Public Enemies in Public Office
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University of Central Florida STARS PRISM: Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements 1-1-1951 Public enemies in public office Carl Hirsch Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Book is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in PRISM: Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recommended Citation Hirsch, Carl, "Public enemies in public office" (1951). PRISM: Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements. 666. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism/666 PUBLIC ENEMIES IN PUBLIC OFFICE by Carl Hirsch New Century Publishers New York author's foreword This is the-story' television didn't tell. This is a report on a hot potato that the Kefauver Commit- tee' wouldn't touch. What is the real story of orgapized crime in America today? - It is not the story of the $2 horse bettors, the two-bit crap shooters and the nickel policy players. It is not the story of the small-fry, the penny-ante >boys, the. small-time operators-who will very likely b;! the only casualties of the Kefauver probe. , mat are the facts about the big-shot bmdlers who &a1 in big money?-And their links with the public oficW in high ' places who deal in diplomcy, high policy, the fate of nut4ons ' -apd human lives? Who are the real public enemies of the American people . - whose "takeyyis figured in billions? - whose swindle operations dip into the pockets of every average American family? - whose stranglehold on American life destroys free com- cdmpetition, free thought, democratic elections and the traditional rights of the people to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"? Let7sfind out who are the really big gangsters in'our nation$ *. .T& we can put the Capones, the Costellos, the Guziks, the . #. Binaggios in their proper places. I ' Then we can fit into place the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle -gambling, organized vice, lead-pipe strikebreaking, labor B:;! racketeering, political corruption. Publisked by NEW CENTURYPUBLISH~R~, 892 Broadway, New YurE City 3 J 95 209 PRINTED IN U.S,A. how the "big fix" works CORRUPTION ' is oldbstuff in American politics. Commodore Vanderbilt, one of the railroad robber barons of the '607s, used to do his legislative "i~bb~in~~~with a satchel- :). ful of greepbacks. President McKinley, elected.with $250,000 -of Standard Oil '., ::: \.: nidney, succeeded in for his backers the Spanish- - ( .:' American War, Wall Street control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, - i. Guam and the Philippines. l3an-i Sinclair, the oil king, paid off president Hardhg's *.. ,.. cabinet members so that he could lay his hands on the Federal I oil reserves in Teapot Dome, Wyoming. -The American people have been bamboozled,. rooked and . swindled by experts. But it's clear that we "ain?t seen nothin' ., . ' yet!" , 1 , Since World War 11, corruption has run riot in the Capital. .' . Governm6nt *flicials take bribes which ranee," from free hotel rooms to mink coats, deep freezers and up into the big money. High-paid lobbyists are as thick as fleas. "I~u.ncemmen , .:.I C. -have?, control of government contracts of aH kin&, available " for 'a price. Big Business representatives *have moved dire* into. every important Federal agency and many key posts in \ ' the g9v~mmnt~ fl ,a a The war in. Korea made it 'open season fbr grafters and . 5 '. prdteersl . The ~resident~kfor billions. The ~ongrkssapproves and levies the taxes. The war contracts are doled out; Thase with , political power get. a cut. For the. underworld string-pullers, "the h" is in. Seventeen Tammany-elected - congressmen fram New Ymk ,vote down-the-lke for the Truman war program. More power. to Frank Costello, a leading figure in the T~mrrianymachinel . .! , The Chiqgo delegation in Congress does a jobdinbehalf Q& the drafibill. And in some strange1way, that spells favors, .' I. - 3 4 I tremendous influence in Chicago's political machine. These are some of the sidelights of the American political . scene today. Ambassador William O'Dwyer, speaking on behalf of his political pals, put it this.way: "It doesn't matter whether a man is a banker, businessman ." or gangster, it is his pocketbook which -is 'attractive." The Crime Syndicate is .now in the financial a Big Leagues. The Kefauver Committee revealed the ,fabulous wealth. of gangland. It is this kind of honey that .has attracted a swarm-.of bees , Lgovernors, judges, generals, ambassadors, congressme6, cab- ' . > . inet members. Y g2 Moreover, the Crime Syndicate has learned how to use its ' , money and its muscle to build its political strength. Every big city in America today has its tenderloin districts, . + its "river wards," its honky-tonk areas, its crime strongholds. ,. In these regions, the 'mob is supreme. I In many states, these strongholds of corruption are the - balance of political power. Millions of honest citLns find ' themselves outvoted on election day-by a ghost vote! - <. Howdoe8 gangland pr~ciuwat the polls? . It ope&s ,. ; - through a tightly-knit web @at goes down into the precinct,, . .