The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1951-12-21

disavows any link with iIl-doing;
his contributions to charity are gen.
erous. However, the Senate crime
committee gathered evidence 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, q sort Of
Middletown of crime.
First off, the area has been plum
dered for years by as vicious and
powerful a congregation of GRIM
inals as the committee spotlighted
anywhere. But, ironically, the city
is a cheering sample Of what good
local and state governments can
attain when they really lash out at
the underworld.
The ex-FBI man who now is the
city's public safety director, Al
vim ]. Sutton Jr., listed for US the
main members Of the Cleveland
gambling syndicate = Kleinman,
Thomas Jefferson McGinty, Samuel
(Gameboy) Miller, Louis Rothkopf,
Moe Dalitz, and Samuel Tucker.
The Big Three in prohibition whis-
ky, he said, had ben Kleinman, Dali
itz and Rothkopf.
Rothkopf is a marked-down model
Of Kleinman and, like him, served
time for income tax fraud. The two
hid out from the committee for
months.
Finally apprehended, they made
q great display Of refusing to test
ify. They would not look at our
counsel when being Intercepted
or, finally, even voice the stock "I-
refuse-to-answer" refrain. Kleinman
sat mute when we confronted him
with printed card from the Bever-
ly Hills Country Club, one of the
K1einman-Rothkopf enterprises. The
card read:
"Open Sunday, April 1. Beverly
Hills Country Club, Southgate, KY,
Route q. This card admits bearer
to gaming room. This card has been
mailed to only privileged custom
ers. Keep it, and do not pass on.
If you do not wish to use it, de-
stroy it,
Moe Dalitz, who never has been
convicted of a crime, is prosper
GUS laundryman and, with other ex-
bootleggers, owns a substantial
share Of the Detroit Steel Co. On
the side, he also is a partner in
gaming casinos with Kleinman and
others, his accountant told us.
After repeal, Cleveland was
glutted with gambling. But honest
officials-among them Gov. Frank
Lausche and Mayors Harold Bur
ton and Thomas A. Burke-cracked
down. Gradually, the wide-open
gambling clubs were driven out.
The syndicate already had
mapped its strategy: it simply
moved into the counties outside
Of Cleveland where local police
were more plant. To make up for
the inconvenience Of locations. the
gamblers arranged transportation
for out-of-town and out-of-state Gus
toners, hauling them to the clubs.
How did they operate? Tommy
McGinty, a stocky, triple-chinned
man who looks like the movie yer.
sion Of an old-time bartender, la.
conically told us that when he ran
his Pettibone Club in Geauga coup'
ty he made regular contributions,
solicited by the county clerk, to helr
the county buy fire engines, trac'
tors, or whatever the clerk said was
needed.
He also described how he oper
ated an illegal race track in the
county without molestation: he rar
under what he called ''the contribu
tons system" which he said ht
thought was legal" He gave
per cent to the county. ''They tool
it as tax" he explained.
When Governor Lausche moveC
into the state capitol, he found fon
particularly flagrsnt gambling ca
sinos, all dominated by the Cleve
land gang, running full-blast II
rural counties.
Local sheriffs ignored his order
to shut them, so the governo
plastered the points with violation
Of such workaday laws as fire
liquor control, unemployment com
pensation. building. and workmen'
compensation. The casinos closed