Show J BOOTLEGGERS LOSING LosIc INCOME TURN KIDNAPER KIDNAP Problem Caused byEra byEra by I Era of f Transition V a r From Prohibition p r. r i i- i Huge Liquor Profit Thing of i Past Gangs Now Turn to Violence t. t Charles Chares Francis Coe Coc s gist st and writer of special articles on crime is discussing and analyzing ana- ana the situation and pointing to its solution in a series of three i- i articles of which this is the sec- sec 7 ond The third article will appear appear ap- ap appear pear here tomorrow S By fly CHARLES FRANCIS COE COB Copyright ht 1933 by th the North American Ameri Amen can Newspaper Alliance Inc Ine The man most publicized as an underworld un Un- character now reposes in Atlanta federal prison He is the notorious no no- Scarface He went to prison not for lor bootlegging or for lor racketeering racketeer ing or for lor narcotic trafficking or for lor gambling and vice rings or for lor mur mur- der He went to prison because he refused to divide with the federal government gov gay the proceeds of these mod modern rn activities In other words his crime was evading the Income tax It Is common knowledge that this man had a revenue in good goad years not far from Irom Of that he kept vast sums and paid vast sums It is the ex experience of oC this writer that the crook who saves 20 per cent of ol his gross revenue is a fortunate crook No crook operates without protection if il he operates with success The cost ost of that protection is invariably his hh largest individual item of ol opera operating Unit cost My guess would be that it will average 70 per cent of the gross With the passing of this master gangster angster one man was reported to tc have assumed his place in the suddenly sud denly darkened sun This man became became became be be- came public enemy No 1 1 as soon a athe as the original possessor of that dubious distinction relinquished It for lor regulation regulation regula tion clothes and a l less ss fattening diet So So presumably the new new public enemy No 1 should now be a financial I giant He should literally be rollin rolling in millions He took the place ol of Croesus Al Capone ALKY ALK GOLD GONE But prohibition is just about gone The galloping gold of ol the alky foun bun fountain fountain tam tain is missing What becomes of the successor to the millions of ol his majesty majesty maj maj- esty the Scarface Late reports had him fleeing toward Mexico while in his clutches writhed the victim of ol a sensational Bootlegging fails tails ol of its old profit The king bootlegger boot boot- legger egger turns to It seems rather obvious that our earlier suppositions suppositions suppositions sup sup- positions are borne out by the facts King Solomon of ol Boston built up upa a revenue said ald to be about a u year He started at bootlegging Recently Recently Re Re- Reo he walked into hot lead that spelled finis to his career The source of ol the anger ancer which slaughtered him Is generally admitted not to have been the old time liquor feud but something something some some- thing attributable to newer activities of ol a more dire nature Anyway he was murdered in his own night club Three mere boys were tried lor br th the killing There Is Chicago The There e is Boston A look at Detroit is interesting Detroit Detroit De De- troit became a gang center because bee of ol the proximity of ol Canada and handy liquor The infamous purple gang took root there and gave to history some of ol its most desperate bandits and killers D Detroit's real start as an under under- underworld world orld haven was the business of ol running running running run run- ning booze over the roads to Then as organization and protection conspired to to the more more complete rout of ol law enforcement it ceased to be necessary to run the booze In Chicago Chicago Chi Chi- I cago they cooked alcohol in tenements and brewed their own beer Almost Immediately the purple gang ganc became a murder trust They hired out their killers kUlers to pull jobs in other cities Z Harry Earry Fleisher was mentioned mention d m most st In fri connection with the Lindbergh kid kid- naping There has never been proof he was implicated But every cop in America knows the purple outfit are commercial killers They have made murder an instrumentality of ol commerce com corn merce The result is that they are Jading fading in power Prohibition sustained sus sus- tamed them financially Murder can- can not ENTER NEW FIELD Take St. St Paul Minn There is Js a city never accused ol of harboring organized gangs as we have hav con come do to know them Yet one of ol the recent sensational kid kid- took place there Why Mark my words it was not local talent that perpetrated that crime rime The Thc boys were called in for lor that These boys are arc recruited from Irom the ranks of ol the hungry bootleggers of ol yore Their appearance in these new crime centers proves that They arc commercial com corn mercial criminals They will pull a a I job at a flat Hat rate Kansas City is case in point I Pretty Boy Floyd now terrorizing V ike west as a Jessie James In modern dress started as a petty pett booze peddler ped dier in Kansas City He attracted the thc attention of ol local police and left town Shortly after he took to the smoking pistol and went violent by way ol 01 o Replenishing a 3 vanished bootleg ex cx chequer He kidnaps sheriffs anc and I uses them as us hostages to enforce his hi S maddened will upon the people It 1 is 15 not exaggerating to say that thai 4 local police welcome warnings that thai 9 dangerous criminals are touring their theE r towns and villages The warning in instead stead of ol closing roads to g killers fillers opens them What can can- can can-a a rural rura rura policeman do against a a trained mach machine I. I me ine gunner The warned officers see seek sanctuary In the Jail JaU The killers ride rid C unhampered Poli Police e in many cities alarmed b by y spread of ol violent crime are equipping equip equi ping to meet this condition Armored d cars trained machine gunners an and mc d radio fadio equipment are being adopted I. I These ese will vill win in the long run rum not because they are effIcacious I Ir a he extreme but because crime a al I ways defeats itself The willingness The t tc a protect violent crime is lacking The Tb C same same cop who winked at a bottle c 0 oi liquor will vIlL stand his ground over i deck of ol heroin or a callous for lor profit Kansas City saw the flagrant kid kli 1 naping of ol the d daughter ol of of its cit citman y man manager ger The young wom woman m was ran rai ri omed for She SheVa was Va unharmed d L except for lor nervous strain The men who her were old bootleggerS bootleggers boot boot- according to information ac accepted by the police Had