Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-10-15
POIiceCaptain
Denied Review
OF BribeCase
Monroe's Appeal
Is Turned Down
BY Supreme Court

Metropolitan Police captain who
commanded the 18th precinct,
lost a move today to get a Su-
preme Court review of his con-
viction in a pay-off scheme to
protect the numbers racket.
The court refused to review,
and thus left standing his con-
viction on conspiracy and bribery
charges as well as conspiracy
conviction of suspended Proba-
tionary Detective George C..
Pfather.
The high court likewise de~;e
similar review requests by five
gamblers found guilty of bribery
in the same case. They are
Roger w. (Whitetop) Simkins,
Curtis M. (Bozo) Taylor, Charles
(Geechie) Anderson, Burnie
King and Albert H. (Real Es-
tate) Smith. Smith had ap-
pealed in a separate petition,
claiming mainly that he should
have been given a separate trial
In District Court here.
Sensational Evidence
Monroe, Prather and the
gamblers were arrested in Sep
TENDER. 1854, largely on sensa-
tional evidence produced by
Police Capt. Todd o. Thoman,
jr. This concerned attempts to
protect the numbers racket from
police interference.
After a month-long trial be-
fore Judge Burnita S. Matthews
in District Court, Monroe and
Prather and the colored gam
blers we're convicted in April,
1855. Another defendant, John
Lefty Winston, colored, was
acquitted.
Monroe and Prather were
found guilty of conspiracy to
accept brides. Monroe also was
convicted of accepting brides.
The United States Court of
Appeals last April upheld the
convictions and the following
sentences: 20 months to five
years and $1,000 fine for Mon
roe, l6 months to four years and
a $500 fine for Prather, 49,
months to four and a half years
for Simkins, Is to As months for
Taylor, nine months to three
years for Smith, Is months to |
four years for Anderson, and
one to three years for King. The
defendants have been free on
bail.
Other Cases Pending
The appeals on which the Su-
preme Court acted today in sep
arate petitions from Smith and /
from Monroe as well as Simkins.
Taylor, Anderson and King, in I
volved only one of five cases
against Monroe and various
Others indicted on charges of I
conspiracy to prStect the num-
bers racket.
Trial of those cases was post (
poned pending Supreme Court
action on appeals from the April. !
1855, convictions.
A main point raised in the ap-
peals was whether recordings of
conversations. mainly between
Capt. Thoman and Capt. Mon
roe, were properly admitted as
evidence at the trial and whether
Capt. Thoman should have been
permitted to refresh his recol-
lection with such recordings.
Used Pocket Recorder !
Capt. Thoman. who testified
that he had played along with
Capt. Monroe in an effort to
obtain evidence of conspiracy
ana bribery, told the jury he
used a vest pocket wire recorder
in talking with Monroe. Capt |
Thoman, with the knowledge of
superiors in the police depart
ment, posed for 10 months in
l953-54 as a participant in the
conspiracy. He declared he
had been offered brides.
The appeals court decision
observed that Capt. Thoman,
then a lieutenant, was entirely (
innocent Of any wrongdoing"
and that Monroe and Prather
were main participants in the
undertaking to secure the
bribery of 1t. Thoman."
Besides upholding the use Of
recorded evidence. the APPEALS
court opinion written by Judge
Charles Fahy q Il concurred in
by Judges Miller and Danaher.
found that tie rights OF the de. 4
PENDANTS were not intrineed or
prejudiced al the trial.