davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1951-07-30
Probers Find Cleveland AreoA 'Mdd|etown' of Crime

had sponsored the parole of extor-
tionist James Licavoli. AL had
visited New York ("to see the
f1ghtso with his old pal, Moe
Kleinman, and around his hotel
fraternized with other known
gangsters.
Il don't butt into other people S
business" he argued.
In Cleveland, we also unfolded
the strange story of Alvin Giesey
former internal revenue agent and
now a thriving public accountant.
1t was Giesey's gumshoeing which
sent Moe Kleinman to prison in
1888 on an income tax count.
Oddly. when Kleinman was freed,
he persuaded Giesey to resign from
the government and take over his
own tax and accounting problems.
Giesey went further. He also
took over the tax problems of such
shadowy figures as Polizzi, Dalitz,
and Rothkopf, and became secre-
tary of the real estate" phase of
two gambling clubs.
What is the inducement to
you?" Committee Counsel Rudolph
HALEY asked him in awe. why
do you do these things?"
The ex-treasury man blurted
back: For the almighty dollar!
The same as you're doing. the
job you're doing right now -
Tomorrow: Detroit - Where
underworld and business Uorld
MERGE
Condensed from the book, Crime In
by BY ne
by General Features Corn.
Evening star., 1951-07-30

man is said to have crossed al
most $1,000 900. There were gang
wars then. with beatings, bribery
shakedownS, and unSolved kill
ings, and more than a few of the
victims were Kleinman'S foes
One of the former pug'S proteges
"a dubious honor-was Mickey
Cohen, now of the Los Angeles
files.
Eventually, Kleinman served a
sentence for income-taX evasion
Now he is esteemed by many hon
est people in his community. He
disavows any link with ill-doing
his contributions to charity are
generous. However, the Senate
Crime Committee gathered evi-
dence which plainly proved that
he still is deep in the gambling
combine.
This mold which Kleinman and
others in Cleveland fit SO tidily-
the picture of gangSters shifting
when prohibition ended. from il
licit liquor to illicit gambling
was one we found everywhere
Yet. crime-wise, Cleveland is a
city of dazzling inconsistencies, a
sort of Middletown of crime.
First off, the area has been
plundered for years by as vicious
and powerful a congregation OF
criminals as the committee spot
lighted anywhere. But. ironically
the city is a cheering sample OF
what good local and State gov.
ernmentS can attain when they
really lash out at the underworld
The ex-FBI man who now is
Evening star., 1951-07-30

out-of town and out-of-State GUS
toners, hauling them to the clubs,
Tells of Contributions.
How do they operate? Tommy
McGinty, a stocky, triple -chinned
man who looks like the movie ver-
sion of an old-time bartender, la
conically told us that when he
ran his Pettibone Club in Geauga
County he made regular contribu-
tions, solicited by the county clerk.
to help the county buy fire en-
gines, tractors, or whatever the
clerk said was needed.
He also described how he op-
Grated an illegal race track in
the county without molestation:
he ran under what he called the
contributions system" which he
said he thought was legal" He
gave S per cent of his gate to
each of two villages and another
5 per cent to the county. They
took it as a tax" he explained.
When Gov. Lausche moved
into the State Capitol he found
four particularly fragrant gam
bling casinos, all dominated by
the Cleveland gang, running full
blast in rural counties.
Local Sheriffs ignored his Or
ders to shut them, so the Cover
nor plastered the points with
of such workaday laws
as fire, liquor control, unemploy-
ment compensation, building, and
workmen's compensation. The
casinos closed.
After he made even the coun-
ties too hot for them, the Cleve-
land syndicate moved its opera
tions across the Ohio river into
Wide-open northern Kentucky
communities in Campbell and
Keaton counties.
Covington and Newport, just
across from Cincinnati. became
the big gambling centers. There
the casinos were so unconcerned
with police that they advertised
openly in Cincinnati newspapers,
and placed StreamerS on auto
mobile windShieldS.
Gets Money from Gamblers.
The syndicate became SO rich
that when Gambler Wilbur Clark
Evening star., 1951-07-30

