Evening star., 1937-12-05
NEW YORK hot"
FOR UNDERWORLD
Series of Narcotic Raids
CIimaxes Dewey Racket
Busting Drive.
Ey the Associated Press.

Ey the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, Dec Anew York has
become definitely hot" for the under
world
A series of narcotic raids, following
closely on the Dewey racket-busting
campaign and the slap 'em down"
orders of Police Commissioner Lewis
J. Valentine, has added sizzling touch
to the dramatic cleanup.
Discussing the latest offensive
against organized crime, Maj. Garland
Williams, district chief of the Federal
Narcotics Bureau, said
The heat is on. That's known to
the underworld all over They're
either going to move out of the city or
60 to jail They can take their choice"
Operating in conjunction with other
agents throughout the country, Maj.
Williams said his men had smashed
three international rings of smugglers
and distributors during the last two
months and were closing in on a
fourth.
In few weeks" he said, I'VE will
have things definitely under control"
Established New Policy.
The Missouri-born Army Reserve
officer, who became head of the New
York district in shake-up a year ago,
has established a new policy of
maneuvering whole narcotic syndicates
into his traps before springing them.
Our chief concern, of course, is to
get the big Shots" he said, but we
are not satisfied with stopping there.
We want the whole organization"
The task has been complicated, he
said by the fact that while the rings
were interlocked to some extent they
operated for the most part as indie
pendent organizations.
There Is no one man dominating
the whole traf1c-no super organiza-
ton" he said.
Four months after Maj Williams
came here to take charge of the dis
trlct-he formerly was superintendent
OF the customs border control at Ell
Paso, TeX.--a raiding party swarmed
over little British freighter in the
harbor and seized half million dollars
worth OF opium and eight prisoners.
Only Opening Gun.
Gregory OKeefe, assistant port COL
rector, called it the most important
seizure ever made in an American
port, but it was only the opening
gun of the major offensive that
started in October.
Their watches synchronized, a small
army of agents in New York, Houston,
Galveston and New Orleans made the
Tlrst OF a series of simultaneous raids
on the night of October 4. A total of
"a persons, including II women, were
indicted as members of that gang,
which was charged with handling up
to $25,000,000 worth of narcotics in
the last two years.
I'VE cleaned out the whole organi-
Eatlon.' said Maj. Williams.
Then came the fantastic roundup
OF what he referred to as "the Chinese
mob on November 49, Two agents.
posing as nephews of a powerful un-
oerworld leader and buying narcotics
hvish1y, had worked for two years to
penetrate the mystic barriers of a
Chinese secret society.
One of them succeeded in obtain
Ing a letter of introduction to the
leaders of the society in Chicago.
Before presenting it, he took the pre-
caution of having it photographed
and translated, to make sure it was
not his death warrant.
Oriental reserve broke down COM
pletely when the agents presented not
only the letter but also a sheaf of
rlngside tickets for the Louis Brad
dock fight last summer.
Accepted as Members.
They were accepted as members of
the secret organization, and were
initiated at an elaborate ceremony
during which they genudected before
strange Chinese images in swirl of
exotic incense.
On the basis of informa ton they
obtained, at the constant risk of their
lives, half hundred fellow agents
descended suddenly on members of
the gang in Chicago, San Francisco,
Butte, Mont; Pittsburgh and New
York.
TWenty-three prisoners were taken,
including the wife and brother of
Thomas (Tommy the BulD Penn
ochio. notorious member of the
Charles lucky Luciano gang which
was broken up by Special Prosecutor
Thomas E. Dewey.
Three customs officers were among
the 20 prisoners seized in the next
sortie. which took place IL days later,
on November 80. The customs men
were accused of accepting bribes to
look the other way when young
women debarked from transatlantic
liners with trunkloads of narcotics.
Louis Oepke) Buchalter, fugitive
indictment as one of the financial
hackers of this gang, which had con-
nections in Shanghai and France.
Maj. Williams, incidentally, said he
did not think the war in China would
interfere with the narcotics traffic.
There is an ever-constant supply in
Europe, he said.
The dismay of the underworld,
feeling the heat" from all directions,
was perhaps best expressed by Willie
Bonanz when he was sentenced to a
long term for opium smuggling.
What a judge" Bonanza exclaimed.
HE gives me 10 years."