The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-08-26

Income Tox ChiseIers Foce Trouble
 T-Men Tracing
 Wor-Boom Incomes
 10000 Caught

w0f-b0Om incomes
 10000 Caught
 Washington, Aug. 26- -(UP)-Tht man who sent gangster Al Capone and political boss Tom Pendergast te prison for tax evasion retires from government service Saturday.
 But income tax chiselers have nc scauSe to cheer. For T-Man Elmer L Trey is leaving behind an enforce ment organization which, in less than Is months, has shared 10000 wartime tax cheats and spells trouble for many thousands more.
 The organization is just beginning to get into high gear in it's record drive against persons who got irch during the war but neglected tc share enough with the tax collector Trey, chief of the departments en- forcement units, is the man who built the organization and started il off on its current drive against tax chiselers
 Started On Gamblers
 It all started in March, 1945, when Irey-Who has a football players shoulders and elergyman's mien- assigned one of his agents to a Mi ami gambling emporium where the neWly-rich wagered staggering sums on one roll of the dice or the turn of card.
 The agent reported that and more, too. Tourists in Miami were spend- ing money hand over fist. Trey took a look himself. He determined that some of the spenders had grown fat on the black market and found evidence of income tax chiseling.
 Trey asked for, and obtained, per mission to extend his investigation The heat was on. He recruited TO-. GOO agents to combat the biggest wave of tax evasion in the nation $ history. Already, the drive has net ted more than S2OO,OOOOOO in lost revenue, hundreds of tax cheats have been convicted and thousands more face the same fate.
 Many thousands more who flor. got" to pay taxes suddenly have re. membered they owe Uncle Sam ane are squaring up-voluntarily.
 Watch Service Incomes
 Irey's T-men also are ready tt take look into financial operations of certain persons who are or Were members of the armed forces. Ar engagements have been made witt the War Department to speed up the big job of checking into the financi- al records of servicemen who show ed bigger earnings than Army pay would warrant.
 But, for now, the drive is aimed at bigger game-civilians who got rich during the war and didn't bother to file income tax returns ol those whose arithmetic was delib- erately poor.
 Irey's 40 years of experience as 2 Treasury agent have taught hin that tax chiSlers, like other crim- inals, leave tell-tale clues or make mistakes which inevitably trap them
 The T-men have various source! of information-bank accounts, tip. sters, "informers," records of large amounts of money transferred b! wire or of big cash purchases.
 Cases Follow Pattern
 The current drive has turned III any number of cases that follow { set pattern of tax evasion.
 One of the most interesting in- volved customers of an auction house in a large eastern city. Because the firm dealt in expensive jeWelry agents questioned the management learned the names and addresses od purchasers of expensive items ant then looked up their income tax re ports.
 i Ready for prosecution is the cast of a New England textile firm which owes more than s1,5OG000 in taXe: and penalties It failed to repori S6OO,00O worth of sales, among other things, according to the treasury.
 An Atlanta cafe operator with 2 weakness for antiques altered his books, but didn't reckon with science in so doing. Chemical analysis of the books brought out the true figures The treasury says he owes $115' ,00C more.
 Thousands Face Reckoning
 A Chicago nightelub operator has been assessed s423000 in additiona. taxes and penalties. -..--
 Irey's agents discovered that a hospital supply house forgot to ring up certain sales. That will cost the firm S48,000.
 Black market operators in poultry turned up a case in the South in- volving S100,000 of unreported in- come
 Many thousands of other tax evad- CTS still face their day of reckoning as soon as Irey's sleuths catch up with them. Treasury officials said only the surface has been scratched but that the men trained by Trey will get to the bottom of all the tax chiseling.
 Trey won't be through with tax matters when he leaves the govern ment.
 Beginning next Monday, he will be private tax conSultant, making his services available to firms and indi- viduals who wish advice in prepar- ing honest returns.
 Claim Speed
 Ill.,