U.S. CRIME WAVE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 48, 19 October 1931, Page 5

U.S. CRIME WAVE

ANGRY CITIZENS c*l t -o « * & ti. ^ 0 6 & mass meetings being held and armed vigjlantes " . ' enroLledV' MAJOR WALKER TAAEN TP TASK Details were recently published in the- "Tost" Of " the gleat public indignation which was sweeping New York as a result of "the"murderous activities of gangsters. The latest mails bring further news as to the steps which are being taken • to restore 'order an'd r'espect for' 'the law. ' •' * — * i To prevent another baby massacre; ! such as" took' plac'e iri "New Yo'rk's | Little' Italy "the "bther week," and to j eradieat'e the garigS 'aridv fa*ckriteeriS, the citizens of New York and of many Other big cities are now 'organising, Writes a correspondent. There has been an almost complete breakfiown of the national polfce force thrbugHout the country, and 'it is hrjged that that "the tim'e has come for the people themselves 'to !help the authorities in

stamping out the wave of lawlessness. Most blame for the appalling crime situation is placed upon the Prohibition Law, with "its train of bootlegging, "hi-jacking," and murdering, but evidences of the inefficiency of the American police s'ystem,' as r'eport'ed by the Wickersham Committee, ,were palpajble long b'efore Projblbition was enacted by Cong'ress. . Arrangements are now being made in New York' and' elsewhere' to1 hold great mass meetings "of ' all classes of society to insjtruct and arouse jthe public fo the great menace, "fp (jraft a list of "public enemies," ari d, 'finally, to enrol vigilant'es pledged to deal with them by pr'ompt arrest'and rigid enf orcement of the law. Despite the boast of 'Mayor Walker i that "New York' is the most moral city in the world," there is a growing conviction that the American metropolis is the centre of colossal graft and coruptioin uriknown since the days ofte "Boss" Tweed and "Boss"

Croker. The police failure to secure the arrest of gangsters arises very often because the lawbreakers are well afmed and have high-power ed riibtof-cars. Now it is proposed that the Vigilantes, with crack 'marksmen, be stationed in every district of the city, and that, in the case of gangsters riding away after the crime, they be empowered to halt all traffic and shobt at sight anybody who" resists. Iri the case of the baby massacre, the terrified inhabitants, 'of Little Italy, many of whom are Sicilians, ; permitted the fleeinjg gunmen to drive unchecked to safety. " ; Police. 'in armoured cars now patrol the city day and night with ribt'-grins, but they are only a corporal's guard, and it is commented that a great drive to stamp out the gangsters' ari d FaCketeers cannot be successfuj without the loyal support of a well-armed body of civilians. This sripport' Will probably be give'n because" the1 public, infuriated by the crime wave, is now aroused to the necessity of taking repressive action.' ■' The breakdown of the American police system is due to the practice of runnning the munieipal gbvernmerit of cities for the benefit of professional office holders who protect cfimiriaTs, and until opinion here is educated, as in England, to vote for mayors and town eouncils whose ' members are honest and do not profit financially by their election, the chances of "reform in the United States are small. Net Closing. After an intensive hunt, the police of New York are closing in on the gangsters who shot down five children, in Little Italy. Two men, named Josephs and Mucciolo, who were arrested on a charge of burglary, which was subsequently dropped, have given the police the names of three gunmen who, they say, Were in the "murder car." They are "Trigger" Mike Coppola, a man named Grecco," and a third called Louis. The fourth man, who drove fhe car, was known by sight' to the witnes'ses, who also gave the number of the car. This information tallies with that given by the drug trafficker, Trobino. He told the police that he was the man tHe gangsters were trying to ' "put on the spot," arid-.that when the gangsters- opened fire ori him he seized a small boy arid use| him as a shield "frbm fhe hail bf bullets. He was not wounded, nor was the boy he used as a shield.