Evening star., 1952-12-22
Fl Persons Arrested
In New York Drive on
Waterfront Rackets
Suspects Named in
indictments Routed
From Beds by Raiders
By the Associoted Press

NEW YORK, Dec. 22.-Twenty-
one persons were arrested today
in the latest development of the
drive to prosecute criminals
linked to New York waterfront
racketeering.
All were arrested on sealed in
dictments which the reckets-prob-
ing Kings County grand jury
handed to County Judge Samuel
is. LeiboWitZ last Friday.
Thirty members of the district
attorneys rackets squad hurried
through the rain-swept streets OF
Brooklyn before dawn with war
rants. routing the accused out OF
bed.
They will be arraigned later to-
day before Judge Leibowitz. The
names and charges were not re-
vealed Immediately.
Famous Grand Jury.
The grand jury. one of the most
famous in the court annals o1
Brooklyn. is the same which sin
dicted kingpin bookmaker Harry
Gross and led to one of the big
gest shakeups in the history OF
the New York Police Department
The way for today's arrests was
charted by testimony before the
New York State Crime Commits
sion in it's investigation of rackets
which cost the ports ST billion q
year shipping industry an esti-
mated $3.50 million annually.
Frank S. Hogan, Manhattan
district attorney. sailed into the
water-fronts racket tempest yester-
day with his announcement of the
arrest on extortion charges OF
Michael Clemente, a 44-year-old
ex-convict official of the AFL In
ternational Longshoremen's Asso-
citation and often described as the
lord" of Downtown Manhattan
docks.
Arrested with Clemente was one
of his union associates, Alexander
Cosmos, 43, of Rutherford, N. j.
First Move Against Clemente.
The arrests were the second and
third related to the current in
quiry by the State Crime Com
mission, and the fifth and sixth
in the last few months as a re-
suit of action by a New York
County (Manhattan) grand jury
Clemente's arrest yesterday
created the most interest of all
for it was the first move against
a man described as power over
a large section of piers in the
Port of New York, the worlds
greatest harbor.
Mr.. Hogan said Clemente ran
a domain" covering miles of
docks on the East River. around
the tip of Manhattan. and a short
distance up the Hudson River. The
prosecutor also said Clemente' rs
friends include "the biggest and
the littlest people in the under
world"
Accused of ExtOrtion.
A grand jury indictment &C.
cused Clemente and Cosmos o1
extorting $4,000 from the John w
McGrath Corp. a stevedorine
firm, between July l and Decem.
ber Is. by threatening trouble
/ If McGrath did not employ hir'
ing boss of their choosing. Botf
were charged with eXtortion, CO.
ercion and conspiracy.
During the State Crime Com
missions public hearings on th'
water front, Clemente was named
in testimony by an official of an
other stevedoring company as tn
recipient of $1,000 to help pa.
the costs of a Biltmore Hote
wedding party for Clemente'
daughter in September. 1851
Testimony showed repayment o
the money was neither asked no
made.
Mr.. Hogan said Clemente'
prison record showed he was sen
Itenced to 60 days on third-degre'
assault charge in 1925. was f1net
$50 on a third-degree assault
charge in 1929. and in 1943 wa
sentenced to year and day II
"a Federal penitentiary for possess
ing a still.
The State Crime Commission
| (see CRIME. Page A-4)