Evening star., 1926-03-12
ARTICLE v.

Breaking up of bootleg liquor
rings" reveals gigantic conspiracies
to rob the Government OF income
taxes. Notorious criminals are un-
covered as conspirators with men
prominent in business walks of life
in gigantic plots, which make them
enormously rich. In conspirac1es OF
this character the Government would
have lost tens of millions of dollars
In taxes, If the Big Sixes." the Big
Fours" and other master minds" of
liquor cliques had not been sup
pressed. In running them down in
telligence agents have trekked their
steady way through the slushy trails
of graft and crime. involving hitherto
trusted employees of the Government
itself, as we'll as bootleg kings.
These liquor plots against the Gov
ernnlent abound in thrills. Let us
tread the subterranean passages with
the intelligence agents and visualize. II
we can, the extent of the financial
corruption and moral wreckaGe theSe
schemes have wrought.
We see attempts to corrupt Gov
ernment stenogra pliers, OF gentle
breeding, by the glitter of jewels and
wealth. We see Government en-
ployes. heads of families, respected
in the community, offered bribeS that
constitute a fortune for the bribed
at the hands of wicked manipulators
of the bootleg kings purse strings.
We see men of respectability in pro-
fessional and business life depart
from the straight and narrow path,
hypnotized by the glamour of gold,
and become part and parcel of gangs
whose primary aim is to thwart the
Government. The bootleg kings break
! the law to obtain their riches, and to
retain it break all tax laws that
stand in their path. But they reach
| he end of the trail. And the end is
disaster for the conspirators.
Specific Cases.
Look at some of those who stand
out in the picture of tax lawlessness
in liquor frauds against the Gov
ernment:
A lawyer of high standing at the bar
in a big eastern city, with small
practice, faced the temptations of
great riches through illicit liquor
deals. He organized several wholesale
drug concerns, as the medium through
which wholesale bootleggers could get
their stocks. From the start he rode
the crest of the financial wave. He
piled up a great fortune. He got away
with it for a time. Then suspicion
trolled were delinquent in income tax.
Investigation followed. The Govern
ment found the mans pathway strewn
with graft and allied forms Of crook
ednesS.
The first discovery was that the law.
ver's drug concerns owed the United
States Treasury nearly $1,000.000 in
taxes. He had concealed his ill-gotten
income by depositing the money in
bank accounts under assumed names.
In one ear the mans deposits
amountA to $1,500.000. The lawyer.
confronted with proof OF fraud, claim
ed his father, a poor man originally,
was the real owner of the money de-
posted IN banks.
The awyer is now serving q hVe.
year :..rm In prison. Besides. the Gov
ernmsnt took from him In back taxes
and penalties most Of the fortune he
had amaSSed.
A Government clerk, with a modest
salary, made fortune. as tool OF
a large New York liquor ring. The
clerk, occupying a confidential post
in the prohibition unit, was able to
tip off his confederates on the outside
to methods by which liquor could be
withdrawn illegally from bonded
warehouses, and supplied them with
the official papers and other mechani.
cal aids they needed to accomplish
their purpose. The clerk, when discov.
cred, had 81, 1000, 900 in cash, bonds and
other investments. Detecting him, the
intelligence agents easily apprehended
his co.conspirators. They all were
forced to pay the Treasury large sums
In taxes, besides suffering other penal
ties.
Big Liquor Combine.
By mere accident, intelligence agents
got a clue that led to the suppression
Of one Of the largest liquor combines
discovered since prohibition began.
The agents were near one Of the East