Evening star., 1923-06-03
NEW YORK POLICE
CONTINUE RAIDS
Repeal of Enforcement!
Causes No Apparent Change
in Liquor Situation.
Special Dispatch TO The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star ~ ~
NEW YORK, June 2.-Liquor raids
by the police and the state constabu-
larry continued seemingly unabated to-
day despite the repeal OF the Mullen
Gage law. At least nine prisoners
were arraigned before magistrates in
Manhattan or Brooklyn or before
| Justices of the peace on Long Island.
About $4,000 worth of liquor was con-.
| fiscated in the city.
In every case the prisoners and the
evidence were ordered turned over toI
| the federal authorities, focusing the
attention Of those alarmed by the re
peal upon the burdens placed on the
| United states courts and prosecutors.
| In view of today's arrests iE was
thought police will cooperate in pro-
hibition enforcement at least for the
present and that the immediate prob
lem is whether the United States
! courts can handle all the cases.
| Commissioner Enright said there
| viii be little change in the work of
the city police. II suppose" he said.
| that we will follow the SAN he line
we took in the fourteen months be-
tween the passage of the Volstead act
and the enactment Of the Mullen
Gage law"
Calls Conference.
Mr.. Enright declared that before
making final announcement of policy
he must wait for official notice of the
repeal. and advice from the corpora
! ton counsels Office OF the depart
ments responsibility under the Vol
stead act. Early next week he ex-
poets to call District ATTORNEY Ban
ton. United States Attorney Hayward,
Federal Prohibition Director Garfield.
and others, officially affected by the
repeal into conference. as to fnective
means of cooperation between the
alIfhnH1tipR
Police cooperation probably Will
not go so far as to continue the pres
ent special service squads Assigned
only to prohibition raids, it tyas said
around headquarters, nor Will II in
| clude stationing patrolmen in restau-
rants. The number of men assigned
to enforcement duty is unde rstood TO
have been cut from 500 to apo in the
past year. and this number will
almost certainly be reduced to theI
minimum.
Believers in the Corriganr rCuvillier
| charges that the police support pro
hibtion because it gives them un-
paralleled opportunities for graft
derided the idea that there will be
any let-up in police enforcement &C
tivity. They pointed out at the same
time that SO few convictions have
followed liquor law arrests that even
ment activity would add little to the
safety with which bootleggers aecus-
toned to pay for protection operate.
| The threatened congestion In the
state courts today engaged the at
| tention OF Banford n. Copen, the as
sistant prosecutor in charge of pro-
hibition cases in Manhattan and the
lower Hudson valley, and Ralph c.
Greene. United States attorney for
Long Island and Staten Island. Both
| announced plans for simplifed pro-
cedure to relieve the situation.
| Mr.. Copen bases his hopes largely
on increased use OF the equity pro-
| visions Of the Volstead act. which
| eliminates jury trial for second Of
| tenders.
Mr.. Greene said he was drawing UP
an entire new system for handling
liquor law cases, the chief feature
of which will be elimination of hear
ings before the United states com
missioner except when demanded by
the prisoner. He added that he would
need at least one new assistant pros
ecutor and probably three new clerks
to keep pace with the expected rush
of cases turned over TO MIN py tne
Charles ]. Dodd and Joseph Moloy.
District attorneys, respectively, Tor
Kings and Richmond counties, lined
| Themselves up beside District Attor.
announcing that the repeal will make
no difference in their treatment OF
| Mullen-Gage law prisoners arrested
before 6 o'clock last nlBnI, when
| Cuyillier bill was signed. Prosecu-
| tors all over the city admitted, how
ever. that they have little hope OF
obtaining a conviction In any OF the
! cases now pending. .
In Brooklyn thirty-seven indlct-
ments are pending and In Richmond
| fifteen, In addition to far greater
number of cases in which the eVl-
dence has still to be presented 10
the grand jury.
| No announcement was made mere
as to whether the federal enforce
ment staff in this state will be
augmented to meet the emergency,
| though rumors persisted that several
hundred more agents are to be rushed
here from Washington. Joseph s.
Greene. enforcement chief In Brook
| lyn, accepted the situation calmly
and echoed Commissioner Enrights
dictum that New York Is In no dan
ger of being turned into boot
II was nthis work for year be-
fore the Mullan-Gage law was pass
ed" he said, land 1 remember dis
tinctly that the police co-operated
whole-heartedly with US then In the
enforcement of the Volstead act
they will continue to do SO now.
cannot see that the situation is ma
terially altered, except that all cases
will go to federal courts"
Palmer Garfield, prohibition dlrec-
tor. left for Washington to consult