racketeer who set up shop some
where else, and made money. He
was a Cleveland hoodlum who
got his start in gambling and
bootlegging, amiable Alfred Chg
AID Polizzi.
Big al loudly announced, in
about 1910, that he was going
straight. He had plenty of money
He had been dabbling in Florida
real estate with Arthur Mickey
Mcbride. the Cleveland million
aire who founded the Con mental
Press racing news service. T. en-,
too, there was the money h. had
made in breweries and. of course,
from his illegal activities.
He went straight, all right,
straight to prison on a black
market whisky charge. Once
freed. he moved to Miami Beach
He became a partner in a con-
Struction company there ano in
a plush hotel, the haunt OF visit
g mobsters.
Admits Sponsoring Parole.
Tanned and dapper, Big Al was
the picture of propriety in his ap-
pearance before us. He gestured
with his horr trimmed glasses
and, when I asked him che ques-
ton, cried: We'll, goodness!
don't know" He primly apollo
gized when he was forced to use
the word hell" in quoting some
one else.
What bothered us, however,
was Polizzi's association with his
old gang-mates. He confessed that
his construction company partner
Evening star., 1951-07-30

GIle CIIy puUllC safety uuC uCkCOl,
Alvin j. Sutton Jr., listed for us
the main members of the Cleve-
land gambling syndicate-Klein-
man, Thomas Jefferson McGinty,
Samuel (Gameboy) Miller, Louis
Rothkopf, Moe Dalitz, and Sam
uel Tucker. The Big Three in
prohibition whisky, he said, had
been Kleinman, Dalitz and Roth
kopf.
Rothkopf is marked down
model of Kleinman and, like him,
served time for income tax fraud.
The two hid out from the COM
mittee for months,
All Refuse To Testify.
Finally apprehended, they made
a great display of refusing to
testify. They would not look at
our counsel when being interro-
gated or. finally, even voice the
stock "I-refuse- -to-ansWer" re-
frain. Kleinman sat mute when
we confronted him with a printed
card from the Beverly Hills
Country Club, one of the Klein
man-Rothkopf enterprises. The
card read:
"Open Sunday. April l. Beverly
Hills Country Club, Southgate,
KY, Route 27. This card admits
bearer to gaming room. This
card has been mailed to only
privileged customers. Keep it, and
do not pass on. If you do not
wish to use it, destroy it.
Moe Dalitz, who never has been
convicted of crime, is a pros
porous laundryman and. with
other ex-bootleggers, owns sub
stantial share of the Detroit Steel
Co. On the side, he also is a part
ner in gambling casinos with
Kleinman and others, his ac-
countant told us.
After repeal, Cleveland was
glutted with gambling. But hon.
est officials - among them Gov.
Frank Lausche and Mayors Har-
old Burton and Thomas A. Burke
cracked down. Gradually, the
wide-open gambling clubs were
driven out.
The syndicate already had map
ped its strategy: 1t simply moved
into the counties outside of Cleve-
land where local police were more
plant. To make up for the incon-
venience of locations, the gam
blers arranged transportation for
Evening star., 1951-07-30

This is the thirteenth Of O series of 20
ortieies condensed from the book.
Crime in America" by Senator
kefouyer.
Evening star., 1951-07-30

complete his luxurious Desert Inn
in Las Vegas. he obtained the
money from Cleveland gamblers
who, in turn, acquired a so per
cent interest in his gambling.
Some members also branched
out to Florida. Gameboy Miller.
for one, was partner in Miami's
SWank Island Club.
Cleveland itself, Safety Drec-
tor Sutton said, has erased vir-
tually all traces of gangdom.
"Racketeers still may n-aFt their
headquarters here" he declared,
but they have to set up shop
somewhere else if they are going
to make any money"
We ferreted out the case of a
Evening star., 1951-07-30
By ESTES KEFAUVER,
Former Chairman of Senate
Crime Committee.
CHAPTER l3

