The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-11-02
|Ex SMALL FRY IOF CAPONE BACK |IN BOOTLECCINC
By ROBERT T. LOUGHRAN

Chicago. Nov. 1 - CU.P) - Some of the boys who ran underworld errands for Al Capone in the Pro- hibition era are back in the boot legging racket.
 The small fry of the once power full Capone gang are trying to capi- taliZe on the wartime shortage of liquor by reviving the illicit still the cut whiskey and the bathtub gin which were commonplace during prohibition.
 So far the big time gangsters who survived the dry era have not dab- bled in bootlegging, but officers of the Federal alcohol tax unit warn that if the sale of illegal alcohol becomes profitable enough they may be back - with their muscle men, tommy guns and one-way rides.
 E. c. Yellowley, chief of the Chil- cago alcohol tax unit, said today that the new type of bootlegging has not been profitable enough to attract the old-time gangs who fought for control of the liquor and beer trade during the 1920s and early sos.
 'The illicit alcohol traffic can be traced to the little guys who were allied with Capone during prohibi- tion, and now are trying to be big shots" Yellowley said.
 "Once they get established and cfort fl1rrion ,or1Gk we can expect the return of some of the mobs which hourished in the dry era"
 The revival of bootlegging in Chi cago is shown by figures of the alco- hol tax unit. Last month the fed eral agents raided five stills. For many months previously they had failed to find a single illegal alco- hol producer.
 Thams Bailey, chief inspector for YelloWley's office, explained that the shortage of sugar is preventing the illegal whiskey trade from ex- tending its operations to a wider field. Without sugar, the illegal stills cannot operate and sugar ra- tioning makes it hard for the boot leggers to get their stills going.
 The stills uncovered so far have been comparatively small, making between 150 and 250 gallons of alco- hol day. This they sell for $35 or $40 per f1ve-gallon container.
 Most of the illegal alcohol is used to cut legitimate liquor, which makes 1t possible for an unscrupu- lous tavern keeper to make his whisky go twice as far. Sometimes the bootleggers now operating will hijack a truckload of legitimate liquor and cut 1t with illegal alco- hol and distilled water. Between $200,00O and $300,O00 worth of liquor has been hijacked in the Chicago area within the last six months.
 Yellowley and his assistants ex- pect the attempts at bootlegging to grow as the liquor supplies dwindle. Some of the big names of gangland during the dry era may return to bootlegging If 1t gets back in the big money, muscling out the small time underworld distillers who are operating now.
 Al Capone. who ruled Chicago's underworld dozen years ago, is retired and will not return to the gang wars, police believe. Other bg-time hoodlums like Danny Stanton and Frank Nitti are dead.
 Others like Nick Circella are on trial for extortion in New York, and their future is uncertain.
 But other like George Bugs" Moran and Jack Guzik still are out of jail and still healthy.
 There is one consoliatio for drinkers who are worrying about the days when legal wnisky scocNs may be depleted, Bailey said.
 "The bootleg stuff now is much better than during the first few years of prohibition" he said. "The boys learned lot about making al- cohol."