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If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Washington Confidential - -Author: Jack Lait - Lee Mortimer - -Release Date: October 16, 2020 [EBook #63469] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WASHINGTON CONFIDENTIAL *** - - - - -Produced by Tim Lindell, Charlie Howard, Emmanuel d'Alzon -Library (Assumption College) and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber’s Note - -Italics are enclosed in _underscores_, boldface in =equals signs=. - - - - -[Illustration: Washington Northwest] - -[Illustration: District of Columbia and Vicinity] - - - - -WASHINGTON CONFIDENTIAL - - - - -_Previously Published_ - - -_by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer_ - - NEW YORK CONFIDENTIAL - CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL - - -_by Jack Lait_ - - HELP WANTED (_a play_) - THE BIG HOUSE - BROADWAY MELODY - BEAST OF THE CITY - PUT ON THE SPOT - GANGSTER GIRL - BEEF, IRON AND WINE (_short stories_) - GUS THE BUS - OUR WILL ROGERS - WILL ROGERS’ WIT AND WISDOM - A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SUCCESSFUL WRITING - - -_by Lee Mortimer_ - - NEW YORK BEHIND THE SCENES - - - - - _WASHINGTON - Confidential_ - - _BY JACK LAIT_ - AND - _LEE MORTIMER_ - - - CROWN PUBLISHERS, INC. - NEW YORK - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1951, BY CROWN PUBLISHERS, INC. - - _Second Printing, February 1951_ - - - _Printed in the United States of America_ - _American Book--Knickerbocker Press, Inc., New York_ - - - - -_The Confidential Contents_ - - - Introduction: WASHINGTON CONFIDENTIAL ix - - Part One--THE PLACES (Confidential!) - - 1. DISTRICT OF CONFUSION 1 - Washington’s whys and wherefores, guaranteed to mystify, - amaze and amuse. - - 2. “GORGEOUS” GEORGETOWN 8 - No relation to the wrestler, only sometimes he makes - more sense than the rich big domes and fancy queers - who reside in this made-to-order Greenwich Village. - - 3. NW COULD MEAN NOWHERE 12 - North West is the only section of Washington which - counts. On the other hand, what is there in it you won’t - find in Denver, Detroit or Dubuque, except the White - House? - - 4. NOT-SO-TENDER TENDERLOIN 21 - Where the hustlers hustle. - - 5. HOBOS WITH NO HORIZONS 30 - They can’t vote the bums in Washington’s flophouses, - otherwise these skidrows are like your home-town - Bowery, except there are three. - - 6. GREEN PASTURES 34 - Here the poor, downtrodden colored folk are not equal, - they’re superior. And there are more of them. This is a - Negro Heaven. - - 7. MIGHTY LIKE A ROSE 46 - Where the blackest crimes are hatched. - - 8. CHINATOWN CHIPPIES 56 - Washington’s Chinatown offers inducements other than - Chop Suey and Chow Mein. - - 9. THE OVERFLOW 62 - A. The Free State--where anything goes for a price. - B. The Policy of the Old Dominion is policy. - - 10. UNCLE SAM: LANDLORD 70 - The government owns 40% of the land. Read this and - find out what happens on it. - - - Part Two--THE PEOPLE (Confidential!) - - 11. THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A DAME 74 - You can say that again about those in Washington. - - 12. G-GIRLS 77 - They come in two grades: - A. Government Gals--they’re many and not so glamorous. - B. Glamour Gals--they’re few and not so glamorous. - - 13. COMPANY GALS 83 - Being a dissertation on a specialty known only to Washington - and how one finds same. - - 14. FOR IMMORAL PURPOSES 86 - The capital was made for lupos. An elucidation on how - one goes about being one. - - 15. GARDEN OF PANSIES 90 - The hand-on-hip set wins the battle of Washington. - - 16. THE LITTLE RED HERRINGS 99 - Agrarian reformers--that’s what the bright State Department - lads call them, in other countries. We call those in - Washington traitors. - - 17. KICKING THE GONG AROUND 107 - When we speak of hopheads, we don’t mean Congressmen. - - 18. THE YOUNG IN HEART 118 - Until we read this book we liked children. In Washington - the little dears are devils. - - 19. BOOZE AND BOTTLES 123 - Washingtonians imbibe three times as much as you. - Where they get it, how and why, with pointers on what - to do with your hollow leg. - - 20. CAFE AU CORN 131 - That’s Washington’s Cafe Society. - - 21. CALL ME MADAME 134 - With apologies to Irv Berlin. Being the story of the Social - Climbers who climbed in when SOCIETY climbed out. - - 22. STRIPED PANTS 144 - Elsewhere men who wear ’em bury the dead; in Washington - most who wear them are dead but not buried. - That’s the sad tale of what happened to the once oh, so - gay diplomatic corps. - - 23. LOBBYIST’S LICENSE--THE RIGHT TO PETITION 155 - The population consists of so many five percenters, - lobbyists, fixers, lawyers, press agents and men from - Missouri, you’d think everyone was taking advantage of the - Constitutional guarantee. - - 24. RACKETS BY REMOTE CONTROL 171 - Washington’s underworld is operated by local overseers - for absentee landlords. This is how the system works. - - 25. WHO’S WHO IN MOBOCRACY 177 - The Blue Book of the silk-lined aristocracy who own the - works. - - 26. THE TERROR FROM TENNESSEE 194 - Estes in Plunderland. - - 27. LUCKY NUMBERS 206 - After all, politics is a gamble, so why shouldn’t the - citizens do it too? - - 28. IT’S A CRIME 213 - Murder and mayhem, rape and robbery are pastimes in - Washington. Jail? Don’t be naïve. - - 29. THE LAW 220 - The poor, underpaid coppers, who try to enforce it. - - 30. HOW TO STAY OUT OF JAIL 229 - Hire the right lawyer and bondsman. This will name him. - - 31. THE BOSSES 234 - They’re responsible for the works working. Maybe that’s - why they don’t. - - 32. THE MONARCHS OF THE METROPOLIS 240 - The “Honorable” members of Congress. - - 33. WIRETAPPERS, SNOOPS AND SPIES 245 - The only thing they can’t tap is sign language. - - - Part Three--THE ESCAPE (Confidential!) - - 34. THE TUESDAY TO THURSDAY SET 254 - Where shall we go? Anywhere, but most head north to - New York, Philly and Atlantic City. - - 35. BALTIMORE CONFIDENTIAL 258 - Baltimore is less than an hour away, but what a difference! - You’ll find things here they never heard of even - in Chicago. - - - Part Four--THE LOWDOWN (Confidential!) - - 36. INSIDE STUFF 276 - What they don’t teach you in school. - - 37. TIPS ON THE TOWNS 281 - Advice for the visitor with much that’s unknown to the - natives. - - 38. CONFIDENTIAL GUIDE TO WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE 292 - Where to find what, when, including much you should - never want, but if you do-- - - - Part Five--THE APPENDIX (Confidential!) - - A. HEADWAITERS’ NAMES 298 - This and a sawbuck will get you an insult. - - B. GUSTATORY GUIDE 298 - Where to find what food, when. - - C. DINING AROUND THE WORLD 300 - For those who don’t rate bids to embassies, but want to - eat foreign. - - D. BARE BABES 301 - Where to find ’em. Or where to keep away from ’em, - which is harder. - - E. LUPO’S LOG BOOK 301 - Being some notes to file away where your wife won’t look. - - F. THE INNER CIRCLE 302 - Extracts from the list of 800. - - INDEX 307 - - - - -WASHINGTON CONFIDENTIAL - - -P-s-s-s-t! - -Here we go again--Confidential. - -We turned New York inside out; but we both live there. We turned -Chicago upside down; but we were both raised there. We descended on -Washington not quite like Stanley invaded Africa, because in our -combined 75 years of newspaper work we had been in the capital hundreds -of times. It intrigued us because we never could understand it. So we -decided brashly to do a Lait-Mortimer operation on it from scratch. Our -principal discovery was that nobody understands Washington--the _city_, -not the nation’s nerve-center. - -By the time we went through it--its avenues, its alleys, its -cat-houses, its dumps, its mansions, its hotels, its police stations, -its jails, its courts, its clubs, its closets, and its catacombs, we -knew more about it than anyone who lives in it, and finished the job -which stymied Lincoln Steffens 40 years ago; for that classic muckraker -who turned up the shame of the cities recoiled in bafflement when he -attempted to “do” Washington. - -It was our toughest task of digging, but we turned up plenty. We think -we have X-rayed the dizziest--and this will amaze you, as it did us, -the dirtiest--community in America. - -We are not reformers. We are reporters. As such we will take you with -us through a metropolitan area of 1,500,000, living in what should be -a utopia, but which is a cesspool of drunkenness, debauchery, whoring, -homosexuality, municipal corruption and public apathy, protected crime -under criminal protection, hoodlumism, racketeering, pandering and -plundering, among anomalous situations found nowhere else on earth. - -Washington is a made-to-order architectural paradise with the political -status of an Indian reservation, inhabited by 800,000 economic -parasites; no industries but one, government, and the tradesmen and -servants and loafers and scum that feed on the highest average per -capita income in the world, where exist the soundest security, the -mightiest power, and the most superlative rates of crime, vice and -juvenile delinquency anywhere. And this in a seat of intelligence, the -cross-section of the whole United States, where women far outnumber men. - -It leads the country in the percentage of the native-born. There are -no peasants, factory-workers or slums as they are known in every other -city of magnitude. - -The paternal form of local administration in this disenfranchised and -politically castrated community should eliminate ward and district -bosses, vote-buyers, grafters and gangsters, all of whom elsewhere -thrive primarily on controlling votes. Yet in this magnificent planned -city of majestic proportions, the official heart of the richest and -greatest and freest land in the history of mankind, we found corruption -and perversion, organized and individual, that dazed a pair of hardened -characters who considered themselves shock-proof after their groundwork -for the books that debunked New York and deloused Chicago. - -We spent many months in Washington. We made contacts in our own -surefire way, which opened up sources not usually available to the -reporters there, who regard affairs of their town as chickenfeed, and -who dream of becoming syndicated columnists who can pontificate on -Congress, the Cabinet and the White House. - -We know plenty about those, too. But we will stick to the Lowdown on -the Big Town, which has become our trademark. - -We will not even attempt to be comprehensive. We have no hope or aim to -make Washington a better place to live in. We don’t give a damn what -kind of a place it is to live in, except that the kind of place we -found furnished us with that sole commodity in which we deal--copy. - -Everything interested us, but we will limit this to what we think will -interest you. This is no guide-book. This is no preachment and no -appeal, not even a lesson. As we said in the introduction to _Chicago -Confidential_, “We have nothing to sell except books.” And we sold -plenty of them and are still selling them. - -This will be the stripped-down story of a queen who turned into a -street-walker. - -That’s why we were born--to tell you what you couldn’t find out without -us--Confidential! - - - - -PART ONE - -THE PLACES - -(_Confidential!_) - - - - -1. DISTRICT OF CONFUSION - - -The Nation’s Capital is a bastard born of a compromise and nurtured on -a lottery. - -The founding fathers, whose infinite wisdom gave us a Constitution -and form of government well nigh perfect, located the seat of that -government in a stinking, steaming swamp. This was a peace offering to -recalcitrant Southerners, who were that way then just as they are now. - -The first funds to build and improve that city were raised by selling -real estate by lottery. With such ancestry, it is no wonder today that -“numbers” make one of the biggest businesses in Washington. The policy -racket far exceeds bookmaking, the Number 1 source of gambling revenue -in all others parts of the country. - -Before the plane which brings the arriving traveler to Washington lands -at the National Airport, on the Virginia side, it swoops gracefully -over the city in a salute. The tall, needle-like Washington Monument -and the familiar dome of the Capitol arise through a sea of green, to -dominate the landscape. - -They and the other public structures, which alone form the skyline in -a city where buildings over 110 feet high are banned by law, are the -symbols of Washington. It is an old-fashioned, tree-shaded Southern -town, delightful and gracious, taken over by a gigantic governmental -apparatus which, though founded on Colonial Virginia’s tradition -of personal freedom, has mushroomed into the world’s greatest -bureaucracy, humpbacked and bow-legged under tons of laws and endless -regulations. - -The spacious avenues, the tree-shaded lawns, the green which one sees -wherever he looks, is a symbol too--that Washington is dominated by the -rural mind. - -It is the only capital of any world power where there is no variety -of humanity. London, Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, these are -great commercial centers where national government is incidental. -Washington is inhabited by residents of every state in the union and -representatives of every country on the globe, yet it is as backwater -and provincial as any small inland one-plant town. - -This most uncosmopolitan capital is overshadowed by that giant of -metropolises, New York, only minutes away by air, and by Baltimore, -with its wide open and blatant vice much nearer. The foreign trade -commissioners, the visiting bankers, and all the important public -personages go to Manhattan, where the United Nations is cutting into -Washington’s diplomatic monopoly. The lowlier links lam the 36 miles to -Baltimore to cut up. - -Not that Washington has no vice and venery. It has more of it than the -escape havens. But, as in all ingrown towns, the “respectables” must go -away from home to prance and play. It is the story of the deacon from -Dubuque all over again, and what happens to him in the Big Burg. Only -here the deacon is a Congressman, or-- - -As we unfold the rates of crime, vice, sex irregularities, graft, cheap -gambling, drunkenness, rowdyism and rackets, you will get, thrown on a -large screen, a peep show of this stately concentration camp of cold -monuments and hot mammas where there are four women for every three -men. Murkier than the “smoke-filled room” so often used as a cliché to -typify a corral of politicos, it is a vast bedroom with a jumbo bottle -of bourbon beside the bed. - -And yet its manners and morals are those of the barnyard and the -railroad-junction town rather than the romantic intrigue of the salon -and the scented boudoir. - -Washington has a kind of glamor all its own. It is not the kind one -finds in New York, or Paris, or even Atlantic City. The Washington -feeling comes from being close to great events and to the memory of -great people. It is, to a certain extent, similar to the public appeal -of Hollywood’s famed Forest Lawn Cemetery, the place where the movie -stars are interred. Forest Lawn there is a must for tourists. There is -no sacred peace about this graveyard. Trippers photograph its ornate -tombs and profane its dead. The tombs were purposely designed by hams -who craved publicity even in death. - -Washington does remind one of a well-kept cemetery. Its gleaming public -buildings of white marble are like so many mausoleums. It is the -nation’s Forest Lawn, where is sunk its priceless heritage, killed by -countless generations of getters and gimme-ers. - -Washington is a reflection of Los Angeles--a Los Angeles without palm -trees. Where it doesn’t look like a cemetery it resembles a movie set. -It has a feel of unreality. This is a designed city, the only important -one in America, and its streets are so straight, its architecture is so -conforming, and its sidewalks are so neat and clean, it might have been -set up in _papier-mâché_ only today. - -And it’s a dead heat which--Washington or Los Angeles--has more yahoos -from more dull places. New York gets its share, but its tourists -include many from fairly alive communities; the plowboys hail from -New England or other points not very far away. But the barbarians -who inundate Washington and Los Angeles would be conspicuous if they -visited Little Rock. Heaven knows where they come from. Their clothes, -make-ups, manners and expressions are of the cow-pasture. - -We were sitting in the Senators’ Reception Room in the Capitol, waiting -for one solon to come off the floor. This rococo room is open to the -public. While we sat there, we idly contemplated the sight-seers -who gaped at the mid-Victorian gold and mosaic with which it is -embellished. One coatless yokel, with two dirty-nosed youngsters in tow -and a dreary wife toting a wailing babe bringing up the rear, figured -we knew something because we were wearing ties and sitting down. - -“What room is this?” he humbly asked. - -“This is the President’s private office,” we replied. “No visitors -allowed.” - -You should have seen them scram! - -The number of transients who enter and leave Washington annually is in -excess of 45 million. Most of them are peasants who shudder when they -ride in an elevator and gape at an escalator. The sessions of Congress -find them in the galleries of the noisy House and the sedate Senate. -The men are negligee with firemen’s suspenders, the women often suckle -babes at their breasts while some Demosthenes below debates a bill -vital to the world. - -But the residents of the Washington area are, on the whole, remarkably -well-dressed--not only the natives in Washington but the government -employes drawn from every corner of the map. It is surprising how -quickly they shed their corn-fed looks and begin to look like -Easterners and try to act like them. - -One wonders where the hoards of ill-dressed, low-mannered visitors eat -and sleep. - -Tourists may wander coatless through the White House and in the -legislative office buildings, but all of the better restaurants and -hotels require men to wear coats and ties at all times. This, of -course, is universal in New York, but in Chicago, horny-handed, wilted -hoi polloi are seen in lobbies of such swell hotels as the Ambassador -and Drake in shirt-sleeves. - -Washingtonians are completely white-collar. Its private business -is merchandising. The service trades, such as feeding and sleeping -visitors, form its chief non-governmental activity. Before the New Deal -put a premium on alphabet soup, federal employes got miserly wages. -Washington was a poor city. Now some secretaries make as much as $8,000 -a year and Senators’ assistants drag down $10,000. We talked to one -babe, some kind of an expert in the Treasury, who draws $15,000 a year -on a fee basis. In her spare time she checks hats in a joint which -sells liquor after hours. - -The average family income in Washington is the highest in any big city -in the land, despite