Evening star., 1937-05-15
Organized Rackets and Law.

Organized Rackets and Law.
If the administration of the law in this
country, especially in large centers OF
population, were as efficient as the or
ganization Of crime, headway might be
made toward greater safety of life and
property. But unfortunately this is not
the case. Law administration, particu-
larly in the big cities, is slow, uncertain
and often fruitless An illustration has
just been afforded in New York, where
at luncheon held by the Citizens Com
mittee on the Control of Crime, Thomas
E. Dewey, special prosecutor of rackets,
made an address in which he presented
an appalling picture of the ineptitude
of the police and the courts in fighting
organized extortion. He has been en-
gagged for year and a half in the
conduct of a campaign of prosecution
and has had considerable success, though
much remains to be done, particularly
in the reorganization of the law agencies.
He said:
I should like to outline the picture
OF the law enforcement agencies which
serve you. There are five regular dis
trlct attorneys In this city and its Ave
counties, having total of 1872 assistant
district attorneys. There are also the
racket bureau OF the attorney general
OF the State, the racket bureau of the
Attorney General of the United States
operating in New York County. the
United States attorney for the southern
district OF New York and the United
States attorney for the eastern district
OF New York. Thus there are five county
prosecuting officers, the State prosecuting
officer and three Federal prosecuting
officers, all in the City of New York. All
these operate separately, some are elected
and some appointed. There is absolutely
no coordination between them, and
some, preposterouS as it may SEEM do
not even know each other. although
they operate in the same city.
The effect OF this dispersal Of authority
is the actual encouragement of crime.
In contrast to it is the thorough organi-
cation OF the criminal forces, which
have their own laws, the enforcement
OF which depends in no degree upon
questions of jurisdiction and is always
swift and certain. Many times the cost
of the maintenance of these municipal,
State and Federal enforcement agencies
is imposed upon the sufferers from these
organized rackets which affect prac-
tically every line of business, particularly
in the field of supplying the public
necessities
The remedy for this condition is the
coordination and simpliication of the
agencies OF law. The racketeers take
full advantage of the delays now entailed
by slow legal procedure, by the technicali-
ties Of the courts and by the inter-
ferences which result from divided juris-
dictions.
The time has come said Mr.. Dewey,
when crime must be studied by ex-
perts on the long range basis. We still
change police commissioners every two
or three years. City administrations,
national administrations, prosecutors and
their whole staffs are turned over with
every shifting tide of politics Organized
crime continues steadily on
One of the difficulties in arousing
public sentiment to the point of vigorous
and persistent prosecution of this form
of crime lies in the disposition of victims
to surrender to extortion, even with its
murderous toll, rather than resist and
cooperate with the law enforcement
agencies in the prosecution of the
racketeers. 1t is the repetition on a
large scale of the blackmailing practiced
by the BLACK Hand" of some years ago
which prevailed in several of the larger
cities of this country, particularly in
New York, when for a time it was
virtually impossible to get witnesses to
testify for fear of immediate murderous
reprisal. Surrender was the safer course
1t is not assured that a coordination
OF the enforcement agencies would eradi-
cate the rackets. But it would certainly
effect more headway toward the estab-
lishment of the law as against the rule
OF the gang.