The Wilmington morning star., 1947-05-09
AS Pegler Sees 1t
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1947, BY King Features
Syndicate Tuc-)

Generally speaking, in their essays on the
Durocner case, the pundits of the sports de-
partment have shown themselves unaware
of matters which stealthily have come With
in their province. We have had a job of
anschluss here whereby the new underworld
has moved into areas Of the sport industry.
The sport run and the police beat now over
lap, but sport writer's are VIGOROUSLY aloof to
problems outside their comfortable tradition
and they have not been digging. This habit
was revealed in the feature stories quoting
abysmal barflies in Brooklyn saloons in the
desc, dose, and dem idiom that is lncor-
rectly presumed to be the language OF the
people of Brooklyn, when Leo Durocher. the
manager of the baii-club, was canned for one
year.
Brooklyn is the third largest city in the
United States, exceeded in population by only
Chicago and Los Angeles, including their
metropolitan areas Her population is g.
ITO, 900. the ball-park is roughly a square
block and not even the clientele of the ball
club. much less the whole population, is pre-
ponderantly composed of morally and other
wise illiterate trash who hang around saloons.
Durocher himself is not even a resident OF
Brooklyn.
AS to the justice and consistency Of Happy
Chandler, the baseball commissioner, let us
not bother to argue, Durocher could have
been suspended earlier for better reasons
IMAM 1nlpuCence, winch seems 10 nave UeeI
his final cffense.
This man had a reputation for carelessness
in the confidential circle Of baseball which
includes sport writer's. He finally was drawn
into a scandalous incident in which he was
not personally concerned. That is, he was
not present at the notorious crap-game in his
own apartment in which George Raft, an I'M
derworld poseur, made an astonishing run
against a man who then complained that he
L,J Iao, fri,o~.J IIauyaxor D11rnohor did
say that he was a close friend Of Raft, who
had enjoyed extraordinary hospitality at the
bali-park, and that he had often visited Rats
home in Hollywood and there had met Rats
friend, Buggy Siegal. From Durocher's
apartment Raft made telephone calls to
Longie Zwillman, a notorious New Jersey rack
etee1, and to the headquarters OF an under
world gambling organization in Chffslde. ~.
J. From his own apartment in the Sherry
Netherland hotel, in New York, Raft made
calls TO ZWillman and the same gambling
headquarters and called up Joe Adonis, an
other underworld character OF renoWn. The
Investigation turned up a swarm of metropol-
itan vermin, several of whom had adopted
Irish Mares.
Durocher is a man of the world who GER
tainly should have known the character of
his friend, Raft, who testified that he and
Siegal mad been friends for years. If he
didn't know it then, he was on warning after
the investigation but he continued to run with
Raft and Rats friends.
Siegat lately has branched out with an ex-
travagant gambling house in Las Vegas, New.
One of his associates is an old-time colleague
of the late Boo-Boo Hoff, the gangster and
bootIegger who ruled the Philadelphia under
world during prohibition and dominated the
local prize fight business.
Billy Wilkerson, a Hollywood publisher and
restaurant man, says he pulled out OF the
Las Vegas operation after j. Edgar Hoover,
the chief of the F.B.I., telephoned him to
warn him that he was mixed up with the
worst bunch of gangsters of the modern I'M
derwoIld. Meanwhile, em5oldened by the
Nevada law which permits open gambling as
a means o. maintaining the states boast that
it is a "taxless paradise" Siegal and a group
of henchmen carpet-baggers from Hollywood
and New York, have been organizing to elect
and control a majority of the city councils
Of Reno and Las Vegas. the two principal
cities, and presently to elect their governor
and two United States senator's.
Las Vegas is a moral and social slum OF
Hollywood.
The relationships of the underworld always
are inexac1, even among the dignitaries them
selves, bu, they do include Siegal and frankie
Costello, which is an Irish name but an alias
in this case. He was born in Italy. Several
prominent gunner Of the Harlem district are
lQCluueu. Ills IS d HcW uIluc WOA1Q Will
both veteran gangsters and recruits of re-
center development. In Harlem, for the
first time, the communists and the common,
murdercus type of American gangster have
formed a united front. In politics they sup
port Congressman Vita Marcantonio.
MIR. Wilkerson handy states that Del Webb,
one of the owners of the New York Yankees,
a building contractor in the vest. was the
principa! constructor OF Siegal's edifice at
Las Vegas where the investment is 81. 600 0OO
Webb says that he originally was engaged by
Wilkerson and presently found himself work
ing for Siegal and the others as they en-
tered Wilkerson's project. In New York some
of the sport writer's regularly frequent a hang
out anG consort pleasantly with some of the
most notorious racketeers in the country.
Baseball and football players and football
coaches and fighters and managers also at
tenG. That is all right but the writer's don't
bring in the significant story. One radio
sports broadcaster actually walked in on the
crap game at Durocher's and seems to have
oeeh too dumb to know what was up.
Iae men with the first duty to disclose this
new development are the sports writer's, some
OF whom are unnecessarily quick to interpret
evil parasites and public enemies as inter-
esting characters with a f~anatical but whole
some interest in sports. They had better quit
sentlmentalizing, get on the Job and cover q
real story.
QUOTATIONS