its disproportionate Negro population. Colored -folk work for Uncle Sam at salaries equal to whites’, in many cases get -preferential treatment, and others draw liberal relief checks. Another -reason for high family income is that in so many families husband and -wife work for the government, and many who are grounded there also -hold outside jobs, after hours. This practice is permitted in many -departments. Even members of the Metropolitan Police are allowed to -accept outside employment after their eight-hour day. Many drive taxies -or are chauffeurs. - -The per capita income in Washington is $1820, compared with the -national average of $1330. Even rich New York is second to Washington -with $1758. - -Washingtonians file more income-tax returns per capita than do any -other Americans. More than two-thirds of the homes in the District -are worth more than $12,000. The city has the highest retail sales per -capita on earth. Government employes are paid regularly by a boss who -never goes broke--though that isn’t the fault of the politicians. - -Added wealth streams constantly into the city, from the cornucopias of -lobbyists with no-limit expense accounts, tourists and representatives -of foreign governments who let loose a few francs, shillings or lire -before tapping our tills. - -Here we have a city which, if mental cripples who believe in planned -economies were correct, should be a happy place, free of crime and -vice. Washington is rich and almost everyone in it is insured against -want for life. Yet it has that apex rate of crime. The waterfront of -Marseilles, the alleys of Singapore’s Chinatown, the sailor’s deadfalls -of Port Said have nothing on it. Washington makes even Chicago look -good. And that’s been going on since Abigail Adams hung the family wash -in the backyard of the then unfinished White House--and shuddered lest -the President’s drawers be stolen. - -In the early years of the Republic, grifters and grafters, highwaymen -and conmen, pimps and prostitutes flocked into the city. Instead of -being a community where women greatly outnumbered men, as they do -today, early Washington contained almost entirely males. The first -Congressmen and early office-holders were easy pickings for the fancy -girls and their fancy men, who arrived a jump ahead of the lobbyists. -Lonesome men whiled their time at cards and dice, and ever since then -Washington has been a gamblers’ garden. - -Foreigners and many American political philosophers say one great fault -of our American system is our form of municipal government. They point -out the astounding crime, legal laxity and municipal deviltry in this -country where we elect our local governments directly and give them -great power, whereas most foreign countries are ruled from above, with -cities and provinces allowed minimum authority. - -Well, Washington is ruled from above. It has no votes, no county -chairmen, no campaign funds to be raised, no favors to be returned. It -is policed by a constabulary appointed directly by the United States -government and paid from the public treasury of the United States. -Its judges are appointed by the President with the consent of the -Senate, and all but municipal court judges serve for life. Its District -Attorney is chosen by the President, as are its city commissioners, -and through them all public District officials. - -There is no chance for a neighborhood gang boss to establish himself -through floaters and colonized flotsam. Yet there are neighborhood -bosses. There is influence. Judges and police are bought. Washington -has the blackest record of any city in the country on the F.B.I. ledger -of reported crimes. Black is the color of its crime, too, as will be -shown. The proportion of Negro crime to white is almost eight to one. - -Another reason for Washington’s defiance of the law which is made in -Washington is that, except for ogling tourists, everyone who comes -comes to get. To get jobs, contracts, favors, pardons, commissions, and -sometimes social preferment. This acquisitive horde is not interested -in the city. Toward local public affairs there is lethargy of mind, -spirit and body, nothing conducive to enterprise or local pride. - -This potpourri of human beings on the make remained within bounds until -the first World War. There was room for all. As every schoolboy knows, -the original grant of land from the states of Maryland and Virginia for -the national capital was a square, ten miles wide. This proved too big -and the Virginia part was receded more than a hundred years ago. The -remaining area, all in Maryland, was ample for the needs of the city -until overnight, in 1917, it changed from a country town to a madhouse -in which all the residents are inmates. There was some respite during -the 1920’s, but since the coming of the New Deal, Washington burst its -pants and overflowed back into Virginia and across into Maryland. - -As with other large cities, the 1950 census returns found the rate -of growth of Washington suburbs far outstripping the parent. At this -writing there are about 800,000 people in the city limits and 750,000 -in the satellite suburbs of Virginia and Maryland. The percentage of -Negroes is higher than it is in Mississippi. - -Seniority rules in the Congress, which permit one-party Southern -Senators and Representatives to control more than their share -of committees, account for continuance of its Dixie slant. So -Washingtonians talk like Southerners. Even the Oregonians and -down-Easters fall into the liquid drawl after a few years in the -capital. With the dulcet Dixie dialect comes the Southern attitude -toward the Negro. Fiery FEPCers from New York, after a couple of -years’ indoctrination, wink in private over the “tolerance” they sell -in public. As Negroes move in the whites flee out. - -As residents of Virginia and Maryland, these automatically gain -the votes they surrendered or never had. Though still employed in -Washington, they lose all interest in its municipal affairs. They live, -vote, pay taxes, send their children to school and join churches beyond -the borders. - -And, as the Negro immigrates and propagates, Washington’s chance of -ever getting the vote dwindles. Even Northern congressmen, with huge -Negro voting constituencies at home, won’t burn their hands with -such legislation. They declare for the principles of home rule, sign -petitions to withdraw bottled-up home-rule bills from committees, then -secretly withdraw their names. - -As these pages unfold you will get a picture of how more than 1,500,000 -people live. Few would stand for some of Washington’s nauseating -conditions in their own towns. Yet they take them here complacently. -Congressmen, the lords of the city, shrug at what would throw them out -of office if the good burghers in Beloit or Boonetown suspected--and -cared. - -Washington has a heritage of “everybody’s business is nobody’s -business.” But the stimulation which sparks its evils is different, -though the result is the same. - -Of old, Congress didn’t worry about local crime because all the people -could do about it was write letters to the papers. But now, since crime -is nationally syndicated, some legislators actively protect Washington -crime, because it means more funds back in their bailiwicks from the -branches of the swelling Syndicate of silk-lined racketeers who are -allied with Washington’s criminals. - -So this is the nation’s capital: with its panderers and prostitutes; -gamblers and gunmen; conmen and Congressmen; lawmakers and -law-breakers; fairies and Fair Dealers. - -It is a city of moods, even drearier when Congress is away campaigning -or vacationing; yet it turns electric when something big is about to -happen. - -It is a city of the wistful little people with adding-machine minds. - -Over all, a feeling of fear pervades it. People become conditioned to -talking in whispers. Senators will walk you to the middle of the room, -then mumble, even when what they have to say is inconsequential. The -main indoor sport is conspiracy. - -We give you Washington: not the city of statesmen, but the stateless -city. - - - - -2. “GORGEOUS” GEORGETOWN - - -We shall begin this catalog of places with Georgetown, by far the -oldest in the city. - -Not all who reside in Georgetown are rich, red or queer, nor do all -Washington millionaires, Commies and/or fags dwell in Georgetown. - -But if you know anyone who fulfills at least two of the foregoing three -qualifications don’t take odds he doesn’t prance behind Early American -shutters in a reconditioned stable or slave-pen in this unique city -within a city. - -Georgetown was a thriving Colonial village when the rest of the -District was swampland. It was included in the District of Columbia -from the time of the original grant, but Georgetown remained an -independent municipality until 1895. - -If you like that kind of stuff, Georgetown, which lies in the extreme -NW section of the city, has a charm all its own. - -Some people like the smell of dead fish in Provincetown. Others like -to climb up four flights of stairs to ratty garrets in Greenwich -Village. Georgetown is quaint that way, too. Now all this is to be -preserved for posterity forever, through an act of Congress setting up -a commission to keep it looking the way it is under penalty of the law -for modernizing anything in the community without the permission of -some bureaucrat. - -Until twenty years ago, Georgetown was just another rundown backwash -in a great city. Most of its residents were Negroes. Most of its real -estate wasn’t even good enough for Southern Negroes, and don’t forget -that a Southern Negro is forced to live almost anywhere. New Dealers -and the bright young braintrusters from Harvard reversed what seems to -be a foreordained rule in every city in the country. In other words, -the whites drove the Negroes out--as many as they could--and took over -for themselves what was practically a blighted area. - -This is how it came about: When Washington was suddenly flooded with a -horde of crackpots from the campuses, Communists, ballet-dancers and -economic planners, there was no place for them to live. They abhorred -the modern service apartments. These people were “intellectual.” The -women wore flat-heeled shoes and batik blouses, and went in for New -Thought. The men, if you could call some of them that, wore their hair -longer than we do, read advanced literature, and talked about the joys -of collectivism, though all of them were so individual they couldn’t -bear to live in skyscrapers. - -Most of these people had dough. The others got good government jobs, -became “contact men” or spoke at meetings and wrote for publications -sponsored by rich left-wingers to provide automobiles and other -luxuries for the needier pinks. - -Washington had nothing like New York’s Greenwich Village, but in the -early days of the New Deal Mrs. Roosevelt herself, during one of the -fleeting moments she was in Washington, “discovered” Georgetown and -conceived it as a genteel bohemian community where her sandal-shod -friends could find congenial company. She wouldn’t allow the WPA to -alter anything though sewage comes up from the river. Georgetown is -overrun with rats, which frequently chew up Negro infants. - -Ancient wooden houses, much the worse for the wear of centuries, which -could have been bought lot-and-all for $2,500 in the ’20s, skyrocketed -as it became “smart” for society to move to Georgetown. Some properties -are now worth twenty times what they brought twenty years ago, though -terrible odors emanate from a nearby slaughter house. - -Following the discovery of Georgetown, the truly gentle Negroes who had -lived there, some for a hundred years or more, were driven out. Few -owned their homes. Into rickety structures which had once housed as -many as ten Negro families--seventy-five people--moved one millionaire -left-wing carpetbagger and his wife. With improvements, naturally. -Equality is okay to talk about. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were -spent on some of these homes, modernizing, beautifying, disinfecting -and furnishing them. Now they have house-and-garden tours for visiting -Kiwanians. - -Not all the Negroes could be ousted. Even today, Georgetown has -a considerable colored population, though it is the only part of -Washington where there are fewer Negroes than there were twenty years -ago. Those who remain live in shanties so undesirable that no rich -white fairies can be found who want to turn them into something gay. In -fact, there’s a saying in Georgetown now that you’re not “smart” unless -darkies live next door to you. - -The sight-seeing buses point out historic Prospect House, now used -by the government for visiting notables, but they don’t show you the -tumble-down Negro shacks behind it. - -One of Georgetown’s most distinguished residents is Dean Acheson. -Emmitt Warring, king of Washington’s gamblers, about whom more will be -found in succeeding chapters, is in business nearby. - -Warring is the kingfish of Georgetown. He controls its local police -precinct as well as its local crime. As will be shown, he has direct -affiliations with the national underworld syndicate. - -Eleanor Roosevelt gave Georgetown that first big impetus after her son, -Jimmy, who didn’t “got it” in California, moved across the street from -the old Imperial Russian Embassy, in the 3200 block of Q Street. It -looked like good business to build up the area. - -Soon the section filled up with all manner of strange people. Many of -these were buddies of the First Lady. We have seen a letter she wrote -to one Ben Grey, in which she pats such types on the head. - -One of the queerest sights visible anywhere is the one from a window -on the second floor of Dean Acheson’s quaint home at 2805 P Street. It -faces the 28th Street side over a back yard. The Secretary’s personal -lavatory faces that way. His mind apparently weighted by cosmos-shaking -affairs of state, the secretary forgets to draw down the shade. - -It is on the second floor, and Acheson doesn’t know he can be seen. -This is to tip him off to what the whole neighborhood knows, first-hand -and not confidential. - -In the next block lives Justice Frankfurter. He and Acheson, fresh air -fiends, walk to town every morning. - -Another neighbor is Myrna Loy, out of films while on a special mission -for the State Department. She is developing a “new type propaganda -campaign.” Well, she played enough spy roles in the movies. - -Georgetown is also the home of Georgetown University, oldest and -largest Catholic school in the country. The broad acres of its -beautiful campus were undoubtedly originally responsible for -preserving the historic buildings of the community from the onward rush -of modernity which swept over the rest of Washington. - -But also in Georgetown is the Hideaway Club. It is known in local -parlance as a bottle club. A bottle club is a resort which gets around -the law which provides that all liquor dispensaries shall close at -2 A.M. Despite a murder at the Hideaway and a recent Congressional -investigation of such enterprises and a flurry of activity by the -United States Attorney, there are still at least 500 of these -unlicensed places, some say more, in the District, a subject which will -be covered in detail hereinafter. - -The area’s favorite gathering place is Martin’s Bar on Wisconsin Avenue -where New Deal and Fair Deal policy is made. It was the hangout of -Tommy the Cork and Harry Hopkins, who changed the world over bottles -while Georgetown students roistered around them. - -Georgetown is relatively free of street-walkers who plague every other -section. That is because there are no hotels and few transients. -But what it lacks in ambulent magdalens is more than made up for by -homosexuals of both indeterminate sexes. It seems that nonconformity -in politics is often the handmaiden of the same proclivities in sex. -Among the thousands known in the capital, a goodly proportion live in -the storied ancient dwellings of the area. The fun that goes on in some -is beyond words and was even worse when the staffs of the embassies of -some of the Iron Curtain countries still found it feasible to travel -about in society. - -Some Washington policemen will tell you with a shrug of despair of the -times the patrol wagons pulled up at particular homes as a result of -complaints from neighbors, only to find the prancing participants in -the unspeakable parties were Administration untouchables or diplomats -sacred from interference. - -Which, when you consider that Emmitt Warring also seems to be immune, -makes Georgetown seem like a wonderful place to live in--nobody ever -gets pinched there. - - - - -3. NW COULD MEAN NOWHERE - - -The first question asked by members of the new Seventh Congress, after -taking the oath in the draughty and unfinished Capitol in 1801, was -“where is a saloon with dames?” or the early 19th century equivalent -thereof. - -The chief usher escorted them to the steps on the Hill, which -overlooked what there then was of the young city, a collection of -boxes resembling nothing so much as a rude Oklahoma oil-boom town on a -rainy day, and pointed northwest. “There,” he replied. Ever since that -historic moment, anything that matters and much that doesn’t is in that -part of the city known by its postal address as “NW.” - -“North West” is the only section of Washington which counts. It is the -capital of the capital. NW is the works. - -When Major Pierre L’Enfant accepted the commission to plan the capital, -he went Caesar’s Gaul one better and divided it into four parts. These -he laid out like spokes around a wheel, with the hub “The Hill,” on -which he built the Capitol. He named each section after compounded -cardinal points of the compass, NW, SW, NE and SE. The others you can -throw into the garbage-can--NW is the city. - -Other municipalities have distinctive sectors. In Washington -everything, the rialto, marts of commerce, homes of the wealthy, are -piled into this one corner, where they rub shoulders with the lowly, -the dirty and the wicked, not to overlook Washington’s No. 1 problem, -the colored. - -Washington’s Main Drag is F St. if you could call it such. The crossing -at 14th Street is its Times Square, its State and Madison--an insult to -both. Most of the 1,500,000 who live in the District and environs, plus -a half-million tourists, pass it daily. - -Here are the movie palaces, but its sole legit theatre is almost a mile -away. Its best-known restaurants are around the corner. Any night, -Saturday included, the heart of America’s heart is dark and quiet. - -Washington’s Main Stem is somewhat more somnolent than those of most -villages. Don’t get us wrong--things do happen after dark. But--those -who do them don’t want them seen. - -When one seeks the reason for the empty dreariness of Washington at -night, where trees swaying in the wind often are the only living -things, he is told what seems the obvious--Washington is a town of -early-to-bedders who do not go