The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-02-28
Mayor W ashes Hands
Off Hotel Strike; Is
Silent on Gangsters
scab Agencies Have
Connections With
Police Dept.
By HARRY RAYMOND

NEW YORK. - Now that
Mayor LaGuardia has con-
Guided his medical inspection
Of New York's hotels and has
given clean bills of health to
The seabs and professional strike
breakers, he proceeds to wash his
hands Of the whole affair, declaring
that as far as he is concerned the
walkout is over.
But the Mayor is too hasty. The
Walk-out is not over. And how can
Mayor LaGuardia wash his hands of
the strike without taking action
against the agencies that supplied
gangsters, gunner and sluggers for
the hotel owners to terrorize the
workers?
These agencies, Veritable nests Of
gangsterism, which were exposed by
the Daily Worker on February 90
and 81, continue TO operate open and
unrestricted under the eyes of the
police and city administration.
The Bergoff Agency, at Column
bus Circle, which supplied strike
breakers and undercoVer men for the
hotels Warwick, Plaza, Lincoln, Park
Lane and Savoy Plaza has not been
hampered ons iota in its nefarious
practice by the city government.
BergOff's Long Record
This agency has a long record Of
strtkebreaking, thuggery and bribery.
As far back as 1915 Bergoff had his
license revoked for swindling. In
these days Bergoff was working with
Big Bill Edwards, an ex-foothaI
player from Princeton who was
Street Cleaning Commissioner under
Mayor Gaynor. During the street
cleaners strike Edwards and Bergoff
worked together supplying scabs.
But fraud and sWindle, which
snlelled to the skies, was too much
for the public and Bergoff was put
out of business.
He did not stay long in retirement,
however. The Bergoff Corporation
was formed, new license obtained
and the business of strikebreaklng
was continued in more emphasized
manner than before.
Aside from s5rikebreaking Bergoff
aud his friend, Bill Edwards, who is
now in the awning business on the
side in Brooklyn, make a speciality Of
supplying witnesses for divorce cases.
Bergoff recently tried to extort
$4,000 from John w. Walters for
getting goods on Walters wifep-he
even tried to sue Walters, but the
case was thrown out of the court of
appeals.
When the Thaw murder case was
at its height, Bergoff tried to cut in
ana get some graft but was thrown
out of District Attorney Jerome's Of
flee. Bergoff was not as well con-
nected with the powers that be in
those days as he apparently is today.
Shaw Operates Immune
Another rascal, no less notorious
taan Bergoff, who is operating with
immunity, supplying thugs and scsbs
IS one Nat Shaw, better known as
Crying Nat.
Shaw supplied strikebreakers for
the Hotel Waldorf Astoria. He hired
his gangsters in a room at 100 West
18th Street which belonged to a man
named Barney Weinstein, well
knoWn racketeer.
In 1882 during the Grace Line
iongshoremen's strike, Shaw was &C.
tive in supplying scabs and thugs for
The shipowners.
It would also be interesting TO
know why the LaGuardia admins
tration has done nothing to stop the
operation of Jack Cohen's Washing
ton Detective Agency gang, which
supplied strikehreakers for the Bit
more.
Has Police Connections
Cohen is the brother of a ex-
captain of detectives, AL Cohen, who
vas involved in a racket two years