Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-10-05

in Kansas city, was caught run
ming acknowledgements
drug racket not a bad business
for four men; one cop. one
politician and two saloonkeepers.
Again they served only small
section of a large city.
Bootlegging. even in it's palm.
lest days never paid even a tiny
fraction OF the profits which are
extracted from the sale OF NOR
phine.
And it is not the little pedler
the END man pusher' who
makes them The pedler earns"
about SIS a day and he sells TO
ten addicts as a rule He takes
constant risks, is always in dan
ger of arrest. And he can't quit.
You may suppose. from what
! have told you Of the horrors
of morphine addiction that these
pedlers are fiends in human
form 1 used to think so myself
True. many Of them are typical
small-time criminals. But have
helped the police trap a number
of END pushers" and they run
pretty much to type young fell
lows, mostly, twenty 20 thirty
years old 1 remember one es-
pecially.
He looked like a decent enough
lad could hardly believe he
understood the enormity OF his
crime and l asked the detectives
TO let me question him. knowing
that l was a doctor and not a
dick" he opened up and told me
his story,
Il got wife and two kids
see he began, and l found out
later that this was perfectly true
Il was out of work and a guy
around my neighborhood asks me
how I'd like 10 make fifteen
bucks a day. l said Sure who
do l have to bump off kidding,
you know. He said he meant it
Handling a special kind of mer-
chandise,
When l found out it was dope
l SHE'D off Nix I said, If you
get caught pushing that stuff
they lock you up and throw away
the key
so he tells me that they won't
give you more than ninety days
in the worl1house for the first
rap.
Il Still don't like IT, So ne
tells me, Say you'll just be do
ing them n favor The boys and
girls got to have their junk 10
keep alive. They'll thank You
for it. Can you help If the laws
crazy? If they don't get it they
burn up. You'll only be helping
them. And somebody's got to do
it,
We'll, fifteen bucks a day
looked like a million 10 me then
so l told him I'd try il That's
where was dumb-you don't
try a racket and then figure if
you like making your dough that
way. Once you're in as a pusher
you stay in"
when you found out what you
were doing why didn't you just
fade away ?" I broke in.
He shook his head. Il got
mother and three sisters all in
the old neighborhood I couldn't
lam. But believe me, Doc
wanted TO when l found out
what was next
They had started me with
five contacts Then the guy says
to me. You got to get five more.
How do l get 'em?' I ask
him. SO he tells me I got 20
turn the heat-eR- the-ffiil- els
toners I already got Tell 'em
headquarters -itt7itiittte,- t,t1tt-r1r1
me for more business. Then
they'll get scared of getting in a
lam-YpH-ee iiVe--Cr1- three weeks
TO get somebody else hooked"
He paused for moment. wor-
rying the steel handouts on his
wrists.
Then he blurted out, Sure. I'm
louise, Doc-but what can I do
You don't quit this racket. And
you don't get fired either; not
the way most people mean when
they say fired
Sunk in the waters around
New York are barrels Of CON
crete And in each one of EN-
stiff a guy that got fired by
the racket Why If the bunch
knew I'd spilled you this much
He drew his forehnEer across
his throat
1T ISN'T the small fry pedlers
| ,,.bo aro tho Gorde ~ 10 tho