Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-06-07
crime REPORT
Sees COMBINE
FOR GAMBLING
'kise of Overlords' of
Underworld Told In
Report of Illinois
Condition Probe

CHICAGO, June 7.=P-Two new
chapters Of a sensational report on
chicago crime were made public to-
Gay by the Illinois Association for
criminal Justice. They charged the
g.owth OF a gambling syndicate
wnicn at one time reached into nan
oener cities; and they recited in de-
TAN going back to the early 19O0's
the rule Of the underworld and the
rise Of it's oferlords."
Inc associations survey, which has
Deen financed in part by the Car
neeie Foundation, points to three
major conclusions at the end Of "this
rapid survey Of organized gambling"
The first fact" the report said.
rs the continuity and persistency Of
y FORM Of social life organized
around personalities who play an i'm
portant role, because the relation
SHIPS IN the underworld Of gambling.
vice and crime are personal and
Ieudal, rather than formal and insti-
sutional.
Gambling E~ntrenched
The second fact is that every
cnange in political administration
iron 1897 TO date effected a change
OFTEN amounting TO a revolution in
the existing order in the gambling
world.
The third fact Is that gambling.
IN resisting attacks Of reformers and
IN meeting new situations created bv
changes in administration. seems I'd
nave become more solidified in or
Ranization, and more flexible in
adaptations 10 new situations. and
more concealed in its operations. In
other words, it is the ineffective ef-
1orts OF the community to defend
itself against vice and gambling that
gives it its organized character.
Practically reform in the past has
amounted to little more than ges-
ture- New tactics need to be work
ed out in order TO take into account
the eomplerity of the situation"
The survey set forth that the COM
Ilete life history of one man, were
u known in detail, would disclose
practically all there is to know about
syndicate gambling as a phase Of or
ganizcd crime in the last quarter
century That man. said the re-
port, IS Mont Tennes, "avowedly a
real estate man, and for more than a
score Of years proprietor of the Cen
erai News bureau, controlling wires
Tor the gathering and dispensing Of
race track news in Chicago and prin-
clpal cities Of the United States"
Bomb War Treated
His alliance with and wars of
violence against competitors" con-
tinues the report, would involve
the names of every gambler of conse-
quence in Chicago for this period"
One section of the report was SUBJ
headed THE bombing war of 1907"
This was directed at Tennes, then in
the midst Of building up a gambling
monopoly, the report said. For sew
eral weeks Mont's rivals were ac-
cused Of fostering a "reign Of terror"
~ bombing a dozen or more places in
the first big outbreak Of rival gang
factions.
The lethargy Of officials in pursu-
frg inquiries into this 1907 warfare
was set forth in the report with
comments of the newspapers of that
day. indicating affiliation of some
gangsters and officials.
With the eclipse Of the Tennes
sway, the report noted the rise of
John Torrio, New York East Slider.
Tammany graduate and a student in
the Chicago levee district"
Torrio was held responsible for
bringing out Dion O'Bannion, gang
leader who was shot to death in his
floral shop, "Scarface AL" Capone Of
the present day and others.