| Show Torch Kills ff Six as Cleveland Garage t Burns 13 G Gang ng Rulers Die Suspicious Chara Characters t. t Run Out of Town by Police Editors This Note is the eighth cf f a series of articles on racketeering racketeering racketeer ing by James James' P. P Kirby staff writer writ writ- er for The Telegram and NEA SerVice Sere Ser vice and tells the story of Cleve Cleve- land Dy By JAMES P. P KIRBY NEA Service Writer CLEVELAND 0 Sept 13 t A family of six IncludIng four children chil- chil en dren were sacrificed b by the torch I racketeer when the garage over k which the family slept was burned to the ground here her last fall H This was the worst fatality recorded rel re- re l' l corded in the long list of outrages which nark the trail or racketeers effecting the dry cleaning Undertaking Under Under- undertaking taking kosher butchers credit jewelers and other ollier lines of business and through which the names arid and laces faces of well known Chicago operators riCK WRONG PLACE The burning burning- of the family is dl- dl i- i attributed b by P. P J. J Hawkins who operates a moving and hauling on the east sidE to the tact fact that racketeers attempted to him for his refusal to pay tribute to 10 the racket macket intended to set et fire to his garage and made nade the ot of selecting a garage adjoining adt ad- ad t joining his Is establishment lb lIe explains that before be- be fore rore the fire he was approached by certain organizers who invited him for the last timo to j join in an organization of which they were the tha promoters and to which he said he t was expected to contribute for the thet t of oC his equipment I The operations of racketeers in ini i Cleveland came to light during the early summer in a po political II campaign cam cam- over the of county pros pros- An independent candidate for the Republican nomination who ho was drafted by the tho Cleveland Bar association and defeated by the 1116 organization candidate made the charge durin during the campaign that racket racketeers rs had b ben en getting protection lion tion and and with the election of oC his opponent would continue to be pro pro- the charge was mado in the heat of C a political battle which was the he h hOttest in Cuyahoga county in many the rack rack- years allegation of feering was was immediately taken talen up by bythe the newspapers and the police r Th The American Plan association a serles serle of affidavits I fr fl m individuals in the dry clean clean- i lag ing kosher butchers and other situ situ- liar lines of oC business to show that w well ll identified with the in Chicago had been busy in in Cleveland and that fear r reprisals on the part of their vic vic- tims had kept the latter silent NO O INDICTMENTS A specIal grand jury inv rion was launched early in the he sum sum- but there were no and there appears to be little lIke lIke- of any in the near However Cleveland possesses a ai i robust and vigorous vigorous' safety director Inthe person of l Edwin D. D Barry Barrys Barry's reaction to the suggestion ot ring in Cleveland was characteristic lie forthwith sent for Dr Detective Inspector Cornelius Hus iv Cody and C Captain Emmett Potts Run them out ot of lie town or- or ordered dered and forthwith detectives i I scoured the he city and rounded up upwell upwell well known characters whose means of oC livelihood was the subject of conjecture There was a scurrying ing for c cover ver and a hasty exodus of conspicuous characters I Well WeI detail policemen and detectives de- de to accompany them day and night and give them no peace Barry said and his officers imme- imme set out to cary out his or ders STILL SMOLDERS Although the tho racket appears to have ve become quiescent it Is smolderIng derIng In such lIne lines s as the dry cleaning In which the familiar Chiago Chi Chi- ago method of oPErations an 0 oc- oc stench bomb a a. truck set afire an occasional dynamiting IndIc In Indicate In- In dIc te that While the racketeers are of oC Ban ys threat they have riot not q quit t business Small tailor shops kosher butchers butch butch- ers dry cleanIng and similar establishments es- es are continually feeling the presence of the racketeers whose work Is how covert ert and fair ly h well velI c concealed C The death of an aged woman oman echo ho was choked by gangsters when h refused to accede to their the den do- do n mands ands r fOr T money late this summer I Was declared by Inspector Cody to be the work of a racketeer mob The bootleg racket here as else else- where appears appears to furnish the basis of for tor other rackets and despite the effectiveness effective effective- ness with which Barrys Barry's police curb gambling the booze racket l thrives find leaves in its wake a long list of gang mUrde murders rs F ERS KILLED f In the period since January 1927 1127 there have been thirteen murders of well known underworld characters including BIg Joe and John Lonardo and Lawrence Lupo recognized rulers rull'S rul- rul ers lS l'S in the liquor traffic and riot not only not a conviction but not eten een an arrest lr- lr rest The Cleveland Association for Criminal JUstice n a volunteer organization or- or similar to those of Chi Chi- Baltimore Is rin an ett tive means of keeping the public in- in I. I formed ot of the conditions within the I j. j administration of oC justice and InI in I stimulating public offIcials who ap- ap tear hear to weak weaken n. n L However the Cleveland situation compared with those or of Chicago Detroit and St. St Louis Louig appears to 2 infinitely bett better r than those C cities ti 1 |