in for night life. That is not true. -Washington has hundreds of sneak-ins that remain open all night. Your -hardy reporters almost collapsed before they could complete this -assignment--to visit every place openly or surreptitiously breaking the -law. Almost all are in NW, which should have made it easier. - -After-dark Washington is the way it is because it has the smalltown -mentality. People do their sinning in homes and hotels or in -pseudo-private “clubs.” - -Now let’s get on with NW. - -Most Congressmen live there. That’s a break for all except cab-drivers. -Hack rates are regulated by zones. Passengers pay the same fee -regardless of where they ride to in a zone, with a surcharge for each -extra zone the cab enters. The Congressmen, who make all the District’s -laws, talked the Public Utilities Commission into gerrymandering the -zone map in such a way it ended up allowing them and you and us to go -almost anywhere from the Capitol into NW for a minimum fee. No one -wants to go elsewhere, so it’s a fine deal for all but the cab-jockies. - -All the big hotels are in NW. That includes everything from -popular-priced tourist fall-ins near the station to the luxury -hostelries like the Mayflower, Statler, Carlton and the residential -ones in the outskirts, such as the Shoreham and Wardman Park. And the -assignation hotels are downtown, smack in the middle of everything, -very snug. - -Perhaps the most famous hotel is the Willard, at F and 14th Streets. -They call it the New Willard now, though the new section was built -during Teddy Roosevelt’s first administration. For almost a century, -VIP’s from all over the world stayed here. Julia Ward Howe wrote the -“Battle Hymn of the Republic” in one of its rooms. Now its cocktail bar -is a hangout for lonesome government girls and other fancy-free women, -best time after 5 P.M. - -The new and modern Ambassador Hotel is at 14th and K, one of the many -holdings of Morris Cafritz, husband of Washington’s “first” hostess -since the elevation to the Diplomatic Corps of Mme. Mesta. The High -Hat Cocktail Lounge in the Ambassador is a gay drinking spot, much -patronized by the lonesome of either sex because of its informality. -When we asked a cab-driver where we could meet a “friend” he directed -us to the Ambassador. We sat there five minutes, not long enough to -attract a waiter’s eye. But the eyes of two blonde things, young and -not bad-looking, were quicker. One asked us to buy her a drink. We did. - -Before long we were old friends. They told us they’d spend the evening -with us for $20 each. We said we had to catch a train. They thought we -meant the price was too high and reduced it to $10--“if we had a place -to take them.” - -We returned to the Ambassador half a dozen times, and all except once -we were approached. That time it was too late, about 1 A.M., and all -the volunteers had already booked themselves. We also saw other stags -talk to girls with whom they hadn’t come in, but with whom they left. - -Another cash-and-carry supermarket is the gracious old Peacock Alley of -the Willard Hotel, a broad indoor parade where once world statesmen sat -and sized up famed society beauties. - -These hotels are not unique. All of Washington’s respectable inns and -cocktail bars are plagued with loose ladies; there’s nothing much can -be done about it, because the muddled situation of District law and -law enforcement makes it impossible for the managements to bounce that -sort of undesirables--if they are so regarded. The cops would refuse to -eject them for fear of suits; the hotels and saloon-keepers are subject -to the same liability. We saw hookers, or busy beavers that looked -remarkably like them, speak to strangers in the cocktail lounges of the -Statler and Carlton, and we were approached by one in the former place. - -The hotel situation is never static. Comes war or emergency and the -town is always short on rooms. In times of depression or recession -there are too many rooms. When your authors began their regular trips -to the city in search of material for this book, Washington had not -started to take on its Sino-Korean war dress. We and our money were -welcomed with open arms. We spent lavishly throughout the summer at the -Carlton, a haunt of New Deal and Labor aristocracy, where John L. Lewis -and White House assistant David K. Niles maintain luxurious suites. - -As the summer wore on, Washington filled up with hoards of -businessmen, manufacturers’ agents, lawyers, fixers and other -finaglers. They had unlimited expense accounts. Remembering what -happened in Washington during the years of World War II, some leased -permanent suites. Others slipped large and welcome tips to room clerks -and executives. Then reservations at the Carlton for mere confidential -reporters were bitched up. They were unceremoniously moved from room to -room, given second-class accommodations, notified they must get out; so -better spenders could get in--and our bills had been running to $100 a -day. - -The Shoreham asked permanent guests to leave. Included were many -Congressmen who had been living there for years. Some had voted against -rent control in the District. But now they were Displaced Persons. - -It was no secret that among the permanents who were in danger of being -forced to go house-hunting were several statuesque blondes whose rents -were being paid by high officials, diplomats and senators. The swank -Shoreham, one of the most beautiful hotels anywhere, has figured -prominently in police court and divorce court news more than once. - -Washingtonians smile when they wonder if the Shoreham’s managing -director, Harry Bralove, asked his pretty ex-wife to find other -lodgings, too. There was a lot of gossip when she and Bralove were -divorced. Once, when unable to meet an overdue $900 alimony bill, -he convinced the court he no longer had an interest in the hotel, -merely worked for it. Meanwhile he and his former spouse renewed their -sentiments, but figured they’d be happier as friends than as man and -wife. So the former Mrs. Bralove moved into the Shoreham. - -A very pleasant exception to the general rule about kicking the guests -around is the Mayflower Hotel, after three decades, still the choice of -Washington’s smart set. In the wing devoted to private apartments are -housed some of the most prominent people in the nation and they haven’t -been moved to enable the management to snag profiteer revenue. - -What there is of show business is in NW. That is little. Yet it was -not always so. In the early days Washington was a hell of a show town. -There was gaiety then. Long before the streets were paved, dignitaries -attended the theatres and dined sumptuously at famed eating spots. - -The theatre figures prominently in Washington’s history. The martyred -Lincoln was slain in Ford’s Theatre, now a museum. President Wilson -was an incurable vaudeville fan with the real habit, attending the -same theatre every week on the same night. He used to slip out of the -White House to Keith’s, a block away, where the management held a seat -in the back row, where he tried to be unobserved. Washington had top -vaudeville before the demise of that medium. Today Keith’s is a grind -movie house. The only thing resembling variety is at Loew’s Capitol, -where four or five modest acts are sandwiched in between runs of a -picture. - -Washington’s sole remaining legit theatre was the National. Once -Washington was a hot road show town. Many New York hits-to-be had -their tryouts there. Successes played week stands after leaving -Broadway. Washington had minor population but supported many houses. -Its residents were avid show-goers. The National gave up the ghost and -turned into a movie house because of the race problem. Few Washington -theatres permit colored patronage, though Negro theatres allow whites. - -The National was restricted against colored attendance in its lease. -A couple of years ago, a race-conscious Actor’s Equity Association, -steamed up by Eleanor Roosevelt and her “we’re-all-brothers” group -resolved not to permit its members to appear in any theatre in -Washington while racial discrimination was enforced. Equity did not -issue the same edict against theatres in the rest of the South, all -of which are so restricted. The operators of the National were bound -by the terms of their lease and could not change their policy. Rather -than risk a long, costly fight, they converted the house into a cinema. -Meanwhile, for two years, the capital of the world’s most literate -nation was barren of all living drama. - -Within the last few months, the owners of the Gayety Burlesque, on -9th Street, which is Washington’s Skid Row, converted it into a legit -house. The Gayety had offered pretty low entertainment, because -practically anything is permitted. But trade wasn’t too good. The cagey -operators, not hampered by contractual restrictions, switched. To -accent the fact that they were going all out on this new line of race -tolerance, they booked as their first attraction a show with a mixed -cast, “The Barrier” starring Lawrence Tibbett and Muriel Rahn, who is a -Negro. Its theme was miscegenation in the Deep South. - -The opening in the old home of burlesque, surrounded by shooting -galleries, tattoo artists and cheap sex movies for “adults only,” was -attended by the top layer of Washington New Deal and left-wing weepers -and critics for the Negro press and the _Daily Worker_. The show was -panned by the other reviewers. It closed prematurely, after five -days. Producer Michael Meyerberg said, “We shouldn’t have opened in -Washington.” - -After that, the theatre limped along, sometimes lighted, sometimes -dark. The Negroes showed no zeal to patronize it. The whites passed -it up. Now the Theatre Guild is sending shows there, subsidized by -highbrow subscribers. - -Many who want to see good drama go to New York. There’s usually a -Broadway hit playing in Baltimore. - -During the summer, attempts are made to present road shows of New York -companies on The Water Barge, in the Potomac, and in some neighborhood -playhouses. Regardless of the success of some individual play, -Washington can be written off as a theatre town. - -Despite all the hardships, there are always optimists, especially when -they can get their names in the papers. One of these is Congressman -Klein, of New York, a screaming New Dealer, who represents one of -Gotham’s most poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Klein is trying to get -the government to spend $5,000,000 for a national theatre. Naturally -it is to be named the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Theatre. Some of -his constituents need shoes, but F.D.R. needs another monument. His -bill forbids barring any person from appearing in it or attending it -because of race, creed, color, religion or national origin. It would -be conducted by the Secretary of the Interior, who at this writing is -that well-known showman, Oscar L. Chapman, of Denver, Colorado, who is -a co-founder of the Spanish-American League to Combat Exploitation of -Mexican Workers in the United States, an arty cause, no doubt. - -For most of the area’s 1,500,000 permanents and 500,000 transients, -movies offer the big night out. How much longer, in the face of TV -competition, remains to be seen. At the present time, attendance runs -100,000 a day. Most film houses in white neighborhoods are restricted -to whites. Negroes have their own. One of the most famous is the -Howard, in the NW colored section, which often augments its shows with -top-flight Negro stage shows. At such times the place is apt to draw -more white customers than black. Washington has its hep-cats. Many of -the younger social and diplomatic sets get a bang out of hot licks. -These people who willingly sit next to dark folks in the Howard refuse -to permit them in their own theatres or restaurants. That’s typical -Washington thinking. - -The high-class shopping street--the Fifth Avenue--is Connecticut -Avenue, running from La Fayette Square, past the Mayflower Hotel, -and out into Cleveland Parkway, past residential hotels and swank -apartments. - -There are plenty of first-grade shops here, with chic imports, -expensive antiques and other gewgaws to lure the feminine dollar. -Despite the great wealth of the District and the presence of an -international set, all is not pheasant for these merchants. New -York and the magnet of its style-conscious stores is too near. Even -Baltimore gets some of the trade which can’t find enough smart things -at home. But a curious reverse process has been taking place in recent -years. Whereas many Washingtonians travel to New York to shop and -to dine, a couple of Washington’s best-known institutions have been -reaching out and taking over some of the same places in New York which -Washingtonians travel 225 miles to patronize. - -Garfinckel’s is Washington’s high-fashion department store. A couple of -years ago, its proprietors bought out the ancient and aristocratic New -York men’s furnishing house, Brooks Brothers. Within a few months, the -Garfinckel octopus reached out and gobbled up one of New York’s oldest -and best-known Fifth Avenue stores, de Pinna. - -While this was going on, a couple of smart Swedes, who had made a -tremendous success at Olmsted’s Restaurant, a popular eatery with fine -food in the NW business section, bought New York’s oldest and most -famous restaurant, Luchow’s, on 14th Street, one of the last places -left in the country where dining is still a fine art. - -Reference to the appendix will show many other Washington eating -places, some good, some bad and not all recommended, but most of them -are in NW. - -One of the best-known and best is Harvey’s, on Connecticut Avenue, near -the Mayflower. This is J. Edgar Hoover’s nightly eating place when he -is in Washington. Like most Washington restaurants, Harvey’s has been -in business long. It specializes in sea food. The room does a sell-out -business and it’s almost impossible to get a table at the height of the -dining hour. Service by ancient Negro waiters is slow. Best time to -eat is after 9, because most Washingtonians dine early; 6 o’clock is -the standard time. Many start at 5. Those are the homely habits. Some -restaurants close at 8, and a few at 7. - -Julius Lully, who owns Harvey’s, is the butt of J. Edgar’s robust sense -of humor. Once Hoover had a batch of wanted-fugitive-identification -“fliers” made up showing Lully in his World War I private’s uniform. -He had them nailed up on posts for miles around Lully’s country place. -When the hick sheriff locked up the restaurateur, who sputtered and -gave Hoover as a reference, J. Edgar said he had never heard of him. - -On another occasion Hoover sent a letter, purporting to be from Oscar -of the Waldorf, threatening to sue Harvey’s for appropriating his -salad dressing. Lully hired a lawyer and told him to offer the Waldorf -$2,500, but J. Edgar advised him it wouldn’t be enough. - -The Occidental is hoary with age and legend. Pictures of presidents, -cabinet officers and generals cover the walls. This was our favorite, -but the Occidental has succumbed to the new boom. An officious head -waiter, with a typical Prussian attitude toward customers, lined us up -like prisoners of war, then heaped contemptuous abuse when we dared -question his excellency about the possible chances of being seated -and served. Washingtonians take it. They are used to being kicked -around. Senators or cabinet officers they may be, but at heart most are -grass-rooters overawed by the big city. We didn’t take it. We walked -out. We are used to consideration and hospitality, spoiled by the good -manners of heartless Manhattan. - -When Major L’Enfant plotted the city, he provided that the streets -should run in three directions, north and south, east and west, and -diagonal. Where the diagonal avenues, which are named after states, -cross the rectangular streets, generally numbered or alphabetically -lettered, there are wide circles or broad squares. One of those is -Lafayette Park, known to all Americans because it is the square in -front of the White House. Here, less than a hundred yards from the -President’s front door, is one of the most sordid spots in the world. -At night, under the heroic equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson and in -the shadow of the foliage of overhanging trees, there is a constant and -continuous soprano symphony of homosexual twittering. - -The President knows about it; he reads the papers. The police -superintendent knows about it. Congress, which governs the District, -knows about it. Recently, the secretary of a Senator was arrested -there, charged with indescribable misbehavior. He was acquitted by a -jury. There are few convictions. - -Lafayette Park is one of the showplaces of NW. Another is Thomas -Circle. Years ago, the circle and all the streets leading into it -were lined with mansions. Now you can pull up in your car in front of -a newsdealer there, at any hour, day or night, and place a bet on a -horse, buy a deck of junk or get a girl--$10 asking price, $5 if you -put up a struggle. - -Another NW cynosure was Dupont Circle. It was social. There were the -homes of such as Princess Eleanor Patterson. Now they’ve been razed or -cut up because of taxes, death benefits, estate distributions and the -high cost of maintenance. Those that still stand have been turned into -embassies, headquarters of national organizations, and rooming-houses -in between. One triangular corner was torn down to make way for the -Dupont Plaza, a glassy and glossy apartment hotel, swell for lobbyists, -flashy girls and 5-percenters. What happened to Dupont Circle hit all -the way out the length of 16th Street, which runs off from the White -House, and Massachusetts Avenue. These two long, broad avenues run -through all NW. They are the “Ambassadors’ Rows.” - -Of the sixty embassies, legations and chancelleries, almost all are -on one or the other. Both have a liberal sprinkling of organization -headquarters, such as unions, trade associations and eleemosynary -institutions, with the ever-present furnished-room coops and apartment -hotels. - -The complexion of NW is changing, growing darker. The area always had -a large Negro section. There are no racial zoning laws. Restrictive -covenants cannot be enforced. There are no longer any racial boundary -lines and some people think that is dandy. They have been in the -driver’s seat since 1933. - -You will find colored people living within a half a block of an embassy -or around the corner from a new luxury apartment house. There is no -reason why this should not be so, but the property-owners and the white -residents do not agree. As the process continues, NW grows less swank -and less desirable, while many of its rich residents move into Maryland -suburbs such as Chevy Chase and across the river into Virginia. - -The Negroes and other specific phenomena of NW will be considered in -specialized chapters. - - - - -4. NOT-SO-TENDER TENDERLOIN - - -The District’s “red-light” region may be the largest on earth. That is -because almost all of it is such, neither restricted by law, custom nor -local habit to a particular part of town. But, more than any other, NW -is the Tenderloin, in some ways more blatantly open than ever was New -York’s infamous Satan’s Circus or Chicago’s 22nd Street. - -Of all places, you would think Washington would be the last location a -practical, professional prostitute would pick to pitch her camp. With -so many more women than men, so many dames lonesome and far from home, -on the eager upbeat for a meal, a drink or even a kind word, you’d -figure mathematically, psychologically and pathologically that this -would be a ghost town for the trollops. - -Part of such traffic is always supported by tourists and strays. -Washington has a large and constant visitation of these, but many -other places have more and have virtually expunged street-walkers and -entirely eradicated the sweatshops where such operators do homework. -Yet in Washington they flourish, though they are supposedly verboten, -and the Weary Winnies parade the pavements. It made a couple of graying -Chicago boys homesick for their childhood. - -Lorelles--as the Parisians call them--are in the Washington tradition, -claim the capital by long-established squatters’ rights, almost by -right of discovery. - -The same stagecoaches which carried the first Congressmen to Washington -150 years ago brought also the first whores. They and their descendants -have been here ever since, an integral, important segment of the -population. - -For the first 113 years they were protected by law. Segregation in the -District was expunged by act of Congress in 1913, in the first year of -the presidency of the school-teacher from Princeton. - -In the early days of the Republic, whoring flourished as an essential -and honorable trade. Transportation facilities were so primitive, -many Congressmen and officials from backwoods sections had trouble -getting to Washington themselves and would have found it impossible -to transport their women. Trollops became an adjunct to legislation. -Without them, it is doubtful whether a quorum could have been -maintained for transaction of public business, which might not have -been a bad idea sometimes. - -The last compound of the trade was in what is now the Federal Triangle, -between Pennsylvania Avenue and the Mall, from 10th to 15th Streets. -The Willard Hotel, the Treasury and the White House are nearby--which -made it convenient for all concerned. - -In the Civil War, General Joe Hooker’s division was encamped in -Washington to protect the President. It was bivouacked in what later -became the official restricted district. One story, accounting for -the term “hooker,” now worldwide, ascribes its origin to the habitat -of local prostitutes, who gathered near the camp to pick up soldiers -and remained after the soldiers left. When local blades went out for a -night of hell-raising they said, “Let’s go over to Hooker’s.” - -Another version ascribes the origin of the word to the Hook, in -Baltimore, the town’s sailor section, where tarts picked up sea-faring -men. - -In the absence of a determination by H. L. Mencken, we will remain -neutral as to the competing claims of the two neighboring cities, -except to say that the residents of either ought to know what they’re -talking about, because there are so many hookers in both. - -Leaving out all occasionals in Washington who do it for fun or because -of temporary monetary embarrassment, and counting only pros--those -who have no other form of livelihood, some say there are at least ten -thousand floozies actively in full-time business at this moment. We -were solicited by half that number. - -Most of these girls work as loners on the streets or in the cocktail -lounges and bring their earnings back to their pimps. Some function -through call services, via a headquarters phone-number, a cocktail -lounge bartender, or a switchboard operator in a cheap hotel. - -Many are tough and predatory. A 20-year old youth was stabbed and -slashed after he turned down a street-corner proposition at Third and -E. He fled when the woman drew a knife, but two colored men caught up -to him and gave him the business. - -Until recently, Washington was loaded with whore-houses, was in fact -the last large city where this ancient and storied institution existed. - -That’s because it was necessary to take care of the transients and -the male government employes and officials away from their wives. The -war and the post-war housing shortage virtually put the final kibosh -on such dives here as it had done a few years earlier in other towns. -Property became so valuable, landlords could do better by running it -legitimately. - -We spoke to a police captain who told us that obstacles were no longer -placed in the way of the vice squad when it came to raiding these -premises; but it is impossible to keep the girls off the streets -and out of the hotel lobbies and cocktail lounges where they had -transferred their business addresses. - -Under the law of Washington, as well as all other municipalities, -vice-squad detectives are forbidden to partake personally of forbidden -wares while on raids. If they do, they have no case, for a prosecution -then becomes “entrapment” and they are agents provocateurs. - -During a recent raid, an operational plan was drawn up in advance. One -of the cops, the handsomest, made the pick-up, and his confederates -were supposed to crash in five minutes after he entered the room, which -would give both time to disrobe, and that is enough evidence to make a -collar. - -But the raiders were late. The honest, hardworking cop went through the -motions of undressing. Finally he had to get in bed with the wench; 15, -20, 30 minutes passed, and still no raiding party. He couldn’t stall -her off any more. - -By the time the doors were busted in, the evidence was null and void. - -The figures in this chapter refer solely to white tarts. The black -sisters are mentioned in another one. - -Health records indicate that 50 percent of Washington’s white -street-walkers are infected with venereal disease. With the colored -ones, it goes up to 99 percent. - -Many of the white women who solicit on the streets are young; it takes -some time for these girls, fresh off the farms, to get the nerve to -hustle in high-class hotels. Police have arrested girls 14, 15 and 16 -hawking their bodies on the public highways. Many of these children, -who should be home doing their schoolwork, left the hills when they -were 12, after first having been raped by a local lout, usually a -relative. - -This story is not apocryphal. A very young street-walker was formally -charged by the arresting officer with “practicing prostitution.” - -“That’s not so, your honor,” she piped up. “I don’t practice any more. -I know how now.” - -The going rate for whores, the pick-up kind, is $20 and down. Pretty -fair ones will take $10, and many will come along for $5. These prices -are low compared with the current tariffs in other large cities, the -reason being the extraordinary amateur competition. - -Many of the girls roll their customers, mugg them or use knockout -drops and then go through their pockets. But Washington’s prostitutes -are not so hard-hearted as the street sirens in New York, where it is -commonplace for one to be taken to a hotel-room and wake up doped and -robbed, but never loved. - -Many Washington nymphs conscientiously give value received. - -In other cities the cops take stern measures against the untrustworthy -whores. It is considered the lowest form of larceny to take advantage -of a man with his pants down. New York police recently sent a young -married woman to the penitentiary for five years for just such an -outrage, but in Washington the appointed judges, many unrealistic -and some downright dishonest, condone and encourage such unethical -practices. - -David L. Miller, 43, a resident of the Soldiers’ Home, picked up -Alma Lee Dugent and took her to a 16th Street, NW, room. He said the -33-year-old woman robbed him of $2 in bills and a $30 wrist watch while -he lay asleep. The woman pleaded guilty of petty theft. - -“This man is as guilty as the woman,” thundered the judge. He ordered -Miller to pay half of Mrs. Dugent’s $25 fine. - -At this writing there are few really big madames operating in -Washington. One of the last big operators was Carmen Beach, deported to -Spain. But Nancy Pressler, who figured prominently in the conviction -of Charles “Lucky” Luciano, international Mafia overlord now in Italy, -when she turned state’s evidence against him in New York, is in -business in the capital. - -Though many of the girls work as independent contractors, except for -the inevitable pimp, they are loosely organized for emergency purposes -in the event of arrest, through bail-bond brokers and lawyers who -specialize in underworld cases. The law staff of Charles Ford is -frequently in court defending intercepted prostitutes, who usually get -off with a small fine or a warning. - -Many singed doves get their weekly check-ups from a physician in the -1700 block of K Street, who charges them $5 a visit. They learn about -him through their community of interests. - -We have studied commercial vice in most large cities. It is as a -rule confined by public tolerance to certain streets or sections. -When we wrote about New York and Chicago we were able to name these -thoroughfares and state exactly what kind of merchandise was for sale -in each. That is not so in Washington, where the city seems to be one -huge red-light range, with tramps falling over themselves trying to -grab unattached men. - -We made a contact on the southeast corner of 14th and New York Avenue, -NW, in front of the cigar store, with a young pedestrian who told -us her name was Sue. She came originally from Florida and had been -hustling in Washington for four years. We asked how to get in touch -with her again and she said, “Just call the Astoria Hotel and ask the -operator for Sue.” When we inquired her last name she said she was the -only Sue there. The Astoria is a cheap hotel on 14th Street. - -About two weeks later we were walking through the plush lobby of the -new Statler Hotel and saw Sue ensconced in one of the comfortable -armchairs. We stopped to watch. The slender blonde leaned over to a -gent in another chair and asked for a light. In a couple of minutes -they struck up a deal and walked into the elevator together. When she -came down half an hour later we asked her how much she got. - -“Ten bucks,” she exclaimed, “and the tight-wad stiffed me out of luck -money.” - -When we first came to Washington to work on this book almost everyone -we spoke to, except cops who knew better, said we wouldn’t find any -professional whores, because why should anyone pay when so many -government girls are easy? - -We took some of these friends--government officials, members of -Congress, newspapermen and others, on our tours. And this is what we -showed them: - -We were solicited by two girls at Jack’s Grill, 3rd and G Sts. Three -broads came up to us at 4th and G NW and asked us if we wanted company. -We also saw girls bracing strange men at the Purity Lunch and Grill, -3rd and G NW, and at Mitchell Grill on the same corner. Mitchell’s is -the hangout for precinct cops who saved its license after charges. - -A white prostitute tried to date us at the Mai Fong restaurant, in -Chinatown, and two other girls spoke to us at the China Clipper on 14th. - -We could have made pick-ups--$10 asked, $5 bid--at the corner of 14th -and R. We were approached by girls at the Casablanca Tavern, 421 11th -St., NW, and the Covered Wagon, 14th and Rhode Island. The manager -of an all-night diner back of the Statler offered to get us a bed -companion for $15 if we bought a bottle of Seagrams for $8.50--cheap -when you consider it was after hours and he didn’t have a license. - -Few if any restaurants and bars employ B-girls. These are women who in -Chicago circulate from table to table and hustle drinks on commission. -They are illegal in the District, though quite common in Maryland, near -the border and in Baltimore. - -The femmes fatale who frequent Washington joints usually do so in -free-handed reciprocity. The management steers lonesome men to the gals -who hang around regularly. They, in turn, bring their customers in for -drinks or tell them that’s where they can find them. A saloon which -gets a reputation as the hangout for the best-looking dames finds its -gross up. - -When a girl closes a pitch, she usually has a place to take the guy, -if he can’t or won’t bring her to his own room. Most Washington -hotels, including the largest, are very broadminded about this, and if -you don’t make noise they don’t make trouble. But this situation is -changing as the hotels are getting more crowded and more independent. - -Few small hotels, even if so inclined, properly police their guests. -Some of the girls take their clients to the New Colonial and the Fox. - -A former madame named Jackie is now running a rooming-house at 703 Mt. -Vernon, where some of the girls steer their customers. You can usually -find seven or eight girls hanging around Ivy House Inn, on New York -Avenue. - -Among the most active hookers are Kay Saunders and Peggy Proctor, both -29, who were once arrested while entertaining 15 male customers. At -this writing they are still in business on the second floor of a house -in the 2300 block, Lincoln Road, NE. - -One of Washington’s most famous characters is a toothless old hag known -only as Diane. She hangs around 14th and Florida. Diane reminds old New -Yorkers of the fabulous Broadway Rose, who used to panhandle in front -of Lindy’s until she was carted to the bug house. - -But, unlike Rose, Diane is an out-and-out hustler. Once upon a time, -they say, she was a good-looker. But her main trouble seemed to be that -she liked her work too much to commercialize it. - -We spoke to a man in his late 30’s who remembered her when he was a -school boy. He said the kids used to pick her up because she would take -“small change.” Now some of her old customers, matured and prosperous -men of the world, occasionally drive by her corner to stake her to a -hand-out. - -All she can get now are colored men, “winos” and dregs. But she refuses -to retire. - -We picked up a girl by the name of Doris who had just been discharged -from the Federal Hospital for narcotic addicts in Lexington, Kentucky. -The story she told us illustrates how girls are recruited for -prostitution in the District. - -Doris said she lived in a small town in West Virginia. She and a girl -high-school mate occasionally did a little free-lance whoring on -Saturday nights, on call of a bell-boy in the local hotel. Once he sent -them to a room occupied by two men. One, whose name was Grigsby, tried -to sell the girls on coming to Washington. He said he’d put them in a -swell house. The teenagers were afraid of the big city. Grigsby told -them the landlady of the house was in the next room and called her in. -She was a motherly sort. They consented to come with her. - -They found themselves in the house of a madame named Billie Cooper, -on 7th St., in the 1000 block. Doris told us she was an instantaneous -success in the Cooper menage. She was only 17, fresh, buxom and -bucolic. Madame Cooper’s clients were charmed. After she’d been in -the house a few weeks, the madame asked Doris if she’d like to get a -“kick.” She produced a hypodermic needle and gave the child a shot -in the arm. Doris liked the sensation, wanted more. This went on for -several weeks, Doris said, and every day Billie Cooper increased the -frequency of the shots. - -One day Doris woke up, nauseated and ill. - -Billie Cooper exclaimed, “You’re hooked!” - -She informed Doris she had become a dope fiend, that henceforth Doris -must pay for the shots. - -The girl went into debt, though she was taking in up to $50 a day and, -no matter how much she made, the dope always cost more. She knew no -one else who sold it. She was truly hooked, which was Billie Cooper’s -original purpose, to keep the young girl in her joint and take her -money away from her. - -Billie Cooper’s clientele was mostly Chinese. When U. S. narcotics -agents raided her establishment at 5 A.M., gaining entrance with a -ladder borrowed from a fire-house, so two T-men would get into Billie’s -bedroom before she had a chance to flush the narcotics down the drain, -they found several Chinese customers in the place. While the search was -still on, 15 more came to the door and were admitted; of these two were -officials of the Chinese embassy. - -In the trial it developed that Billie Cooper, who was sentenced for -violation of the narcotics laws, was charging Doris $7 a deck for -heroin, which she bought at half that price from Chinese peddlers. The -F.B.I. proceeded against Grigsby for white slavery violation and he, -too, was convicted. - -Doris swore to us that she was off the stuff now. She said she was -living with a Chinaman who worked in a gambling house in Chinatown. - -The glamorous brothels are no more. Not since the notorious Hopkins -Institute was closed by the F.B.I. some years ago has there been -anything operating on a lavish scale. Now there are some so-called -masseurs who use that classification as a blind, but nothing on the -grand scale. - -When F.B.I. men raided the Hopkins Institute, an innocuous-looking -massage parlor in the 2700 block on Connecticut Ave., they uncovered -one of the most sensational call-houses ever in Washington. Not only -was the clientele accommodated at the so-called Institute, but a phone -call could arrange a date on short notice almost anywhere in the -District. The establishment kept a detailed and up-to-date written -record on each patron, fees paid, dates of service, and eccentricities. -Girls there said this list contained entries that could flabbergast -some very prominent persons, in and out of Washington. - -The proprietor of the Hopkins Institute was one George Francis -Whitehead, who lived in New York and seldom visited the place. Profits -were sent to him weekly by the “resident manager,” Diane Carter, who -was vice-president in charge of the operation. The Institute was -established originally by someone else and was bought by Whitehead -in 1941. He ran it for several months, then engaged Diane Carter to -manage it at a salary out of earnings. Her principal duties entailed -accepting calls, arranging to send girls to answer the calls, and to -have girls available on the premises. - -Whitehead left Washington in 1941, after the girls began to complain -that his presence was hurting business because of his excessive -drinking, untidy habits and uncouth deportment. He did not live up to -the dignity and spirit of an Institute. The girls threatened to strike. - -The record system was originated by the first operator and passed on to -Whitehead. In addition to other entries, initials of each girl filling -an assignment and