Evening star., 1934-01-22
'UNHOLY ALLIANCE
CHARGED IN RACKET
TRIAL AT CHICAGO
Eighteen Defendants and At.
torneys Crowd Court as
Hearing Opens.

CHICAGO, January q (F1.-Un1on
officials, hoodlumS and officials of en-
! ployers' associations formed an unholy
alliance which dominated four lucra-
| tive Chicago trades, Prosecutor Edwin
Raber charged today as he launched
| the city's first racketeering case.
Raber charged the 18 defendants
who ranged from college professors to
underworld gang leaders-extorted large
revenues from commodities as mild as
towels and soda water. and enforced
their rule by bombings, intimidation,
threats or, when these seemed imprac-
ticable, by strategically planned boy
colts.
The four industries most successfully
Is pped by racketeers, Raber declared
were the linen supply business. the
cleaning and dyeing plants. the carbo-
mated beverage houses and the laun-
dries.
All but three of the defendants were
in court to hear the State outline Its
case. developed after weeks of 1nvesti-
CATION. There were so many defend
ants and attorneys that bailiffs in
stalled extra chairs to accommodate
them.
ITO Danish Racketeerx
To States Attorney Thomas j. Court
ney, Cook County's most youthful prose-
cutor, the trial of the 18 defendants
meant the elimination OF his first effort
to rid Chicago of the labor racketeer.
Inducted to Office little more than
a year ago on a platform to ban1sh
gangsters and racketeers, Courtney
launched an investigation OF the toll
legitimate business men paid to the
underworld and said it ran into mil
lions annually.
Last July q Courtney announced
blanket indictments against "a men
charged with bombing. acid throwing
trade through terrorism. However, only
18 have been brought to trial.
Citizens of prominence were drawn
into the indictment net along with
notorious gangmen Most widely known
to newspaper readers of the "a were Al
Capone, already in Federal prison for
income tax evasion; Murray Humphreys,
heir apparent to the Capone throne, at
that time under conviction for carrying
concealed weapons; Aaron SapirO, New
York and Chicago attorney, organizer
in the Cooperative Marketing Union In
the United States and one-time counsel
for the Chicago Laundry Owners Asso-
citation; Alderman Oscar E. Nelson, in
Europe at the time, and DR.. Benjamin
M. Squires, University of Chicago eco
nomics lecturer and Federal labor
arbiter, who, as head Of the Master
Cleaners and Dyers' Institute OF Chi
cago, tried to eliminate the gangsters
from the industry.
Nelson. Sapiro, Squires and others
expressed amaZement at the ndlct-
ments and were quick with statements
IL, = fhatp
Efforts were made by Courtney to
have Capone brought here for trial but
he failed. Humphreys, who fled, and
Capone are defendants in absentia.
Other Defendants.
Here are the others on trial: Morris
Kaplan attorney for several trade or
ganizations; Al Boris, secretary and
business agent for the Retail Cleaners
Union; James p German, president OF
the Retail Cleaners and Dyers Insti-
tute under DR.. Squires; Joseph Bush
Iwaniec, president Of the Laundry and
Dye House Drivers Union.
George Bendell, secretary and treas
urer of the same union; George Knott,
vice president of the union; Robert
Rado business agent Of the union; !;
Charles GoldStein, another business
agent for the union.
Walter Crowley. president of the City
Dye Works, a private concern; T. Henry
Klein president of the Chicago Laun-
dry Owners Association; A. L. Canf1eld.
president of the Garfield Beverage Co.
Jerry Donovan, head of the Beverage
Drivers Union; Jean Franks, business
agent for the Retail Cleaners and
Dyers' Union; Ben Abrams, business
agent for the Inside Dye House Work
ers' Union, and Michael Rose. field
secretary for the Cook County Hand
Laundry Association.