Evening star., 1950-06-25
Crime Inquiry Pushes
Interstate Angles and
Ignores Single Cities
BY Miriom Gutenberg

Senate crime hunters are pin
pointing their investigation on
individual rackets with inter- state
links rather than trying to wipe
out all crime in any one city.
That's the pattern that emerges
from the committees current
hush h-hush" activities.
They are looking for-and re-
portedly finding-cases to illu-
strate that crime syndicates cross
State lines.
Two ObjectiveS Accomplished.
By concentrating on a single
operation in town, it was ex-
planned. they accomplish two
detectives:
/. They find out what is wrong
in the community that permits
the operation to thrive. There's
where local corruption enters the
picture.
2. From the records of that
syndicate, they get leads to
similar operations in other cities.
In some cities, it was learned,
committee investigators are simply
accumulating leads to operations
in other cities so that the presence
of a committee aide does not nee
essarily mean the committee is
on hot scent in that locality.
Cannot be Stalled.
The committee takes the view
that with $150,000 and 10 months
in which to operate they can't af-
ford to get stalled in one place.
That's why pleas from all over
the country for cleanup investi-
cations are being resisted.
Wherever possible. the commit
tee investigators are taking ad-
vantage of the Spadework already
done by those On the scene. They
are secretly getting subpoenas is
sued for bank and Office records
and sending back the names of
those whose income tax returns
should be requested.
One of the jobs of the investi-
gators is to listen to the charges
private citizens are anxious to
make against public officials and
gangsters alike. These charges
then have to be investigated, the
accused persons given chance
to deny and the accusers given
o chance to rebut.
Hearings Will Follow.
Present plans call for commit
tee members operating as two
man subcommittee to fly from
city to city, holding one-day Sc
cret hearings in whirlWind cross
country trip next month. Where
these hearings-and the preliml-
nary and folloW-up work done by
neutrality-suspicious. an alright
case, public hearings will follow
The committees Miami inveSti-
cation, due for a public airing
some time next month, shows the
pattern the committee is develop
ing.
Their Miami case started in
New York when District Attor-
ney Frank Hogan raided the Park
Avenue Offices of Gambler Frank
Erickson. Erickson was convicted
and the committee got a head
start on its investigation.
Evidence Is CatalOgued
The records found in Erickson's
Office led to Miami. The commit
tee sent down an investigator and
followed that up with secret on
the-Spot hearings The inveStiga-
tion there centered in the opera
tions of one gambling syndicate
which, it was learned, has pro-
vided the committee with leads
to at least two other cities.
The investigator stayed on the
job for the follow-up work and
the committee staff is now cata-
loguing the evidence he produced.
While that is going on, the COM
mittee is continuing to hold hear
ings on the overall crime picture.
Spokesmen for the Treasury De-
partment's investigative agencies
are due to round out that picture
Wednesday.
After that, it was learned, the
committees next scheduled public
hearing will come early next
month when Virgil Peterson, di-
rector of the Chicago Crime Com
mission and long-recognized ex-
pert on criminal operations, will
testify here on Chicago's crime
problems and their ramifications
in other cities.