The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-06-07
IN;
MezC York
BY PAUL HARRISON

New Yorls-The clip joints are
on the make again. Which Is q
way of saying that the business Of
extortion, robbery, vice and VOL
ence is booming in the crooked
little hide-away night clubs.
Hundreds of night-hawk taxi
drivers are acting as percentage
contact men for the gyp spots.
And scores of other steerers haunt
the doors of legitimate cabarets
and midnight theaters, shrewdly
sizing ND male prospects, furtively
siding up to tell them OF the gay
goings-on in this or that estab-
| lishment. They always offer per-
sonally to conduct their victims to
the places, solicitous gesture
made because they dare not carry
cards which would furnish evidence
| If seized by the police.
Most Of them are hard and wary
| fellows, the dregs of Broadway,
but specialists in Stimulating con-
VITALITY. Their reward is 40 per
cent of the s'take" from each suck
er they are able to entice to . clip
joint. Steerers of more select
group work in evening clothes and
within the recognized night clubs.
A Victim Talks.
What's a clip joint like? Here's
a sample, described by a victim
who took his loss rather than
complain to the police. He Is, OF
all things, young New York at
torney employed by a prominent
law firm.
"This place." he said. was on
Forty-sixth street about a hundred
yards off Broadway. went there
with a friendly little guy I'd talked
with for about two hours in good
speakeasy. He rang a bell three
A man there looked us over, and
pushed another button three timex
and we went upstairs.
Another man let us in q door.
and 4 saw the place was just
large apartment, shabbily furnish
ed and sitting hot. Not at all like
the intimate little night club, the
steerer had described. I was wor-
ried and wanted to leave, but sew
eral men surrounded me and be-
gan talking and laughing, and they
sort Of jostled me into the next
room. looked around for the man
who brought me, and he was gone.
There were six girls in the big
room, and about six tables. The
girls were pretty and in good-look-
ing evening clothes. They all rush.
ed up and asked me to buy a drink.
sat down with a blonde who said
her named was Dorothy.
"a big waiter came and said:
"What'll it be-a cocktail for the
lady?' She had cocktail and
had beer. The waiter said the
ct, dy1tf n fvun
more hours. and to make ourselves
comfortable. There were no other
customers in the place, so after
one more drink 1 decided to get
out Of there and asked for my
check. The waiter figured min
ute and laid it down as carelessly
as you please. / let out yelp.
The check read s275.
They Hit and Run.
1.-THE girls all left and three
other men came in. One who said
he was the manager explained that
I had just bought fourteen rounds
Of drinks for everybody in the
house. I said didn't have that
much money and they grabbed me
and emptied my pockets. had a
bout $50 and they took that, and
my watch and lighter. The mana
ger looked at my personal papers
and saw who l was. He said: I
guess you don't want this to get in
the papers, said I didn't. He
said: Well. you write us check
for 5000 or a lot Of people will
hear about this So I wrote the
check, and stopped payment on 1t
next day.
"As 1 was going out the big
waiter told me was lucky had
MT got hurt. Lots of 'em gets
hurt he said. And I'll tip you to
something, buddy. This is Just
one of our joints. We clip you
here and before you have found
a cop at the corner we have locked
up the place and are busy clipping
somebody else at another spot up
the street. When the dicks get
here they don't find anthing. which
only makes you look silly"