Evening star., 1938-02-11

In custody or "on the lam," the latter
Of Davis in q Philadelphia apartment
last week.
Fourteen Of them in ALL including
Dutch Schultz-since a dead man can
be a conspirator-were linked in a
single indictment last summer The
indictment charges conspiracy to
violate New York's lottery law and
individual counts Of contriving such
q game.
These charges. carrying for each
convicted defendant a maximum pun
ishment of IS years. concern their
alleged operation Of a numbers racket
in New York Just the numbers. "A
penny-ante game" as many call it.
Learned About Game.
But in New York they know about
the numbers. Mr.. Dewey learned all
about this "jitney game" when. as
special prosecutor of rackets. he be-
gan making the city too warm for
racketeers.
The present district attorney and
his aides came to know, as Washing
ton apparently has vet to learn, that
the numbers can spread more violence.
terror and extortion than any other
racket. They found out when they
dug into the empire which Mr..
Schultz and his "torpedoes" built out
OF the once innocuous Harlem policy
banks.
In Washington the racket goes on,
discouraged only by occasional raids,
with the House failing thus far to take
II seriously enough to pass the more
stringent lottery law which the State
OF New York has had on its books for
years, and which the Senate has ap-
proved for the District.
Assistant District Attorney Charles
r. Grimes, a Dewey racket nemesis,
explained TO Philadelphia magistrate
IN asking extremely high bond for
Dixie Davis and George Weinberg.
a co-defendant trapped in the same
apartment:
These two took over the numbers
and policy business which entailed
murders. assaults. kidnapings and
other Strong-arm tactics
100000 900 a Year.
They welded this business into a
vast enterprise doing a 100000. .OOO-
a-year business
Mr.. Grimes described the ex-IaWyer.
famed ''mouthpiece' of the underworld.
and Weinberg as the two highest re-
manning members OF the mob" add
ing that Davis had been Schultzs
lawyer and virtually the brains of
the mob" The youthful prosecutor
went on:
After Schultz's death he Davis,
took a direct part in the subsequent
crimes mentioned in the indictment
George Weinberg is a brother of the
notorious Bo Weinberg, chief killer of
the mob
THE underworld grapevine in
New York has it that 'Bo' lies in
the East River his feet anchored
to cement. but no one knows
Mr.. Grimes asked for half A mil
lion bond as measure of safety to
his State and because in his opinion
there was no other way to assure their
appearance for trial.
The court set bond at $500 900 each,
which neither could make.
Once Promising Attorney.
Dixie" Davis. once promising
young attorney with an entirely re-
spectacle background moved into the
underworld through the numbers
game. Reared in an upstate hamlet,
he played the violin quite we'll as a
boy. He went to law school in New
York City. and he was considered a
brilliant, artistic youth. He was given
a clerkship in famous law firm.
Looking on at the Harlem magis-
trates' courts. he saw that policy
numbers operators or their aides
were brought in now and then. 1t
looked like easy money. He quit the
law firm and began gathering policy