DRINK GRAFT SCANDAL

Hokitika Guardian, 29 October 1928, Page 3

DRINK GRAFT SCANDAL

CRIMINAL HI NG IN PHILDELPHIA

LONDON, September 7. Philadelphia, “ the city of brotherly love ” (writes a correspondent of the “ Westminster Gazette”), is usurping the reputation for organised crime which Chicago, hitherto, has flaunted hefore- the world..

Growing indifference to public opinion regarding criminals—who are advised by expert lawyers, fortified with elaborate bookkeeping system to. record and control graft, and protected by some of the higher officials—has resulted in a Grand Jury investigation and a report which would be incredible if it were not official, in its revelation of crime as a business.

The irony of the situation is that the City is controlled by William Vare, political boss and ally of Andrew Mellon, Secretary a,nd Treasury,, a man whose election to. the United States Senate was so scandalous that he was refused a seat, and whose sudden announcement at the Republic Convention forced the Republican Pnrtv leaders to give way to the demand for the nomination of Mr Hoover.

BULLET-PROOF VESTS. The report reveals the amazing fact that the number of “speak-easies” in Philadelphia is 10,000. These “speak-easies,” or liquor houses, are mostly known to the police, and permitted- under a recognised system of bribes or finest-. Gangsters, armed to the teeth, have indulged in assault, robbery,'and murder, and a shop has been discovered where machine-guns, bullet-proof vests and silencers for revolvers were sold and no Questions asked.

The proprietor, now in the hands of the police, says he thought they were bought to protect the banks. This I, man has sold as many as 450 machine guns, and can give no information as to where they have gone. The highly-organised criminal ring not only bought an arsenal of weapons, but is believed to have set aside, in banks £2,000,000 as insurance against “a rainy day” for the leading members. The money has been placed in leading banks under fictitious names.

POLICE CHIEF BRIBED. Members of tho gang lived in magnificent, if vulgar, style. It is estimated that their profits in the last six years amount to £10.000,000. Such a. vast scheme was only possible with the connivance of the police. Books have been found recording regular payments by one of the firms withe bootlegging ring to the police, year in, year out, at 50 to 500 dollars a month. One ominous entry reads: “10,000 dollars (£2,000) to head c-op.” Police graft for permitting lorries of liquor to> pass through the streets and “speak-easies” to remain open is estimated to total at least £200,000 a vear. Policemen have offered large

sums to 1)6 transferred to units where graft is plentiful. The recent enquiry has been forced bv the outspoken comments of Judge Edwin Lewis. He says it has been common knowledge for two years that one of the chief city streets is the haunt of bootleggers, vet in four years he has had only one bootlegger" liefore him. A constant procession of witnessess: have passed before the Grand Jury. One mild looking little man has been in and out twenty times. He is known to the sporting fraternity a L s “llooboo*’ Hoff, and “the newsboy beer baron.” He is regarded as head of the criminal gang. Officials think that some of the methods of organisation and control are beyond him and are seeking the hidden genius behind the ring. When he is found it is believed that wholesale arrests of police officials will take place in one coup-. Mayor Mackey, a lieutenant of Vare’s, issued a sudden order to the police, yesterday to close all “speak-: oasics.” The demoralisation of the force is. shown by the fact that many of then} spent the evening- drinking in tile very places they had been sent to close.