Evening star., 1936-02-10
NUMBERS GAME"
TAKES S1,5|)D,00O
HERE, SAYS HOOVER.
Bureau of Investigation
Head Says G-Men Are
PoWerIess to Act. .
BLADENSBURG is SEEN,
RACKET HEADQUARTERS
Justice Department Agents Held
Cooperating With Police in
All Parts of Country.

The numbers game" which j.
Edgar Hoover believes is Americas
greatest racket" takes more than
81 100000 annually from the pockets
of Washington men, women and chill
dren, according to reliable estimates.
In an interview with the Associated
Press, the head Of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation said bird dog"
survey of racketeering has shown the
wide extent of numbers" gambling
In this country. The G-men are
powerless to do anything with this
racket, except where its operators ven-
ture into other illicit fields under
Jurisdiction of the bureau. The bureau
is restricted to interstate racket in
vestigations.
Cooperating With Police.
The Justice Department agency is
cooperating with local police IN all
parts of the country in their efforts
to stamp out intrastate crime, turning
over to the police information re-
parding local rackets which comes to
Federal agents in the course OF their
other inquiries.
The Staying of Eddie Killeen and
the conviction of Sam Beard on gam
ing charges has removed two so-called
'big shots" from Washington's gamb-
ling circles, but the numbers game is
said to be f1ourishing, nevertheless.
Much of the activities of this game are
reported to be centered in group
controlling the nortorious gambling
house on the Bladensburg road, just
over the District line.
Ends Are the Same.
Local officers have been very CO.
operative in our joint efforts to stamp
out the leech of racketeering which is
sucking at the country's business life,
Hoover told the Associated Press.
I'VE can work closely. for our ends
are the same. Mayor La Guardia OF
New York has been especially CO.
operative"
Asserting that gambling is racket
which is often hard for local officers
to cope with" Hoover said the scheme
of selling daily bets on financial fig
ures exacts a tremendous toll.
Federal agents, he said, can only at
tack this racket directly when the bets
are sent through the mails or by ex-
press.
Working with New York police, the
"G-men" have moved against alleged
rackets in artichokes and vice.
Federal charges stand against per-
sons suspected of participating in the
racket which sought to corner the
artichoke market. Mayor La Guardia
moved against the same group when he
issued proclamation recently stopping
all sale of artichokes.
Aid in Vice Campaign.
When New York police made their
recent vice raids, the Federal agents
arrested a woman charged with in
ducing girls to go from Pittsburgh, Pa,
to New York More Federal arrests
followed shortly-in Miami, Fla. The
"G-men," Hoover said, traced a con-
Meeting link between the two groups
Of offenders.
The jump from New York to Miami
Is qulChly lHdue IOT Ilie 1-Llell
over their Nation -girdling teletype sys-
TEN. Thus, anti-racket drives in all
parts of the country are drawn to-
gether.
Hoover declined to estimate what
part of the country's 12-to-15-b billion
dollar annual crime bill is paid to
racketeers, but said rackets have be-
come major element in the country's
crime problem.
How heavy the burden is, he said,
can be seen in the $4,000, ,000-a-year
income which he said was going to
Arthur Dutch Schultz Flegenheimer
Of New York, who was slain last Fall.