Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1952-02-01

tax revenue possibly running into
hundreds of millions of dollars.
money is the key to power in
the underworld" we observed. ut
buys protection for Legitimate en-
terprises and enables underworld
characters to buy up legitimate
business and to claim respectable
ity by contributions to worthy
causes. The large financial re-
sources at the disposal of criminal
gangs and syndicates make such
gangs and syndicates a serious
menace"
The Internal Revenue Bureau
should take effective action to stop
the continual violation by racket
GERS of the laws which require an
taxpayers to keep adequate rec
ords of their income and expenses.
Gambling casinos also outrageous
ly flout internal revenue require.
ments by their so-called "bookkeep.
ing" methods. They should be re-
quired to maintain daily records of
moneys won and lost and to file
these records with the Bureau.
We felt that the biggest farce
and effrontery, in so far as the APP
plications of internal revenue reg
ulations to illegal gamblers in con-
cerned, is the fact that the present
law permits gamblers to deduct
wagering losses and overhead costs
as business expense" Such de-
auctions often include the hidden
brides paid to law-enforcement Off
cials. The Committee recommend
ed an amendment that would pro-
hibit any sort of tax deduction by
illegal enterprises.
| Another recommendation was
passage of bill completely out
| having the State-to-State sending
of gambling by telegraph, telephone
or other communication facilities,
by an outfit devoted to a substan-
tial extent to providing informa-
ton used in illegal gambling" The
bill is aimed at the so-called Con-
tinental Press Service, which keeps
alive multi-million-dolla industry
for the underworld throughout the
country.
| The present law against inter-
state transportation of slot ma
chimes, we decided, should be eX-
tended to include the other gam
bling devices on which individual
racketeers and organized crime
syndicates thrive - punchboards,
roulette wheels and so forth We
noted that "the lowly punchboard
has attained the proportion of a
major racketeering enterprise"
We asked that penalties be in
creased against the illegal distribu-
ton and smuggling of narcotics,
that immigration laws be amended
to facilitate deportation of unde-
sirable aliens, including criminals,
and to provide punishment for
smuggling. concealing or harboring
illegal aliens.
A bill which the Committee rec
commended is designed to prevent
racketeering elements from enter
ing the wholesale liquor industry
and to eliminate such elements now
entrenched in it. The bill would
require liquor distributors to Sc
cure yearly renewals of their fed
eral licenses
On the community level, we en-
couraged the creation of more state
and local crime commissions
which, where they are set up, have
| achieved effective resultS-more
local rackets Investigations by un-
hampered grand juries, and the
clearing up of jurisdictional argu-
ments between local law-enforce-
| mcnt officers, which usually result
| in the law-breaker escaping all pun
| ishment
The answer to the COStellos and
| the crooked officers and public Off
Gals lie in these recommendations
There will be powerful opposition,
| not only from the national crime
| syndicate. whose financial and po-
litical resources are powerful.
| There will be a passive opposition,
| too. from the natural inertia that
operates against any far-reachlng
program social reform. But. with
the help of the people, these bills
! will provide the ammunition for the
war against organized crime in
| America
THE END
Condensed from the book. Crime In
| America" by Estes Kcfauver Cpr 1851
| Pub. by Doubleday. Inc. Dist. General
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