the amount of the fee were noted. For the fees a code -was used, to conceal the fact that some paid more than others. The word -“FITZGERALD” was the key to the code. Each letter stood for a digit, -i.e., F was 1, I was 2, T was 3, etc. Thus the symbol “FD” beside the -name of a customer meant $10; “TD” meant $30, etc. This method was used -also to bamboozle Whitehead, if he checked on his share of the proceeds. - -The U.S. Commissioner issued warrants for the arrests of Whitehead, -Diane Carter and 13 girls involved, on charges of violations of the -White Slave Traffic Act. Whitehead was arrested in New York and -extradited. Two indictments were returned against Whitehead, Diane and -nine others. Whitehead pleaded guilty to both and was sentenced to one -to four years on the Act and to eighteen months on conspiracy. But he -was adjudged insane and committed to a mental institution. - -Diane Carter pleaded guilty to both indictments and was sentenced to -three to nine months on each, the sentences to run concurrently. Seven -other defendants were found guilty. - -The Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the convictions of the seven, -held the violations were of legislation of the District of Columbia and -not of the White Slave Traffic Act. - -But the racket was broken. The place never reopened. The F.B.I. seized -the files and never revealed a name, but hundreds of men still tremble -when they remember the Hopkins Institute. Some still attempt pressure -to try to get their names blacked out. They have no success with the -F.B.I. - - - - -5. HOBOES WITH NO HORIZON - - -The pride of the bum, even when he has abandoned the virile vitality -to hold out his paw as a panhandler, is a terminal twinkle of -consciousness that he is only resting between Election Days, when he is -a man. These derelicts have swung cities and states. But in Washington -even that last link to a reason for being is lost. - -No Hinky Dink, no Pendergast caters to him, gives him free beer -and rot-gut or a kip in the flop on the joint. No eager dirty duke -stretches forth to greet the floater and the repeater. He can do -nothing for anyone. - -So he is just a shade lower, lousier and grizzlier than the ones at -whom you shudder as you pass them in your own town. Agglomerations of -beachcombers vary little, even with differences of climate. Every city -has its Skid Row. But Washington has three of them. Like everything -else here, they are departmentalized. No alphabetical designations have -yet been allocated to them, but don’t despair. - -One is for the general riffraff; the second is for old-timers; the -third is exclusively for sailors. - -But first let us tell you about 9th Street--NW, natch--and specifically -where it crosses Pennsylvania Ave. - -Stand on one side of the avenue and you are in the shadow of the great -marble structure which houses the forces of law and order. This is the -Department of Justice Building, and the corner we’re standing on is the -entrance to the F.B.I. - -Cross Pennsylvania Avenue and walk into 9th Street, and you are an -intruder in the most publicized Skid Row of the three--they call it the -Bowery here, to distinguish it from the others. As such thoroughfares -go, this is pretty classy-looking. It is wide. All Washington -streets are kept clean, so neither rubbish nor drunks litter the -pavements--anyway not by day. By nightfall, topers rendered hors de -combat on smoke and cheap wine pile up in the doorways. - -This part of 9th Street is packed solid with “play lands,” featuring -pin-ball machines, peep show movies and souvenir stands which sell -composition statuettes of the White House and Washington Monument, and -embroidered pillows tastefully lettered with “Love to Mom from the -Nation’s Capital.” - -But this human dump lacks romance and legend. No songs are written -about it. There are no grisly tall tales, such as are told about the -Barbary Coast, Basin Street and Chicago, much near the Loop and most of -the old Levee. This is merely a street of convenience, moved up from -around the corner when Pennsylvania Avenue itself was flophouse lane -and Al Jolson and Bill Robinson performed on the sidewalk for pennies. - -There’s no law agin’ stripping or peeling in Washington, but it doesn’t -pay off well enough to build a permanent industry around it. The old -Gayety Theatre, which ran pretty high-class traveling burleycue, is -now, probably only temporarily, a legit house. Meanwhile, the burlesque -fans buy their titillation in the cheap movie houses adjoining the -Gayety. Sometimes they amplify their celluloid bills with “living -dolls,” at other times the customers have to get their kicks out of -sex movies advertised “For Adults Only.” An ad before us, of the -Leader Theatre, says, “Burlesque’s brightest stars on screen.” The -day’s program provided snake-charming Zorita in “I Married a Savage”; -body-peeling Ann Corio in “Call of the Jungle”; and Maggie Hart, the -stripper, in “Lure of the Isles,” plus “two more thrills.” - -In and in front of cheap saloons, cocktail lounges and lunch rooms, are -tarts, reefer-peddlers and novelty salesmen whose chief stock in trade -is “sanitary rubber goods.” Pistols are on sale at $20. The local law -isn’t tough on gun-toters. - -Though Washington’s legal liquor closing on weekdays is 2 A.M., this -street, like all in the city, is deserted early. Long before midnight -its habitués have already made sleeping arrangements or are snoring in -the alleys, cheap overnight lodgings or hallways, paralyzed by alky or -cheap domestic red wine. - -Crossing 9th Street here, is D Street, known as Pawnbroker’s Row. But -get this--hockshops are against the law. - -When you see a shop with a sign reading “Pawnbroker’s Exchange,” don’t -believe it. The window looks like any “Uncle’s” anywhere in the world, -with a profusion of new and used articles ranging from mink coats -to tin watches. But that’s the build-up. These exchanges are only -second-hand stores which buy and sell uncalled for articles pledged in -other jurisdictions, where the three balls of the De Medicis are legal. - -The temporarily embarrassed visitor, in need of cash quickly, often -gets rooked in one of these pseudo-hock shops. Take the case of the -stranger who runs short of petty cash until he can wire home. Suppose -he has a $200 watch which he wants to put up for security. Needing only -perhaps $25, that’s all he asks for, figuring when he redeems it in a -few days he will pay only that, plus accrued interest. Yet when he asks -the pawnbroker’s exchange man for $25, he is actually selling the $200 -watch for that. - -Some of the more legitimate shops get around the law by guaranteeing -to sell the article back to the owner at a specified rate after a -specified number of days. What usually happens to the unsophisticated -is that they have lost their security for a fraction of its value, -because it has already been sold. - -Little effort is made to police the Bowery stretches of 9th St. The -armed forces maintain a few MPs, but practically anything goes, short -of mayhem, and even that is not uncommon. - -The tomatoes who solicit the young and lonesome men in uniform in -this neighborhood are pretty low. The five bucks they ask, plus three -dollars for a room in a handy flea-bag, should be reported to the -Better Business Bureau, considering the quality of the merchandise and -the strong possibilities of picking up souvenirs of the sort they don’t -display on counters. - -Interspersed between the shooting galleries, theatres and hamburger -hideaways are the usual bargain men’s clothing stores, army and navy -outfitters, etc. One of the clothing stores, visible from the windows -of the Department of Justice, was built by money inherited from a -gangster who isn’t around to enjoy it, due to a sit-down strike in an -electric chair. - -This street is a little too fast, flighty and noisy for the old-time -bums and stiffs. It is for younger men. The perennials, who know every -flop-house and smoke-joint in the country, and travel from town to -town with the seasons and the harvests, prefer the Skid Row at 3rd and -G Streets, NW and vicinity, around the corner from Chinatown. Come to -think of it, Skid Rows all over the continent are around the corner -from Chinatown. - -We call this Mission Row, because it’s where the mission stiffs hang -out. These are the hoboes, bums and tramps who get their morning’s -coffee and their night’s sleep on the benches of a gospel shop nearby -on H Street, in return for listening to a “Come to the Lord” sermon. -Mission Row is the best-looking Skid Row in the country. The streets -are broad, with grass and trees, and most of the set-back buildings are -reconverted residences with stoops and a surviving air of charm. We -have been assured it is refreshing to wake up in the gutter here with a -smoke hangover. - -You find no brassy newcomers in these quarters. Young tramps abhor -missions. They prefer 9th Street, with its zip and excitement. The -mission stiff, almost an extinct species, is on in years and no -longer troubled by dames. His animal needs are taken care of by a -bowl of soup and as much red-eye as he can drink. If only one of the -two is available, the former can be dispensed with. Some of these -mission-moochers are junkies. But dope, like everything else, is -suffering from inflation, and the wherewithal is forbidding. - -The Greek colony, large for the size of the town, runs into this -Bowery. Many Hellenes are gamblers. Hecht’s Hotel, at 6th and G, where -girls take their men, was owned by a Greek arrested last month in New -York on narcotics charges. The Hellenic Social Club, next door, is a -gambling house. - -There’s one Skid Row no visitors and few Washingtonians ever see. -That’s Sailors’ Row. Unlike the other two, which are in NW, this is -in SE--8th Street, down near the Navy Yard. After Chicago we thought -nothing could make us blink. But some of the dives on 8th Street made -it. At the northern approach of this stretch of howling hell are a -couple of Filipino joints where bus-boys, house-boys and valets pick up -white whores. Eighth Street runs into Sailors’ Row proper, a line of -groggeries and lunch-rooms that hit bottom. - -The undermanned Washington cops can do little to keep it orderly. -The Navy’s shore patrol takes over most of the policing. We saw Navy -paddy-wagons in front of Guy’s, the Ship’s Cafe and the Penguin. But -the SP’s seldom make a pinch unless there are fights. We visited four -or five of the bars--not alone, because hereabouts, even in the shadow -of the Capitol’s dome, outsiders who travel in parties of less than -four are crazy. - -We saw hustlers working in the Band Box, the Ship’s Cafe, Guy’s and -the Penguin. These were the frowsiest broads we have ever seen, -dilapidated, toothless, drunk, swinging the shabby badge of their -shoddy trade, long-looped handbags. - -The worst and the cheapest were in the Ship’s Cafe, where two -girls--call them that in charity--offered themselves to us at $3. The -going price in the other places was $5. They circulated along the -bar and from booth to booth and from table to table. They do not work -in these saloons as B girls or house prostitutes. They use them as -points of contact with their trade, apparently with connivance of the -management for the business they bring in. In these Sailors’ Row joints -we saw many amateurs, typical sailor-crazy bobby-soxers, servant girls -and Victory girls. These may ask for money but can be talked out of it. -There are many cheap hotels and rooming-houses close by. But the dark -streets or alleys are free and busy. - - - - -6. GREEN PASTURES - - -Agonized oratory through the decades has been banging against the walls -of the Capitol, demanding that Washingtonians be given the precious -privilege of the vote. It is as futile as spitting against the wind. - -And we will tell you why there will be no vote--Confidential. - -If Washington got home rule, its first mayor would be a gentleman -affectionately known to his constituency as Puddin’ Head Jones. And Mr. -Jones is a Negro. - -We will tell you what no one else has dared to publish--there are more -Negroes than whites in Washington. We will prove it by incontrovertible -figures. - -There is an amazing underground proclivity in all big cities, south, -north and everywhere, to fake the facts on Negro population. For some -distorted reason, both races conspire in this foolish flummery. - -Census figures are off the beam. They always lag in summing up -minority races. Most of the migrant census-takers assume that they -should help to make the picture as light as possible. If a Negro is -not unmistakably black, he is encouraged, if he does not think of it -himself, to be listed as a Cuban, a Puerto Rican, a West Indian, a -South American, Filipino, Indian, Mexican or even Eskimo; the blood of -all these is sprinkled through many generations of admixture. - -There is no way of calculating how many light-skinned citizens can and -do “pass.” Some Negroes sleep in shifts in crowded premises, so that a -count in the regular course would register about one-third of the true -total. Many are house servants and these do not go into the tally where -they are employed, nor are they home during the hours when enumerators -call. - -More Negroes than whites are police characters, as will be -demonstrated. And as a rule members of the race are wary and suspicious -of questioners from “the law.” Many census-takers deliberately duck -more than superficial duties in predominantly dark districts, because -they are confused and afraid after getting hostile receptions and -responses. - -But in Washington there is one indisputable check. - -The District of Columbia has a single Jim Crow law, segregating Negroes -and whites--in schools. When pupils are enrolled they must reveal their -true race. There can be no tampering with these statistics. - -And in the winter of 1950–51 there were registered the following in all -public schools through all grades from elementary to teachers’ college: - -Negroes, 47,807; whites, 46,080. - -Broken down, these figures are even more definitive. There are more -Negroes than is evidenced by the bare totals. Negroes, because of their -economic outlook, do not keep their children in school as long as do -whites. That is sharply proven by the enrollment in the senior high -schools: - -Negroes, 4,787; whites, 7,176. - -But there are 10,146 colored children in junior high schools compared -to 9,270 whites. - -The attendance at parochial and private schools is minor. Washington -has the largest per capita Negro Catholic population in the United -States. - -Even an excess of 10 per cent of whites in the grand total and allowing -for unmarried government workers would still indicate a Negro majority -over all, because of the earlier departure from school of Negro -children, as shown above. - -This reveals a startling metamorphosis in a ten-year period. In 1940 -the school record showed 66,000 whites and 36,000 Negroes. Thus there -has since been a decline of 20,000 white children and a rise of 12,000 -Negro children. The over-all decline is due to removal of white -families to suburbs. - -Negroes lived in Washington before the first President chose the -rolling land along the Potomac to bear his name. Slavery was legal in -the capital until the emancipation. The population of Washington about -doubled between 1860 and 1870. Much of this influx represented slaves -who escaped from plantations and got through the Union lines during the -Civil War. But the big swell came when thousands of ex-slaves, free -and foot-loose for the first time in their lives, left the destroyed -and deserted Dixie farms and headed for Washington, which was not only -near Virginia and Maryland and the Carolinas, but which exercised a -fascination for them because they felt safer near their savior and -their demigod, Abraham Lincoln. - -Until the middle 70’s, Washingtonians of all colors had home rule, -elected their own officials under a territorial form of government -similar to that now practiced in Alaska and Hawaii, where mayors, -legislators, judges and other lower-level officials are elected. They -sent a delegate to Congress. - -Long before LaGuardia, Marcantonio, Ed Flynn and Ed Kelly found the -formula of organizing Negroes into blocs which could be voted en masse -to perpetuate control of left-wing and criminal political groups, that -was old stuff in D.C., where it was invented by one “Boss” Shepherd -in Washington, the first large city in the country where Negroes were -allowed to vote, and where there were enough of them to throw any -weight as citizens. - -Washington had been a sewer of iniquity during the Civil War; when -Shepherd took over control it turned infinitely worse. The stench -asphyxiated the members of Congress, who were exposed to it so -intimately, and they exercised a forgotten constitutional prerogative, -“to exclusively govern the District.” The polling booths made swell -bonfires. - -As will be seen, however, under the unique voteless system, the Negroes -now exercise far more power, and Puddin’ Head Jones is by common -consent the “mayor” of Washington’s Black Belt. As we progress you will -be let in on how that could come about. - -Despite the high enrollment of Negro children in public schools where -they enjoy facilities for education equal to white children, Negroes -continue to have an illiteracy far above the full population. In 1942, -illiteracy in the District was only 1 percent for all races, whereas -the Negro group showed 4 percent. Weighing these figures against the -proportions of population in 1942 would seem to indicate that the -Negroes were about 15 times as illiterate as whites. - -Much later figures are available, however. Only 4 percent of -Washington’s white youths who took the Army’s mental tests in 1950 -failed, but nearly 29 percent of the prospective colored recruits were -turned back. - -New York’s Harlem is self-contained. Though Chicago’s Bronzeville has -gone over its borders and set up tributary colonies in other sections -of the city, it is still the center of Negro life there and contains -most of its colored population. - -But Washington’s Black Belt is no belt at all. It is sprawled all over, -infiltrating every mile and almost every block in sections which for -150 years were lily white. - -In New York, when you refer to Harlem, everyone knows what part of town -you’re talking about. Similarly, Bronzeville and Central Avenue have -definite meanings in Chicago and Los Angeles. In Washington, you have -no way of indicating Darktown, because the Negro section has no generic -name and it isn’t a section. It is all of Washington. - -What is occurring in Washington is happening on a lesser scale in large -northern population centers, except probably Manhattan, where Harlem -is geographically restrained by Columbia University and Central Park, -though Puerto Ricans are generously overflowing its borders on both -sides. - -In Chicago, instead of being bound