- level. a , First, there is the crime 'ring army itself. That meks the .policy, writers, ' $he brothel keepers, the dope peddlers, the . bookies that operate in barber shops, pool halls, newsstands,- : restaurants and taverns. .. - In Chicago, fo; example, one Congressman is reputed to -. control 7,000 jobs in his'district in the policy racket alo*el Then there ke'the other rackets. And the most vicious one of all is the racket that preys on workers who are seeking the protection of a trade union; A . The Crime Syndicate recognized many years ago that it ,. could enhance-not only its wealth but its political power bjr ' a rntiscling into certain ialjc)r orginizations. Eventually, the Syn- dicate captured contr~i%in unions of building trades workers, 4 bartenders, teamsters, building Senrice workers, longshare- men, barbers, musicians and many others. Election day finds business agents and other petty officials of these gang-ridden unions !out rounding up the vote for gangland's favored candidates. Then there is &e regular machine apparatus itself. The precinct captains who are under the thumb of the- gangster overlord; the city payrollers whose job depends on "cmyi~g their precincts"; the police who get their share of gangland's protection graft* And then there is the big election day slush fund, portioned out in the precincts for the buying of votes, the bribing of polling place, judges. And finally, there is the strong-arm stuff-the terrorizing of the' opposition, the intimidation -and beating of honest voters, . the stuffing and stealing of ballot boxes, the faking of final returns. \"heads we win-tails you lose" 'Organized crime splits its ballot. It throws its strength to . either the Republican or the Democratic Party-depending -. on which is in a position to pay off at the moment. With the Democratic Party currently in power-in Washing- ton, in. the majority of states and in the biggest cities-the crime machine is largely Democratic. However, the Capone Syndicate, daddy of the crime rings, got its start in Chicago in political alliance ,with Republican , Mayor "Big Bill" Thompson. In Philadelphia today, the multi-million dollar numbers racket operates under the protecting *wing of the Republican city administration. I In other words, the gangsters are just as "bi-partisan" as t ' the big industrialists and financiers. They figure it so that t whichever way the coin lands, it's Yleads we An, tails you lose." Jay Gould, the 'railroad tycoon, once explained his politics 5. "In. *ePtE@&n &stxi& i : As a .dePubl?i&fi;,itus'& De&o&atic dm&, I ;w& 'a ,Democrat; iit a' douMt'4. 8 district, ? :was doubtful;. but I was always for E&.elT: . 1 'r ' One *in$ is sure. he.~rimeSpdicatra has beccnne a ,egfd bdw~k-of the 3tvr~CparZys)ntemb. .A &d party is &e' !. ody &eat %aits power. .- ~ocdiay,bmi& is ripe fq the growt~~of a third .P&. - .&w-ent. The &qpst of ,the irotiezcs wib -thetwin ,war poli-6 li -. &sfi of the1two old parties.is kqxwing itls~Ifin large stapat- home vow where therci is. no altmtive to the +ld parti& y , : : jebq p~@cal signpoet ~dipbto gigmtik ih+qegdep,t- ; >polihI-moveapentswhioh cim ultifhately lead ta mass breqk-, , ir! @waysfrom the two-party 'mai~p01~. This 'fear is haunting ,the politicus. They hqve become griable to bring out the vote and registar the old-time plura13- . murder, inq. to "operation killer" L, I - "I,.. ..k leftof Pete Panto in a lime pit in :':+;; f(+ ,, .Vt . ', 4j trade-union militants, progressives, dered by mobsters. ' ' fiation and better conditions among Costello has been associated with scores of 'Federal crime,, ." ' including black market operations, interstate prostitutiod, tax , evasion, narcotics traffic. But the U.S. Department of. Justice and the F.B.I. have never made a case against him. Their "efficiency" is confined - . to the frame-up of Communists an3 those who also fight for ' peace, for Negro rights, for the needs of the working class. A host of decent Americans have'been sentenced to Federal prison for speaking out against war. But the doors of that prison &rang open magically in 1947 for Paul Ricca and three , other top hoodlums who ran a million-dollar extortiop business. I They were released at the insistence of two men high in Democratic politics. One was ~aLr~Hughes, a former Texas - Democratic State Chairman, a leader of the Texas delegation . to the 1944 Democratic convention which nominated Harry S, Truman, and a lifelong friend of Supreme Court ~usticeI Tom Clark.