Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-12

~S sworn evidence
showing that the police license the cfiin'-
nails of New York.
There are three questions which the
average citizen is curious to nave an
swered:
Ffrst-How much money in a year 40
the police collect from the various xmas
of licensed vice and crime?
Second-Are all policemen grafters. or
Is this graft grabbed up by little clique
OF police officers?
Third-Do the grating police officers
have to divide up with somebody 'hlgner
up" and how many and who are these
hidden people higher up?
For the last twenty years off and on, i
myself have paid graft to the police in one
way or another. For several months 1
have collected graft for the police l am
ono of the few men in New York VINO
have seen the graft business from both
sides.
Nobody denies that there Is regular sys-
ten,atic grating by the police, but 1t Is
commonly supposed that police graft Is
confined mostly to the protection money
paid by gamblers and the keepers OF dis
reputable resorts. This sort of graft Is
a tax levied by the police on vice.
But there is a much more wicked and
dangerous form of police graft, OF which
little has been told. This is the licensing
hv the police of burglars, pickpockets,
shop!ifters and thieves of all varieties
There is a definite partnership in crime
between the police and the thieves >,
Burglars are whipped up to get busy
because the division of profits for their
last months robberies We're not satisfac-
tory. Pickpockets and detectives jump
on the same car together, and In case OF
trouble the pickpockets partner shows
his badge and confuses things by arrest
ing the wrong person until his pickpocket
friend has made his escape.
Lefty Boyle. the famous pickpocket,
declared he had a police license to oper-
ate anywhere in three specified police
precincts. 1 have heard of others who
purchased licenses for certain territory,
and were never disturbed so long as they
did not work outside of their districts
and were prompt in paying the regular
monthly tax.
The most famous instance of selling
districts to criminals was during the
worlds fair in Chicago. The Chicago po-
lice realized that specially fat harvest
was offered for all kinds of thievery
among the great crowds that came to
visit the fair. Word was sent out to the
best known crooks of England and Amer
ca and they were invited TO attend a pri-
yate police auction. The city of Chicago
was carefully laid out into districts and
bids were requested for the rights" in
each district.
X
1t was quite a complicated plan because
there were fat and lean districts, and
here were so many separate rights in
IN fha Gfr RI IF fbaYa
we're burglar rights. highwayman rights,
oickpocket privileges. shoplifting conces-
:ions and bunco rights. In the resident
districts these concessions were worth
ess money, but certain other rights were
# value. So 1t was all auctioned off to
.he highest bidders and the police were
Kept busy keeping the various crooks in
side their concessions and making them
)dy the price they had agreed to.
/ have lived my life n the underworld.
7 know the thieves and the pickpockets.
Astonishing as this partnership between
he police and the criminals seems. 1t Is
rue Later on in this article l will ex-
9lain in detail how this partnership works.
Let's go back to the first question
asked: How much money In year do the
police collect from the various kinds Of
licensed vice and crime?
can answer without hesitation, at
east S16OOO,OoO a year. This S16,OOOOO
a year of police graft flows from three
main fountains and one small one
There are about 200 well organized gam
bling houses run under police protection,
and the regular price of protection Is
s1.2O0 a month for each gambling house.
I have paid this amount TO the police as
A gambling house proprietor. and / have
collected this money from gambling
houses when / was Lieut.. Becker's graft
collector These 20 gambling houses pay
Ing 30 month each total up $780,
~ year.
The greatest source of graft Of all
comes from the licensing OF vice. Mrs.
Goode on oath has testified that there are
5000 outcasts under police protection In
New York. This estimate Is generally ac-
cepted as being correct. and SIS for each
one of these is the average tax levied
every week by the police-35. 900 licensed
Dutcasts at So a week amounts to 50. 1OO.-
DO year.
There are 5000 Of these outcasts and
perhaps 1900 professional gamblers,
making a total of $1,000 criminals. But 1t
8 commonly agreed that the professional
criminal population of New York is not
.ess than 10000. So we still have left a
hundred and fifty thousand criminals Of
Ill kinds and descriptions, most of whom
IRE licensed in one way or another by the
police. This army OF 10000 burglars
fences, pickpockets. bunco men, wire
Appers, green-goods operators, shoplift-
RS and other varieties of criminals
probably yields an annual revenue to the
,olice of not less than $4OOO.OOO.
These are the three chief sources Of
raft. There still remains one small
ource of ravenue-the releasing of small
ffenders by policemen who threaten ar
est, but change their minds for a five
ollar bill; the licensing OF criminals who
ave skipped their bail and are not re-
rrested so long as they pay protection
money; the merchants who are allowed tn
bstrUct the sidewalks for a small nav
1ent chauffeurs who are caught speed-
nE and are allowed TO go for q small con.
liberation, etc. These small grafts
erhaps amount to 100000 Summing
p all the main sources of police graft
re have:
90 gambling houses. at 81, 200
honth ...... -............. 50. $50. 600
5000 outcasts, at IS a week o IO0OO
BUR lars, fences, pickpockets,
bunco men, wiretappers. shop
lfters, etc. ................... 1000, 600
''i4eT sHldH sFdil.....-.. 10000
Total annual police graft. -. SIG. $50. coo
These estimated figures are probably
mailer than the real truth. Mayor Cav
or has said that the police used to col