Evening star., 1940-03-18
Il or More Murders
Laid 10 Syndicate;
10 Men Under Arrest
Gang implicated in J
Brooklyn Sayings,
Prober Says
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, March ia mur-
der-to-order combine which killed
by contract for big shot" racketeers
was said today by Brooklyn prose-
cutor to have been responsible for
at least a dozen-possibly 90
gangland slayings.
Brooklyn District Attorney Will
liam F. O'Dwyer said 10 men were
under arrest in connection with the
crimes. He said the gang was i'm
plicated in seven murders and two
attempted slayings in Brooklyn and
three killings in Sullivan County in
upstate New York.
Hollywood Actor Arrested.
One of those arrested was Irving
Cohen, 37-year-old motion picture
bit player, wanted, according to the
district attorneys Office, in connec-
ton with the Staying of Walter Sage
In Loeb Sheldrake, Sullivan County.
Cohen, who acted under the name
of Jack Gordon and was known in
the underworld as big Gangey,"
has minor police record, said
James Moran, chief clerk of Mr..
ODwyer's Office. He was seized in
Hollywood. Cohen denied the
charges.
Sage's body, weighted down with
a slot machine, was flshed out of
Swan Lake, near Loeb Sheldrake,
in July, 1887
Youthful gunner, described as
"young punks," did the trigger work
under agreements with such racket
overlords as Lucky Luciano, i'm
prisoned Manhattan vice king;
Louis Nepke) Buchalter, and Jacob
(Gurrah) Shapiro, Mr.. ODwyer
said.
Boast Of Seven Killings.
The prosecutor quoted one in
former as saying the gang leaders
had boasted to him of having
rubbed out" seven witnesses in Dis
trict Attorney Thomas E. Dewey's S
Buchalter trial, and had planned to
kill the remaining four witnesses in
the case
In one case, the district attorney
said, the ''rubout ring" shot to death
Irving Penn, 42-year-old music firm
executive, whom they mistook for
a Dewey witness in the Lepke case.
District Attorney Samuel J. Foley
of the Bronx. who conferred with
Mr. ODwyer on the Penn case, char
acterized the arrests as "the most
important cleanup of underworld
Characters I have seen in Is years
as law officer"
Two young members of the syndi-
cate. fearful they would be deserted
by their leaders and left to face
alone charges under which they now
are held, told their stories, Mr..
ODwyer said, He named them as
Anthony Duke Maffetore and
Abraham Pretty) Levine.
Tried to Go Straight.
Levine told Mr.. ODwyer he had
tried to go straight and that he
was married and had a 16-month-
old daughter. The mob leaders,
however, wouldn't allow him to ease
out of the racket. So he decided
to talk because of his belief he would
be sacrificed by his chiefs.
Sometimes when young gunmen
became too involved in the gang
operations. they we're slain by sue
cessors, Mr.. O'Dwyer said Levine
told him.
Sums of $40 and $20-sometimes
as little as Severe paid for the
killings. Mr. ODwyer said the COM
bine had a finger in almost any
racket you can name -" prostitu-
ton, extortion, intimidation of busi-
ness, murder, gambling and what
have you"
The Brooklyn killers apparently
were allied in some way with the
Detroit purple gang, the prosecutor
said. adding that he anticipated
arrests as far away as Los An
geles and Miami in connection with
the crimes committed here and
elsewhere.
Three Named as Leaders.
Mr.. O'Dwyer said Martin (Buggsy)
Goldstein and Seymour Magoon
described as teTorists, would be
handed over to District Attorney
Foley in connection with the Penn
killing.
Magoon is serving a 6O-day sem
tence for vagrancy and Goldstein is
in Jail in connection with the slay-
ing of Alex Red) Alpert on Novem-
ber 25, 1888, in Brooklyn.
In addition to Magoon and
Seymour. Mr.. ODwyer named as
leaders of the syndicate Abraham
(Abe) Relies, Harry (Happy) Malone
and Harry pittsburgh PhiD Strauss
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