Evening star., 1951-08-05

4dCGp LAD dCI1OIlS lIlp6QeQ prOL1lS-
ing Investigations of such rackets.'
! O'Dwyer was questioned closely
in connection with his handling
This is the 18th Of series Of 70 article.
condensed from the book, Crime IN
American" by Senator Kefouver.
as district attorney, of the whole
sale homicide ring known as Muir
der, Inc. A former ODwyer ap-
pointee, Frank C. Balls, one-time
chief investigator for District At
torney O'Dwyer and later the sew
enth deputy police commissioner
when O'Dwyer was mayor, was
severely castigated by Senator
Tobey.
The controversy was whether
O'Dwyer and Balls had mishandled
the case. in such a manner as to
permit Albert (Umberto) Anasta-
sia. alleged boss of the murder
ring, to escape prosecution.
Murder, Inc, which the gang
sterS themselves called "The Com
olnation," was a tightly run crime
syndicate which police believe was
responsible during the '30s for as
saSinating between 120 and 1870
persons throughout the country.
1t has been charged publicly that
Anastasia directed it's execution
branch and that Joe Adonis was
a top leader.
The operations of Murder Inc
finally came to light when.
through confessions of under
lings, police obtained iron-clad
evidence against Abe CKid Twist)
Relies, who later admitted he &C
tually carried out the murders
under Anastasia's orders. Relies
made a deal with ODwyer to turn
informer in exchange for leniency.
Information he gave sent eight
men to the chair and some SO
lSOAASAo w P1lSO1.
Met Mysterious Death.
But before Kid Twist could tes-
tify against Anastasia. who was
eluding arrest. the informer met
a mysterious death. Relies was
under protective custody, not in
jail, but in the suite of a Coney
Island hotel. Early one morning
while supposedly guarded by six
policemen. Relies. fully clothed,
went out of his hotel window and
was found dead five stories below.
Out the window with him went the
case against AnaStasia.
Balls admitted that Relies was
so frightened of gang reprisals
that it was unlikely he intended
to escape; also that "he was too
much of a coward to commit
suicide"
When Senator Tobey, who later
declared he believed Relies must
have been thrown from the win
dow, demanded an explanation of
what had happened. Balls finally
came up with the remarkable
theory that the killer-informer
must have intended to climb
down cne floor on a knotted bed
sheet, come in window and then
trot back up to kid around" with
his guards, who had fallen asleep.
Even O'Dwyer later said he
could not go along with Balls on
the "peek-a-boo" theory.
The fact remained that some
how, whether through carelessness
or design, not only was the star
witness against Anastasia elimi-
mated, but Anastasia himself never
was apprehended, although the
Committee learned that he ac-
tually was serving in the United
States Army-and the fact was no
secret-during part of the time
he was supposed to be a fugitive.
Moreover, another O'Dwyer ap-
pointee, James Moran, then chief
clerk Of the district attorneys
office, had caused withdrawal
from police files of the wanted
notice" cards for Anastasia and
other Murder, Inc, fugitives.
Entered U. S. Illegally.
Anastasia, who entered this
country by illegally jumping ship
now is a partner in a prosperous
dress manufacturing business in
Hazelton, Pa, and lives in a
$65,000 home in New Jersey. He
replied, Il don't remember" when
we asked him to name any oc-
cupation he had engaged in be-
tween 1919 and 1912.
AS for Joe Adonis, the COM
mittee found him one of the
toughest, most contemptous of an
the racketeers we questioned. Like
others, Adonis knew all the big
boys of crime, and followed the
gangSter circuit of Miami in the
winter, Hot Springs ("for d.
bats" he told uS) in the Spring.
This man with blood-stained
hands for years had set himself
up as bigger than the law and
was able to get away with it
until, in. the wake of the COM
mittee hearings. he was sent to
prison on the New Jersey gam
bling charges. Previously, he had
been arrested many times on
charges ranging from grand lar
Iceny to kidnapping and extortion,
but had paid only insignificant
fines.
Adonis is slick and smooth, an
expensively tailored figure with
iron-gray hair pomaded into a
Hollywood fvDe hair-CI0 His voico