Evening star., 1923-08-16
RICHEST BOOTLEG RING
TRAPPED BY ARREST
OF a. IN SAVANNAH
Continued from First Page, ,

I CONTINUED from First Page.)
goods known to have been smuggled
| Each of the big four" has an or
! ganization of his own, 1t Is charged
by the government. The king of them
| all. 1t is alleged is. William Haar. the
son OF a German grocer. and himself
a grocer clerk until he embarked ON
| the romantic and spectacular career
which has earned him the. title of
| the weaithiest bootlegger.
Father and brothers Arrested.
| William Haar, his father, and
| brothers. together with all the lead
| ers; have been arrested and released
/ on bond, according to advices from
Savannah. Indictments against all
the leaders haye been returned by the
grand jury and the far-reaching
cleanup of the government is expect
| ed to probe into places of high re-
! sponsibility in the city of Savannah.
Already there has been taken into the
F, tolls OF the law John ]. Powers. vice
president and cashier of the Ex-
change. Bank. man prominent In
| Savannah financial circles.
| The career of William Haar and his
/ companions reads like an oidfashion-
! cd dime novel; in his, skyroeket high
! to fortune and notoriety. according 10
official records.
He and each of the Big Four be-
/, gan business, it is alleged. at thelr
| own homes. The city of Savannah.
| geographically offered wonderful pos
| sibilities to the adventurous with IT'S
| river. spreading out into numerous
mouths and small fnlets, with swamps
! in many places.
Owned Fiotiila Of Boats
The first operations, were said to
have taken place in small boats. from
! the sea through the small inlets run
ming up to the backyards of the
hootiegsers. From small business
at first, Haar is alleged to have
branched out until he Is now charged
by the government with owning a
! ffotilla of boats. and, being the active
head OF an organization importing
from Scotland. Bimini, Nassau and
Canada, and distributing to New YORK;
Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia ana
as far west st. Louis!
One of the features of the Haar
organization. which has made 1t DIFF
| ficult to capture, it is said. has been
an Intelligence unit. which hitherto
has apprised the whole ring of the
activities of the federal agents of the
prohibition unit. and of the secret
service of the Treasury.
| This Intelligence unit of the boot
F.! leggers is alleged to be headed by a
certain notorious character, under
stood to have escaped from custody
after operations in other parts of the
iCountry-
Brought Out In Tax Case.
/ The enormous extent of the Haar
Operations has been brought out al
ready in proceedings brought by the
government against him. charging
violation of the income tax law. Mrs.
Willebrandt. assistant attorney gen.
leral, when she learned that Haar and
his companions had evaded every
federal trap sent to catch them, went
about it through their income tax
records.
| Searching the returns in the Treas
ury, II was discovered that most Of
the alleged bootleggers had made no
| return at all to the government of
their income. and that the leaders had
paid small sums comparatively
Working on this angle, the inteili-
gence unit of the Treasury went into
! the case, and built up evidence suf-
! against William Haar and several
others. charging they had falsified
| their returns, and owed the govern
ment large sums on their income.
4 "
1.-THE governm ant. in addition to what
he has already paid. a S1.00Q0o0 in
come tax.
! Worked During Harding Rites.
| 1t was ostensibly to try these spe-
cial income tax cases that the special
August term of court had been con-
vened. special assistant to the At
! torney General sent to Savannah. and
1.-THE grand jury called into special ses-
! sion. But the real purpose was to
| cleanup the bootleg ring, and. II pos
sible, convict them of conspiracy.
] With the case developing SO rapidly
| and preparations coming to a head
here in Washington. it was neceS-
I sary. Mrs. Wnlebrandt said, for a
| corps of lawyers and assistants to
| work much of the latter part OF
| last week, even while the body Of
| President Harding was being laid
| away at Marion.
I'VE thought" said Mrs: Willie
brandt, that in view of President
| Harding's Denver speech calling. for
the strict enforcement of prohibition,
on last Thursday and Friday We could
| testify to no better memorial to him
than to spend the day. not as hoi-
day, but in preparation of the indio<-
| ments against this ring Of bootleggers." +"
Family Members Involved.
The big four" according to the De-
partment of Justice. consists of Will
liam Haar c. Graham Boughn. Rich
ard Bailey and Sam Goldberg. Asso-
ciated with each OF these were numer-
tous others, forming. in effect. it is
charged, the four great rings. Among
! the principal associates named by the
tDepartment of Justice were Sam Gold
berg's brothers, Israel. now in Jail at
Atlanta; Harry Goldberg. and mem
bers of the Haar family, Carl. Fred,
sr, and Fred. jr. One of the original
| big four was Dick Boughn. it is
| charged. who, upon his death recently,
| passed the mantel on down to his son.
I High tribute was paid by Mrs. Willie
brandt today to the effectiveness of
/ William ]. Burns, director Of the bu-
| reau of investigation, and his men for
I their work, which has dated back to
| last May.
| MORE ARRESTS AWAITED.