Moe Kleinman's story is pretty
much the story of the whole
Cleveland mob - from rum-run-
ming to gambling to a noisy. fussy
show of surface respectability.
During single bootlegging
year, 1929, Morris CMoe) Klein
Evening star., 1951-04-14
Referendum on Type
OF Home Rule lJrqed

The Washingtonians last night
objected to Home Rule bills pend
ing in Congress on grounds that
are "a waste of time and money. !"
The group advocated a referen-
dunn to determine the wishes of
District residents after Miss Eta
Taggart. president, declared that
the bills now waiting action make
for confusion, and are hodge,
podge.
The Kefauver-Taft bill was dis
missed as terrible" and the Case
bill, which calls for a voteless
congressional delegate from the
District, drew the comment that
we might as well not have any
as have one like that"
In the suggested referendum
citizens would be asked to indi-
cate whether they favor local -suf-
frage; national suffrage, both or
neither
The group also asked that Con-
gress appropriate funds for the
cancert, heart, tuberculosis and
similar drives in order to co-ordi-
nate research and to spare citi-
lzens from being asked for con-
Evening star., 1951-04-14
sEsa3A.

embarrassing. Admiral Denfeld
was unceremoniously I ire d.
Within Is months he was fully
vindicated. The building of 'his"
superaircraft carrier, which was
halted after his civilian chiefs
and Army and Air Force coll
leagues described it as waste
of money, now has been re-.
sumed at a much greater cost
to the taxpayers.
The "archers," as some of the
brass described the Marines,
and "the police branch of the
Navy" as President Truman
also described them, proved to
be a vital and indispensable
part OF our armed forces in the
Korean war. The only regret
that field commanders have ex-
pressed since the outbreak of
hostilities was that "there
weren't enough of them"
AT the time of his custer
Admiral Denfeld was accused
of not having enough re-
spect for the Constitution,
which provides that the mill
tary be fully subordinated to
civilian authority. Neither Gen.
Macarthur nor Admiral Denfeld
ever showed the slightest incli-
nation to put themselves above
that authority. They considered,
however, that it was their duty
to speak plainly and truthfully.~
This is unpleasant for those
who are revealed as having mis-
handled the Nations affairs
and security.
Gen. Wedemeyer was the VIC
tim of another kind of discip-
line and his crime was to have
expressed definite views about
the Far East and the risks to
our security from the Chinese
Communists winning the whole
of China.
Gen. Wedemeyer commanded
Evening star., 1951-04-14
COP. Chiefs Warned
To Heed 1o4S Lesson
By the Assoeiated Pres,

MILWAUKEE,, April 14.-Gov.
Walter -Kohler last night warned
Republican leaders from 10 States
that if the G. o. P. repeats the
errors it made in 194S" President
Truman may be reelected in
1852.
He said the party should profit
by the lessons of the 1948 cam.
paign.
Gov. Kohler said Mr.. Truman
would win reelection in 1852 if
the Republican Party fails to
take clear and unequivocal posi-
Jlon on the important issues of the
day; If it is more solicitous of the
future OF Republican politicians
than it is of the future of our
country; if it condemns the ad.
mlnistration for sins which Re-
publicanS themselves commit
Before Gov. Kohler's talk. the
group opened a two-day series
OF closed sessions by attacking
President Truman's dismissal Of
Gen. Macarthur.
The group declared in a state
ment that the President "has now
surrendered to the Achesons, Jes-
supS and Lattimores.
Evening star., 1951-04-14
Constantine Brown:
Three Top Officers Disciplined
Macarthur and Denfeld Were Dismissed OutrqI
Wedemeyer Pushed Aside BY Political Wins

