Milford chronicle., 1947-11-14

OOAs 44C OCANCO ~
months and was given
a dishonorable dis
charge. The charge
was absence without leave, but, as
everyone knows, AWOL ordinarily
is mild offense, and the fact that
Graziano got year and did 10
months of it suggests that he was
bad actor in the army. He was.
He was bad actor before
the army took him in the draft
in January, 1912. He was slum
kid, like may Of the best and the
worst natives of the City of New
York, and, in 1882, when he was
only IL years old, he made his
first court appearance charged
with delinquency. He was put
on probation but turned up
twice more in the next two
years on further charges and
was sentenced twice to a pro-
tectOry.
At the age of 18 he was charged
with burglary. This was reduced to
petty larceny. He and a couple Of
friends had robbed a school of a
movie protector and some other
stuff and hooked it or fenced it. He
was sentenced to a vocational in
stitution," but another little job was
in the works in the courts at the
time so the sentence was suspended.
The other charge also was burglary.
Rocky and his friends had broken
into a night club called the Cafe
Valentino after closing, and stolen
some wine and cigarettes. For this
and the other trick, Graziano, under
his right name of Barbello, was sent
to a reformatory for an indetermi-
nate sentence.
TREATED LENIENTLY.
The district attorneys Office, then
under Thomas E. Dewey, tried pa
tiently with this kid. He was worse
than the others in the neighborhood,
but it was on the recommendation
of j. L. Mcdonnell, the assistant
! D.A., that he got lenient treatment
on the first burglary charge because
he was just a boy, and a soft SEN
tence for two rather serious misbe-
haviors.
But, in November, 1889, he
and three others were arrested
by detective PrOsperO Petr0sinO
charged with stickup with
gun. The victim was sitting in
an automobile and they stole
the car. The fellow said he
couldn't be sure of his identifi-
cation, however, and the boys
walked out. That was close.
On January 8, 1941, about
year before he went into the
army, GrazianO was arraigned
on a complaint of the Children's
society charged with crime
: against girl Is years old. Cor
/ rObOratiOn is required in such
cases, and for lack of cOrrObOra-
tiOn Rocky was dismissed.
When you break it down it isn't SO
, bad, but when you put it together. il
doesn't bespeak the sort of charac-
ter that responsible journalists
, should defend at the expense Of q
: decent, conscientious and diligent
= public servant. Nevertheless, last
q winter, when Frank S. Hogan found
out that Graziano had been offered
s $780, 900 to throw a fight-this was
n before he won the middleweighf
: title-you might have thought from
t the holler in the sport pages tha
g Hogan was criminal.
I. PRIMER OF THE CLEAN LIFE.
i The indignation against Hogar
. ran high and it was by no means
: the illiterate righteousness that yol
= hear from the guttersnipes of tht
gambling house beat in defense o
q the likes of George Raft, Sinatri
: and Luciano. The sport side essay
i lists are educated stock who. wit
# their college learning, ought to know
j. that a citizens duty is on the sid
IS of the law, not the underworld
Is Moreover, there is sort of theory
g perhaps one of our foibles. that tn
sr sport page is primer in the good
al clean life for Young America. o
" that assumption. Tom Clark, tn
IL attorney general of the glorious ol
rs United States of America, called
l. conference of sports writer's
K Washington. D. c.. last winter 500
d after the football bribery job. Tn
.e conference was to lay plans.
e guess it did.
nt GrazianO is a desc, dose and
at dem guy, and a fine figure of a
as lOw-brOw for the fight racket of
We song and story. If we had no
a. boxing law, and if we would
re only let nature take her course
h and realize that prizeighting is
a low and rough, the harm done
might be negligible.
After the other war, however. v
legalized and attempted to regula
and discipline the racket and adoI
Is ed certain laws and rules.
,i- course, it is a rogue sport,
nv racket, and incorrigible, but wh'
under government you .encoural