Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-27

kIeSeis pnn0eo by oCto WHICH STILL
unknown ossoilcnt hurled in his face
otter broadcast on labor rocketeer-
ing, tells Of his fight aooinst hood
lums in unions. Second in series Of
six articles.
first was the boss of the Steam
filters local and he welded ter
rifle political power. The latter
was known as the heavy listed
business agent of a Hold Carriers
local. Their price was a mere
$4,000 each to permit two prof.
ects to get underway.
The judge. in sentencing Hula
han to IL years for violation OF
the Federal misunderstanding
laws, summed it up for all areas
plagued by racketeers and ex-
tortionistS when he said: "You
are a menace to this community
and the people will sleep better
with you away"
These are but a few of hun
dreds of such cases. Attorney
General Brownell's Justice De-
partment reports that since II
began prosecutions, right after
the Inauguration in 1858, on to
March 81, 1856, a total of 102
convictions on racket charges
were secured. All were labor
people.
Scores more were indicted but
were able to slip through the
loopholes of the law. A corny
phrase indeed, but through these
lloopholeS pass some of the
toughest officials, right across
the threshold to Responsibility. f"
Mass Projects Lucrative
There is a belief across the
land that racketeers are re-
stricted solely to the trucking
and garment industries and the
waterfront. The time has come
to go further inland where a
handful of goons have simply
worded union charters into i'm
mense personal fortunes because
those charters gave them the
right to assign workers to mass
projects.
Once the mobsterS, such as
Evan Dale, have the power to
hand out jobs, they control the
lives of tens of thousands of men
who swarm in on such construc-
ton projects as the Joppa power
works. Control of so many work.
ers gives the Evan Dales the
influence needed to set up bars.
oawdy houses and gambling
Joints-and the power to order
men to patronize their Joints.
The muscle men see to it that
no one gets out of line and pat
ronizes competitors.
The take" is enormous. >
When you travel inland, away
from the much biographed east
ern rackets, you run into such
brazen techniques as union off,
Gals charging a nickel a foot
to provide labor for digging
trenches and laying pipes. There
is another group of goons which
forced contractors to pay five
cents a square foot for permis-
sion to excavate land.
Basement Tribute
An Operating Engineers Union
leader forced building contrac-
tors to pay SO each time they
dug a cellar under a new home
- and there were some 10000
homes put up in this particular
area.
Contractors in Missouri were
forced to pay rent" for nom
existent equipment supposedly
furnished by certain union lead
erS or companies controlled by
them. In some cases the COM
panies were as non-existent as
the equipment. If a contractor
wanted a receipt for his pay-off,
the union leaders obliged with
fictitious invoices.
In one case, a legitimate con-
Germ was forced by union official
to set up a company for the labor
leader to use as a coverup for
his extortion racket. The legiti-
mate firm was threatened with
financial loss if it didn't go along.
Not even food escapes the
rackets. Other extortioniSts
operating as union officials
charge businessmen in the poul-
try field two cents a pound for
the right to buy and sell
chickens.
Cash For Candidates
In a score of communities,
these union officials are power
full in the local political or
Plantations. Why not? They al
ways have cash ready for quick
donations to needy candidates.
So they buy political protection.
They move among mayors, police
Officials. judges. prosecutors,
playboys seeking thrills and
others who think them fascinat-
ing.
1t becomes tougher to find and
expose the mob. And still tougher
to elude their respectable friends
who are always saying: why
pick on those poor prosecuted
labor men?"-some of whom are
their own suburban neigbors by
night and move with the
toughest criminals by day.
Tomorrow: The eorteI Of terror
weapons in the arsenal Of the under
world.