The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-09-21
BootIeggerS Claim Business
Still Is Good; Would
Take Jobs.
HIJACKING RACKET FLOP
Machine Gunners on Trucks
Halt Liquor Thefts on
Highways.
This is the last Of a series on crime
in TndianapOlis.)
BY LOWELL NUSSBAUM
Times stan Writer

gers, with prohibition dying out and
legal beer enjoying an increasing
popularity, is question that prob
ably could be answered best by a
bootlegger.
Let's interview one of the city's
leading purveyors of illicit stimu-
lants. We will call him Mr.. Lush,
principally because that is not his
real name and he said something
about buggy ride if We gave him
any free advertising.
Curious Reporter-"Mr Lush, how
is the bootlegging racket coming
along?"
Mr.. Lush-"Very fine. I have
some of the best alcohol and whisky
YOU ever tasted, and the price is
reasonable.
Business Still Good
C. RIVE don't want to buy
anything. What we want to know
is whether or not your business has
been hurt by the advent of legal 80
beer, and whether any of your COM
petitors have been forced out of
business by beer.
Mr.. L.-"My business still is good.
Oh, of course, I have lost a few
customers, and some others don't
order as often as they used to, but
have gotten some new customers,
too. They used to buy from some of
my competitors who have quit the
game and gotten into the legal beer
business"
c. R.-"Are there still a lot of
bootleggers operating?"
Mr.. L.-"Sure there are. l haven't
gotten this business all to myself
yet"
G. R.-'Well, what we are inter-
ested in is what the remaining boot
leggers will do when repeal becomes
effective. Do you suppose some OF
them will become bank bandits, or
burglars, or what?"
Get Real Jobs
Mr.. L-"That's easy. Most of
them will get legitimate jobs Just as
soon as they can. I know of some
who have quit the game already
and are out looking for jobs"
c. R.-"But will they be satisfied
with an ordinary salary after the
easy money in the bootlegging
game?"
Mr.. L.-"Say, they'll be tickled to
death, and that goes for the highly
tOuted hijackers, too. There's no
easy money in this game 1 know
every hijacker in this town and
there isn't one that's made as much
as S25 week, on the average, for
the last year or two and some of
the leggers have been slowly starv-
ing for years.
Liquor isn't being run through
IN cars, now. like it was in the past.
1t travels in big trucks, and the
hlJackers don't care much about
bothering these trucks because each
truck carries a couple of gorillas
just waiting for a chance to play
a tune on their machine guns.
Il guess some of these hiiackers
have knocked off some cigaret
trucks, but that was easy, because
most of these were inside Jobs. I
have heard.
Hijacking Doesn't Pay
There's no percentage in hijack-
ing loads of beer. because you only
get about two hundred cases at the
most, and to get rid of it you have
to sell it at 81 a case or less. Not
much profit in that, considering the
risk of lead poisoning and the bulki-
ness of the load.
No bootleggers are going to get
in the bank stick-up game: at least,
none of the boys around here.
They're not tough enough.
But don't worry-there's going to
be plenty of business for a lot of
us for quite while.
Some of our customers deserted
us in favor of the corner drug store.
where they could buy medicinal
whisky. but with medicinal whisky
prices soaring until il costs about
So pint. and good bootleg corn
whisky selling for IS a gallon, we're
getting a lot of them back again.
And you can count on this-no
matter how cheap legal liquor be-
comes. there always will be some
oootleggers still operating. There al
ways were even in prohibition
days.
Well. I have to run along now
and take care of my customers. If
you hear of good job, let me know.
1 might take it