Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-14
Radio and Rum.Runnine.

A Federal grand jury in New Yorl
has indicted and Government agent.
have just arrested a number of mer
on charge Of operating a bootlegginf
fleet, effecting the importation of mil.
lions Of dollars worth Of liquor. The trial
Of the cases will, 1t Is indicated, dis
close q remarkable series Of investiga-
tory operations, of q scientific char.
acter, more interesting than the out
come Of the legal proceedings.
According to representative of the
Department Of Justice who has beer
conducting this inquiry, the Govern
naent agents have been on the trail
Of this organization for six months
First 1t was discovered that r1lm.run-
ming operations had been instituted on
large scale on the south shore OF
Long Island, the scene Of previous
enterprises Of the same kind. Then
1t was found that the shore contacts
Of the gang were maintained sys-
tematically, the small transport craft
being accurately timed to meet the
larger ocean-goins carriers with pre-
cision. This indicated that the small
boats were working on schedule In &C
cord with the movements Of the larger
ones. This suggested constant COM
munication by radio between shore and
ships. wireless experts we're then en-
listed in the research. They "combed"
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low-wave length messages going out in
code from unregistered stations. These
code messages we're deciphered by spe-
cialists and were found to relate to the
movements of both classes Of craft.
It was one thing to find out how the
operations Of the fleets were co-ordi-
mated and another thing to locate the
source Of the messages. First Of all, 1t
was determined that there were at least
three different shore stations Of COM
munication. An apparatus which de-
tects the direction In which radio waves
travel was set up here and there In
Greater New York and in the suburbs.
Little by little indications were found Of
the converging Of these directions upon
three focal points. Finally came Q con-
centration Of the radii upon . place in
Brooklyn, which was located first on the
map by virtual trtangulation and then
centered in O certain building, and 90
accurately was the work done that 1t
was indicated that the apparatus was
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the two other stations were located. one
on Long Island and the other In Man
haitian. The code messages were mean
while being read, and much informa-
ton regarding the personnel Of the
gang was gathered, as well Is the meth
DDS Of operation. At last arrests were
made, the chief promoters Of the en-
terprise being two men who have here
tofore been under Government inquiry
for evasion Of income taxes.
Thus II would appear that there Is
little chance Of secrecy for Illicit enter
prises that are conducted on q large
scale. The radio is . seif-disclosing
agency Of communication. That 1t can
be detected and traced TO source Is
proved by this operation. There Is
practically no security in the use Of
code, for the perfectly secure system Of
hidden signals Is yet to be invented, 90
perfect are the deciphering methods Of
experts. In the light of this achieve
ment It Is plain that the bootlegging
business by sea u likely TO suffer as
serious Q setback as that which it re-
ceived when rum row" was dispersed.