and jim pendergast had sal loans, aloan -- salons. and he went precinct to precinct building this machine that was based on favors. basically helping people get jobs in exchange for votes, helping people through giving them loans that you didn't have to get a formal bank loan. and jim would loan the money, settle gambling debts, skimming money off of the top of illegal activities such as gambling and

tom pendergast was in a position to take over the machine. by the time jim died in 1911. >> the legacy of pendergast family has been beat up and twisted and turned. so many times over the years today's kansas citien doesn't understand who he was and what he did. both good and bad. the pendergast family came here in the 1870s. what a lot of people don't realize is that they were tom pendergast and his brother jim and the seven siblings were sons and daughters of immigrants. and came here as working class young men looking for jobs in kansas city. and when big jim pendergast just through sheer popularity won the seat as alderman for the first ward. a real influential ward with the immigrants and african americans. and immigrants. they grew up in a sort of a poverty themselves. they empathized with the working people. tom follow ld his brother into politics. became a deputy constable. for the city court and became took on other positions within is the city. and took over in 1910 as a city counsel man. an alderman like his brother had been. and i think when you