The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1929-09-20
BOOTLEG BAROvS
PROFITS TOLD BY
CHICAGO NOVELIST

The corruption of public off;o;
that has followed in the Ta II,.iais
prohibition, or the Noble E-e e u
ment, as President Hoover tds
it, has no better demonstrator Tins thns
"Scarface Az Capone, who Is T nau
alternating in a luxuriousIv.SFUUV"
nished cell in the vicinity of phil
delphia where is alleged he !,
passing the time until his ms II =
gunners in the Windy CITY sncoaos
in eliminating his sharpshoOtUu
rivals.
Edward Dean Sullivan. write,
and criminal investigator has VIVA
ten a sensational article in ~
current number of The North AM my
erican Review in which he GH,
the lid from the sewer manbole Il
which the gigantic business activ
ties of Capone and Company have
been carried on under the 6enevo
lent neutrality of Chicago and II.
4 linois officialdom.
That prohibition has been fro
mendOus success for Al Capone No,
= even the Anti-Saloon league will
deny, though it is doubtful if tbs
intake of Capone's boodlers has
been greater than that of the
= crooked gang who have turned the
home into a brewery and put the
gin flask on the national hin.
"Last year Al CapOne told mo
personally, that $30,OOO,OOO was
: spent in Chicago for protection >
: says Sullivan, who adds that t6e
: gross income of Capone's gang
. alone through vice, brewing. gambI.
: ing and distilling interests wa,
< $70,000,000 in a single year. 1925
=" Sullivan cites these figures. h
says, to prove the huge scale OF
/, which post-prOhibition gangsters
= relying chiefly on illicit LIQUOR 70,
:. their incomes, are operating, moi
y only in Chicago, but Throughout
- IllC
= Capone, now in jail in Philade.
: phia, where it is believed that h
= brought about his own imprison
/. ment on a minor charge to escap,
!. rival gangsters, "is possessor 3
the best paying as well as the mos
~ dangerous job in America" Sui
Ivan says.
But the Chicago gang chief i
n only one bright cog in a nation
: wide machine that is spending
"a money on an incredible scale B
II fix elections and corrupt justice j
~ every important city to smooth TN
u path for its liquor trucks AM
:, speakeasies, The North America
IT Review writer asserts.
~ AS evidence of this natiOnwid
II tieup of illicit interests, Sulliva
20 reports that he personally has II
- Gently seen Chicago and New YOr
gangsters operating as far frOI
their native streets as Los Angelo
~ and San Francisco.
;S To indicate the sums that ar
y being spent in corruption he cite
~ the offer of $4,000 made to Pa
IN lice Chief Morgan Collins of Chi
i cago to permit one gang to tran;
40 port its beer unmolested for 2
~ days, and another offer of S25OIOO
g made to E. C. Yellowly, Chicag
!. prohibition administrator, for tn
II protection of single alcohol plan
~ He points out that Hymie Weiss
20 Chicago gang leader, when Slai
on his way to court, was found
na have a complete list of witnesSe
. for both defense and prOsecutiC
Iv of his case in his possession, an
40 that 70 gang leaders slain in tn
~ past five years have been carrym
N sums totalling $5OO,OOO in theI
N professionally to buy freedom
b blindfold the law to their opera
y tions in any emergency.
40 "And such money has been az
tive all through the country in %
cal politics." he concludes. "EV
RI erything that has happened in Chi
Is cago may happen in every larg
O. city in America within five years
v as matters are now developing