So far the administration has
disciplined three top ranking
officers-among the best in our
armed forces.
Two of these, Gen. Macarthur
and Admiral Louis Denfeld,
were fired outright. The third,
1t. Gen. Albert c. Wedemeyer,
one of our greatest military
planners, was removed from the
Pentagon and relegated to an
Army area command.
The case of Gen. Macarthur
need not be reviewed. He was
summary dismissed because,
the Nation was told, he publicly
expressed view on foreign poll
cies which were not within his
authority. The fact is that Gen.
MacArthur's statements were di-
rectly connected with his re-
sponsibility under Mr.. Truman's
directive to bring the war to a
successful conclusion.
Admiral Denfeld was dismissed
in November. 1949, because he
dared tell the House Armed
Services Committee in public
hearings that the policies of the
Pentagon regarding the Navy,
its air arm and the Marine
Corps were short-sighted and
threatened our balanced nation
al defense program.
Admiral Denfeld is mild man
who had attempted, during his
tenure as Chief of Naval Oper-
ationS. to compromise with his
civilian superiors and his Army
and Air Force colleagues in the
Joint Chiefs of Staff for an
equitable balance between the
three branches of the armed
services. But when he realized
that his branch was being
clipped to the danger point, he
spoke out before the House
Armed Services Committee.
The truth sometimes can be
Evening star., 1951-04-14
Doctor in Florida Kills
|Wife and Week End Guest
BY the Assoeioted Press

COCOA, Fla. April IA doc
tor shot his wife to death and
wounded friend when he found
them in bed together early today
Brevard County Deputy Sheriff
Jimmie Dunn reported.
Sheriff H. T. Williams said he
was holding DR.. Hans Strasser
Brevard County health director
in connection with the shooting
James r. HOWE. civilian techni-
clan at the Long Range Proving
Ground. was in critical condition
from a bullet which struck him in
the head.
Mr.. and Mrs. HOWE were week.
end guests of the Strassers.
Evening star., 1951-04-14
Florida Legislator Wants
More Warren Evidence
BY the Assoeiated Press

TALLAHASSEE. Fla, April IA.
Representative Okell of Dade
County says more than charges
OF misconduct against Gov. Full
Ter are needed if he is to prepare
ARTICLES of impeachment against
the chief executive.
He asked the Miami Crime Com
mission to give him information,
but said sit will be necessary that
I not only be furnished with the
charges, but with sufficient evi-
dentiary proof to sustain them"
Demands for Impeachment of
the Governor were touched off by
his reinstatement of Sheriff Jim
my Sullivan of Dade (Miami)
County before the State Senate
had a chance to act on his sus-
pension.
Sullivan was suspended after
being indicted on charges of
neglect of duty. The Governor
said his study of evidence laid be-
for the grand jury which indicted
Sullivan did not show any law
violation by the sheriff.
Evening star., 1951-04-14
BY the Assoeiai.d Pres.

COLUMBUS, Ohio. April IA
Embarrassed Ohio lawmakers
learned last night that visiting
Maine State Senator" who ad-
dressed both houses Of the Legis-
lature actually was an escapee
from a mental hospital.
The speeches were delivered
last Wednesday. The invitation
to make them was part of the
courtesy the Legislature accords
visiting dignitaries.
The man, Paul Snow, "a, of
Biddeford, Me, escaped last Mon
day from the veterans hospital
in Chillicothe. Ohio. Now he's
being held in the Fairfield County
jail at Lancaster, Ohio.
Discovery of his identity came
when a publicity man attempted
to contact him through a Maine
newspaper.
Snow visited the Legislature
Tuesday and said he was inter-
ested in Ohio's sales tax. Legis-
lators said he appeared well
acquainted with taxation meas
Evening star., 1951-04-14
Mountain Top Airman
Spends Night on Lake;
Faces Investigation
BY the Associated pra.,

