The Wilmington morning star., 1940-11-18

are those of the author ana
may not always harmonic
with its position.-The Editor.
NEW YORK, Nov. 17.-Some of
my loving friends among the pro-
fessional labor skates are fond of
saying that disclosures concerning
a few dirty criminals of their il
lustrious and altruistic company
have been over-exploited and that,
after all, one must expect to find
a few crooks in any large body of
human beings. But I have observed
that when a comparatively obscure
journeyman criminal is turned up
by way of proving my old conten-
ton that the official list of the A.
F. of l.. contains the nucleus of a
rogues' gallery, the big labor lead
ers Immediately reply that this is
petty stuff and not worth mention
ing. Yet we have to remember
that it is the common gorilla in
the local union who deals directly
with the little people of the rank
and file, and it is of such a crook
and his dealings with the little
people that I write today.
Subject
Our subject is a stickup man
and racketeer named Michael Lo-
mars, the business manager of
confectionery and tobacco jobbers'
employees local ITS of the Retail
CLERKS International Protective as
ISOLATION, of the A. F. of l.. This in
ternational is also the parent union
of the retail food and grocery
clerks local 1904, whose business
manager, Nick Ella, vas convicted
here in April of this year of ex-
torting money from the proprietors
of retail stores and markets and
sentenced to a term of IS to 30
years.
Lomars got into the union racket
about 1888 when Bioff, Scalise, Cir
celia and the Natti-Capone GRIM
inal scum of Chicago and Miami
decided that this was a safe and
lucrative substitute for. bootlegging
and kidnapping.
Lomars and some other crooks
got together in a hotel room in
New York on the night of July /,
1887, and sent out two Of their
humber - man and a woman
named Dorthy stirrat, alias Dolly
Turner, also known as the Lady
Finger-to car up a victim in
the night clubs.
Spotted Mrs. Forrestal
Dolly and the other gorilla went
to the Plaza hotel where they spot
ted Mrs. James V. Forrestal,
whose husband is now an assistant
secretary OF the navy. They phoned
Lomars. and he and two others
piled into a stolen car and drove
to the Plaza, where Dotty and her
friend fingered the Forrestal car as
it drove away. Lomars and the
boys followed to the Forrestal
home, where Dotty's friend-who
shall be nameless because he has
not been caught and Reuben
Klansky, robbed Mrs. Forrestal of
jewelry worth more than $50, 900.
Klansky testified for the people
in the trial of Lomars, which was
conducted by Herman Stichman of
Thomas E. Dewey's staff, and on
Oct. 80 of this year he was con-
victed of armed robbery along with
Joseph Weiss, the one who &C
companied him in the stolen car.
The Lady Finger also was convict
ed of robbery, but because she
was not armed her offense was
less serious. Weiss has a record
and so faces a minimum of from
80 to go years, but Lomars has no
previous convictions. so the least
he can get is from 10 to 80 years.
Klansky has not been tried as yet.
Awaiting Sentence
Lomars is now in the Tombs
awaiting sentence, and, out Of
sympathy for their devoted leader,
the members Of local ITS showed
up at a meeting in a hotel Wednes-
day night to hear a very moving
plea, by a brother introduced as
Albert Greenberg, business agent,
for money to finance brother Lo-
mars appeal. The speaker said
the executive board-composed, of
course. of natures noblemen-had
decided that a days pay from
all hands would not be too great a
sacrifice for the lofty purpose Of
getting Brother Lomars out of
chat miserable jail"
However, he had since consulted
counsel and counsel had advised
him that such an assessment would
be unconstitutional. So the brother
identified as Greenberg had taken
it on himself to amend the rec
concentrations of tn executive
board, and he proposed that
the members be permitted to give
"voluntary'' contributions of from
81 to S. out of their little pay for
long hours at uncertain and ardu-
GUS employment to be collected by
a committee of devoted friends OF
Brother Lomars. l
Negro Council Calls For