Evening star., 1936-11-03
WHITE SLAVERY
RAIDS BY G-MEN
BEGUN OVER j. s.
Facts Obtained in Gang
Round-ups Lead to
Many Arrests.
HOOVER SAYS TRAFFIC
IS, ON LARGE SCALE
Public Not Sufficiently Aroused
to Grave Sociological Prob.
lems," He Declares.
BY REX COLLIER,

on the kidnapping front have been
mobilized against a less spectacular,
but equally vicious racket-white
slavery.
This is not a new war or special
drive, according to j. Edgar Hoover,
director of the F. B. I. 1t is an inten-
sification of long continued efforts to
stamp out what he considers major
crime menace in this country.
"Drive?" Hoover repeated in an in
terview. mo, this is not a drive. In
fact, I don't like that word in law
enforcement. 1t seems to imply a
tacit admission Of previous laxity.
While it is true the F. B. l.. recently
has been engaged in a roundup of
white slavers, this has been the result
of long and careful inquiries and the
collection of evidence we regard as
ironclad."
And when the F. B. I. collects evi-
dence with which to prosecute, it
usually is of the ironclad type, as the
81 per cent record of convictions dur
ing July. August and September would
indicate.
AS matter Of fact, with
the last Of the big kidnapping rings
the Karpis-Barker gang-effectually
smashed and with bank robberies
steadily declining, the G-men are
finding more time to give to such
non-emergency cases as white slavery,
automobile theft and bond and jew
elry racketeering. Handicapped by
lack of men, the F. B. I. was forced
to delay action on thousands of such
cases while its men were ION the firing
line"
Collected Much Evidence.
During their hunt for hideouts OF
such gangsters as Dillinger. Floyd,
Bailey, Kelly, Karpis and the Barkers,
Hoover'S agents accumulated a mass
of collateral evidence which now Is
being used to good advantage against
Nationwide rings of racketeers who
are traficking in women. -
Almost daily there come reports
from widely scattered parts of the
Nation about raids on night clubs, II
inns" and other Joints" listed
tersely in the records as "disorderly
houses" Scores of arrests have been
made recently in Connecticut and
New York in the Federal round up
of higher-ups in the white slavery
racket.
While these activities take place
in the North, another force of agents
has been mobilized to block the sea-
sonal migration of white slave rae
keteers to Winter resorts in the
South.
"Some of these rings confine their
operations to one locality" Hoover
said in an interview. Others fol-
low the seasonal influx Of visitors to
ocean and gulf resorts. Both types
engage in the most pernicious prac-
tices, Turing young girls into lives OF
degradation and crime and trans
porting them from one State to an
other in violation of the Mann act.
Hoover Asks Aid.
"The public Is not sufficiently
aroused to the grave sociological,
health and crime problems involved In
operation Of these vice rings. The
interstate traffic in women for i'm
moral purposes has reached astound-
ing proportions. The citizens can aid
us greatly in combating this traffic
hv rnnarfin0 70 z To-
violations of the law. We will investi-
gate thoroughly in each instance"
Hoover's men believe they have
struck a telling blow at the Winter
resort traffic with the arrest recently
Of alleged members of the so-called
Nahas gang, which had its headquar-
ters in Michigan City, Ind. This gang,
functioning under might club" cloak
has been charged with transportation
of women from Indiana to Miami dur
ing past Winters.
Moving swiftly at South Bend
Ind, Washington and Miami, Fla.
bureau agents have taken into Gus
tody four alleged members of the
gang, including its reputed chieftain
Paul Nahas, convict well known to
Miami police.
Nahas was captured in South Bend
A confederate, Dave Marcus, declared
by officials to be booker of prosti-
tuJes in Miami, was taken in that
city. In jail here are James Nelson
Ostrander, alias 'fthe Million Dollar
Kid" and Dan Cassetta, arrested at q
Chesapeake Bay resort. The latter two
Hoover asserts. have been closely as
sociated with Nahas and have served
time in Miami for their activities.
Some Women Leaders.
Not all the '1big shots" Of the vice
racket are men. Hoover points out
There was, for example, Mae Scheible,
friend OF the notorious counterfeiter,
Count" Lustig, and operator of q
white slave headquarters in Pitts
burgh for decade prior to her ILL
fated New York venture, which netted
her heavy sentence.
The widespread Connecticut round
up, Hoover says, has crushed vice
syndicate headed by Alexander Dt
Nicola. long leading figure in the
prostitution racket in that State. With
the cooperation of State police more
than twoscore men and women were
arrested under Federal laws-and
wholesale pleas of guilty have resulted
from more than half Of them.
An indication of the increased Wig.
lance Of G-men with respect to the
white slave racket Is seen in the
mounting total Of convictions obtained
in recent months. During June of this
year there were more convictions fol
this crime than during any month o1
the past three years.
An average Of more than 5000 white
slave cases q year have been investi
gated by the r. B. I. since 1922, t.