The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-08
Fair Enough
Nv WESTBROOK PEGLER

hllOW I4I0L w.
EXPRESSED in this article are
those of the author and may not
always harmonic with its posi-
tion.-The Editor.
NEW YORK, Oct. THE execu-
tive council of the American Fed
Grafton of Labor, which is the cab
met and supreme court of that or
ganization, has been meeting in
Washington this week. The last
newspaper mention of the meeting
that I saw was published just be-
fore the boys convened and said
William Green, pre- -ident of the
A. F. of L., had emphasized the
necessity to take up the problem OF
eliminating racketeers. What with
the war and the presidential cam
paign and the secrecy of those ex-
ecutive council meetings, nothing
has been published in the New
York papers revealing the trend of
the discussions or any conclusions
that may have been reached.
Includes Browne
We know, however, that the ex-
ecutive council incluSes George
Browne, the Chicago gangster who
is president of the stage hands
and movie employees union and
the sponsor and defender of some
of the crookedest 'rnioneers that
ever broke a leg, heaAd a stink
bomb or wrung a percentage of
the earnings of a bevy of prosti-
tutes.
I suppose the executive council
has been wrestling with the en-
barrassing problem of preparing a
high-sounding but inoffensive re-
port for the annual convention Of
the A. F. of L., which will be held
in New Orleans after the national
presidential election.
However, regardless of anything
they may decide to say and of MI.
Green's explanation of his stand
on racketeers at the convention, l
would like to point out the incon-
sistence of his declaration against
crooks. Several instances are avail
able.
In St. Louis, at long last, a par
ticularly dirty thief and gangster
named John P. Nick, has recently
been convicted in the federal court
of the crime of racketeering, on
evidence much of which had previ-
ously been brought out in action in
the state courts. This notorious
criminal was a vice president of
the union dominated by Browne,
who sits in Green's executive coun-
Gil and, along with two other
smelly underworld crooks - Bioff
and Circella by name enjoyed
Brownies personal appointment as
International representative or am
bassador, with full powers.
Under Fire for Years
Nick has been under fire for
some years, but the point which I
want to emphasize concerning Mr..
Green is that when the St. Louis
local moving picture operators I'M
ion did go to the public courts in
order to get rid of this criminal
Mr.. Green supported the crook. He
did this by ordering the central
trades union of St. Louis not to
recognize the delegates elected by
the movie operators because, in
expelling Nick from office, they
had placed themselves in defiance
of their parent union and of the
very criminals whose rule they
were trying to break. Not being in
good standing with the crooked in
ternational union, or racket, by
reason of their appeal to the public
courts, they were outlaws in the
judgment of Mr.. Green, who so
union.
In another instance Mr.. Green
delivered a speech in E a t St.
Louis last winter in which he de-
plored attacks on the crooks as at
tacks on labor, but for the sake of
the record called On public Off
Gals to do their duty il prescott
ing crooked unioneers.
Very good. But when Tom Dew
ey went after George Scalise, the
white SLAYER whose reformation
and good character Mr.. Green had
certified to the U. S. department
of justice, two confidential officials
of that union, residing in Chicago,
went into hiding or on the lam and
remained under cover until h e
prosecution was brought to a sue
cessful end without their testimony.
Having called on public officials
to do their duty, Mr.. Green did not
exert the great influence of his Of
fee to help Mr.. Dewey find the
missing witnesses. It m; not have
been his duty technically, under
any phrase of the constitution of
the A. F. of L., to try to find these
men and thus help the prosecution
of a crook who had robbed the
rank and file of several low-pay
occupations, but if he had called
on every member of the A. F. of l..
to help in the search the men I'M
d%oubtedly would have been turned
up very soon.
And, finally, I will recall that
Mr.. Green went to Louisville last
June and before the national con-
vention of Brownies racket a n d
knowing the records of Nick, Bioff
and Circella and Brownies defiant
Endorsement of these criminals,
nevertheless, himself Endorsed
Brownies administration over this
important union of the A. F. of L.
That is how Mr.. Green stands