Show DEWEY y THE HE RACKET new yorks aggressive states attorney may be G 0 P presidential timber if ile he stumble V T rip A R 5 5 IM w 5 N 44 N N az X U A 4 1 y g 4 Z P y api r am 11 1 1 nn american airlines photo by JOSEPH W labine N NEW EW YORKS racket bust ing messiah may be the republican bartys messiah as well A 35 year old political youngster ler from owosso mich who stalked both the tammany tiger and organized crime down dov n manhat tans jungle now looms in many minds as the logical G 0 p P choice for white house honors in 1940 his name is thomas E dewey dewcy his rocket like career as a special prosecutor for new york city has been in the limelight only t two 0 years but he is almost certain to be offered the republican nomination for governor eo vernor next year if he accepts if he wins whis and if he does not stumble in the meantime tom deweys deleys praises may be sung and re sung irom from many a republican campaign platform in 1940 dewey Is himself a singer he graduated from the university of michigan with every intention of following an operatic career A chiago vago vocal teacher encouraged him to study in new york while carrying out this advice he took law as a side line graduating from columbia 1925 now he manages what Is facetiously called a singing sing ij school tor for manhattans Manhat tans hoodlums an institution where the greats fraats and small fry of are urged to talk started with wavle gordon deweys deleys career carder as a nemesis of organized crime began when george Z widely known trial lawyer and united states attorney for lower new york encouraged cou raged the young barrister to enter his bis domce deweys deleys efforts brought the notorious waxie gordon to justice in 1933 it was in this case that the michigan schoolboy first displayed his talent for unorthodox legal procedure ile he arrested gordon and the other principal defendants before his office had sufficient clent evidence to hold them he pinned his hopes on witnesses to be secured through secret raids maxle a beer bedr baron whose power rivaled that of al capone in chicago cago 0 had an income of in 1930 and 1931 according to internal revenue officials like his colleagues in the racket he kept few records deweys deleys investigations probably taught gordon more about his financial standing than he ever knew before for a short period late in 1933 dewey was united states district attorney tor for lower new york having resigned A successor was vas appointed by president roosevelt and the owosso lad went back to private practice a field which was vas netting him about a year when he accepted the herculean task lash of cleaning manhattans Manhat tans augean stables in 1935 that job paid grand jury on rampage it started with a nonconformist conformist non grand jury an independent bunch of rascals who defied the tammany i district attorney and set out to get at the bottom of a crime business that was mulcting mulching ting new yorkers out of cf millions of dollars each year they got plain mad when witness sifter after witness ref refused used to testify tearful fearful of punishment at the hands of 0 gang doms gunmen several deliberate tests convinced the jurors that there were underworld spies in the tha district attorneys office while press and public chafed chafee at their inaction the jury asked for ii a special prosecutor district attorney dodge rejected all their nominees including dewey whose inhospitable treatment of maxle gordon had not been forgotten it was governor lehmans intervention that caused deweys deleys eventual op appointment orf on june 25 1935 the war viar had started when charles lucky luciano heard beard about dewey he dubbed him a boy scout so did torn tom the bull Penno chlo and little davy betillo Bc tillo who were among Lu cianos henchmen from hla his splendid apartment atop the waldorf astoria luciano ruled new yorks racket racheli rac keLi i but he be was a man of mystery whose came must be whispered everi even among those few colleagues in crime who knew his identity the rest of the huge mob reported to subordinate henchmen and no questions asked must start at the bottom dewey had decided to overlook the prostitution racket temporarily a at t least prostitution had been the chief interest of unsuccessful cleanup clean up campaigns in the past to strike against it now might cost what little public confidence he had obtained but in the end he followed tradition when you cant got get information about those at the top you must start at the bottom and work up prostitution was at the bottom the most commonplace of the rackets dewey did not know luciano was the kingpin he may haye have had a hunch even though luciano was mr ross at the waldorf astoria and was a most inconspicuous character just as he ensnared waxie gordon by making raids on the strength of evidence which might turn up later so did he put the finger on luciano Lu clano in the early morning of february 1 1936 twenty higher ups were seized in a raid so secret that it gave the underworld a bad case of jitters next day came another swift secret raid that brought shrieking kicking women to the woolworth building singing school the first real break came through dave miller a smalltime small time ilme racketeer who sang because tits his heart was bad and he wanted to be home with the wife and kids then came the 4 01 1 P i vl florella fiorella laguardia new yorks reformist