| Show Is mostly work of racketeers racketeer S amateurs usually display a lack of skill new york A new light may have been thrown on in the united states the other day when tile the police closed in on tile the men frivol involved led in the abduction of little margaret of mass and found instead of a group of desperate desperate gangsters stere two cape cod merchants says the new york times the fact that the buck brothers were not gangsters does not disprove the tha frequently made that there are organized bands in the united states who specialize in this particularly vicious and cowardly type of crime there Is plenty of evI evidence derice that groups do exist nut but tho the case suggests that many are attempted or carried out by men who may be described as amateurs began with racketeers the history of organized as ai investigators have pieced it together Is that it began with the abduction of racketeers gangsters gamblers and others not on good terms with the law by fellow denizens of 0 the underworld the victims in such cases were wera rarely in a position to appeal to the police so far as can be ascertained and the theory Is borne out by the records organized kidnapers prefer to deal with mth adults probably because a adult can be bargained with directly and because popular indignation does not reach quite so high a pitch when they invade the normal law abiding world they deal in large figures tile the kidnapers of charles rosenthal a young new york broker in august 1931 asked for and got ransom they also got without asking GO CO years in prison when the four of them were ere captured and convicted convict sixty thousand dollars Is lepor reported ed to hale hae been paid for the release of 0 claude boettcher son of a wealthy denver man last march john factor of chicago sometimes known as jake the barber Is said to have paid for the release of ills his young son jerome though it must be added that factor refused to confirm tills this statement one hundred thousand dollars was nag demanded of michael 11 II katz of kansas city of dr isaac D kelly of st louis of mrs nell donnelly of kansas s city of benjamin hower bower a denver baker risky enterprise nevertheless Is a risky and uncertain enterprise particularly since whiskers as the united states government Is said to be called in the underworld entered the field in opposition until last year it was difficult tor for the federal officials to make a case against kidnapers even when the united states malls had been used or victims had been carried across state lines two statutes passed by congress in june and july 1032 remedied this situation one of them imposes it a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of for the use of the malls to convey threats to injure to kidnap to accuse of crime or to demand ransom or reward for the return of an abducted person the second provides for cases in which a person has been carried across a state territorial or international boundary of the united states the judge on conviction vic vict tion lon may impose any penalty up to life imprisonment this Is said to be the only federal statute la in which such discretion Is allo allowed ved |
