he would often sit in on city council meetings and remind them that the curse was still in place.

Following Jimmy's footsteps during their father's funeral, Jimmy's brother Bobby also stopped in front of Spokane's City Hall and opened the door to the hearse and told Jimmy's spirit to go live on forever with their father inside the hallways of City Hall.

Michael Marks, after giving Jimmy's eulogy, accepted City Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin's apology and said "The curse, I think, is off Spokane. We appreciated everything that has been done, all of the cards and sympathy."

Jimmy was asked one time if he would ever remove the curse and he said he was preparing to do so. However family members told reporters that Jimmy's dying words were "Keep the curse".

As family members were leaving the church heading to the cemetery, a family member in a black Mercedes rolled down their window, issuing a warning: "Beware, City Hall."

I think it's safe to say Mr. Marks made his mark in the world...

Pictured here with his wife Jane, Jimmy Marks was the the great-grandson of an immigrant who came to Ellis Island in the early 1900's. Immigration guards became frustrated when the authorities at the registration desk couldn't understand his name and they beat the man. They then told them to but down "Marks" referring to the marks on the man's back from the lashes he just received.

The Marks made their way from Ellis Island to Utah and eventually settled in Spokane.

Jimmy was pretty well known in Spokane. He always wore a lot of jewelry and a hat and always had a cigar. He also wore a neck-tie that had a Tabasco Sauce logo on it. He wore the neck-tie as a reminder of a train crash that spilled thousands of bottles of the condiment all over the ground.

For only a penny each, he bought all of the bottles. Then he sold them to bars and restaurants for 15 cents each. The money he earned from that he used to help open his used car business.

Jasmine Dellal spent 5 years working on a documentary she was making and reflecting back on an interview she did with Jimmy Marks, she said "Jimmy was heroic at times and crazy at times," "I remember him saying, 'I'm crazy, and maybe I need to be crazy to be courageous.' It may not be the most sensible thing to turn around and fight your whole city, but it certainly makes a point." She went on to say, "I'll never forget that day we spoke in my office. No wonder he'd been in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, on all major TV networks -- even a gig on Jerry Springer. He was a kind of performance artist for journalists. One of my favorite bits of hyperbole was when he claimed he was the Gypsy Rosa Parks, barking out, "I'M NOT SITTIN' ON DA BACK OF DA BUS!" as he pounded his fists on my desk."

Jasmine Dellal's documentary is called "American Gypsy: A Stranger in Everybody's Land"

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