mayor another man whose qualities have not been overlooked women whose vocal chords warmed up under the promise of protection the evidence gradually took shape the phantom luciano came to light as and blood character he was secretly indicted in march bigel biff house ouse for lucky lucky led fled to hot springs ark where he wa was s nobly indignant when arrested returned to new york he was slapped in the tombs under ball when the trial arrived dewey made it clear that he was not after prostitutes and other underlings 1 I want the big shots luciano sitting away up at the top in his apartment at the waldorf as the czar of organized crime in this city and his assistants who like him lived on the earnings of these bodies luciano drew 30 to 50 years and his as assistants assistant sistan ts were given equally strong terms it if what remained of the gang planned revenge on states witnesses they were dissuaded by the judge he threatened to demand the maximum penalty if any of deleys deweys singers were harmed A climax to the cam campaign against organized crime arrived november athis 2 this year when dewey was swept into the district attorneys attorney s office over his tammany opponent it was a triumph over the spoils polities politics which has gagged new york justice for years to vanquished tammany deweys deleys victory was a sting almost as severe as mayor florello fiorello La Guardias re reelection election on the reform platform whether the tattered tiger will recover it strength b by the time next beart gubernatorial election rolls around remains to be seen meanwhile the notions nations republican eyes are looking to the empire state from whence comoto their strength G 0 P gives blessing meeting in chicago immediately after the new york city election members of the republican national committee unofficially placed their blessing on dewey as a young man likely to go places among his supporters are representative martin of massachusetts col R B creager creader of texas daniel E pomeroy of new jersey and mrs ralph A harris of kansas chairman john hamilton and senator borah have been equally ent enthusiastic I 1 iu A a s t ac others quite logically look upon mayor laguardia as good G 0 P presidential timber but the little flower would not gather rural votes like he gathers them in new york he is short pudgy outspoken he has an italian name which falsely connects him with the fascism he so roundly denounced in his recent battle with hitler that thai a man of fiorella La Guardias strength and ability should suffer because of these personal matters mat Is indeed unfortunate his reform administration has been just as messianic as tom dereys deweys racket busting bil sting but whether it be Dewe dewey deweyer or laguardia Gu ardla the republican party sees its victory in new yorks election aaa noteworthy next years year gubar lal election looks favorable they say with tammany licked and new deal democrats either sullen or indifferent but the undeniable truth is that La Guardias remarkable victory Is due in large part to Ws his alliance with the new labor party an alliance which may or may not function in the state elec tion hes typically american deweys deleys typical americanism m should preclude the necessity of such strange bedfellows bed fellows as labor and the republican party bunking together in a wholly unnatural brotherhood for dewey Is iq a man m ah who say his supporters has the background family faintly connections and un unsullied sullied political record to insure popularity he came from a family of editors his grandfather george martin having founded the owosso times in 1887 grandfather dewey was a vermont product a third cousin of afi the admiral who took manila harbor tom deweys deleys boyhood was iwas that of any other midwestern child part of it spent in his dads news paper office at the university of michigan he join a fraternity but was telegraph editor of the michigan daily and made a name for himself in vocal work while studying music andraw at new york he met attractive frances eileen hutt of sherman texas a grandniece of the jefferson davis miss hult Hut was a mezzo contralto and a good one she climaxed a stage career by carrying the prima donna role with george whites scandals in 1927 next year she married dewey who by this time had permanently tabled his operatic ambit ambitions foris in favor of the law just as mr and mrs dewey are typical americans so are their children john martin two and thomas edmund jr five the kind of youngsters like to belleve believe represent a cross section of americas coming generation whether he becomes a candidate tor for governor or president torn tom dewey is probably destined t to i live the rest of his days on the public payroll right now following a rest in bermuda with mrs dewey hes planning big things for the states attorneys office the famous singing school will be continued and in all probability many more new york hoodlums will receive vocal instruction from its capable instructors the prosecutors office will be open 24 hours a day every day in the year dew eys ays men will be riding the tall tail pi of the police wagon in his own words gathering evidence befera the criminals trail can cool perhaps by such tactics the owosso boy scout can continue the record he established as special prosecutor conviction of 71 of the 73 racketeers he brought to friall a western newspaper union |