The coastland times., 1951-10-12

elLner vincent MauBauO OF JOSSpu
Profaci."
Mangano is said by New York
police to be active in Brooklyn
waterfront rackets. We had planned
to question him, but our hearing
time was consumed by other de.
velopmentS. His brother Philip Man.
gano, also active on the waterfront
and publicly identified as promi-
nent in the Malta, was questioned
by the committee in executive
closed session. A month after our
New York hearings, Philip Man.
gano was found dead in a Brook
lyn swamp, shot three times in the
head.
Agent FOIlmer told how the Mar
cotic Bureau in t h he early 1940s
broke up a vicious Mafia-backed
Kansas City narcotics ring. IAN Of
these persons" he related, 'were
members of the Malta, or Black
Hand, and were financed in the
narcotics traffic as a group by the
Malta. This Malta subsidiary placed
the illicit drug traffic on business
like basis and hired a legal advisor.
supervisor, general manager, trav-
cling representative, a bookkeeper,
and an extensive retail sales force.
'At st. Louis, a branch office
operated under John Vitale, who
was in turn under the domination OF
Thomas Buffa and Tony Lopiparo,
chiefs of the St. Louis Malta"
Qn St. Louis, some months later,
the committee summoned Gang
ster Lopiparo, alias 'Lopip," to
ask him about his presence with a
group Of Sicilian gangsters in Tia
Juana, Mexico, about the time Bin
aggio and Gargotta were murdered
in Kansas City. Lopiparo at first
was a sullen, snarling witness. He
crouched in the witness chair and
refused even to admit he had been
in Tia Juana. When l asked him on
what legal ground he could JUS
tify his refusal, he snapped back:
Haven't I got a Constitution?")
''In 1872" Follmer went on, ''it
was determined that one Of the
sources Of supply for the Kansas
City group was Malta organization
in Tampa, Fla, which in turn re.
ceived smuggled drugs from Mar.
seilles, France, via Havana. Cuba
It was also indicated that Sebastinc
Mani, one-time Brooklyn M a + i a
hoodlum, now established in Cali
fornia, had furnished several large
shipments Of drugs to the Kansas
City syndicate from New York"
When the committee said that
Lucky Luciano, now in exile in Italy
after his deportation from the United
States, was operating as the inter.
national arbiter of crime, an as
sociate of Luciano's in Italy pro-
tested that once again poor Mr..
Luciano was being maligned. We
do not think so. There was too much
solid evidence showing that Luci-
ano, though exiled, still maintained
his contacts with overlords Of us.
crime.
Luciano-born Salvatore Lucania
was fabulous gang figure Of the
lurid 1905 and early 1930s. He lived
in kingly fashion in one of New
York's finest hotels and he trav-
eled constantly to Americas finest
resorts, accompanied by ornament.
al women. His Illegal activities al
legedly included prostitution, al
cohol, narcotics, bookmaking and
even a hand in the infamous Muir
der, Inc. Then Dewey sent him to
jail.
During World War II, there was
a lot of hocus-pocus a b ou sup
posedly valuable services that Lu.
ciano, theL a convict, was sup.
posed to have furnished the mill.
tary authorities in connection with
plans for the invasion of his native
Sicily. We dug into this and OBJ.
tanned a number of conflicting stor.
les. This is one of the points about
which the committee would have
questioned Governor Dewey. who
commuted Luciano's sentence, If the
governor had not declined our in.
vitation to come to New York city
to testify
One story which we heard from
Attorney Moses Palakoff was that
naval intelligence had sought out
Luciano's aid and had asked Pola,
kof1 to be the intermediary. Pola-
koff. who had represented Luciano,
said, 1.-THE theory behind it was
that the government had the Ger,
mans pretty well spotted. but they
were afraid that If any sabotage
might be done 1t would be done
through Italians. who weren't well
spotted" He was referring to sabo-
tage along the New York water.
front. From a retired naval com
mander, who had hand in the af.
fair, we received inconclusive testi.
mony as to the substance and value
of the information obtained from
Luciano.
Next Week: The Wire Service:
Public Enemy No. I.