Evening star., 1951-07-18
Nationwide Crime Syndicate Does Exist Probe Establishes
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HyQkfOII "G
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Twas a tremendous emotional
lexperience for all Of us. For me
lit became more than merely q
Icommittee appointment: 1t became
la way Of life. Almost everything
Iconceivable happened: in San
Francisco. someone stole my hat In
1.-THE Federal courthouse; In Los
lAngeles. q youngster grabbed me
lin the courthouse corridor as ]
walked past q telephone booth and
Iasked me to say word to Nom
Back in Washington, my mail
brought me a post card from
lAlcatraz, inscribed simply, wish
Iyou were here"
The worst thing that happened
was that I became q stranger to
lmy three older children. ages 8, s
land 8, and didn't get much of a
chance to become acquainted with
our baby who was born while the
crime hearings were in progress,
| There even was a certain
amount of ridicule attached to
service on the Kefauvef committee.
AS my good friend and colleague,
the ininiitable Tom Connally Of
Texas, remarked one morning
when ! did not answer a roll call
because I was presiding at a
Icrime hearing, Hes of chasing
crapshooters."
Knowing how the Senator from
Texas enjoys jest, / didn't take
his remark to heart; later Sena-
ltor Connally wrote me hand
somely that his remark was
merely an attempt at facetiousness
-. and want to take this &C.
casion to congratulate you and the
other members Of your committee
on the splendid public service you
nave rendered"
Our first hearing was conducted
in Miami, Fla. on May &c. 1850.
Between that date and the time
my term as chairman ended, I
travelled approximately $3.50
miles from coast to coast. Hear
ings were conducted in Miami.
Tampa. New Orleans. Kansas City.
Cleveland, st. Louis. Detroit. Los
Angeles, San Francisco. Las Vegas.
Philadelphia. Washington, Chi
|cago and New York. They brought
in evidence of widespread crime in
|other cities and States, and our
investigators diligently pursued
these leads. We questioned wit
|nesses from nearly every State in
the Union.
Crime Syndicate Exists.
Through it all. I listened with
mounting indignation and revul-
sion to the shocking story of
our national disgrace. When It'll
was over. we had established that
a Nation wide crime syndicate does
exist In the United States, de-
spite the protestations of o.
strangely assorted company of
criminals, self-serving politicians,
plain blind fools and others who
may be honestly misguided. that
there is no such combine.
This Nation wide syndicate is a
loosely organized but cohesive
coalition Of autonomous crime
locals which work together for
mutual profit. It's activities arel
controlled by a foul and cynical
partnership of mobsters, venall
politicians and conscienceless
business and professional men
including accountants and lawyers
who travel under the false mask
of "respectability."
Its organizations and machina-
tions are not always easy to pin
point. for. obviously. it does not
operate with the precise and open
methods of, say. a large corpora
ton, whose stockholders and
whose operations are matters of 1
record. However. by patient dig
ging and by putting together little
pieces OF a huge and widely scat
tered puzzle. the picture emerges.
In the earlier and more violent
days of rum-running and hijack-
ing, the big gangs thrived on murs-
der and other crimes of violence.
Later they reached more or less
peaceful agreements on divisions
of territory and spheres of in
fluence." Thus. crime became big
business. Today, New York and
Chicago are the two hubs Of the
axis on which the national crime
syndicate revolves.
Malta in Many Fields.
Behind the local mobs which
make up the national crime syn
dicate is a shadowy international
criminal organization known as
the Mafia, so fantastic that most |
Americans find 1t hard to believe
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