The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-08-25
Call
By Charles Francis Coe
Eminent Criminologist and Author of
MIR. *Gansster. "Swag. ""votes"
-. and other startling crime stories-
KIDNAPERS AND
RACKETEERS
No. 2

underworld character now re-
Il poses in Atlanta federal prison
He is the notorious Searface. DE
went TO prison not for bootlegging. or
for racketeering, or for narcotic traf-
licking. or for gambling and vice rings,
or for murder. He went TO prison be
cause he refused TO divide with the
federal government the proceeds of
these modern activities. In other
words. his crime was eyading the in
come tax
II is common knowledge that this
man had a revenue in good years not
far from Sl5O.OO0.OO0. OF that be kept
vast sums and paid vast sums. Ii is
the experience of this writer that the
crook who saves 20 per cent of his
gross revenue is a fortunate crook
No crook operates without protection
If ne operates with success The cost
of thar protection is invariably his
largest individual item of operating
cost My guess would be that 1t will
average 20 per cent of the gross.
With the passing of this master
gangster one man was reported to
have assumed his place In the sud-
denly darkened sun. This man became
public enemy No as soon as the
original possessor of that dubious dis
tinction relinquished ii for regulation
clothes and a less fattening diet So.
presumably. the new public enemy No.
| should now be financial giant He
should. literally, be rolling in millions
He took the place Of Croesus Al Ca
pone.
But prohibition is just about gone.
The gallOping gold of the "alky" foun-
tain is missing. What becomes of the
successor to the millions of his ma
jesty the Scartace? Late reports had
him fleeing toward Mexico while In
his clutches writhed the victim of a
sensational kidnapping. Bootlegging
fails of its old profit The king boot
logger turns to kidnapping. Il seems
rather obvious that our earlier sup
positions are borne out by the facts
king" Solomon of Boston built up
a revenue said TO be about 100000
a year. he started at bootlegging.
Recently ne walked into hot lead that
spelled fms TO his career. The source
of the anger which slaughtered him
is generally admitted not TO have been
the old-time liquor feud but something
attributable to newer activities of a
more dire nature Anyway. he was
murdered In his Own night club
Three mere boys were tried for the
killing.
There is Chicago. There is Boston.
A look at Detroit is interesting. De
troit became a gang center because
of the proximity of Canada and handy
liquor. The Infamous Purple gang
took root there and gave to history
some of IFS most desperate bandits
and killers.
Detroit's real start as an under
world haven was the business of run
ming booze over the roads TO Chicago.
Then. as organization and protection
conspired to the more complete rout
of law enforcement. it ceased to be
necessary to run the booze. In Chi
cago they cooked alcohol in tenements
and brewed their own beer Almost
Immediately the Purple gang became
a murder trust. They hired out their
killers TO pull jobs in other cities.
Take st. Paul. Mimi. There is city
never accused of harboring organized
gangs as we have come TO know them.
Yet one of the recent sensational kid
napings took place there Why?
Mark my words. ii was not local tai
emf that perpetrated that crime 1.-THE
boys were called in for that These
boys" were recruited from the ranks
of the hungry bootleggers of Chicago.
Their appearance in these new crime
centers proves that. They are COM
mercial criminals. They will pull a
job ar a fat rate.
Kansas City is case In point
Pretty Boy" Floyd, who terrorized
the West as a Jesse James In modern
dress, started as petty booze ped
dler in Kansas City. He attracted, the
attention OF local police and left town
Shortly after he took to the smoking
pistol and went violent by way of
replenishing a vanished bootleg ex-
chequer. He kidnapped sheriffs and
used them as hostages to enforce his
maddened will upon the people
Police in many cities, alarmed by
the spread of violent crime. are equip
ping to meet this condition Armored
cars, trained machine gunners and ra-
do equipment are being adopted
These will win in the long run. not
because they are efficacious In the
extreme but because violent crime al
ways defeats itself. The willingness
to protect violent crime is lacking.
The same cop who winked at a bottle
of liquor will stand his ground over a
deck of heroin or a callous murder
for profit.
People know nothing of kidnapings
that never get into the papers. This
writer knows of three cases of success
full .'snatches" In New York City. In
each case the victim of the kidnapping
was a criminal himself. He was
caught oy others of his kind. ran
somed for whatever ne had. and
turned loose TO pile up another amounr
for future consideration Each time
these criminals. well aware of their
exact positions as hostages. paid
through the nose. One said 10 me:
did payi Lay your last dime !
naidf / had rhirfy-five GRAND in hank
when they took me. They got il all
Only a sucker would fight them"
Another case reported to me and
verified from sources credit involves
a manufacturer of forbidden fruits
who paid one hundred thousand dol