in black ghettos, Negroes have -preempted many sections, including former residences of millionaires. -They live along wide and vernal boulevards in once splendid apartments -and luxurious private homes with greeneries, and in palaces of packers -and pioneer pirates. - -This process is being repeated in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit -and especially Philadelphia. - -The South, with its restrictive practices against Negroes and its -underpayment of them, is gradually being denuded of its cheap labor, -which is drawn North. - -The recent census showed the population of most metropolitan cities -remained stable. But their suburbs, beyond city limits, increased in -many from 50 to 100 percent or more. This growth of Suburbia was made -by whites who left as Negroes came. That kept city populations in -status quo. - -The words used to paint the picture in Chicago may be repeated in -Washington, but with emphasis and re-emphasis. Here they took mile -after mile of fine old dwellings on wide, tree-lined streets. And they -also overran the slums. But Washington, despite the anguished yelps of -the do-gooders, long was and now is practically slum-free. - -Some rookery regions are on F St. and New Jersey Ave. near the Union -Station and Capitol. But there are poor whites living in hovels equally -depressed. On the other hand, 95 per cent of the Negroes live in -lodgings as good as and better than most white residents’. Negroes have -taken over most of the desirable blocks near the government offices and -downtown. - -We have before us an article on “The Negro in Washington,” in a recent -issue of _Holiday_ magazine, a slick-paper, 50-cent pleader for -leftist causes, published, curiously enough, by the staid, rich and -conservative house of Curtis, owners of the _Saturday Evening Post_. -This effusion is illustrated with four pages purporting to show the -Negro’s treatment in Democracy’s capital, which the editors call a -“democratic contradiction.” There are photographs of Negro children -at play in cluttered backyards which are called typical of the city’s -overcrowded Negro slums. Another picture shows a Negro woman in an -alley dwelling; another is captioned, “Capitol Dome presents a contrast -of obvious irony to the Negro slums which it overshadows. Overcrowding, -dirt and disease are all prevalent.” - -Your authors traveled up and down 1,000 miles of streets and -boulevards, 404 of alleys, not once but a dozen times. They saw the -slums illustrated in _Holiday_ magazine, but they saw few others, -because there are few others. At the most, 20,000, of a total of -400,000 Negroes, live in these “slums,” which, even at their worst, are -turreted castles compared to the degraded dwellings in which Negroes -and myriad whites are forced to live in New York. - -_Holiday_ did not print one picture showing the thousands of fine homes -and small apartment buildings in which most of Washington’s Negroes -live. - -Cup your ear and we’ll let you into a little secret about these -“slums.” Whether you read _Holiday_ or not, you’ve seen the pictures, -because they are the ones which are always used by Reds and Pinks -to point up to the world how gruesomely America treats its dark -step-children. The reason you’ve seen these pictures--always with the -Capitol dome in the background--is that there are no others available. - -Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the chief propagandists who exploited this -“blot” on Washington. This particular slum, always photographed, always -on every sight-seeing itinerary, is only a couple of blocks long and is -surrounded on all sides by presentable Negro homes. But this slum is -permitted to remain behind the Capitol only so the lefties will have -something to breast-beat over. It remained there during the Roosevelt -administration, when public housing and public building projects were -reshaping the face of Washington, only because an official who was in -Mrs. Roosevelt’s confidence ordered it undisturbed--for propaganda -purposes. - -The headquarters of the National Association for the Advancement of -Colored People is in a ramshackle old house near the New Jersey Avenue -slums. These are the specious ones referred to elsewhere, which are -kept untouched and maintained to impress visitors with the shocking -degradation forced on Negroes in view of the Capitol dome. - -The N.A.A.C.P. is rich and could locate in one of the prosperous, more -imposing Negro sections. But that would wipe out the psychological -advantage of bringing its visitors through the stage-managed -slave-quarters area. - -Under Negro occupancy, some of the best dwellings in Washington, once -residences of ambassadors, cabinet officers and the hated capitalists, -now look like the slums the Fair Dealers decry. - -In Washington, a Southern town with a Southern mentality, Negroes are -not popular, are not accepted as brothers except by a nagging and noisy -minority. The Negro is not Jim Crowed in street cars. There is no -law against a Negro’s attending a theatre with whites, eating in the -same restaurant or sleeping in the same hotel. But the law has upheld -proprietors who refuse to serve a Negro, though United States Supreme -Court decisions have gone otherwise elsewhere. - -Yet there is considerable intermixture between the races. It is not -uncommon to see white girls with colored men, especially jazz band -musicians, who seem to exert a magnetic appeal for Caucasian women -all over the country. Many Negro madames and pimps employ white girls -for their colored trade. In some New Deal left-wing circles it is -considered chi chi to meet socially and even sexually with Negroes, -though, because of accepted restrictions against Negroes in the better -spots, these contacts are not evident in the better public gathering -places. - -White people frequent colored night spots. Most of the reputed 480 -Negro after-hour bottle-clubs cater also to whites, though no white -club admits Negroes except possibly a prominent entertainer or band -leader. - -It is not uncommon to find white women living with colored men. -Practically no instance has come up in recent years of white men -consorting with colored women, except temporary pick-ups or in brothels. - -A raid on the Logan Hotel, at 13th Street and Rhode Island Avenue, -disclosed a white girl living with a Negro. She was the daughter of a -Texas physician. - -Police answered a trouble call at 17th and Q Streets and found a white -girl, employed by the Social Security Administration, visiting with a -colored janitor. He confessed that six other white girls from the same -U. S. agency visited him regularly for intercourse, one each night--and -paid him for it. - -Another white girl employed by the Government was arrested at her home -in Alexandria, after having received marijuana from a colored musician -named Brisco. Brisco, well-known in Washington, mailed the marijuana -from New York. According to U.S. Narcotics Agents, two white Washington -girls under 18 admitted smoking marijuana with him and said they had -unnatural sex relations with him--they were afraid of pregnancy. - -Due to determined efforts of local reformers, Jim Crow seems to be on -the way out in Washington, as it is everywhere and should be. Until -1949, the city’s six public swimming pools were restricted, to either -whites or Negroes. In 1948, the last year of such rules, the total -number of swimmers was 415,000, of which only 69,000 were Negroes. Two -pools were set aside for colored and four for white. In 1949, when -there were no racial bars, total attendance dropped off to 332,000. -One pool, Anacostia, was shut down for most of the summer after -disturbances started when colored swimmers first attempted to use the -pool. McKinley’s white patrons stopped using it completely. - -It was hoped that whites would have learned tolerance by 1950, and -toward the end of the season many of the loudest crack-pots brayed -about the success of the new policy. In the fall of 1950, Eleanor -Roosevelt, in her syndicated column, mumbled about how all friction was -ended and the millennium had arrived. As usual she was wrong. Official -figures released a few days later showed attendance had skidded another -33 percent, down to a total of 220,000, of which--and get this--only -one-third were Negroes. In other words, whites had almost stopped using -the pools; on the other hand, there were barely more Negro patrons than -when the pools were restricted. Agitation was heard from tax-payers to -shut the pools, now run at a heavy loss to the city. - -Only in public schools does legal Jim Crowism hold out. Recently a -performance of a tableau representing the Sesquicentennial of the -founding of the city was banned from the stage of a high school -auditorium because it had a mixed cast. The school board said: -“Congress makes the law and we enforce it.” There is a technical -question about whether a colored member of the board may visit white -schools, and vice versa. - -Adopting tactics employed by the National Association for the -Advancement of Colored People elsewhere, Washington Negroes and -whites who are trying to break down racial restrictions often picket -restaurants and other facilities which refuse to serve Negroes, and -sometimes stage sitdown strikes within them. After such an experiment -in the John R. Thompson chain, the demonstrators for racial equality -were arrested for disorderly conduct and sentenced by a judge who at -this writing has not been overruled. - -But the lot of Negroes is enviable compared to that of their brethren -elsewhere. We called Chicago’s Bronzeville Black Paradise. But that was -before we saw Washington’s Negro Heaven. - -The life of the Washington Negro is made pleasant by the force of many -circumstances. The odds are he is employed by the government, which -has raised salaries. If he doesn’t work for the government, he serves -government workers. He shares in the highest per capita earnings, yet -the cost of living in Washington is not so high as in New York and many -other large cities. All streets, in white sections or colored, are -broad and tree-lined. - -No Negro is ever fired from a government job if it can possibly be -helped. When necessary to cut down a staff, the whites go first, -reversing the process of private business. - -If they can’t do their work, whites are hired to do it over for -them. An instance, typical of thousands, occurred in the Bureau of -the Census, where five Negro women were so inefficient that their -department head requested permission to discharge them. His immediate -superior almost had a stroke. - -“If Eleanor hears about this,” he gasped, “there’ll be hell to pay.” - -Eleanor no longer lives in the White House. But she is still a potent -force in Washington, where her kitchen cabinet continues to rule the -nation that President Truman thinks he rules. - -The upshot of the matter was that the section head was told to keep the -five colored women and to hire five white girls to do the work over for -them, on the night shift. - -The same sort of favoritism is shown Negro job-holders and applicants -throughout the whole governmental set-up in the District. When a white -man wants to become a cop he takes a stiff civil service test and is -subject to a searching investigation. Most of the Negroes who have been -getting on the force recently did it on political pull. - -Kid-glove handling of Negroes is the rule in every phase of Washington -life, in addition to favoritism in appointments to the public payroll. - -Apparently no effort is made by the police and other public authorities -to enforce the liquor laws in the dark sections. The local Alcoholic -Beverage Control code provides that no one may be served while -standing. Bar customers must be seated on stools, and even then may be -served only beer and wines. Hard liquor may be consumed only at tables. -This is strictly enforced in resorts catering to whites. But almost -all colored saloons sell liquor openly over the bar, where drinkers -stand--as long as they can stand. Few attempts are made to restrict -gambling or policy-slip sales in the colored sections. - -Almost 500 Negro after-hour clubs are running, most of them not even -bothering to get club charters. Thousands of Negro flats are operated -as blind pigs, where liquor, mostly gin, is sold openly to all comers -at all hours. None has a license, naturally. - -Occasionally hokum raids are made and sometimes the defendants are -fined $25. Next day they are in business as usual. Honest policemen -are afraid to make too many pinches in Negro neighborhoods for fear -the pinkos will list them as “nigger-haters” and send their names up -above--maybe even to the White House. One cop whose name we will not -mention told us that one night after he pulled in a colored after-hour -spot, word came directly from the White House to the 13th precinct -station, in which the arrest had been made, to lay off. F.D.R. was -President then. - -Despite the maudlin tears of reformers about the horrible conditions -existing in Washington’s “Negro Ghetto,” there are probably more new -Cadillac convertibles being driven from its doors than from any others. -Sleek, new, expensive convertibles of the flashier brands have become -the sine qua non of Negro policy-peddlers and reefer-pushers here, -as well as in all other major American cities. Respectable people are -returning to the old-fashioned closed models for fear their bankers -will wonder what they’ve been up to. - -Yet, despite the flashy visible prosperity of Washington’s Negroes, a -disproportionate number are on public relief. Many draw dole and social -security checks under one name while gainfully employed at one or two -jobs under other names. This racket, invented for the residents of New -York’s Harlem and Little Puerto Rico, has been brought to its full -flower in Washington. - -The humanitarians and the New Dealers, worrying about colored votes in -the northern states, help to put butterfat in the colored man’s milk -in the capital. If the colored man works it right, he can get a relief -check the first day he lands in Washington. - -This story wasn’t published, but the federal agents who made the pinch -and compiled the record had carried it on their chests so long, they -ached to unburden it where it wouldn’t come back and bite them. When -they broke in on a Negro whom they suspected of selling narcotics, -he indignantly asserted, “You can’t arrest me. I am a friend of Mrs. -Roosevelt.” - -To prove it, he brought out a couple of letters from the First Lady, -one of which was addressed “Dear Jim,” or “Joe,” stating she was sorry -to hear that his relief check had not arrived on time, and she would -see that he was not pushed around in the future--he shouldn’t worry. -The boys arrested him and got a conviction. - -Mrs. Roosevelt, while in the White House and out, sincerely sought to -improve the position of Negroes everywhere. But sometimes her efforts -went to such extremes she hurt the cause. Once she made a reservation -for a small banquet party of sixty at the swank Hay-Adams House, across -the street from the White House. When the managers discovered it was to -be an interracial affair they cancelled it. On September 14, 1950, Mrs. -Roosevelt tried to register three Negroes in her party into the Willard -Hotel. She was staying elsewhere, with friends. The Willard refused. - -White property-owners tremble at the financial danger that would result -should Negroes crash white residential areas. - -But entry is made through a tactic known as “block-busting,” developed -by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and -utilized by it and by white real estate agents out to make a buck. - -Government agents first heard about it when they arrested a Negro woman -on narcotics charges and asked her for her occupation. She replied with -dignity, “I’m a block-buster.” She explained to the mystified T-Men -that she was employed by a real estate shark and her duties were as -follows: - -When her employers had scouted an all-white neighborhood they thought -ripe for plucking, they would find a white property-owner who, for a -bonus, was willing to sell his property to a Negro. If the place was -worth $25,000 he would be bribed with as much as another $25,000 to -sell out. There are few neighborhoods where not one greedy white man -could be found after a searching survey by private detectives. - -After the block-buster--in her own name--made the purchase, she and her -large Negro family moved in. Immediately, all other property in the -neighborhood sank in value and most of it was thrown on the market. The -far-sighted realtors then bought it up at greatly reduced values. Then -they resold it or rented it to Negroes at inflated prices, and started -another Negro island in the city. - -When this was accomplished, the block-buster moved on to another base -and repeated the process. - -You can sense a neighborhood in the process of being block-busted -by “For Sale” signs on porches or lawns, oddities in this otherwise -overpopulated, under-housed metropolis. - -In cities where Negroes and whites live in separate and distinct -sections, opportunities for racial strife and violence are rare. -In Washington, where they live side by side all over, use the same -street cars and buses, patronize the same stores and constantly brush -shoulders on the streets, there is friction which sometimes flares -high and hot. Some of their leaders advise Negroes to be assertive, -aggressive, to demonstrate their equality. They pick fights and needle -Caucasians, most of whom are afraid to make complaints, because when -they get into court the federally appointed Yankee judge, whose robe -was bestowed upon him by a “civic rights” President, in many instances -finds for the Negro and castigates the white complainants, especially -policemen. - -Among Negroes on the national political level who most zealously fight -to assert prerogatives of their race in the capital are: - -Congressman William Dawson, vice chairman of the Democratic National -Committee, chairman of the mighty House Committee on Executive -Expenditures. He represents Chicago’s vile Bronzeville and is a -patronage-dispenser for the malodorous Cook County Democratic Central -Committee. He is extremely friendly with big shots of the infamous -Mafia, which controls all crime and corruption in the United States. -Before a Congressional Committee, Dawson was charged with being the -defender of the rackets. The charge was made by the late Bill Drury, -former Chicago police captain, who was slain by assassins who ambushed -him in an alley after Drury tried to reach the Kefauver Committee in an -effort to put the full inside story of the underworld on the record. - -Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Democrat from New York’s Harlem, who -usually voted hand-in-glove with Marcantonio. He is supported in every -election by the successors of “Dutch” Schultz, whose policy-slip and -murder ring had its headquarters in what is