bootlegging remained profitable the they would have continued at the trade and foregone the Deprived of oC liquor money they turned in accordance with their intelligence to the business business busi busi- ness of ot what the they call the snatch racket People know nothing ol of that never get into the papers This writer knows of ol three cases of ol successful successful succeSSful success succeSS' ful snatches in New York City In each case the victim of ol the kidnap kidnap- ing was a n criminal himself He Ho was caught by others ol ot his kind ransomed ransomed ran ran- for lor whatever he had and turned loose to pile up another amount for lor future consideration Each time timet t these e criminals well aware ol ot their exact position as s hostages paid through the nose One said to me Did I pay Lay your last dime I I had 35 grand rand in bank when they took me They got it Il all Only a n sucker would fight light them Another case reported to me and verified from Irom sources I credit involves a manufacturer of ol fruits who paid dollars dollarS' to kid kid- These men actually marched him into his hL bank and stood by pistols concealed in their pockets while the victim got the money and handed It over in the presence of ol the vice dent ol of the bank The bank official of ol course remained unaware of the whole procedure re In its true cance Why not fight light back I asked this victim You handed over the money I but you Ou know who got it Why not light fight Ive I've a wife and children he answered simply mo money ey with their lives at stake Jack Legs Diamond was a boot boot- legger He was an interesting one in that to the best ol of my knowledge he was the first of ol the tribe to lay laythe laythe laythe the urban problem on the suburban doorstep His trip into the Catskill mountains wrought not only his own death but a series of ol crimes th that t left leU that pastoral section in the throes of terror Men were tortured on the highways o others were The country w was as roused to lever fever pitch That section section sec sec- t tion ion preferred applejack to the so so- c called liquors of ol their urban brothers J Jack ack tried triM to control the applejack t traffic Deprived of ol bootleg money he h had ad to replace it some way War broke o out ut Jack died broke brok Only recently h his is widow was found lound murdered in her hex b bed ed Dutch Schultz beer baron of ol Ne New NewYork's NewYork's Yorks York's Bronx things slipping in Ir t h his is business The old profits of ol boot legging egging l vanished He was so often boot I I mentioned in fn connection with crimes crime o of f violence that now he is isa a a fugitive I a cringing craven in fear lear for lor his lEf liCe lile a and nd a man for lor whom the world upper a and nd under has little but scorn But h he was a millionaire when the booze booz bouncing was good There is another er traffic In fri the un which has spread during prohibition It is th the vilest the most despicable the most mos t I Insidious ol ot all illegal rackets It i is S Sn i in n narcotics DIFFERS FROM BOOZE Fundamentally it differs from Irom booze in two major features First the average man abhors it and will wUl as a de decent nt citizen do what he can to stop the traffic traffie So narcotic laws are arc enforced with comparative ease ase Second a modest fortune In the poison polson pol poi son may be transported in a fountain pen Cadets as a. narcotic peddlers arc re called travel fine line trains use light luggage and attract no attention That Is a lot easier than transporting bot bot- led ed goods by the case or beer by the keg eg But the narcotic traffic is great It II is growing greater The more Insidious insidious In- In of ol the bootleggers of ol old arc are turning to this to supply revenue This Is the most violent crime I know If II there is to be a death penalty it should be lor for the sal sale of ol narcotics These cadets cadets' operate under an organised organized organized or or- ring More and more they killers Long terms are arc likely to o be the order for lor conviction of ol this crime rime Long terms do not deter the criminal they make him more des- des This Is not an argument against term long sentences It merely merely mere mere- ly explains where the violence comes from rom In iii the narcotic traffic New York City today is going through a series of ol murders at once ghastly and grotesque In the metropolitan metropolitan metropolitan metro metro- politan area some ten killings have occurred in a month Four of ol the themen themen themen men killed were to have been witnesses witnesses wit wit- nesses in the trial of ol a gang leader charged with tax evasion Each of them ha has since been identified with the narcotic traffic For several years the question most often asked me has been What That dil- dil ference does docs it make J If gangsters murder so long as they murder only each other There you have havethe the best answer to that question I know These victims all purported criminals of the worst order and each presumed to be a narcotic addict and peddler constitute the only evidence the government government gov gov- can use in court to destroy the vast criminal rings that the nation The underworld will tell you that all these men were murdered for Cor what they knew for tor what they might testily in court that would lend Itself to corroboration In opening this article I pointed out that the federal charge harge was the wire over which Scarface tripped It was l the only one he was unable to beat Cook county Illinois was his para pnra- dise disc The state was helpless against him hEra The United States put him into prison I want to tomake make a point of ol that gain again gainas as a. a predicate for statements to lol fol fol- fol 1 low Knowing literally hundreds o oj ot I criminals I say e earnestly and truthfully truth truth- fully lully that every intelligent one shuns federal raps as he would the thep p plague In the old days they avoided 1 counterfeiting because it was a a federal fed led eral offense They robbed no post offices and they avold avoided d national banks in their robberies The one i fear rear of confidence men has alway a i been the mails r r Dont write anything crooked and mall it I heard the most mot infamous of them say not Ion long a ago o. o Getting into the mails malls I is getting into a federal rap That is the hardest of all to I beat beal Uncle Sam am never forgets HisA Ills Ill A arm goes from Irom coast to coast H He Hed d doesn't extradite He just locks you up wherever he finds linds you you OU f Uncle Sam and Uncle Sam alone is the hope for law enforcement in inthis inthis this trying era of ol transition from Irom prohibition prohibition prohibition pro pro- to repeal |