The Wilmington morning star., 1946-07-08
Fair Enough
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1916, BY King Features
Syndicate. Inc

1AAaAA . kO41114I VI SAd 1OS6 d
agent of the Wine, Liquor and Distillery
Workers Union, who has described himself
further il court proceedings as a dele gate
for the Upholsterers' Local 661 and the Retail
Bakery Clerks Local I'LL. These are a few
of the locals controlled by his brother, Ben
Pross, the bankruptcy crook, except that the
national or parent union of the upholsterers'
local lifted it's charter recently il an attempt
to drive out both Of the Presses and crooks
associated with them in union rackets.
About the same time, Mr.. Wallender, the
New York City Police Commissioner. cancel
led the pistol permit of Herbert Pross. an
other brother, also known as Herman and
Lyman, because he had a record Of three
arrests. So although he was not convicted the
score to date is one charter, one salesman's
permit and one pistol license cancelled. I
believe they are about to lose a unit OF their
union of wholesale drug employees if not the
union itself, because these hitherto docile
subjects, emboldened by the expose in print,
are beginning to stomp and snort defiance
and may 60 over to the c. I. O.
Well, you may say, this is pretty cheap
stuff to be cluttering up so much good white
paper but stick around and you will be
amused, at least, and your mind may be i'm
proved by a better understanding Of the bene-
fits conferred on that poor, ~faceless slob,
the common man, and the business COM
munity Of the U. S. A. by Senator Robert F.
Wagner, through his labor relations thing.
This Richard Pross, who lost the wine sales
mans license, which can be a writ of more
value than you might think in the hands of
such a man, also is known by three first
names. On the permit just revoked he called
himself Richard and in the application he
said CAY that he had never been known by
any other name and (B) that he never had
applied for a permit before. He seems not
to be too smart, because any dummy should
know that in time the liquor authority investi-
gators would catch up. In this case, When the
recent heat wave started in print, it turned out
that Richard himself had stated, in his bank
ruptcy in Brooklyn in May, 1914, that his real
name was Reuben but that he was known also
as Robert and Richard. Then it developed that
he had applied for a permit in 1910, that time
using the name of Robert Rubin Pross and
furthermore had received it.
And who do you think notarized his state
ments in that application? His big brother,
Ben, the boss of a whole nest of unions in a
building at 1860 Broadway, who holds a war
rant as commissioner of deeds in the five
boroughs of New York, on the endorsement Of
Samuel di Falco, Of the City Council, who
certified that he was a man of good moral
character net withstanding his two convictions
for fraud in bankruptcy rackets. The revoca-
ton of Richards salesman's permit was
based On these misstatements and on a con-
viction as a book-maker.
In going over the creditors listed by Reuben,
Robert, Richard Pross in his bankruptcy pc
titioa in 1914, an investigator discovered two
names that caught his interest.
The first was Maurice Galtrof, who was
said to have loaned Reuben So, 900. He then
found that early this year a man named
Maurice Galtrof had applied for a wine sales
mans permit and had been turned low on
past performances. His record showed a con-
vlctlon, later reversed, on a charge OF grand
larceny in Queens county and indictments
charging second degree grand larceny in New
York county. These charges were consolida-
ted and reduced to second degree grand lar
ceny when he went to trial and suddenly Of
fered to plead guilty to the lesser charge, in
dictment, Oct. 8, 1941, sentenced, Jan. 7, 1912.
The jobs were complex and stupid enough
to be the doing of Ben Pross, himself, who
has worked harder at being a dumb crook
than many men work at honest labor and,
In his bankruptcy fakes, for small pickings, in
one case, Galtrof forged notes against a liquor
company for $500 and sold them to a finance
company. for $3.50. In the other, he gave his
check for 81, 900 to a liquor dealer in return
for this mans notes for 81, 900 which he dis
counted with the same finance company. His
own check then bounced. This deal involved
some n~on-existent French brandy which Gal
trof was going to procure for the dealer at a
time when French brandy was very scarce.
Lie COuIt leu Hill 1OOSe OH pIOUdllOu VII Ills
payment of $3.50 to the victims and his prom
Use to pay $40 a week until their losses were
recovered. In March, 1913, he missed some
payments and was locked up a couple of
days for violation of his probation. The pay
ments then were reduced to Sc a week. n
June, 1915, the payments were raised back
to $40 a week.
So here is a man who couldn't pay more
than $40 a week to his victims in March, 1943,
listed as a creditor for S 5000 on a loan when
Reuben, Robert, Richard Pross took bank
ruptcy in May, 1914. And last January, when
Galtrof asked for a salesman's permit, he
gave as his occupation union delegate and
his address as 1860 Broadway, where the
Pross gang hangs out. 1t may be unnecessary
but perhaps it would be just as well to point
out that the position of union delegate in
the liquor trade is beset with tempting op-
portunities to make a lot of money fast, scar
city and the black market being factors in
the situation. Did Galtrof actually lend Pross
$4,000 or was it the price of his union job?
Another creditor in the Robert, Reuben,
Richard Pross bankruptcy was one Theodore
Levy, who was said to have loaned him 81, 800.
And now it turns out that one Theodore, or
Ted, Levy also is a delegate of the Wine,
Liquor and Distillery Workers Union, also
at 1860 Broadway, and holds a wine sales
mans permit.
The home addresses given by Galtrof and
Levy in their applications for salesmen's per-
hits were the same as those of the two credi-
tors of Reuben Pross of the same names in
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