The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1951-12-28

doing the work. But Woodmere paid
Renda $3.50 a ton more than he
had paid Briggs for the scrap, CIV
ing him an income which has
reached $101, 900 a year. AS our
report commented: 1.-THE inference
is unacceptable that what Rendo was
being paid for was the service
('muscle') of his father-in-law, Per-
rome"
Six prominent officials Of the
Briggs union were badly beaten by
unknown persons in the year that
followed granting of the Renda con-
tract.
Before going to Detroit, the COM
mittee explored in the New York
New Jersey area the tie-up between
the Ford Motor Co. and the notori-
Gus gangster, Joseph Dota, alias
Joe Adonis. Adonis is principal
stakeholder Of the Automotive Con.
veying Co. Of New. Jersey, which
transports automobiles away from
the Ford plant at Edgewater, N. J.
Because Of this, the committee
looked into possible relationships
between Ford's plants in the De-
troit area and other racketeers.
We found that the principal haul
away operator was the E&L Trans.
port Co., in which one Anthony
D'Anna, ex-convict and former
sugar supplier to bootleggers, was
a SO per cent stakeholder. D'Anna
drew a $4,000 salary from E&L
but apparently he did nothing to
earn it.
Before acquiring his E&L stock,
D'Anna, through negotiations with
Harry Bennett, labor boss for the
late Henry Ford ST., had obtained
a so per cent share Of a profitable
Ford agency in Wyandotte, Mich.
Bennett, now retired, had, as the
committee noted, employed vir.
tually a private army recruited
from ex-convicts and criminals to
engage In battles against labor
and in other anti-social activities"
Subpoenaed from his California
ranch to testify, he was q hostile
and difficult witness. When we
asked him about the gang factions
in Detroit, he snapped: do you
want me to get my head blown
off"
Bennett admitted that, although
he was a key man in one Of the
largest plants in the world, he kept
no files, records or memoranda Of
any kind.
''1n fairness to Ford" our re-
port observed that the company
els taking vigorous steps to disas-
sociate itself from these racketeer-
held contracts" It now is attempt
ing to terminate by some legal
means its deal with Adonis.
Also in Detroit, the committee
cleared up the mystery Of how
Cleveland gamblers acquired an
important block Of stock in a vital
industry, the Detroit Steel Corp.
Max J. Zivian, president Of Detroit
Steel, told US that in 1914 Detroit
Steel merged with Reliance Steel
Corp. Of Cleveland.
Zivian undertook to purchase the
Reliance presidents stock for APP
proximately $3.50, 900. He said he
was in Cleveland when gambler.
businessman Morris Dalitz, whom
he had known slightly. bumped in
to me in the street." Zivian said
he told him that he was attempting
to close a big deal but was short
100000 Dalitz, without even look
ing at a balance sheet, arranged
a bank loan for the necessary
money. So the Cleveland syndicate
acquired 10000 shares of Detroit
Steel stock.
i Zivian subsequently became
friendly with the Cleveland gam
bier and once took a trip on Dali
itz' yacht.
Next week: Philadelphia: Police
tactics in the City Of BrOtherly
Love.
Condensed from the book, ''Crime In
America" by Estes Kefauver. Cpr. 1881.
Pub. by Doubleday, Inc. Dist. General
Features Corp.-WNu.