KINDERGARTEN METHODS ARE NO GOOD WHEN YOU ARE DEALING WITH A KILLER: HENCE THE THIRD DEGREE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 291, 3 August 1932, Page 7

KINDERGARTEN METHODS ARE NO GOOD WHEN YOU ARE DEALING WITH A KILLER: HENCE THE THIRD DEGREE

SHSBSHSZ5E1 l. w.

IE5HSZ5HSE5H5E5Z' Holmes

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,^5 Amorii'an Speeial Detective and Criminologist. .* ir—ii 1 i 1 1 ii li II ti II 1 1

0 you going to talk?" Tl,e liuddled figure in Ihs \ ciiair raises a battered head eyes stare at tlie grim-faced ;;0 tovers above. Coatless, his sbrt displaying a bloodstained ^atted bair clinging to liis '' [orebt'ad, tlie wreck in tlu ? cUakes his bead. I,;t! Go on boys!" says the do -fg'riinly. his expression devon ^ trace of liuman sympathy. ii his ccmmand the two uni;»ed men stariding beside the lsr raise their rubber trun:ls" A terrible thud of rubber ";n5t shrinking flesh, a fearful Lfrom the half-conscious vicThe punishment aoes on. .h1,p rangster will not talk. "I" he nioans. ,t!,'rue picture of what is prae *an everyday scene in any Air ' citv po lice headquarters ma ,revoltiii?- It seems impossibl ,jV inunan being can stand ui 'torturi1 and not confess guil; ffCi'inic, wliether be liad com j it or not. But in Americi - are difiWent, and I bave seegand tlio "liose"— as tliis cnu •jr'truuclicon is known — for hourr. ihen re&n-o to answer the ques tlie examining detectives. i-type of "examination" is ap iWy to those criminals whom Klice are eonvineed know all I'tlie crime they are investigat"it is the gangster who will not fvea though he knows the name Ijperpetrator of a brutal murder, Rts the "liose" and sundry other liaeuts v.'hieh the American ■{use to nnilce a man talk. An 3rvrespecfable citizen suspected 1 crime would be treated very \ tlie same as a suspeet would ifated in European and colonial Let nie give you a very good ^!e of tlu- need for tliis extreme fjegree, and of its results. ■jjQuaglioni, a decent, liard-work-italian restaurant-owner in the a quarter of Detroit, had a quar jith a man in a speakeasy. Next ^ile Toni was busy arranging ♦gijles in his little restaurant, the lith wlioin he had quarrelled enland offered his hand. As the relhad been patehed up the 3 eveningr, and both men had pro,j to remain friends, Toni very rally accepted the proffered hand. dedidso his visitor lired three jtrom his pocket, and poor Toni,

witli the smile of friendship frozen on his lips, fell to the floor. He died before his terror-strieken wil'e eould reach him. His three little children had witnessed the murder from the rear of the sliop. Toni was well known and popular among the members of the Detroit poliee force, and word went round that the killer must be. found. The first man they brought in was Mike Laspelli, who had been the only customer in the place at the time of the murder. We knew that unless tliis man talked, the evidence of the wife and children would be shattered as biased by a clever defence counsel, and tlie slayer would escape. For hours we kept Wlike at headquarters. We placed him in a chair directly beneath a powerfu! arc iight and shot questions at him until the examining detectives almost collapsed. By that time iViike was haif crazy, but still he would not taik.

Ynformation received during the day eonvineed us that Laspelli was shiehling the killer, and we swore to make him talk. We questioned him all tlirough the niglit. "For God's sake let me sleep," he screamed for the hundredth time, at 8 a.m. next day. "Sure we'll let you sleep, son," came the gentle reply. "Now come on, and who was it?" The bleary eyes gazed pitifully up at the chief of police. For a second we thought that Laspelli would collapse before he could speak. Then he choked, shook with terror for a second and gasped: "Piazzi." "Take him back to the cell," snapped the chief. "Come on boys," he barked at us, and within a few moments fast squad cars were touring Detroit's underworld for "Rat-face" Piazzi, one of the dirtiest and most cowardly killers known to the police of the wliole continent. We got "Rat-face", and the mea-

sures we adopted to make him talk made Laspelli's grilling look like a mild lecture by comparision. Mike turned State's evidence, and the cruel slayer of a decent man met a welldeserved end. American courts are very different from those in Eurppe or the colonies, and a judge usually refuses'to admit an alleged confession as evidence on the grounds that force has been ; used to secure it. But, as a ruie • the police do not submit confessions. They rely on information given them by witnesses, who have been forced to talk, and from these clues they secure evidence to convict the criminat. But those underworld denizens whc. ire members of really big gangs can:ot be made to talk. They know full well that if they give the police the slightest assistance they will be 'bumped off", and probably their wives and children as well. Were it lot for tliis strange loyalty — bred by ear rather than any sympathy for the Timinal — I have no doubt that gang nle would cease in Ameriea. I once sat at tlie bedside of a young nan for three hours before he died. He was a Roman Catholic, and witli me at the death-bed was his old priest, who had known him from childhood. The dying man had been a decent mllow, but bad associates had led him istray, until finally he became a gangster. He had been shot down by a man with a deadly Thompson machinegun and we knew quite well that he could name his slayer. The priest tried his hardest to make that boy talk. He reminded him of his duty to his State, his Church, even his God, whom he was to face so soon, but the boy lay silent. f Poor kid! He preferred to meet his Maker with a mortal sin on his soul, rather than to talk and lay his loved ones open to the sure vengeance of the gang who had lcilled him. But if there is something admirable in such stoicism as this, there is also a powerful obstacle to the administration of justice. So long as fear keeps the gangster from talking, the police know that they cannot .get the clues they need to prove the many crimes traceable to gunmen. To protect the vast majority of the people who are decent citizens, they have to descend to the depths of barbarous cruelty, which I think is justified. After all, when handling a killer you can't use kindergarten methods. You are dealing with a wild animal, a menace to society. No man would try to coax a deadly snake by stroking it. When bat- • tling with vicious criminals you must use severity.