now Powell’s district. He -is married to Hazel Scott, Negro pianist, who has been frequently cited -by Congressional and Legislative committees as indicating pro-Russian -proclivities. She has denied it. He and his wife live in a swank Long -Island home, far from his bailiwick, and ride in a chauffeur-driven -$6,000 limousine. - -William Hastie, former governor of the Virgin Islands, now the first -Negro on the exalted bench of the United States Circuit Court of -Appeals. In volume 17 of the published records of the Special Committee -on Un-American Activities of the House of Representatives, Judge Hastie -was cited as belonging to at least five Communist-front organizations. -He was, however, subsequently appointed to the Federal bench by -President Truman. - -Wherever Negroes live, they have their own snobberies, castes and -social strata. Rich ones and light ones are contemptuous of the poor -and the black, and toward them they more often use the tabooed word -“nigger” than do most whites. And they add one extra prejudice, not -found among whites--resentment of the native-born Negro for the recent -comer from the Southern plantations. - - - - -7. MIGHTY LIKE A ROSE - - -There is a daily in Washington (as there are others in principal -cities) which never identifies a Negro as such unless he wins a Nobel -prize or is selected the rookie of the year. - -We protest. News cannot be honestly reported by arbitrarily slurring -facts. Of almost all other non-whites, many are marked by recognizable -names. Most Negroes have Anglo-Saxon names, many of them adopted -centuries ago from their slave-owners. For instance, Thompson’s -Ebenezer evolved into Ebenezer Thompson. - -That same newspaper does not bar true and fair reports of misdeeds by -people named O’Rourke or Ginsberg or Dinkelspiel or Stanislawsky or -Protopulus or Garcia or Potapinsky or Napolitano. Concealment of the -identity as Negro distorts the truth, for the natural assumption then -is that the miscreants are white and we have an unjustified libel on -the Caucasian population. - -The most rabid Negro papers publish the crimes of their own people and -then editorialize on the cruel inequalities which help to cause them. -That is the proper use of freedom of the press. Arbitrary withholding -of vital facts is an impertinence and a misuse of the common franchise. - -Fancy if you can what this chapter could not tell were we to suppress -racial references. - -Of every four felonies and other breaches of the law in the grades -where a defendant has the right of trial by jury more than three are -committed by Negroes. That is not confidential, but official. Arrests -for Part One felonies--the more serious--in 1949 were as follows: - - Colored males, 7,715. - Colored females, 1,085. - Total colored, 8,800. - White male, 2,396. - White female, 309. - Total white, 2,705. - -Here is a breakdown on some: - - Murder, colored 40; white 8. - Manslaughter, colored 6; white 1. - Rape, colored 140; white 23. - Aggravated assault, colored 2,651; white 381. - Burglary, colored 2,322; white 640. - -Negrophiles and impractical activists for brotherhood of all God’s -children campaign to force newspapers to omit racial identification of -the lawless and hide it with white lies. That is the foggy, unrealistic -policy of visionaries, sparked by the cold, hard practicality of Reds. - -Arrests for Part Two felonies (less serious) and important misdemeanors -showed an even higher incidence of Negro crime. - -Estimating the Negro population at 50 percent, this means half the -people commit 85 percent of all the crimes. As will be shown in a later -chapter, a large quota of the white crimes can be charged to transients. - -The data on crimes by whites are incontrovertible. Those by Negroes -in Washington, as well as in all other northern cities, do not give -the full picture. Most police officers prefer not to arrest blacks, -especially if there is no white complainant. They have nothing to gain -by such a pinch; they merely invite an uproar for “persecuting the -gentle Negro.” - -Many colored law breakers are never arrested; many who are are not -booked, the officers often preferring to mete out summary punishment -on the back stairs, which they know is a better deterrent than the -inevitable discharge or suspended sentence by a timid, “seen” or -left-wing judge. - -If you doubt that, the following is from the record of a Congressional -hearing and there are plenty of other stories like it: - -Private Hamilton was assigned with Detective Sergeant Clyde Rouse for -midnight cruising. They observed a stolen car parked on Q Street NW, -with two occupants. - -Rouse and Hamilton walked up to the car. Rouse went to the left and -Hamilton to the right. Rouse recognized the driver as Charles W. Scott, -colored, 24, of 476 O Street NW, wanted for questioning in connection -with stolen auto hold-ups. - -Rouse opened the door and tried to seize Scott, but only succeeded in -shoving the gear shift lever out of gear. Rouse was on his knees on -the front seat, practically on top of the other occupant of the car, a -woman, who proved to be Marian Holston, 20, colored, of 16 Q Street NW, -who had been picked up by Scott. - -Rouse made a desperate effort to reach the key to cut off the motor but -the woman fought him, kicking, scratching, and biting. The Negro driver -of the stolen car shoved the gear lever in and with the accelerator -down to the floor board, rocketed the car into high speed. Hamilton, -his head and shoulders through the window, holding on to the wheel, -attempted to steer. It was impossible for either officer to jump or -let go. The stolen car finally collided with a barricade, ran over the -sidewalk. - -With Rouse still fighting to gain control, and Hamilton still -struggling, the car, without headlights and at a terrific speed -collided with a tractor trailer truck. The stolen auto was completely -demolished. - -Private Hamilton was killed. - -Scott had a record which showed he had been committed eight times as a -juvenile delinquent on charges of larceny, and in 1943 was sentenced to -from two to five years for auto stealing. Thereafter he was involved in -six charges of robbery. - -But the U.S. Attorney’s office refused to prosecute the Negroes and the -police were advised that if they insisted on going through with charges -before a judge, the DA’s office would nolle prosse the case, because -they did not believe “a conviction could be obtained” against colored -people who had so unfortunately become involved in the killing of a -policeman. But when a policeman kills a Negro in the line of duty, the -politically chosen District Attorney is frequently highpressured by the -N.A.A.C.P. into bringing murder charges. - -We have pointed to the misguided tendency to minimize the size and -extent of the Negro population. If more than half of Washington’s -population is not black, the per capita crime rate is even more -appalling. - -Like white crime, Negro crime is organized and syndicated. This does -not mean every rapist, hold-up man and car-thief takes orders from -above. But it means that when he gets in trouble he does seek certain -directed sources for bail-bonds, lawyers and fixers. - -Policy-sellers, bookmakers’ runners, reefer peddlers and junk salesmen -are employed by an organization which protects them also. - -The process, as it works here, will be described in detail in the -chapters devoted to crime and law enforcement, as it is part of the -general picture of organized evil. - -In Washington, as in other cities, Negro crime on the consumer and -go-between levels is operated and controlled by Negroes. They report -to, kick back to, and make their fixes at upper levels with, white -criminals. The topmost control rests in the hands of the international -Syndicate, the Mafia, the Unione Siciliano. The Washington Negro -crime-ring has more autonomy than usual, because there are few -Sicilians and even fewer interested in crude crime. The national -Syndicate prefers not to show its bloody hands openly in the capital, -but lurks in the background--in New York, principally. - -The most powerful Washington Negro is the aforementioned Puddin’ Head -Jones. Jim Yellow Roberts is the boss of dope and reefers. He makes his -buys in wholesale lots in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, direct -from the importers. While temporarily embarrassed by a jail sentence, -Roberts continued to run the Negro dope trade. - -“Whitey” Simpkins is king of the Black Belt’s numbers racket. Johnny W. -Carter, who owns the Club Bali, a black-and-tan resort, is one of the -gamblers’ chiefs. Their payoff is a percentage which eventually reaches -the Syndicate through channels which will be set forth in detail in the -chapter devoted to dope and gambling in Washington. - -One of Washington’s most important Negro underworld figures is Lamarr -(Polly) Brown who has been implicated in every form of illegality from -operating after-hour clubs to the sale of narcotics. Odessa Madre, -known as the “Queen of the Fences,” is just what her honorific implies. - -Following the white pattern, the largest, gayest and most colorful -Negro section is also laid out in NW. This part of town abounds with -colored flats where a white man may take a white or colored woman. -These holes sell gin without licenses, provide bedroom accommodations -for those who want them, and girls for those who don’t have them. - -Many Negro cab-drivers pimp for white girls, first getting acquainted -with them when they pick them up as passengers. They set them up in -apartments, most of which are in NW, and sell their services to white -or colored men. These cabbies also handle reefers and after-hour liquor. - -If you rode with us in Washington, through the NW colored section, -these are some of the things we could have shown you: - -First, we parked our car at the corner of 10th and B Sts., in front of -the Lincoln Barbeque. We waited five minutes, a colored man came out of -the restaurant and took our order for bootleg liquor. It happened after -two, when the bars were closed. His prices were moderate, no more than -50 cents to a dollar above the established tariff. But the stuff was -moonshine and cut. - -Let’s go to 1919 14th Street NW. This house was formerly the Star Dust -Club, an after-hour drinking and gambling place. Now it’s a shoeshine -parlor. It’s owned by William J. “Foots” Edwards, a notorious Negro -gambler. If you want a game, you can find stud in the basement. - -The dark corner of 5th and K looks quiet and serene. The colored -damsels who parade past here singly and by twos are not. Stop your car -at the corner and they will come over and solicit you. Business all -night. If you’re a Negro you’ll know where to take them. If you are a -white man they’ll go along in your car to an alley or steer you to a -buggy rooming-house. Another corner frequented by dusky hustlers in -search of white trade is 9th and Rhode Island. - -At about this time, we’ll run through the 7th Street district, which -is the Broadway of the NW Negro section, with the chief shops, -restaurants, night clubs and theatres. You can make pick-ups anywhere -around 7th, Georgia and Florida Avenues, but these streets are brightly -lighted, so most white men who want to change their luck play the -darker streets. And there it is not unusual to see white girls brace -black men. - -In addition to sex on sale at the corner of 7th and Florida, you can -buy reefers or policy slips. - -U Street, from 7th to 15th, is another bright light belt in the colored -section. The Dunbar Hotel and the Whitelaw are the swank Negro inns. -The Dunbar was once the aristocratic white Courtland Hotel. In its -basement is the 20-11 Club, one of the Nation’s best-known colored -cabarets, which caters to the cream of the colony and is patronized -also by white novelty-seekers. Rich and visiting Negro celebrities -check in at the Dunbar. So do Feds and cops, who have occasionally made -pinches there for narcotics and morals violations. In the 20-11 Club -you can pick up girls of any race. - -On the corner of 7th and T are three hot spots--the Off Beat Club, for -musicians, the Club Harlem, and the Seventh and T Club. We saw them -serve drinks after hours and cater to fairies of all shades, female -white thrill-chasers and Negro reefer addicts. - -Washington, like Chicago, is a city of alleys in every block of -residential property and many business squares, bisected by the rear -passages. As in Chicago, they are conducive to crime, afford dark, -narrow lanes for rape, assault, robbery and the pleasanter crimes of -crap shooting and soliciting. - -In some Negro sections where housing is at a premium, they live in -shacks in the alleys. These are some of the slums already referred -to--not many, but picturesque and odoriferous. One of the best-known -is an alley oddly named Temperance Court. If white people lived -there it would be fashionable at premium rents; it is similar to the -aristocratic Washington Mews in New York’s Greenwich Village. But -it is inhabited by some of the lowest members of the Negro race in -Washington--and that means low. - -Temperance Court is between 12th and 13th, T and U Streets, near the -13th precinct station. More dope peddlers and ginmill operators are -annually arrested in this block than on any other street of comparable -size anywhere in the world. You can buy anything you want there--girls, -bootleg whiskey, cocaine and marijuana, stolen property, guns and -knives, articles of perversion and sadism. Anything but a virgin past -the age of puberty. - -A notorious dope peddler operated there until recently and may still be -there when this comes out. He is John Frye. He has so many children, -some sleep on the roof, four on a bed, and there is always a new baby -in the carriage. Narcotics agents said he hid junk in the baby’s -diaper. A competitor in the same block was Wilbur Kenny, known to the -cokies merely as “Y.” - -Another byway in the NW Negro section, which is unpublicized in the -slick magazines, is Goat Alley, off 7th Street, near M. This is -terribly tough, with reefer peddlers, two-dollar wenches, a mugging -a minute and murders common. Close by the Negro sections of crime -and perversion is Ledroit Park, once surrounded by the mansions of -aristocracy. This is back of Griffith Stadium, which, like Comiskey -Park, home of the Chicago White Sox, is engulfed in a sable sea. -Baseball lovers must travel through miles of dangerous streets to the -stadium. - -Nearby is Freedman’s Hospital, the world’s leading institution of its -kind for colored people, one of the outstanding institutions in the -world. Its internes are Howard University medical graduates, and among -these are great doctors. They get plenty of practice. The worst Negro -assault cases go to Freedman’s. On Friday and Saturday nights the -floors of its emergency wards look like slaughterhouses. Knifings are -frequent; shootings run second. Even on weekdays the place teems with -police interviewing victims. - -Garfield Hospital, also near a large Negro community, is the second in -assault cases. - -One of the largest Negro islands in NE has as its center Central -Avenue--same name as Los Angeles’ Harlem, though purely coincidental. - -Gamblers in the NE section get action above the colored poolroom at 507 -8th Street and E. - -SW’s colored section is one of the largest in Washington and perhaps -the oldest. It begins within a thrown stone’s distance of the Capitol -and runs through to the Army War College. If you’ve read about this -neighborhood in some pinkish publication before seeing it for yourself -you will be looking for something awful. But you will drive through -miles of wide avenues with deep lawns. They’re littered with rubbish -and junk, of course. This homey residential section is reminiscent of -God-fearing, law-abiding middle-class sections in typical Southern -towns. - -But what goes on inside these cozy habitations is not sleepy. The -streets, so quiet by day, take on a sinister aspect at night. This -whole section is known as Bloodfield. It’s worth a white man’s or -woman’s life to walk there unaccompanied. Even respectable Negroes are -not safe. - -Young colored hoodlums of both sexes, adept at mugging and knifing, -prey on strangers. The white man who comes here for pastime will find -his luck all bad. The best he can hope for is a beating and maiming. -But white women who are known to be Negro lovers are given safe conduct -by the men, though they are attacked often by Negro women who resent -the intrusion. These streets are barely patrolled by police. - -The main shopping and drinking boulevards of the SW Negro section are -4th and 7th Streets. Around here the Negroes moved into and drove out -what there was of a Jewish ghetto. The street where Al Jolson lived as -a child and where his father practiced as a cantor is now all Negro. - -The SW dope peddlers and whores make their hangout on 6½th Street. The -chief madames are “Mamma Liz” and “Big Tit” Flossie. - -We have indicated that many white women--especially government -workers--are receptive to sexual attentions of Negro men. But the -comparative ease with which a black man can get a white girl, even a -so-called respectable one, does not seem to deter colored men from -committing rape on women of their own race and whites. - -As these lines were being written, all Washington was shocked and -alerted when a 22-year-old South American girl, visiting with a -diplomatic family, was stalked, attacked and ravished in a park near -Arlington Cemetery by a Negro, who, Tarzan-like, leaped from a clump of -trees entirely naked. - -The popular form of Negro attack is mugging, a process in which the -assailant comes up behind a man or woman and throws his arm around the -victim’s throat, closing it sharply with the elbow out, and jabbing a -knee into the small of the back. - -But in Washington colored people call it “yoking,” derivation of the -word unknown. It includes all forms of street assault. One process -consists of sneaking up behind a lone passer-by, usually one who -apparently has been drinking, and tapping him on the shoulder. As he -turns around, he is hit square on the jaw with a stiff arm, then kicked -in the groin when he falls. Most victims are robbed. But many young and -exuberant Negroes get up yoking parties just for the joy and excitement. - -Three young colored boxers, aged 14, 16, and 17, terrorized Washington -a few months ago, committing at least 19 yoke robberies, netting more -than $2,000. The 17-year-old was a semifinalist in the 160-pound class -in last year’s Golden Gloves tournament. The youngest boxed at a boys’ -club. The 16-year-old was a quarter finalist in the 135-pound class. -These activities are said to breed good citizens. - -The three bet among themselves which would land the first punch on the -victim and whether it would be a knockout. - -Police arrest hundreds of Negro yokers every year, most of them in -their teens. Thousands of yokings go unsolved. The yokers