SECRET SIX

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 121, 14 January 1932, Page 2

SECRET SIX

"PUBL1C RECKONERS" SUPRESSION OF RACKETEERING AND PROFESSIONAL ' CRfME. " AL CAPONE'S "SWAN SONG," ■Chicago's "private war" „pn crime is exciting keen interest m Ne-^ York and other citieS Where racketeering has become a civic menace fwrites j Raymond Morley, profeSSpr of public | law at Cplumbia UriiVefSity and research director of .the New York, Gommission bn the Administi'ation of Justice, in the Ney Yofk- 'Times'h If any cohsiderable propbrtion of the people of Chicago really want A.lphonse blotted out of their daily "budget of humah interest they m'ust be filled with disappointment these days as they look doWn long vistas of complicfated legal entanglements.. The most optimistic view. now' is that the . war against , Calpone's , fprces ,must continue until late in 1932, perhaps fa'ter ,* that victory is by np ' means" certain, and that the solace of peace without victory is imppssible. Gapone was indicted early in J-une for evabxnk, the payment of , income taxes and for conspxring with sixtypight others to yiolate the Prohibitibn Act. . His pleas of guilty to thCse indictments were the.occasion of loud rejoicing; but when the time came for' him to be sentenced his lawyer pointed out to Judge Wilkerson that the pleas of guilty had been made after conferences with the United States . District Attorney, and with the understanding that recommehdations as tb , punishment wo'uld be made to the •! court. When Judge Wilkerson declar- : ed "It is time for somehody to im- ; press upori this defendant that it is utterly impossible to bargain with a. Federal court," Capone moved hastily to re-establish th'e status quo ante. On June 30 hxs motion to withdrawhis plea of guilty to income tax evasion was granted; on September 8 the motion to withdraw the plea cf guilty to conspiracy was also granted, and a new trial was held. No More Money. The external mariifestatipns of these prosecutxpns were the work of public authorities, notably Federal officials. It is, however, not clear to those outside of Chicago how . muelx of the , basic work and the driving power of the prosecutions are due to private initiative. Capone himself has poxnted to this fact in what enterprising jpurnalism called his "swan Song." While it is quite obvious that this composition is full of extravagances, it stands as an excellent testimonial| to the importanee of such private ac- '

tivities as the Secret Six. Capone ; said, in commenting on his original 1 pleas of guilty: — "The Secret Six have licked the rackets. They've licked me.' They've mad.e it so, there's no money in the game any more." This private war on gangsters is ' indeed one of tlxe most interesting features of present-day Chicago. Three important organisations are engaged in this work — the Secret Six, the Employers' Association, and the Chicago Crime Commxssion. To those outside of Chicago the Secret Six seem like a. band of sinister "public reckoners." Actually they are hard-headed business men, member s of the Chicago Association of Cemmerce. They are the directing body pf a cpmmittee of thirty-six, the Citxzens' Committee on the Preveritioix and Punishment of Crime of the Chicago Association pf Commerce. Moreover, the Secret Six are, not strictly secret. Their names are known to the public; but the journeymen operatives of the organisation, "ten or more" men, are not only, it is hoped, unknown to the underworld, but unknown to each other; hence, perhaps, the explanation of the name of th'e Secret Six.' Work Together. , Th'e group, headed by Colonel Ro- : bert Isham Randolph, began to function last winter. Dire'cted by an expert investigator, Alexander G. Jamie (a former employee of the Fedpral Government), the operatives collect Pvidence agaixxst cfiminals in co-ope-j ration with, ptiblic officials, the Chxcaj go Crime Commissxori, and the Em1 ployers' Association. The suppresI sidn of" racketeering, of professional ! crime, such as bombin'g and bank robj bing, of gambling and organised vice, | arid of Communism is their objectivd. i To this end they sepd out detectives, ' not only in Chicago, but to many pgrts j of the country, . for it is one of their fundamental ideas that since _ the master gangsters work on a natioftal j scale efforts to combat them must be , j similarly broad in scope. I Co-operatxori by sxxch an 6r ganisa- , 1 tion with public authorities in the ga- ! thering of. eyidence is by no means ' j difficult. Police and. prosecutors are ! almost invariably delighted to receive j outside asSistance if thereby they can relieve themselves of work and re- « sponsibility. It xs impossibte to in- ! dicate the extent to which this co-ope- ; ration has ,gpne, but it is probable | that there has been more with FedeI ra! authorities than with those of city | and State. j The Secret Six may possibly have a most useful future. .'If, as Capone reproachfully says, it has "licked" - him, it may exterminate some of the | lower forms of gang life. On the other hand, there is real danger,- ac- . cording to Colonel Randolph, that the i destruction oi Capone's power will plunge the underworld of Chicago into internecine war; this, in fact, is the contention of the wxly Capone him- . self. .. . Again, earnest and efficient work on I the part of the Secret Six may act as 1 a .spur to apathetic and .inept public ; officials.. But the force of shining exam'ple is usually yiasted on those for ; whom xt is meant. tJnless mxracles 1 happen, it is more than likely that the officials will "co-operate" with a vengeance afid tur« ovef their tasks to' an inereasing extent to the Secret Six. Finally it is possible that the Secret Six may educate the public by givirig xt some sense of a mySterious power bringing malefactors to justice, though , there xnay be some ques- , tiofx whether in this connection their work is as "valuable as that of the Chicago Crime Commission.