| LONGMIRE. Mount Rainier
National Park, Wash, April IA
What next?
That's what Air Force and Park
Service rangers asked today asl
they awaited the next move of
1T. John Hodgkin. AZ. mountain
Gaping pilot from Selma. Calf.
He landed his "souped-up" Piper
Cub plane atop 14,408-foot high
Mount Rainier Thursday. spent
the night there, tipped off the
peak yesterday afternoon before
a rescue-bound ranger crew could
toll to the top of the mountain,
then landed on frozen lake more
than 5000 feet farther down the
slope where he apparently spent
last night.
Gasoline Supply Dropped.
A C-82 from McChord Air Force
Base dropped gasoline to 1t.
Hodgkin last evening. When last
seen he was refueling his stripped
down, ski-equipped mountain
hopper. Then darkness set in.
With no radio contact, there was
nothing but silence from 1t.
Hodgkin the rest of the night.
Air Force men said they be-
Ilieved it was too cold for 1t.
tHodgkin to get the planes en-
Igine started, but that he probably
could do so after the sun had al
chance to de;rost it this morn
ing.
After landing at Mowich Lake
Ihe stamped out instructions toI
drop him some fuel, which the
Air Force did about s pm.
Reception Committee Waits.
At Spanaway. a small 2.500-foot
airstrip a dozen miles from
Tacoma and about 60 miles from
the mountain, Col. r. w. Etter
was one of the reception COM
mittee last night which wound
up without its guest of honor.
Col. Etter, commanding officer
of the transport group to which
Lit. Hodgkin's 14th Troop Carrier
Squadron is attached. said tech
Inically 1t. Hodgkin has been alb
sent without leave since 8 am.
yesterday. He emphasized 1t.
Hodgkin had made the fight
while off duty.
The colonel said he understood
1t. Hodgkin's squadron COM
mander previously had ordered
him not to attempt any such
mountain landings. If that is so,
he said the investigation would
bring it out.
Evening star., 1951-04-14
Ohio Legislature Embarrassed;
Guest Speaker Was Insane

ures. So they invited him to sit
in on a meeting of the Senate
Taxation Committee.
On Wednesday, he was invited
to address both houses of the
Republican dominated Legislature.
In the Senate, he gave a bitter
tongue-lashing directed at DEM
ocratS in general. tSnow said he
was a Republican,
Both Democrat and Republican
legislators were embarrassed.
Usually a visiting dignitary con-
fines his remarks to those of a
non-controversial nature.
Yesterday, John Advent, Ohio
Republican publicity director,
tried to contact him at the hotel
where he was staying. The hotel
said it had no Paul Snow
registered.
Advent then called a Portland.
Me-, newspaper and was told there
was no Paul Snow in the Maine
Legislature. He also was informed
that Snow had been a patient at
a Veterans hospital in Lexington,
XIV.
Evening star., 1951-04-14
Dorothy Thompson:
Legality Versus Morality
Law Breaks Down When Stote Tries to Suppress
Activities Which Do Not Disturb Conscience

This is what I deduce from
the crime investigations.
Whenever the state attempts
to suppress by law activities in
which many citizens indulge
with no sense of personal or
communal guilt. illegal avenues
open. But illegitimate business
can only survive in connivance
with law-enforcement agencies.
So an alliance springs up oe-
tween illegal operators and pol
ltlcs, until a whole network of
racketeering and corruption de-
velops. Then the citizens cry for
political purges and stronger
laws. But though the purges are
necessary, the nature of law
should be reviewed.
Corruptions invariably happen
under sumptuary laws, such as
prohibition. Why? Simply be-
cause such laws do not corre-
spond with the conscience of a
majority or large minority of
the people. No inner sense of
misdemeanor inhibits breaking
them.
Nine-tenths Of the members
of all societies believe that mur-
der. rape, burglary. or other
crimes of violence are sinful,
and the laws against them are
upheld not only by courts and
police, but by public conscience.
In public conscience resides the
real law-upholding force.
Except where the consump-
tion of alcoholic beverages is
banned by. religious disciplines
which have created instructive
Evening star., 1951-04-14
Lowell MeIIett:
Lowell MelIett
Will Avoid SWitchino Roles
Republicans Prefer Macarthur as Mortvr
Not Trunon-So impeachment Is Out

