The Wilmington morning star., 1946-06-19
Fair Enough
BY PEGLER

beautiful Lake Mahopac, N. Y. and wish to
report to the members of the many unions
which Mr.. Pross controls that they have pro-
vided handsomely for the crook and jailbird
who was put over them by the American Fed
Grafton Of Labor.
The Press place is a beautiful retreat on
the north shore of the lake which is farthest
from the small commotlon OF the village at
the southernly end and the pleasantly wooded
acres slope right down to the shore. There,
Mr.. Pross and the members of his charming
domestic circle, whose record includes five
bankruptcies, many charges Of intent to de-
fraud !our convictions and two charges of
felonious assault, may step from their own
dock onto their own yacht or set out in their
own roWboat to catch fish or, if such be their
mood may dive from their own private float
which is anchored a little way offshore.
The house is nicely yelled from the winding
road by the LEAKAGE of old trees but any SUBJ
jects Of this union racketeer who desire to as
sure themselves how well they have rewarded
him may observe through the foliage that it is
a very shapely and substantial home and that
1t is now being expanded to accommodate the
happy household whose family unity and loyal
ty is spread through the bankruptcy records
in many pages of testimony.
Bankruptcy has been an important activity
In the lives of most of them and through the
pages Of the testimony there runs a pattern Of
cooperation and tenacious forgetfulness which
a writer on legal subjects might develop into
a classical story of ingenuity and skill in the
acquisition Of merchandise and the. default of
debts.
The Pross estate is really only a step from
the country club an exclusive, membership az
fair, but is, l should say, much more desirable
as property because the club lies on the far
side of the road whereas the Presses have the
shore for one of their boundaries. On the up-
hill side, along the road they are building a
post-and-rall fence to replace an old fence
whose remains lie heaped for removal by the
contractor and my visit was poignantly
reminiscent of a similar visit and for a SINH
lar purpose a Few years ago to a similar
scene on the shore of Lake Mamanasco, al
Ridgefield, Conn.,, where George Scalise, an
earlier union racketeer and, possibly, Ben
Pross's model, had begun to modernize and
adorn with luxury a place away from it all.
The two estates are little more than half an
hour apart by road and impressed by GER
tain points of resemblance in the properties
and the circumstances, I could not help won
dering whether brother Pross would have more
opportunity to enjoy his new condition than
his fellow defender of labor's gains whose de-
sire to escape the turmoil of New York was
gratlfled, to be sure, but at Sing Sing, not
Lake Mamanasco.
The official records indicate that Brother
Pross paid $26, 500 for his place and I should
say that, considering the shore frontage and
the current values, ne got a great bargain.
When the improvements are done as I visual
lie them, he will have a $50, 900 property. al
ways barring the unforeseen. of course. Among
the unforeseen possibilities, il 1 know Anything
about contractors, l would reckon the posi-
Dlllty OF serious Interruptions in the work once
they take the trouble to read the court record
Of brother Ben'S bankrupt dress shop whose
creditors charged him with transferring mer-
chandlse to others with intent to defraud them
and the record of the Henry Schneider bank
ruptcy in Brooklyn. In the dress shop bank
ruptcy, the record says, his partner was a
lady named Shirley Goldman, that her hus-
band was one Harry Schneider and that Mr..
schneider was then awaiting trial on a charge
OF conceallng mortage property.
In the Brooklyn job Pross induced Henry
Schneider, a bankrupt, to disguise himself as
Samuel Cohen and to obtain furniture on
credit to stock a store which they opened.
The furniture was then moved out to be sold
through ether stores and after Schneider plead
ed guilty and got one year and a day in At
lanta, brother Pross stood trial and got three
years and four months.
The dlsloyalty of some of brother Pross's
subjects in the unions Of his patchwork en-
pire, resembling, in miniature, Austria Hun
gary under Franz Josef, is truly shocking. 1t
was through such a one that 1 received my
first tip that he had bought the Maopac
estate and this migrate added that he also
had brought a motor boat and, through the
agency of a discharged G.. I. a jeep. I saw
neither the boat nor the jeep on my visit and
will check further but tue tip on the purchase
OF the property paid Oft, SO we may hope
that these minor details will be confirmed for
the further qualification of the loyal subj ects.
l have been noting unpleasant signs Of I'M
rest in some Of brother Pross's unions and
am beginning 10 fear that in a Few weeks
he will DE deposed entirely and his mob with
him and shut off from their present oppor-
tunities to direct whiskey into the hands of
their friends who might be cynical enough
to shove it into the black market. A few
nights ago, about a hundred employees of one
shop ruled by brother Pross, in fearful de-
termination to escape lis benevolent reign,
hired a hotel assembly room and held a
caucus, protected by two men from police
headquarters. That was the same day that
Commissioner Wallender cancelled the pistol
license held by Benjamln's brother, Herbert,
also known as Herman and Lyman.
These workers were considering All invi-
tation from the CLIO. but I doubt that it will
be necessary for them to risk association with
communists who dominate the New York
council ef the C.I.O., a consideration impor-
tant to many Catholics among them, because
l believe BENJAMIN Press and his relatives
and the rest OF his mob will be out in a