The Coolidge examiner., 1933-09-08


fruits who paid one hundred thou.
sand dollars to kidnapers. These
men actually marched him into his
bank and stood by, pistols concealed
in their pockets. while the victim
got the money and handed it over In
the presence of the vice president
of the bank, unaware, of course, of
the whole procedure in it's true sig
nificance.
why not fight back?" | asked
this victim. You handed over the
money but you know who got it.
Why not fightY'
I've wife and children" he an
swered simply. Whats money, with
their lives at stake?"
Jack Legs" Diamond was a boot
logger. He was an interesting one
In that-to the best of my knowl-
edge-he was the first of the tribe
to lay the urban problem on the
suburban doorstep. His trip into
the Catskill mountains wrought not
only his own death but series of
crimes that left that pastoral sec
tion in the throes of terror.
Men were tortured on the high
ways; others were kidnapped. The
country was reused to fever pitch.
That section preferred applejack to
the so-called liquors of their urban
brothers. Jack tried to control the
applejack traffic. Deprived of boot
leg money, he had to replace it some
way. War broke out. Jack died
broke. Only recently his widow was
found murdered in her bed.
Dutch" Schultz, beer baron of
New York's Bronx, found things
slipping in his business. The old
profits of bootlegging vanished. He
was so often mentioned in connec-
tion with crimes OF violence that
now he Is a fugitive, a cringing
craven In fear for his life and
man for whom the world, upper and
under, has little but scorn. But he
was a millionaire when the booze
bouncing was good.
There is another traffic in the un-
derworld which has spread immeas-
urably during prohibition. 1t is the
vilest, the most despicable, the most
insidious of all illegal rackets. 1t is
narcotics.
Fundamentally, it differs from
booze in two major features. First.
the average citizen abhors it and
will, as a decent citizen, do what
he can to stop the traffic. So mar
cotic laws are enforced with COM
parative ease. Second, a modest
fortune in the poison may be trans
ported In fountain pen. Cadets"
as narcotic peddlers are called,
travel in fine trains, use light lug
gage, and attract no attention. That
Is a lot easier than transporting
bottled goods by the case or beer by
the keg.
But the narcotic traffic Is great.
1t is growing greater. The more
insidious of the bootleggers Of old
are turning to this to supply rev.
enue. This Is the most vicious crime
/ know. If there should be a death
penalty 1t should be for the sale
Of narcotics. These cadets operate
under an organized ring. More and
more they become killers. Long
terms are likely to be the order for
conviction of this crime. Long terms
do not deter the criminal; they
make him more desperate. This Is
not an argument against long-term
sentences. 1t merely explains where
the violence comes from in the mar
cotic traffic.
New York city today is going
through series Of murders at once
CHASTITY and grotesque. In the metro
politan area some ten killings have
occurred In a month. Four of the
men killed were to have been wit
nesses in the trial of a gang leader
charged with tax evasion. Each of
them has since been identified with
the narcotic traffic.
For several years the question
most often asked me has been:
What difference does it make If
gangsters murder, so long as they
murder only each other?" There you
have the best answer to that ques-
ton / know. These victims. all pur-
ported criminals of the worst order
and each presumed to be narcotic
addict and peddler. constitute the
only evidence the government can
use in court to destroy the vast
criminal rings that racketize the
nation. The underworld will tell you
that all these men were murdered
for what they knew; for what they
might testify in court that would
lend itself to corroboration.
In opening this article l pointed
out that the federal charge was
the wire over which Scarface
tripped. 1t was the only one he was
unable to beat. Cook county, Illinois,
was his paradise. The state was
helpless against him. The United
States put him into prison.
a.