Evening star., 1951-05-01

places where monopoly of book
making is at stake. yields to the
domination and control of the
Accardo . Guzik Fischetti crime
syndicate. to which it is beholden
for its own monopoly in the wire
service field. The wire service is
so vital to large bookmakers that
they are compelled to pay what
the traffic will bear to the Conti-
mental Press Service. This makes
it possible for the Accardo- Guzik-
Fischetti crime syndicate to par
ticipate in the profits Of book
operations throughout the
country.
8. The backbone of the wire
service which provides gambling
information to bookmakers is the
leased wires of the Western Union
Telegraph Co. This company, in
many parts of the country has
not been fully cooperative with
law-enforcement officials who
have been trying to suppress or
ganized criminal rackets which
make use of telegraph facilities.
BY permitting its facilities to be
used by bookmakers, Western
Union has given aid and comfort
to those engaged in violation of
gambling laws. In some cases,
Western Union officials and en-
ployes actually participated in
bookmaking conspiracies by ac-
cepting bets and transmitting
them to bookmakers. 1t should
be noted that during the latter
months of the committees in
veStigation, Western Union has
taken steps to prevent this prac-
tice and has been more co-opera-
tive with the committee.
In many areas. of which New
York is a notable example, the
telephone companies have CO.
operated fully with law-enforce-
ment officials. However, in still
other areas, telephone companies
have been much less cooperative.
Local legislation is apparently
necessary in many states to re-
quire telephone company officials
to refuse facilities and remove
existing facilities of suspected
bookmakers and to call to the at
tention of local law-enforcement
officials the use of telephone IA
c1litieS by bookmakers.
Crime Must Be Attacked
First on Local Level
8. Crime is largely a local prob
lem. 1t must be attacked primarily
at the local level. with supple
mentary aid. where appropriate
from State and Federal authori-
ties. The conduct of various forms
of gambling enterprises, houses oil
prostitution, the distribution OF
narcotics, the use of intimidation
violence and murder to achieve
gang objectives are all violations
OF State laws. The public must
insist upon local and State law-en-
forcement agencies meeting this
challenge, and must not be de-
cieved by the aura of romanticism
and respectability. deliberately
cultivated by the communities top
10. The Federal Government
has the basic responsibility OF
helping the States and local gov
in eliminating the inter-
state activities and interstate as
poets of organized crime. and in
facilitating exchange of informa-
ton with appropriate safeguards
between the Federal Government
and local and State law-enforce-
ment agencies as well as between
law-enforcement agencies in the
various States.
The task Of dealing with organ
lied crime is so great that the
public must insist upon the full
est measure of cooperation be-
tween law-enforcement agencies al
all levels of Government without
buck-passing. The committee feels
that it has fully demonstrated the
need for such cooperation. The
time for action has arrived.
II. Wide-open gambling opera
tions and racketeering conditions
are supported by out-and-out cor
ruption in many places. The wide
open conditions which were found
in these localities can easily be
cleaned up by vigorous law en-
forcement. This has been demon
strated in the past in many diff
ferent communities and has re-
ceived added demonstration dur
ing the life of our committee. The
outstanding example is Saratoga
N. Y. which ran wide-open
through the racing season of 1919
but was closed down tight in 1850
IL. Venal public officials have
had the effrontery to testify be-
fore the committee that they were
elected on liberal" platforms call
ing for wide-open towns. The
committee believes that these Of
flcialS were put in Office by gam
blers and with gamblers money
and that in the few cases where
the public was convinced that
gambling is good for business. This
muth was deliberately propagated
by the paid publicists of the gam
bling interests. In many wide
open communities. so-called po-
litical leaders and law-enforce-
ment officials have sabotaged eff
forts Of ciyic-rninded citizens to
combat such wide-open conditions
and the crime and corruption that
they entailed.
Racketeers Have Defrauded
Treasury Of Huge Sums.
13. The Treasury of the United