The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-13
BY WEsTBRoOK PEGLER

NEW YORK.-Big Joe Moeschi, one. of the
most defiant and arrogant OF the union takers
in the American Federation of Labor, at last
has been indicted by the federal government
in an enormous racket operated in Washing
ton under the eyes of Mrs. Perkins, William
Green, the Labor Relations Board, Senator
Wagner and other false friends of labor who
delivered millions Of American workers into
the power Of this ruthless gangster and others
of his kind He is low, cunning and brutal in
the tradition of the uiackhanders of the New
York and Chicago ylums and it would be in
correct to call him the worst of the incredibly
evil lot in the AFL only because some of his
associates in the common laborers union. of
which he is president through phony cleo
ton, and some of the officers of the operating
engineers union are just as bad. In the Wash
ington indictment he is charged with failure
to prevent frauds against certain local unions
under his jurisdiction in Washington and vi
cinity His son, Faust, president of the dis
trict council of laborers unions in Washington
and Whereabouts, and formerly secretary-treas-
urer of the council, and two of his interna-
tional officers, Achilles Persion NJ JolN
Garvey, are indicted with him. Altogether,
there are 10 defendants some of them ord-
nary, dumb union hoodlums
The evil history of this racket has been
traced from time to time in these dispatches
over the past five years so. The story of
"Dago Nike CarroZZo, of Chicago, who be-
gan his American career a roustabo in
chain-store system of brothels on the old
22nd St. line and died owing the U. S. govern
ment about quarter of a million in income
taxes, has been related The life of Nick Sti-
rome, Moreschis chief racketeer in Pittsburgh
| ~. l.
sketched and the newspaper morgues contain
fat envelopes of clippings about the thieves
who ran the racket in Westchester and Rock
land counties in New York. Moreover, cou-
pie of years ago Congressman Sam Hobbs,
of L'abama, ran an investigation of racketeer-
ing by the Moreschi mob on the enormous
program of government war construction jobs
and proved that Moreschis goriIlas were
straddling the roads leading to these great
projects and shaking down the regional work.
men, many of them farmers, for initiation
fees amounting in most cases, to $50 for the
right to take part in the war effort. Many of
them were fired as soon as they were paid
up and replaced by other victims of the same
shake. Mr.. Hobbs brought in bill and push
ed it through the House which would have
curtailed the powers and the loot OF these
gangsters but President Roosevelt has been
their protector all the way and he had the
bill stopped IN the Senate. + or LLlS puDlC
service Mr.. Hobbs was called labor-baiter
and the American people simply did not rise
to the issue and support him. Possibly they
were too seriously concerned with other
thoughts. Or they may have believed that
Mr.. Hobbs actually was the real enemy of
labor instead of Moreschi and William Green,
president of the American Federation of
Labor.
Moreschi wriggled his way up to the presi-
dency of the laborers union through the action
of its executive council, close little gang of
highbinders operated like secret society dur
ing a period of 80 years in which the union
did not hold a single convention. Three years
ago publicity forced him to call a convention
which was duly held in st. Louis and he was
reelected by the delegates by show of
hands The constitution called for a secret
ballot but Moreschi's thugs were there in
strong force and those who tried to insist
on constitutional election were overwhelnl-
ed.
Green has been not only acquiescent in all
this betrayal of the workers, but actively and
unnecessarily helpful to Moreschi. Last fall,
during the AFLs convention in Boston, Green.
as usual was required to step down from
the presiding officers chair when he, him.
self was up for reelection and to name a
man for the honor of sitting in his place. In
that moment Mr.. Green showed his opinion
of his racketeering friend by selecting Big
j Joe to presida-