The sun., 1912-06-08
CORR|CAN HAS PLAN
TO DRIVE OUT GANGS
Magistrate Would Give Police
Power to License and Rcou-
late ChaufYrurS.
TORTI HELD ~ S25.OOO
Bic Jack XcIig. Guarded 10y De-
trctiNr>. Watched by
SirOccO'S Men.

MAGISTRATE Joseph T. Corrigan, whose
experience on the bench has made him
familiar with the ms and outs of gang
wars, such as the Xclig and Sirocco feud,
told THr SrN yesterday that there is an
easy and practicable way of abolishing
the gunmen and making the streets safe
for peaccabic citizens
"One feature of the apache battles
which has Interested everybody" said
Judge torriEdn, ii, the cas-" with which
the gang men secur" taXicahs and other
automobiles for their raids and geta-
ways Apparently the police are unable
to locate the garages that furnish the cars
and provide criminal Chail'eurs.
The motor car factor in giuL Iighis Is
new and particularly dangerous Along
comes a gang of gunmen who shoot down
their enemies and maybe few passersby,
and promptly disappear. In few cases
do the police ever catch them.
The remedy is simple enough. In
London the police, and the police only.
license rhauflrurs Every man who
drives a car is constantly under surveil-
lance II he is a crook the police know
il and his license il revoked II chauf-
feur over there figures III any way in
criminal case he mist tell what he knows
or forfeit his license and I've held as par
ticipant. That is especially important.
When the hau,om cab driver who
owned the cab in which Cesar Young
nd Nan Patterson rode the day that
Young was shot to death was questioned
about what he had seen or heard while
he was driving the pair he said he couldn't I
remember or that he didn't see anything.
II he had been "a London driver h, te>ti-
mony would have been more 10 the point
or else he would never have driven another
cab.
If the Police Commissioner had the
power Of licensing Chautfeurs he would
he able To eliminate CROOKS from that
trade or at least would be able to keep
tab on the questionab drivers. ! am
not max ing an attack on the license
bureau, but it il evident TO all citizens
that there IL not proper supervision and
that ganCmcn and thugs of all varieties
are able to secure chaufeurs' LICENSES.
Pick pockets. burglars. thieves of all
sorts. men of the lowest character. who
have been arrested and brought before
me have flashed chauffeurs' LICENSES as
"A proof of their resrectability. There
is no doub, that Big Jack Zelis : followers
and Siroccos retaiuers are able to get
automobiles whenever they need them
and to run them withou, interference,
The police will not be able to sweep
his sort of criminals out of business
until there is radical reform IN the
method of issuing Licenses. The Callan
law as enforced Is entirely Ineffective.
RsIhe glinmcn Of the gangs laugh at the
Sullivan law. and you can I blame them.
1t is absolutely ineffective so far as keep
ing pistols out of the hands of criminals
is concerned lhe gangmen have no
trouble in getting guns and no trouhls
in keeping them. At such lntrequent
times as they are caught with revolver-
in their possession the Judge do the best
they can to Uphold the law, but unfor-
trInately the police are lax III collecting
The right sort of evidence
As things stand the Magistrates may
only hold gunner for the action of the
Grand Jury and the higher courts. Then
comes a delay in which very often the
gangmen get or, on easy bail. which they
often forfeit or else they are paroled
fights would be the resumption of the
daily lineup Of crooks and suspicious
characters at Police Headquarters. Say.
only the edict against the Use of climbs.
AN order which has paralyzed the police
force of New York city, nothing has done
10 much to handicap the honest men of
the force as the discontinuance Of the
lineup
Judge Corrigan said thar he knew from,
his own experience of tho past year or
two that gangmen were more numerous
more impudent and more contemptuous of
police authority than ever before. He
knew Of several instances where gangmcn
had raided gambling houses. seized the
tank roll and had walked out, and Of
cases where they had forced gambling
house keepers and saloon men to con
tribute,
District Attorney Whitman indicate 90
Yesterday how seriously he regard.
the present gang warfare by personally
taking charge Of the case against Charles
Tort, the Sirocco follower who put a
bullet in Big Jack Xelig last Monday
The District Attorney knew that the
Italian gangnen were raising big fund
for the defence of Torti and that they
expected To get him out on easy bail,
so when Tor'i'- case came up befor,
Judge Rosal-ky Yesterday tn" District
Attorney -ked the Judge To name IA bir
figure. Francis j Grace, Torti's lawyer
wanted bail fixed at e. 900, but the Dis
'rict Attorney pointed ont that the gang
men could easily raise that amount,
Judge Rosalsky said that he couldn't
take IN" ordinary view of Torti's cas-,
because the lmplldenc" of the ganginef
had shower that II was time for the courts
10 deal severely with them. He set tn,
bail AT sojWo0 and ordered that Tort
be placed on trial next Monday morning
The Judge said also that i'm cas. bonds
men appeared he would require that
the .orty-eight hours allowed for in
vostiga,inn of the bondsmen's respon.
,ibiity be eXacted by the District Al
tOlnCy,
Judge Rosalskv's action Jared the
Srocco men, VINO went To court yes
terday hoping that Torti would quickly
be freed. They were ready to put uT
s. 400, perhaps more. In cash, but S25 ,OOl
vas too steep, and there was hardly
lime for them TO call on their sources
Of supply
While Judge RosaIsky was dealing
with Tort, Big Jack Zclig was taken
from Bellevue Hospital To the Crimina
Courts Building, The leader of the
Jewish PangsterS, u powerfully built
man, fully feet tall and muscled like a
longshoremau. did not appear to be
seriously injured as he walked into the