Whatever befalls as the re-
suit of the Presidents action in
replacing Gen. Macarthur with
a soldier who will take orders, it
is not likely to be an attempt
to impeach the President. The
high strategists of the Republi-
can Party have backed away
from that notion almost as
quickly as some of them sug-
gested it. They see the danger,
politically, of making Mr.. Tru-
man a martyr and they prefer
to retain that role for Gen.
Macarthur. Which. incidentally,
Is chiefly what they want
Gen. Macarthur to be. Heaven
knows they don't want him for a
presidential candidate, unless he
should seem to be the only Re-
publican who can be elected.
For the boys behind the pres
ent big rumpuS are mostly mem
bers of Congress. The last thing
they want is a President as un-
predictable as Macarthur would
be or, rather, whose indepen-
dence of Congress would be so
predictable. Leaving out two
or three budding candidates
for the highest Office in the
gift of the Nation, such as
Senators Taft. Wherry and Nc
Carthy, no member of Congress
wants a President that Con-
gress cannot control. Congress
has had to accept more than one
such President, to be sure, but
it never has done so gracefully.
AS for President Truman, the
Republican Strategists think,
rightly or wrongly, that they
have him on the run and they
think that is better than having
him tied to a martyrs stake.
Which would be the almost Ger
tain result of impeachment pro-
ceedings, assuming it should
be possible to bring the Presi-
dent before the bar of the Sem
ate by a majority vote of the
House. Actually impeaching
him, which means having the
Senate find him guilty of high
crimes or misdemeanors or
whatever the charges might be.
is wholly out of the question.
1t would require a two-thirds
vote of the Senate and not many
Republicans believe they could
get even a bare majority. There
Evening star., 1951-04-14

would be no Republican, Dixie
crat coalition on that issue.
All that could come of i'm
peachment proceedings would
be a revelation of how much
venom and how little virtue
there is in the attacks on the
Presidents conduct of foreign
affairs. A court of impeach-
ment is just about the last
place the Presidents enemies
would wish to have their case
against him exposed. There
is more to be gained by hav-
ing Senator Mccarthy in Wis
consin limiting that the Presi-
dents policies are the result
OF midnight bouts with bourbon
and benedictine and Senator
Jenner in Indiana telling the
credulous home folks that the
President is in "the hands of
a secret coterie directed by
agents of the Soviet Union"
They wouldn't get very far
Evening star., 1951-04-14

operator. But where gambling
is illegal the gambler involves
himself in a misdemeanor, and
cannot appeal to law against
dishonest operators. These cheat
both the law and their clients.
Gambling has its decorums.
Poker, essentially a game of
chance-compounded with skill
is played for money. Players
don't think it immoral.
Wise societies accept man as
he is. not as their more censori-
GUS members think he should
be. and legitimatize practices
which do not equate with a
popular sense of guilt. Their
laws try to temper inclinations,
offer them relatively harmless
outlets, and even seek through
them some advantage to the
community. Many countries
direct the gambling instinct
under fair breaks to the advan-
tage of the treasury.
But where what Is illegal"
does not conform with what
most or very many people con-
slider moral" the law always
breaks down. Sumptuary laws
have resulted in racketeering
since Caesar introduced them in
Rome.
And law must not only syn
chronize the dominant concepts
OF morality. but must, in prac-
tlce. prove protective of the
majority. For nothing ever
really is accepted as illegal un-
less. or until. it is also accepted
as immoral.
tReleased By The Bell Syndicate, Incl