TEN MILLION A YEAR IN BLACKMAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 107, 21 September 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

TEN MILLION A YEAR IN BLACKMAIL.

100 LITTLE MONTE CARLOS IN NEW YORK.

GRAFT SECRETS.

New York. July 31. Further sensational revelations regarding the association of the New York police with professional gamblers have been made by the men now under arrest for complicity in the murder of Rosenthal, the informer. The Public Prosecutor is now trying to substantial* this evidence. It is "known 'that the New York police a>-e fcequsnt•ly bribed, but hitherto it ha„ been impossible to procure direct testimony. General Bingham, who was Police Commissioner three years ago, has stated that £20,000,000 is paid yearly by the "underworld" to the New York police in the form of "graft" and blackmail. General Bingham asserted that he could personally have made £200,000 a year in bribes, while Police Commissioner He was onc> offered £IOOO down and £IOO a month simply to be seen publicly shaking hands with a notorious dive 'keeper. He admits the impossibility of securing sufficient direct evidence to convict the grafters becauee the system is conducted so secretly.

Mr Whitman hopes, with the aid of Rose and other imprisoned gamblers, '.o trace this fund to its final receiving centres.

NOT YET PROBED. New York has been shaken by th«se revelations as it has never been shak-n .before. The people talk of nothing else. Public indignation against the "graft syndicate" is growing steadily. Mr Whitman, the Public Prosecutor, declares that the scandal has not yet been fully probed.

Rose, the gambler who confessed yesterday that he was an intermediary for Police Lieutenant Becker in his dealings with professional gambters and criminals, has informed Mr Whitman that the' gambling houses illegally operated in ;New York paid £480,000 .blackmail yearly to the police for protection.

His amazing statement is based, he says, on information given him by Becker. The latter is now in custody charged with wilful murder in connection with Rosenthal's death.

The "graft" was divided into four parts, and was handled by Becker, two police inspectors, and a police clerk, who is known to have enjoyed close relations with prominent Tammany politicians. Rose confessed that there are over one hundred "little Monte Carlos" doing business in New York, which pay tribute to the police according to a sliding scale, ranging from £IOO a month downward.