The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-07-05
In New York
BY PAUL HARRISON

New York--It isn't a condition
 to which the administration would
 be likely to point with pride, but
 nevertheless it's a sure sign of
 financial upturn hereabout: the
 "Wc-Boys," the grifters and graft
 CTS, the puff-shect racketeers and
 the blackmailers are back at their favorite games.
 In the depths of a depression
 people protect their regulations
 more with their fists than their
 checkbooks, and as last resort by behaving themselves. Now,
 though, each little indiscretion
 may spell bonanza for an extor-
 tionist.
 Hush Money
 They go about it very politely. Tips are bought from apartment house doormen, night club walt CTS, taxi drivers. For example, one of them may tell a racketeer that "Old George x. Softly, tho ash tray magnate, was hitting the hot
 spots last night with blond ! named Goldie Rigger." Pretty I soon Mir Softly has a visitor, suave young man with a frank and ingratiating air.
 q don't know whether you re-
 member meeting me last night, he says, because you were kind or spiffed. But you were nice to me, and l could see you were reSu-
 lar fellow and 1 didn't want to sec you get in trouble"
 Trouble Yeah, plenty trou- | ble. You sec, couple of news- papermen were at the Club Hi-De- Do and saw you with this blonde, and they were both figuring on printing a story about you to-mor-
 row. Now l happen to know these boys who are really very nice fel- low and are a little pressed for cash right now. 1 thought, as a
 friend. I ought to tip you off, and"
 How much? "wcll. a couple of
 hundred apiece ought to do 1t Of course l wouldn't want a nickel
 for myself"
 All fiction, of course, but very often MT Softy pays. If he's thor oughly gullible he may thank his
 "bcnefactor" and press m extra
 hundred into the latter's supposed
 ly reluctant palm.
 Breaking Into Print
 Once on the sucker list, MT Softly also Is catalogued as a fel-
 lew who might like to buy prcs- tige. So he has another caller-- this one brisk, business-likc
 fellow with his vest pockets brist- ling with pencils and n card iden-
 tifying him as a representative or tho Personality Press" or some equally non existing organizations. What he has to say is, briefly, that for q consideration q flattcr-
 Ing biography and pictures of MT Softly will be sent to a thousand newspapers. For an additional
 consid eration publication of al; this material will be guaranteed
 American Moguls," and MT Softy
 can buy extra copies to send to
 his friends.
 puffeteer vanishes with the check
 and the biography is never even written. For few extra hun
 dreds, though. the article VIII be printed on the front page of
 American Moguls" and as many comics printed as Mir Softly wants to buy. Magazines of this sort are printed by the thousands in advance one page being left blank for the sucker story and the re- mainder of the contents being lift
 cd bodily from legitimate publica- tions.
 The Show Business
 Maybe Mir Softly is identified as the type of sucker who would like to help finance a Broadway
 show. If so, there are outlaw producers who will be of service. First they will secure very bad play, and by devious misrepresen- tation and perhaps forgery will convince the victim that the script | is considered a sure hit by Broad ways best minds. Then they will | sell a 40 per cent interest to MT Softly, q 40 per cent interest to MT Crcdulous, a 40 per cent in- terest to MT Sapp and so on until the enterprise is oversubscribed | five or six times.
 The show will be produced too, but the promoter will make very sure that 1t is a flop. Thus lit- tie money actually will be lost, and the packers each of them un- aware of the existence of the oth- ers-wilj go away content with | having had their fling. The swim dler pockets the unspent surplus | and hepins looking for new angels