The Wilmington morning star., 1946-10-29
As Pegler Sees 1t
Bv WEsTBROOK PEGLER
(Copyright, By King Features Syndicate II

before in his life, the merry company, by
common consent Or intuition, went around le
corner to the apartment of Leo Durocher, the
idol of baseball fandon as he is called IN
Brooklyn. -Four young ladies had Jolnted the
gentlemen and went along to meet such de-
velopments as might ensue. These develop
ments included 10 straight passes with the
crap-dice by Mr.. Raft and the loss OF $500
by Mr.. Shurin. Mr.. Shurin had been a sales
mar of bed-spreads but, with the onrush OF the
forces of aggression, he had abandoned this
career to serve democracy by manufacturing
a little thing like a bolt for airplaneS engines
at so cents apiece under sub-contract from
one of the big aeronautical companies. He
said he, in turn, sub-contracted the JOB to a
company which had a shop. for the modest
royalty of IS cents per bolt, and that this sub
ub-contractor thus was enabled not only to
enjoy the sensation of helping to save clv1lza-
ton but to make a legitimate profit, too. out
o fthe other 25 cents. In this vitality essential
role. MIR. Shurin had time and money for re-
Taxation. He mentioned having lost 100000
at craps over a period Of time but mentioned
$3.50, 900 in banks as well.
We have now walked around the corner
with Mr.. Shurin and the other guests and find
ourselves at Mr.. Durocher's door. Mr.. Duroch-
err is up at Bear Mountain with his ball club,
the Brooklyn Buns, engaged in spring train
ing. Mr.. Raft has the key, however, given to
him by Durocher a few days before when Leo
tore himself away from the training camp to
dine with Raft in town. And why not? They
were very old and very close friends. Mr..
Durocher said, in fact, that he had often visit
ed Raft, whose name seems to have been
Rant a long time ago, at his home in Cold
water Canyon, Beverly Hills, Calf. He had
there the singular honor OF meeting Buggy
Siegal, who ranks among the aristocracy in
the registers of both the F.B.I. and the Bureau
of Narcotics of the Treasury.
Mr.. Raft said in a recent broadcast, here
today and gone tomorrow. out the rarest thing
you can find any place is a friend" and Buggy
Siegal is his friend and vice versa. Mr.. Rat
testified in court in 1914 in defense of Sic gal,
charged with bookmaklng, Il have known Mr..
Siegal for 20 years. We have been friends for
a long time.' A policeman said that when the
raid was made on the apartment on Sunset
Blvd, where Rat and Siegal were found with
several other sportsrnen, Raft admitted that
Siegal had placed bets for him that very day.
But that may just 60 to show how M-trained
some policemen are. For, when he took the
stand for the defense, Raft swore that he and
Siegal were just sitting there, "discussing
things and playing cards and that, OF course,
Mr.. Siegal took no bets, knowing this to be
contrary to law.
Raft was on the stand for more than an hour
and his secretary. or bodyguard, Mack Riller)
Gray, otherwise Max Greenberg, also testified
for Siegal. He didn't say whom he had ever
killed to acquire his dread name and, much as
he should like to substantiate a legend, l can
find no record of any homicide to his credit.
Anyone knowing any such will confer a favor
on Killer Gray. A mans reputation is at stake
here. / can't find that he killed any Germans
or Japs, a great temptation to a good, prac-
ticing killer. I can't find that he even slapped
anybody's face.
Another friend in Mr.. Rats life is Owney
Madden, a New York killer who served a term
in Sing Sing and was returned for violating
his parole by association with the ringside
elite at Madison Square Garden when he and
these elites were managing Primo Camera.
They said he was in bad company among his
friends, and put him back in prison, although
he told them repeatedly that he had claustro-
phobla and got nervous when confined. But
finally they let him out again. Raft and Mad
den were pals back in prohibition days in
New York, when Madden had a brewery, and,
a few years ago, the district attorney of Los
Angeles had Raft in to ask him if Madden had
been concealed in his house in the canyon
when the district attorney would have asked
him some questions. Mr.. Raft said he certainly
didn't hide Madden. L a friend was a guest
and he didn't know the friend was wanted,
how could anyone say he hid him? Ridiculous
on the face of it.
1t will be seen at a glance - or. involving
another sense, smelled at a sniff -
that George Raft. the actor selected from lie
by the movie industry to portray himself as a
scoWling, ominous, gangster type for the idola-
try Of American youth, has stepped himself in
his art. An official brochure of the United
States government says his friend, Buggy Sic
gal, has been tried on a charge of murder,
first degree, and arrested on charges Of rape,
carrying concealed weapons and violating the
narcotic laws, but not convicted.
''He was" in government language, "A
prominent underworld leader ir New York for
many years; has become a leading racketeer
in California and Nevada and intimate with
lie gitimate' persons; always closely connected
with narcotic smuggling and distributing
groups. Well known to the Narcotics bureau,
and New York and Los Angeles police and
an associate Of little Augie Carfano, alias Pi-
sano, of the New York and Miami criminal
scum.
Mr.. Raft was once observed with Siegal in
Phoenix, Ariz., where Siegal owns a race wire
and, on the whole, seems so closely devoted
to his art than any demarcation between reali-
ty and phantasy must be a thin, meandering
line, drawn by a wavering critic.
But here we all are, the jovial company
at Leo Durocher's door on the night of March
"a, 1914, with four ladies of beauty and cul-
ture and the sucker of the evening, waiting
for Mr.. Raft to let us in to have at the
oh,1ror