What city had moral decline and high rates of venereal disease?
During the 1950s more dangerous criminal elements took advantage of Galveston's lax law enforcement and the absence of the Maceo brothers' influence. Non-vice crime increased in the city. The New Orleans crime syndicate, headed by Carlos Marcello, ran guns to Cuba through the island. Fugitives such as suspected JFK plotter David Ferrie used Galveston as a safe haven.By the 1950s gambling and prostitution were being actively repressed in most parts of Texas. In 1953, the police commissioner, Walter L. Johnston, under pressure from local citizens groups concerned about moral decline and high rates of venereal disease, shut down the red-light district. However, the mayoral victory of George Roy Clough, a supporter of regulated vice, led to the district's being re-established in 1955. That year Galveston was labeled by national anti-prostitution groups as the "worst spot in the nation as far as prostitution is concerned".Paul Hopkins won the 1956 election for sheriff and set about shutting down the island's illegal activities once and for all. One of the first successful busts of the gambling industry was an undercover operation by Texas Ranger Clint Peoples at the Balinese Room. In 1957 State Attorney General Will Wilson and Department of Public Safety head Homer Garrison (with help from former FBI special agent Jim Simpson) began a massive campaign of raids that wrecked the gambling and prostitution industry on the island, along with liquor imports. Forty-seven clubs, brothels, and other vice establishments were reportedly closed, and 2,000 slot machines were destroyed.  Though officials said they destroyed all of the city's gaming equipment, some locals including R.S. Maceo, nephew of Sam and Rose, claimed that most of the equipment was shipped to Las Vegas before authorities ever discovered it.
Galveston