Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-10

house and kill them with volley from
sawed-of shotgtns.
And so, In Chicago, the United States
attorney has not made war alone on
the bootleg ring. With the cooperation
of the State prosecutor. attack is being
made. and successfully, on the whole
army Of the 1awless.
The situation in Chicago exemplifles
the difhculties in many other large
cities In the same county are 90
smaller communities. To one of these,
Chicago Heights. there were so murders
attributable In five years as a result Of
gang wars.
An Honest Politician.
But when the wheel of political for
tune brought into the ONCE an honest,
efficient and determined United States
attorney and a States attorney of the
same kind at the same time. law en-
forecment became far from a hopeless
task The information and assistants
of each prosecuting officers staff were
freely exchanged. There is Co-ordi-
nation of effort similar to the co-ordi-
nation and welding of the allied armies
in the World War. When the forces
OF the law begin to work together, In
stead of at cross purposes or IN an I'M
related manner, results are achieved.
The influence and investigations OF the
States attorney secured the revocation
of the licenses of 400 soft drink par
lors. 1854 SpeakeaSies places which had
furnished a large part of the work for
Federal officers charged with prohibit
ton enforcement. The United States
district attorney, with his limited force
of assistants and investigators. and with
only one out of three Federal judges
available for trying criminal cases. could
not hope to deal effectively with the
racketeer gangs operating in the 90
smaller communities OF the county.
But the county attorney, with his larger
staff and indirect control over thou
sands of police. Sheriffs and constables,
could not only help to enforce the pro-
hibition law but the States liquor law
and the other laws of the State which
supplemented or were akin to Federal
criminal statutes.
For instance, the Federal and State
forces can cooperate with each other
in cases involving the stealing of auto
mobiles. liquor cases. the robbery OF
drug stores and other places contain
session or sale of narcotics. and rob-
berries of or entertainments from banks
allied with the Federal Reserve system.
"Chee Chee DOugeS.
Then, too when the State takes &C.
ton where it has exclusive jurisdiction,
such as in slot-machine gambling de-
vice cases, it often puts an end TO
Joints which have also violated the
Federal prohibition law. And the
crooks who always asked a jury trial
in Chicago, knowing that the State or
Federal court docket was so crowded
that such a request would bring ABOUT
long delay, are now often diSagreeably
surprised to find that a Federal charge
is substituted for a State one. or vice
versa, and the desire for a trial by a
jury of peers is thus promptly graft
fed" and promptness was anything
but what they wanted.
For years Kansas City, Mo-, was
notorious as one of the wettest spots
in America. One Of the principal fac
tors In that situation was Frank tChee
Chez De Mayo, known far and wide
as a king of the bootleggers." He
! operated not only In Kansas City; ne
supplied liquor through his organization
| to bootleggers in Oklahoma, Kansas,
Missouri and other territory. He was
bold enough to maintain an Office IN a
building directly across the street from
| the Federal Building, the headquarters
of the prohibition agents and the
United States Courts!
| His operations were SO conducted,
through lieutenantS and go-betweens,
that the regular force of prohibition
| agents could motor did not-establ1Sh
proof of De Mayo's own connection with
| the large-scale bootlegging operations
that were flooding Kansas City and the
spoilers and tip-off men gave warning
nf query tran set for him.
The Law Closes in.
But when Roscoe Patterson took
charge of the situation, as United States
attorney, he determined to bring De
Mayo to face the law. His first step
was to secure the detail to Kansas City
of the keenest men in the Federal
narcotic and prohibition investigating
services. We exchanged many letters
over this.
De Mayo himself seldom handled
either the money or the liquor. He
largely directed the operations of big
force Of makers and distributors of
alcohol and whisky. Those who wanted
liquor for wholesale or retail distribu-
ton might see De Mayo once, end
by him be placed in contact with the
members of his organization who
actually handled the liquor and re-
ceived the money. That made actual
evidence hard to obtain on him.
But the special investigators wormed
their way into De Mayo's confidence
and obtained definite proof of his own
participation in prohibition violations.
Even after the evidence was gathered,
the fight had just begun.
De Mayo was tried not once, but
four times. Every legal obstruction was
interposed in his behalf by a large
staff of skilled lawyers. Three times
conviction was prevented by the re-
fusal of one or a few of the jurors to
agree on a verdict of guilty. Then ad-
ditional Investigations were made by
Department Of Justice operatives whom
finally was able to get assigned to
the work, as well as prohibition agents,
and we secured evidence of attempted
jury tampering.
The result was that when DE Mayo
was again brought to trial the jury,
which had been carefully guarded from
outside approach, even before it was
selected and sworn in, and which was
sequestered during the trial, brought in
a verdict Of guilty. De Mayo was sent
to the penitentiary for three years.