Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-08-10
news TOPICS FROM OLD new YORK

NEW YORK, Aug. l0.-The sensa.
tional disclosures in connection with
the Rosenthal murder do not reflect
particular credit upon the police de-
partment of New York city and it Is
not surprising that the citizens, or
at least the better classes. are thor
oughly aroused by the scandal II
anything was needed completely to
undermine public confidence in the
police organization of the city, the
Rosenthal murder case has more
than supplied what was lacking. 1t
had been stated repeatedly by men
of high standing In the community
that the police organization OF the
city is in league with the criminal
elements, giving them protection In
return for blackmail contributions;
but the optimists, which always con.
stitute majority Of the citizens were
inclined to believe that these grave
accusations were Ct undless or at
least largely exaggerated. The state
ments Of some of the implicated wit
nesses in the Rosenthal case. how
ever not only confirm the accusa-
tons against the police, but disclose
a condition of almost unbelievable
corruption permeating the entire pol
ice organization. VI course, that does
not mean that every member of the
police force is corrupt and CRATER;
but it may easily be understood that
the corruption which unites the su-
perior officers with the criminal ele-
ment must necessarily tie the hands
of the honest and conscientious pol
icemen who are trying to do their
duty.
1t appears from the disclosures OF
certain witnesses in the Rosenthal
murder case that the gamblers and
keepers of disreputable resorts OF
this city have annually paid from
y2,5OO,O0O to $3,0O0,000 to the police
and certain high officials, in league
with the corrupt police officials. 1t
that is true-and there is other cor
roborative evidence to support these
statements--the business of the gam
bling houses and other illegal resorts
in New York city must be flourish
ing and extremely profitable. The
enormous sum paid in blackmail for
protection" it is reasonable to as
sumo, constitutes only small per-
centage of the ill-gotten gains OF the
keepers of these resorts. These
gains, which probably equal, in the
aggregate, a sum ten times as great,
are derived from the countless vic
tins who are f1eeced every year in
the gambling houses and other low
resorts of the CITY, Considering the
dishonest methods employed by the
gambling and other hells OF New
York city, Monte Carlo would seem,
in comparison, an institution of high
moral character.
| How desperate the criminal ele
ment in this city is in this present
crisis, is demonstrated by the fact
| that within a few days after James
Verella, the proprietor of an Italian
| cafe, had disclosed the hiding place
of 'Dago Frank" Cirocisi, one OF the
men implicated in the Rosenthal muir
| der, he was shot and killed by sew
eral italians out of revenge. The
fate of Verella is likely to have a
lettering influence upon the willing
ness of important witnesses in the
case.
For several Sundays the police all
over the city have made wholesale
| arrests of men and Ooys who were
found playing baseball on the Sab
bath. The magistrates, however, de-
cided in every case that the mere
playing of ball on Sunday constitute
ed no violation of the Sunday law