Evening star., 1936-07-28
BIG PUSH PLANNED
TO CATCH LEADERS
OF D. c. GAMBLING
Little and Garnett Draw
Battle Lines to Wipe Out
Numbers Racket.
WILLINGNESS OF JURIES
TO CONVICT is PRAISED
They'll Find Defendants Guilty
Even if They Have Tickets
Themselves, Says Prosecutor.

Renewed war on numbers operators
and gamblers in an attempt to bring
in the higher-ups" was planned at a
meeting today between Lieut.. George
M. Little. head of the vice squad, and
United States Attorney Leslie c.
Garnett.
While the latest outbreak of gang
warfare-the shooting of Joseph E.
O'Brien in front of a cafe within
block of the Capitol 10 days ago-was
attributed to a struggle for illicit liquor
territory, the higher-ups are usually
connected with liquor as well as
gambling, Little pointed out.
Pledging whole hearted support to
police efforts to break up racketeering
Garnett asserted that his Office had the
best record last year in recent history
and that he didn't intend to let up
Denying published report that the
courts had been lax in administering
laws relating to gambling, or that his
Office had declined to prosecute cases
where sufficient evidence was present.
ed. he stated:
We disposed of 209 defendants last
year, and only II cases are being held
over for trial. Six cases are now await
ing trial, involving 80 defendants. Five
cases are not triable because the de-
PENDANTS areRt large or for some SIM
liar reason. With the exception of
those cases, however. We have disposed
of 90 indictments left over from 1885
and 162 returned during the past year" "
Police Are Hampered.
Recent practices inaugurated by
numbers operators to lessen chances
of conviction have hampered police
and prosecutors somewhat, but prog
ress is being made, Garnett believes.
1T would help to have a law max
ing possession of a numbers ticket or
book an offense, as some States do,
and this may come about during the
coming session of Congress" he ex-
planned.
However, I can't complain of the
juries. When we have been able to
get the evidence, We get indictments,
and the jury will convict. even though
oOLliC VA tLlC AlCAhbCio may AoNS AAAAA
bers tickets in their pockets"
Many numbers operators have dis
pensed with numbers slips or re-
ceipts, making it more difficult to
secure the necessary evidence, Little
! said.
Instead of writing out a receipt
for the player, the numbers sales
man simply writes the number on q
slip of paper and puts it back in his
pocket, the player writing the same
number on slip of paper and putting
it in his own pocket" he pointed out
1t Takes Faith, Anyway.
THAT avoids giving a receipt, which
the courts have ruled must pass before
a conviction can be secured. 1t re-
| quires a lot of faith on the part OF
the player, but a man has to have a
lot of faith before he plays a numbers
game"
Little said he believed much prog
ress had been made In breaking ur
the numbers racket with the convic-
ton of Sam Beard and Arthur Outch)
Erwin, but two or three extensive
operators still flourish here.
Its difficult to catch the higher
ups in these raids, but it has been
done, as Sam Beard will admit" he
said. The days Of the barricaded
gambling den or race track booking
plant are gone, and more of the oper-
ations are done by telephone.