The Daily Alaska empire., 1932-05-03
CHICAGO GANGSTER TO BE SENT TO PENITENTIARY
til,vaukee Cipes Gangsters Gold Shoulder;
 That's Why Crime in City Is On Decline
By GEORGE A. BOWMAN District Attorney of Milwaukee County, as told to R. S. Kleckner, Associated Press Staff Writer.)


 MILWAUKEE, Wis, May B. Gangsters? Racketeering? Not in Milwaukee County.
 There's too much heat" from city and county authorities and from Milwaukee's genteel saloon keepers to permit ra,cketeering to get a start.
 Gangsters were brought into ex- istenoe by supplying illegal goods to persons who demanded those goods and were willing to pay for them.
 Gangsterism, offering opportun- ity for easy money, needed econ- omic and legal contracts to sue ceed. There can be no organized gang without protection from po- lice and courts, and without shy ster' lawyers for go-beitweenS. No Protection Protection for those outside the law in Milwaukee County is un- heard of insofar as local officials are concerned. It must be under stood that Wisconsin has no state prohibition law, which eliminates much opportunity for graft in sa- loon operation.
 Hence the saloonkeeper is the first to run to authorities for pro lection when he thinks his busi- ness is threatened by outside en- croachment
 For example.
 The other day police headquar- ters had a telephone call from an excited saloonkeeper.
 There's a chap here who says I've got to take his beer. Whats the meaning? Are you cops hook ing up with the Chicago crowd?"
 Word came to our department, 1.-two detectives went to the saloon, and the racketeer left-wiser, we hope.
 Racketeering Banned Not long ago we were told that mother racketeer was here to "or- ganize" the cleaning and dyeing trade. To forestall it, we merely called in heads of local unions and notified them if they accepted the racketeers offer they would be named in accessory warrants for any violence that might re- suit. That struck home. Neither the district attorneys office, the police nor any single branch of the city and county government can lay claim to all the credit for preventing the start of gangs here.
 It's a combination of condi- tions led, believe, by honesty
 In county where lawyer is busted from his profession for two years merely on the charge of ambulance chasing, what chance have gangsters to retain a lawyer to protect them?
 Gangs legal hookups must come through the courts, the district attorneys office and police. An organization" usually backs the candidacy of a judge or district attorney. If gangs control the or ganizations, they control the of fices.
 Campaign Costs Small
 In Milwaukee County, races usu- ally are made without even she backing of county or state poli- tical committees. Candidates usu- ally run as -partisans, financ- ing their own campaigns and ap- bearing on a record of service and honesty.
 If $50,000 were spent to obtain an office in the county, it would be state scandal and there would be no end of investigations of the campaign to determine who fur nished the money.
 Naturally the record of 100 per cent convictions in murder cases here during the last year, along with Wisconsin justice" that put: criminals behind the bars speedily has served to make gangStel think twice before appearing tc attempt operations in Milwaukee County.