Evening star., 1951-07-24

udQ U6CUIuS GIAC piAtA0CA 6Ao0AAN
as well as the playground for
Americas most vicious criminals.
With the nod of well-paid So
called law enforcement officers,
This is the seventh Of series OF 20 erfi-
.eles condensed from the book, Crime
in Americo," by Senator kefouvsr.
Miami was the winter capital Of
the national crime syndicate.
A great deal Of this has been
changed. The Senate Crime Com
mittee's investigation bolstered the
efforts of Miami's decent citizens
to strike back against the under
world.
Even months after our dis
closure in Miami, the lid still was
clamped tight on illegal book
making, in so far as any large
scale activity was concerned, and
many of the gambling casinos run
by out-of State hoodlums were
shut down.
Let us begin with the story Of
Walter Clark, sheriff since 1888
of neighboring Broward County.
of which prosperous Fort Lauder
dale is the seat. In Sheriff Clark's
bailiwick, there were three motor
ious gambling joints. Among the
out-of- state racketeers said to be
associated with them-as well as
in Miami caSinos-were the in
famous Joe Adonis, the brothers
Meyer and Jake Lansky. Vincent
(Jimmy Blue-Eyes) Alo, and
bookmaker Frank Erickson (since
imprisoned), all of New York City
and New Jersey; and. from De-
troit, Joe Massei and William G.
Bischoff, alias Lefty Clark.
I asked Clark why he violated
his oath of Office by ever letting
them operate. He gave the brazen
reply:
"I was elected on the liberal
ticket, and the people want it
and they enjoy it."
Clark went on to reveal he had
been well acquainted with gam
bier Jake Lansky for II or Is
years and that Lansky among
others, contributes to the cam
paign."
Questioned On Investments.
We queried Sheriff Clark about
his various investments. He men
toned q good number. but one
which he did not name was a
one-quarter interest in the Brow
ard Novelty Co. The company
as the committee noted in a re-
port to the Senate. operates an
illegal bolita Ca Cuban numbers
lottery and slot machine bust
ness"
I taxed Sheriff Clark with his
failure to tell us about the novelty
company business when we ex-
amined him the first time. His re-
ply was, 81 never thought about
it at the time" "A
In Miami Dade County, J, we
looked into the activities of James
A. (Smiling Jimmy Sullivan, a
former traffic policeman who had
been sheriff since January, 1945
The voluble Jimmy, who wasn't
smiling much toward the end o1
his examination admitted that his
assets jumped from $4,000 to ap.
proximately $4,000 during his five
years in Office.
OF Smiling Jimmy's perform.
ance on the witness stand, tht
committee. in its report, had tt
conclude: Much of Sullivan
testimony was vague and evasiv,
and the committee does not con
slider it credible" The fantasti,
aftermath, however, was this:
After grand jury indicted Sui
livan, charging him with neglec
of duty, failing to enforce gam
bling laws, and permitting deputie
to accept bribes, Gov. Fuller War
rem. in October. 1850, suspende,
him from Office. Early in Apri
1851, however. the indictmen
having been dismissed on a tech
nicality. the Governor reinstate
him-just before the State Sen
ate was scheduled to take actio
which observers believe woul
have made Sullivan's remove
permanent.
Wanted to Be Honest.
A tragic sidelight was told I
by George Patton, who. after serv
ing his country honorably
World War II, became a Mian
Beach policeman and later a der
uty. He declared he had intende
to be an honest officer but 500
learned that law enforcemer
didn't always operate the way
thought it did"
Patton said that when he late
became deputy of Sheriff SUI
livan, he collected CLOSE to $50
600" in bribes over period I
nine months for protecting gan
bling on Miami Beach. He VIZ
the "bag man." or collector,
said.
Hunting evidence as to the il
terState nature of criminal ope
ations in Miami. we found thi
Frank Erickson had financed AL
Allenberg. q New York attorn,
in the operation of the Woffo
Hotel.
Two other Miami Beach hots
had special prominence in Il
operations Of mobsters. One W
the Sands Hotel operated joint
by Alfred Chg AID Polizzi, on
time Cleveland mobster, and Da
Glass and Benny Street. both
whom had convictions in Phil
delphia as horse-book operate
We also learned from question:
Polizzi that his good friend, Jol
Angersola, silently held half
Polizzi's Is per cent interest
the Sands AnUnrsnla in odditi