Evening star., 1932-08-07

,les instituted a reign Of terror in the
indnstrv to force the unwilling to JOIN
the racketeering organization. Wnlcn
MOS called the Wholesale Cleaners q
Overs Association. The nomp atiu
torch were used to fntimidate NatnaL1
Shogan and Sam Sigmuno, owners "
one of the largest plants, tne P,Ios PerrIoS
Cleaners g. Dyers. Then the FIpaeo
visited sigmund and Slogan FeSpeo'-
NO This visit. Slogan testified:
I'm october, 1926, Abe Bernstein;
his brother Ray, Irwin Milburg ano M
Eddie Fletcher, all members OF tns
Purple Gang, drove to our piant a anu
said If we paid $1,000 week there
would be no more trouble.
VI Two months later, on December 3,
1906 sigmund was taken for rloe
and shot to death. Sam Polakon,
whose firm, the Union Cleaners q
Dvers also refused to join the racket
was the next man murdered. On jan
nary %. 1927. the Perfect Cleaners q
overs plant submitted to the racKe-
teers and ioined their organization;
Dues were fixed at $85 weekly instead
of the 81 900 demanded OF the nrm
before the killing of Sigmund:
On the day his firm joined the Or
panization. according to the sworn tes-
timony Of Slogan, Francis x Martel'
nresident of the Detroit Federation OF
Labor and a vice president OF the
| American Federation OF LABOR, tele-
| phoned him and asked him 10 atIenu
meeting In the Walters CIup on
| Adams avenue, east. Snogan oDeySu'
and he was elected treasurer OF the
racketeering organization. Not want
ing to be taken for a ride, Shogan
J accepted the dubious honor. He was
| biding his time.
! His time came in the second year OF
! the racket, when IT members OF the
Purple Gang, or punative members
thereof and c. Jacoby, Wholesale
cleaner and dyer, were placed on trial
before Judge Charles Bowles and
! i1rv on an indictment charging them
with extorting money by threat ano
! violence.
SLOGANS testimony herein referred to
was given at this trial. He sWore tnat
Martel organized the wholesale. retail
and workers branches of the industry
and represented all three: He alSo o
| testified that he paid Martel $lOU
weekly. Another witness swore that
he paid Martel 5000 additional weekly
and that two other labor leaders were
given $3.50 and $50 weekly. But this
was not all. according to S. j. Rhodes,
counsel for Jacoby. After telling the
court and jury that Ben Abrams, a
Chicago labor racketeer," was brought
to Detroit to unionize the employers in
the industry, Rhodes said:
Asserts Big Fees Were Paid.
'In his work Abrams was not alone
We shall prove that Abrams was paid
81 500 for organizing the union and
that 2 per cent tax was laid on the
entire cleaning and dyeing industry IN
this city. OF this money, Martel got
his share. Martel got $4,000 ostensibly
for attorneys fees and $4,000 for lobby
ING exDenses. And besides these
sums, Martel was seeking at all times
donations to what he called a con-
struction fund"
James E Chenot. chief assistant
prosecutor, told the jury that the peo-
pie would prove that the cleaners anc
/ Overs were forced to pay S45 to SITE
weekly
Throughout the trial the jury heart
witness after witness testify against
Martel and the Detroit Federation oi
Labor. Witnesses testified that the
bombing and firing of plants were
directed from High Street." a peri
! phrasis of the Detroit cognoScenti fol
the Labor Temple, where Marie
reigned and the locals Of the A. F. ol
L. had Offices 1t was testified tha
when dues were not paid on time th'
Purples called on the delinquents anc
collected at the muzzle Of an auto
/. matte. The jury believed the de-
tense. or at least gave it the benefit o
the doubt, and returned a verdict o
acquittal.
The termination of the case was com
paratively inconsequential, for the po
lice and the prosecutors were out to de
: stroy the racketeers-where they coult
= be destroyed. And the racketeers un
| derstood.
This trial was held in 1928. Fou
wears later most of the decent elemen
in the cleaners and dyers industry wer
= members of Detroit's Better BuSineS
1 Bureau. Kosher butchers, who had ais
= been victimized by the Purple Gang, ha'
4 also been freed of the racketeers. Onl
= in bootlegging, gambling. narcotics an.
r prostitution we're the racketeers stil
dominant. And this, In these day.
= spells q clean town. --.---