Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1951-11-09

clamped tight upon illegal bookm
activity was concerned, and many
of the gambling casinos run by out
of-state hoodlums were shut down.
Let us begin with the story of
Walter Clark, sheriff since 1888 of
neighboring Broward County, of
which prosperous Fort Lauderdale
is the seat. In Sheriff Clark's baili-
wick, there were three notorious
gambling joints. Among the out-of-
state racketeers said to be associat-
ed with them-as well as in Miami
casinos - were t h infamous Joe
Adonis, the brothers Meyer and
Jake Lansky, Vincent (Jimmy Blue
Eyes) Alo, and bookmaker Frank
Erickson (since imprisonedD, all of
New York City and New Jersey;
and, from Detroit, Joe Massei and
William G. Bischoff. alias Lefty
Clark
I asked Clark why he violated his
oath of office by ever letting them
operate. He gave the brazen reply:
II was elected on the liberal tick
et, and the people want it and they
enjoy it,"
Clark went on to reveal he had
been well acquainted with gambler
Jake Lansky for IL or Is years and
that Lansky among others, ICON
tributes to the campaign"
In Miami (Dade County,, we
looked into the activities of James
A. (Smiling Jimmy Sullivan,
former traffic policeman who had
been sheriff since January, 1945.
The voluble Jimmy, who wasn't
smiling much toward the end of his
examination, admitted that his as
sets jumped from $4,000 to approx
mately $4,000 during his five years
in office.
OF Smiling Jimmy's performance
on the witness stand, the committee,
in its report, h to conclude:
Much of Sullivan's testimony was
vague and evasive and the COM
mittee does not consider it credi-
ble." The fantastic aftermath. how
ever, was this:
After a grand jury indicted Sui.
Ivan, charging him with neglect
of duty, failing to enforce gambling
laws, and permitting deputies to
accept brides, Governor Fuller War
rem, in October, 1850, suspended him
from office. Early in April, 1851,
however, the indictment having been
dismissed on technicality. t h e
Governor reinstated him.
A tragic sidelight was told us
by George Patton. who, after serving
his country honorably in World War
II, became a Miami Beach police
man and later a deputy He de-
clared he had intended to be an
honest officer but soon Learned
that law enforcement didn't always
operate the way l thought it did"
Patton said that when he later
became deputy of Sheriff Sullivan,
he collected "close to $4,000 in
brides over period of nine months
for protecting gambling on Miami
Beach. He was the bag man." or
collector. he said.
Two other Miami Beach hotels
had special prominence in the op-
erations of mobsters One was the
Sands hotel operated jointly by Al
fred Chg AD Polizzi. one time
Cleveland mobster and Dave Glass
and Benny Street, both of whom
had convictions in Philadelphia as
horse-book operators. We also
learned from questioning Polizzi that
his good friend, John Angersola,
silently held half of Polizzi's Is per
cent interest in the Sands. Anger
sola, in addition to interests in the
Wofford and the Sands, had a piece
the Grand.
Purely local and state political
matters, of course, we're outside
of our jurisdiction, but we had
legitimate interest in Governor War
ren's l948 campaign financing be-
cause of a 100000 contribution from
William Johnston, the Chicago and
Miami horse and dog track opera
tor. and long time associate of the
Capone gang.
Johnston insisted, of course. that
it was merely his "strong friend
ship for h e governor W h i c h
prompted the gift
The gigantic operation of the SIG
bookmaking syndicate was another
major avenue of inquiry The syn
dictate, which itself admitted that it
crossed $26,O0G,OOO in 1913, was
started in Miami Beach in 1914 by
five local boys.
For a long time, the SIG mo-
nopoly over Miami Beach bookmak-
InTED nnu,hI