Prince Mongo Confronted in 2000: Was His Interest in Teenagers Sexually Motivated?

I’ve spent several weeks researching Prince Mongo, and although I came across plenty of whispers implying that he was a pedophile, I had yet to find anyone in the media who had acknowledged, or directly questioned, what appeared to be his perverted interest in teenagers.

Robert Wilson Hodges surrounded himself with young boys for decades, parading some of them around as his “devotees.” Yet it was all laughed off and brushed aside as part of the performance. After all, what’s so strange about a forty-year-old man gathering around High School boys and having them participate in his occult rituals whilst disguising it as art? [1]

Just as I was beginning to lose hope that anyone had ever confronted Mongo about the suspicion that his practice of allowing underage drinking in his clubs was sexually motivated, I found an article by Rebekah Gleaves in the Memphis Flyer.

In September of 2000, Gleaves had the opportunity to interview Prince Mongo and she did not waste it. The interview covered the usual cosmic fluff Hodges spouted whenever the press was in his presence, but Gleaves was having little of it [2]. This is a relief to me. 

Hodges called his neighbors and critics “Hitlers” because they were sick of the underage drinking, and loud noises that kept them awake at all hours of the night. The damn fascists!

Gleaves then raised the issue of the local talk surrounding Mongo:

“He is visibly offended when told that some people think he surrounds himself with young people because of sexual motives.”

Gleaves had the moxie to confront Mongo about his motives. Faith in humanity: partially restored.

So, what was his reply, you ask?

“That really bothers me,” says Mongo. “I have never heard anyone accuse me of such a thing. I’ve done work with St. Jude, given them money. If that was true, then after all these years some evidence would have surfaced. I take all of that with a grain of salt. These people are always going to talk about something.”

Mongo’s response contains everything except a direct denial. He points out how charitable he’s been, as if philanthropy were a free pass, instead of a potential red flag that’s worth examining. I’m reminded of Winsor Stockton, who exploited his position of authority over youth and worked at Juvenile Court during the same period Mongo was reportedly visiting with Coco. That overlap does not establish a connection between the two men, but it is difficult not to notice.

I can’t imagine that Hodges was much of a fan of Rebekah Gleaves after this encounter. Nevertheless she stayed on top of his court hearings and appearances. In October 2000, Gleaves covered the effort to shut down Mongo’s Castle. At a nuisance hearing, Mary Lowry, a neighbor, testified to witnessing fights, nudity and drug sales. Her tapes reportedly showed patrons drinking, yelling and taunting her as she filmed.

Lowry even claimed she had recorded Mongo driving along Central Avenue announcing, “Free Alcohol, Free Sex, Free Drugs” through a loudspeaker. Others testified including an undercover cop. 

A week later, Gleaves covered Mongo’s appearance before the Memphis Alcohol Commission. Hodges insisted that The Castle was not a dance club and therefore required no dance permit. Patrons were merely “exercising” to release their demons. Mongo then demonstrated by dancing, barking and howling before the board. When asked whether the alleged dance floor was a tabernacle, he replied, “Amen.”

Proving that facing his actual demons was far too difficult, Mongo danced out of the court, inviting everyone to visit his “church.” Refusing to listen to the later testimony of a young man who said his girlfriend had stopped breathing after her drink was allegedly spiked with GHB. He said that he and his friends repeatedly begged The Castle’s security to call an ambulance, but they refused for thirty minutes before one finally called. The commission voted to revoke The Castle’s beer license indefinitely. 

In May 2002, Gleaves reported that a settlement had cleared the way for The Castle to reopen after being closed since October 2000. The order required Hodges to prevent underage drinking, fighting, drugs, prostitution, lewdness and obscene material on the property. 

Part of Mongo’s ability to evade scrutiny was his charm. By many accounts, he knew how to turn up the charm and flattery, particularly around women. Gleaves appeared immune to the routine. She looked past the cosmic nonsense and asked him the question others had avoided.

Hodges never faced a genuine public reckoning over why he spent decades cultivating pervy spaces where teenagers were allowed to drink and do drugs. Prince Mongo is dead now, and Gleaves’ interview is the only instance I could find in which a journalist confronted him about a possible sexual motive. So, brava, Rebekah Gleaves. At least someone bothered to ask. 

Sources:

1. “Spruced-up Yard Just Start of New Artwork,” Memphis Press-Scimitar, January 2, 1976, p. 15.
2. Rebekah Gleaves, “Interview with the Mongo,” Memphis Flyer, Issue 603, September 7–13, 2000. The date and authorship are independently confirmed by the archived Issue 603 contents page.
3. Rebekah Gleaves, “The Castle Runs Dry,” Memphis Flyer, October 12, 2000.
4. Rebekah Gleaves, “Mongo Loses Round Two,” Memphis Flyer, October 20, 2000.
5. Rebekah Gleaves, “Unlocking the Castle,” Memphis Flyer, May 30, 2002.