Aahana Swrup
‘The Tailor of Sin City,’ the true crime docuseries, is about Argus J. Pratt, a larger-than-life tailor who was making clothes for some of the biggest names from the 70s—from mobsters and drug lords to celebrities and politicians. The show equips Pratt’s own—slightly dubious—confessionals, Sal Manna’s extensive research, and historian Michael Green’s expertise to present a cohesive narrative about the tailor’s life, staying as close to the truth as possible. Ultimately, what emerges is AJ Pratt’s life story charting his journey from Arkansas to Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, which eventually turned the tailor into the yet unsung “King of Cocaine.”
Argus J. Pratt: From Arkansas Into the Mob’s Lap
Born in Yardelle, Arkansas, on November 3, 1940, Argus J. Pratt, nicknamed AJ, was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps on the farm field. Nevertheless, Pratt knew he wanted other things in life after showcasing an inclination toward the needle and the thread from a young age—despite the ridicule and bullying he faced for it. As such, by 1956, at 15 years old, the young man made his way to Wichita, Kansas, where he worked tailoring jobs for the next 10 years. Eventually, in 1968, the tailor finally opened his own shop, AJ Pratt’s Hong Kong Fashions.
The clients that this shop in Wichita oversaw ended up changing Pratt’s life forever. As per the tailor’s account, Jerry Muth, a democratic politician running for the State Attorney General of Kansas City—and a frequent client—flew him out to Kansas City to see a special client. The client turned out to be Nick Civella, the head of the Kansas City Mob. Consequently, the tailor found himself charged with the task of making handmade suits for the mob. Viewing the instance as a lucrative opportunity without any moralistic burdens attached to it, Pratt swiftly agreed to it.
Mobsters and Celebrities: Pratt’s Diverse Clientele at Las Vegas
As Pratt fell in with Nick Civella, his services allegedly spread out among other Mob families across multiple states, including Chicago, Milwaukee, and Cleveland. His path naturally crossed with several infamous criminals, from John Scalish to Tuffy DeLuna, Civella’s right-hand man. Reportedly, he also made suits for Tony Spilotro, the notorious mobster from Chicago who was said to have a “Napoleon complex” about his short height. As the story goes, Pratt’s knack for designing sleek outfits got him in Spilotro’s good graces. Eventually, as he continued working with the mob, they set a shop up for him in Las Vegas, the city that crime families overran at the time.
As such, Pratt was also involved with The Tropicana, a casino hotel from which the mob regularly skimmed money. The tailor designed and created clothes for the performers at Tropicana’s Folies Bergère theater. In fact, he went as far as to allegedly smuggle silk from China during an embargo to ensure he had the best quality fabric available to him. Due to his exceptional craftsmanship and easy charm, Pratt’s buddies at the mob are said to have got him in touch with headlining artists, like Frank Sinatra and The Rat Pack, Tom Jones, and Wayne Newton. Yet, the the most unbelievable apparent client of all remains the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.
Pratt’s Ambiguous Connection to Elvis Presley
One of the most fascinating aspects of AJ Pratt’s life is the air of ambiguity and uncertainty that perpetually hangs around his wild adventures. While friends and family from his life and some experts can track down bits and pieces of fact to back up parts of his story, only AJ can attest to the entire truth. Therefore, since the tailor seemed to have a knack for exaggeration and self-aggrandizement, the line between his anecdotes and the truth runs slim. His association with Elvis Presley is perhaps the most glaring instance of the same.
As Pratt tells it, he ran into Presley at a Beverly Hills party in the 1960s —a good few years before the former’s involvement with the mob. Supposedly, the musician was impressed by the tailor’s sense of style and asked him to design some clothes for him. Consequently, Pratt claimed to have designed several outfits for him, including the trademark silk scarves that the musician was known to sport. Furthermore, he claims to have made a few jumpsuits as well, which ended up defining Presley’s stage presence.
However, this story can be easily contested since it’s a known fact that William Lewis Belew designed Presley’s iconic jumpsuits. At most, it’s possible that Pratt collaborated with Belew in small doses to create the jumpsuit. When confronted about the same by Sal Manna—who co-wrote Pratt’s memoir with him—the tailor only answered that his version was how he remembered the events unfolding. Likewise, he has also duped Dan Rogers, an Elvis Presley memorabilia collector, into buying fake scarves that he passed on as Presley’s belongings. Ultimately, Elvis Presley remains one of the most dubious of Pratt’s clientele.
Pratt’s Foray Into Drug Trafficking: Pablo Escobar and Law Enforcement Officers
While AJ Pratt’s reputation was thriving among Mob circles in the States, a new opportunity landed in the tailor’s lap after a peculiar customer walked into his Las Vegas shop. The customer, hailing from Colombia, invited him to the Latin American country to introduce him to a new potential client. Once in Colombia, driving to a ranch in the mountains, Pratt realized the identity of his latest client: Pablo Escobar, one of the most notorious drug lords in the world.
Since Escobar was vying to enter Colombia’s politics, he allegedly hired Pratt’s services to design new clothes for himself. As per Pratt’s account, the two became friends and the drug lord eventually proposed the tailor enter a drug dealing deal with him. As a result, Pratt began smuggling cocaine from Colombia to the US. As his operations grew, he set up a small cartel of his own, utilizing a network of stewardesses and middlemen to move his product. Eventually, he even reportedly started working with Barry Seal, the airline pilot-turned-drug smuggler, who was the subject of the 2017 film, ‘American Made.’
Soon enough, while Pratt was juggling his entanglements with the mob and Escobar—two mutually exclusive secrets—the cops are said to have knocked on his door. Nevertheless, the lead investigator, Joel “The Thumper” Barez of the Organized Crimes Unit, wasn’t interested in the tailor’s attachment to Escobar. Instead, he only wanted to use him as a future pawn in busting the mob. Therefore, Barez ended up befriending Pratt, which further purportedly opened up the doors for him to get into business with politicians, judges, and the like.
Pratt’s Eventual Retreat to Regular Life
In the 1980s, as the FBI came down on the mob, AJ Pratt decided to jump ship on his steadily sinking tailoring business to focus solely on his lucrative drug smuggling endeavors. Nevertheless, as soon as the negative impact of crack cocaine across the country started becoming evident, he grew guilty of his involvement in the same. Consequently, he expertly passed down parts of his business to various individuals, wiping his hands clean of the entire venture. Before retiring for good, he went on a yacht trip to Belize on the coast of Central America, where he reportedly had a near-death encounter. Emerging from the experience with two bullet wounds and newfound wisdom, Pratt decided to live a straight life in Dallas, Texas.
From there, the adversaries Pratt faced remained of the more mundane variety. In 2008, he married Carolyn “CC” Carroll, his seventh wife, and made new friends, such as the Saalwaechters. He often shared stories of his past with the people in his new life, painting out grand pictures that sometimes tended to be slightly fabricated. In the 2000s, he also sat down with Sal Manna to talk about his past and put it into a memoir. Unfortunately, he passed away before the book was published in 2021. Pratt’s death came at the hands of cancer, which started from behind his eyes and branched out into his brain. In the end, the tailor passed away on December 28, 2016, in Kansas, leaving a world of stories and memories behind.
Read More: Sal Manna: Where is The Tailor Author Now?