are usually -highly organized into juvenile gangs which fight also with home-made -pistols, sawed-off shotguns and switchblade knives. - -Many of these young Negro gangs terrorize students, white and black, in -public schools, offering to sell them “protection” and punishing them -when they don’t pay up. - -Startled public officials first heard about these gangs some months -ago after incidents at Banneker High. An 18-year-old colored boy was -held for the grand jury on a charge of robbing a 15-year-old Banneker -schoolboy of a wrist watch on the school playground. He threatened to -whip the younger boy if he talked. School officials were awakened to -the fact that all the schools in the city had this problem. According -to the assistant superintendent of schools G. C. Wilkenson, “the gangs -are made up of boys who aren’t in school and who aren’t working--mostly -from 16 to 21 years old.” - -Officials try to minimize the situation, but there is a wave of terror -in every public elementary and high school. Young Negro gangsters lurk -about the schools, sell reefers, molest girls, and commit mayhem on -children who won’t pony up. Boys and girls thus forced to pay tribute -are told to steal from their parents or do a little shoplifting if they -have no other means of procuring the extortion money. Youngsters are -put on heroin and morphine by the youthful gangsters, and soon enter a -life of serious crime. - -Other yokers use a tactic borrowed from the dacoits, a murderous -religious gang of India, throwing a cord over the victim’s head from -behind and garroting him. - -Some of these colored juvenile mobs have been in existence for 15 or 20 -years. When boys and girls outgrow them and become adult criminals on -their own, they are replaced by new children on the way up. Among the -older and better-organized kid mobs are the Fastest Runners, the Forty -Thieves, the Purple Cross Gang and the Protective Association. - -The Fastest Runners is composed of younger boys who fight with -switch-blade knives. When they grow up they graduate into adult gangs. -All these organizations have female auxiliaries, membership in which -requires the young colored girls to solicit on the streets and turn the -proceeds over to the boys. Girls as young as 11 participate and at 12 -are “debs,” with full standing. - -Among offenses which are practically Negro monopolies in Washington are -the following: - -_Numbers and policy slips._ Almost all numbers sellers, even in white -neighborhoods and in government office buildings, are colored men and -women. In other cities Sicilians, Puerto Ricans, Filipinos and Mexicans -get in on this activity, but there are no sizeable groups of such in -Washington. The modus operandi of numbers selling will be described in -the chapter on gambling. - -_Sale of reefers._ Almost all marijuana retailers are colored, which -also is unique to Washington. - -_Theft and conversion of government checks at the lower level._ The -men, because so many are janitors and elevator boys, have entree to -apartment buildings and tenement houses and access to mail-boxes. These -thieves strike at the middle or at the end of the month, when checks -are sent out by the Treasury for G.I. remunerations, Social Security -benefits, pensions, army subsistence and similar regular allotments. -Those who do the manual stealing seldom attempt to cash the checks, -which are turned over to fences, often white, including storekeepers -and sometimes bankers. - -Another Negro industry is _the sale of bootleg booze_. The rings -operate in many fashions. On some streets you find peddlers who sidle -up beside you, or come up to your car when you stop for traffic lights. -Many shoeshine “parlors” are moonshine dispensaries. Groceries and -poolrooms also sell, usually gin, but sometimes what is supposed to be -bourbon--corn for the Southern taste. The gin is mixed with cider to -dilute the taste of raw kerosene and the combination has a wallop. - -That good old Negro money-raising institution, known as “the rent -party” elsewhere, has a specific, generic name in Washington, where -it’s called a “chitlin party.” Chitlins, hogs’ innards, are a delicacy -in some blacker parts of the South and are used here as a decoy -to attract guests to the homey brawls which are a regular part of -Blacktown’s social life. In New York’s Harlem and Chicago’s Bronzeville -the paying guest at a rent party gets nothing in exchange for his -contribution except the right to bring his woman, drink his gin, and -get into the fracas. - -We met a white fellow who has run Washington’s chitlin industry up into -a million-dollar-a-year class. He gets the stuff from the butchers for -nothing. They’re almost willing to pay him to cart it away. Then he -packages it in 10-gallon jars which he sells for $2.50, or two bits a -gallon. That means the capital’s Negroes consume 4,000,000 gallons a -year. - -These chapters were, of course, not in print when a young man known as -“The Sniper” was, for a few days, the most famous person in Washington. -If he were around now, our critics might have said we incited him. The -Sniper--a young white man--was a congenital Negro-hater. He boiled up -into an insane rage every time he saw a sable woman or man. He hid in -various sections and hit bullseyes from roofs, behind trees and through -open windows. - -Before he was caught there was a wave of terror. For days Negroes -remained indoors. Crime sagged, because even the worst elements were -afraid to leave their homes. - -Police Lieutenant Barrett, now Major and Superintendent of the -Metropolitan Force, got him after he had killed a half-dozen men and -wounded scores. - -While the Sniper was in jail on suspicion, he met a drug addict, one -Richard Harlowe, and confided in him where he had hidden his gun, in -Baltimore. Barrett recovered it and came back to find his bird had -escaped. He was recaptured in Georgetown. Barrett’s fame helped him to -become the chief. His friends say it had nothing to do with the fact -that he was related to Major Edward Kelley, a previous chief. - - - - -8. CHINATOWN CHIPPIES - - -Sam Wong, an owner of the China Clipper, Quonsett Inn, the Dragon and -other popular restaurants, was indicted on a $250,000 tax fraud. The -government charged he gave most of it to two blondes--sisters--who -lived with him. The case was tried in Baltimore. (_Note_: Though -Washington is the nation’s capital, it is merely part of the Maryland -Internal Revenue collection district.) - -When the case was called, the courtroom filled with poker-faced -orientals. The government called some, the defense called others, -including Wong, whom it put on the stand. - -But not one Chinese witness testified coherently. They gave their -names, addresses, and so on, muttered and mumbled irrelevant replies. -Even the defendant remained mute after being put on the stand by his -own attorney. - -The lawyers had read _Chicago Confidential_, in which these reporters -revealed that Chinese will have no truck with American courts or -American law. So they gave a copy to the court and D.A., hoping the -judge and jury would realize the impossible position in which the -defense legal battery was placed. It did no good. Wong got a year. The -blondes weren’t Chinese--and they convicted him. - -Some go to Chinatown for chop suey and chow mein. We will write about -those who seek other delicacies. - -Washington’s Chinatown is neither as large as Frisco’s, as colorful as -New York’s, nor as odoriferous as Boston’s. You will see no ancient, -pajama-clad women on its streets, and only a few young slant-eyed -Sadies. - -Chinatown is a mere three or four blocks on H Street, beginning -in a block about 8th and extending barely to 5th. It’s almost all -neon-lighted restaurants, with the shops of a few wholesale merchants -and traders sandwiched in between. H is a typical wide Washington -street with set-back buildings. If it weren’t for the garish Chinese -characters on the illuminated signs and windows, and the pale -yellow-faced men with sad old almond eyes sprawling on the stoops, -you’d think you were anywhere but in a Chinatown. - -As in all Chinese quarters, various locations and various businesses -are divided between the tongs. Only two operate in the East, though -there are scores in California. - -The On Leongs are dominant here, though not in the nation, through an -alliance with the Hip Sings, cemented many years ago, when they drove -the competing organizations back to the West Coast. Then they turned on -their ally. After a series of bloody wars, they established themselves -as the top dogs, with the Hip Sings the poor cousins. - -The tongs are, primarily, trade and benevolent associations. Their -membership is comprised of certain families or immigrants from certain -villages in Canton. When the authorities clamped down on tong wars in -the 1930’s, the tongs began to enforce their decrees and decisions by -peaceful means, which include trade and social boycott. - -According to members of the Chinese colony in Washington, there are -only 500 of them, but these figures are far out of line with our -count of at least 7,500. There are hundreds of Chinese restaurants -and laundries in the town. Chinese always underestimate their -population, as do Negroes. But with them there are more concrete -reasons. Three-fourths are entered illegally, through many subterfuges, -such as forged birth and marriage certificates, as well as actual -body-smuggling over the Mexican and Canadian borders and from the West -Indies. The price of entering a Chinese now is $5,000, as against a -modest $1,000 twenty years ago. The fee is paid the smugglers by the -Chinaman’s tong or family society, for whom he then works to pay it -off. Nowadays most of this illegal entry is by air. - -Chinese are cagey at census time, because if the rolls show anywhere -near as many in the country as there are, the difference in numbers -between those here and the ones on record would be so startling, it -would cause an investigation and wholesale deportation. Another reason -is that they are on a gentlemen’s agreement quota basis with agents of -the Federal Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization. When an agent -runs across a group of illegally-entered Chinese, he gets practical -about the whole matter. - -If he turned them all up at once, he’d get a pat on the back from his -superior, then have to go on a new job next week. But if he reports -only one every two weeks, he doesn’t have to do another lick of work -for months. So the agent makes a deal with the head of the tong, who -delivers the unfortunate Chinese at set intervals, and thus everyone is -happy: the government because it gets the Chinese, the agent because he -can loaf, and the wealthy Chinese laundry and restaurant owners, who -are not suddenly faced with labor shortages. - -Washington’s Chinatown is important beyond its numerical strength -because it acts as a lobby for Chinese all over the country, regardless -of tong affiliation, and for Chinese merchants and enterprises all over -the world. There are not enough Chinese voters in the country to enable -them to influence elections, but they make up for lack of numbers by -intelligence, ingenuity, wealth and Oriental cunning developed by -centuries of intrigue with no qualms of honor owed the white man. - -Communists never overlook a trick. They quickly took advantage of the -Chinaman’s unique possibilities. Many Chinese are vulnerable because -they have relatives in the old country. Thus they are subject to -pressure. Many are technical law-breakers or illegal entrants, so the -Reds, with their influence in high places, can threaten effectively. -Chinese societies make swell “drops” for the transmission of messages -and intelligence, and are being used, an angle not yet brought out -publicly. - -They’ll tell you it isn’t so, but some of the recent tong fighting is a -war between Nationalists and Communists. - -Chinatown, only a few blocks from the White House, the Capitol and the -center of the business and commercial life, is a focal point for all, -whites as well as Orientals, visitors and natives. In this town, where -almost everything shutters by midnight, the Chinese propensity for -staying up all night and sleeping most of the day has brought about -several phenomena. Unless you are welcome at a bottle club, there is -no late place to go to in Washington except Chinatown. Most of the -restaurants there are open all night, selling food. More than a few -serve liquor after 2 A.M., if they know you, in a tea-pot. - -There is hectic activity all evening. Most of the white bag-swinging -street-hustlers work the neighborhood. Any cab-driver will direct you -there if you ask him, “Where can I get a girl?” These self-sellers -usually ask $20, but will take what they can get. They go on duty at -around 8, and by 10 most have made arrangements. From 10 to about 1 or -2, the restaurants are taken over by respectable people, mostly young -couples who stop in for a bite of exotic food after the movies. After -1, when the tarts have completed their rounds, they come back again -for more trade. At this time the drunks who have been ejected from the -cocktail lounges and night clubs are transported wholesale by cab to -Chinatown. Many of the drivers have deals with certain girls and some -of these girls have deals with the Chinese restaurants they habitually -visit. - -Many of the hookers hang out at the Mai Fong. - -We could find no Chinese whores in Washington. The proportion of -Chinese women to men is one to ten. Any Oriental girl, no matter -how homely, can make an attractive marriage. Many Chinese men are -married to white women. There are no Chinese waitresses in the Chinese -restaurants, except an occasional relative of the owner; they are -whites. Few are for sale, but many will help get you one who is. - -When the tramps finish their second round with the guys they have -picked up at 2, they come back to Chinatown at 5 or 6 in the morning, -by which time the waiters, chefs and bartenders, all Chinese, are -locking up for the night and ready for a bit of shacking up themselves. -Many of the prostitutes live with Chinese men from the restaurants and -the gambling joints. These are useful to the Chinese colony, which -entertains influential white people lavishly. Many members of Congress, -high government officials and influential lobbyists are feted at -private parties, where they are served exotic twenty-course meals of -raw octopus and lambs’ eyes, washed down by shark’s fin soup. Police -Chief Barrett, always accompanied by his aide-de-camp, a lieutenant, is -frequently entertained in these private rooms. - -Amiable blondes are supplied by the hosts if wanted, and rooms are -available down the block, at the Eastern House, a cheap Chinese and -white hotel, where federal agents frequently pick up dope-peddlers. - -Selling narcotics is another large Chinese industry. Unlike other -cities, it is not confined to selling to Chinese. In all other Eastern -cities, opium, the favorite Chinese dream-smoke, is peddled by members -of the On Leong Tong, who have the cream of everything, won through -violence and chicanery. - -In other cities, Hip Singers must content themselves with the sale -of white stuff--heroin, morphine and cocaine--which is seldom used -by Chinese. In Washington, Chinese are among the main retail dope -purveyors for the white trade as well as their own people. There are -few Puerto Rican and Italian drug passers available. So both tongs sell -everything. Junkies cruise Chinatown at all hours of the day and night -in search of dope, and can make a buy without any trouble. If anyone -stands on a corner and looks sad for more than five minutes, he will be -approached by a peddler. - -The net result is that, with narcotics as with girls, the Chinese find -a potent weapon with which to further the interests of their fellow -Orientals all over the country. More than one high government official -is on dope, which he procures from Chinese dealers, who in turn have -him at their mercy because they control the source and because they -have the power of blackmail. - -The Chinese import some, obtain the rest from the central Mafia sources -in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, or directly from abroad, as -will be described later. They frequently cooperate with the Mafia in -smuggling narcotics and other contraband. It is a matter of record -that many Chinese secret societies have worked with their ancient -Sicilian counterpart, the Mafia, over the centuries. Both Cantonese -and Sicilians are widely dispersed over the world, but each faction -is bound together by a common language and secret societies. Chinese -societies are remarkable transmission belts. And among Chinese are many -natural-born gangsters--sly rather than bold in white men’s countries. - -Dope can be hidden in rice, vegetables and even wet-wash. The Chinese -societies also provide the Mafia with facilities for transporting -contraband money from country to country or from town to town. - -There’s hardly a location in Chinatown without some form of gambling -going on, quite often open to the street. Almost every restaurant has -a game in the rear. Many stores are blinds for the huge wagering that -goes on behind. If you came in and asked to buy some article you saw -in the window, you’d be laughed at; they are usually dummy props. Huge -sums are won and lost in these games, and bankrolls of a hundred or -two hundred thousand dollars on the table are not unknown. This is -always syndicate money. Sometimes as many as 500 or 1,000 partners all -over the country are in the play. These games go on 24 hours a day, -without pause. Each syndicate’s players are chosen for their ability as -gamblers. They play in teams with others who relieve them. - -We saw open gambling in the Fong Wah Co., in Eng Hon, in the On Leong -building, and at numbers 601, 603, 606, 607, 608 H Street, in Chinatown. - -The police know all about this gambling, but take no action unless -white men put in a beef. They explain you can’t make a pinch stick on -Chinese: the games they play are not understandable to whites, and it -is almost impossible to make an identification of an Oriental, or to -get one to testify, for or against. - -When the Chinese hook a fat white sucker, the game moves every hour to -a different location. - -Sixth Street, at H, is the dividing line between Hip Sing and On Leong -territory, with the Hip Sings below 6th, the less desirable part of -town. The division of businesses gives all restaurants to On Leongs -and the laundries to Hip Sings, therefore all chop suey parlors in -Chinatown are above 6th Street. - -Kwon Seto is the local On Leong boss and one of the most powerful men -in Washington. George Moy, secretary of the On Leongs, is the “mayor” -of Chinatown. A man named Yee is the real boss. Moy owns the Joy Inn, -where an investigator for a crime committee was steered by a District -official, then “mickeyed.” - - - - -9. THE OVERFLOW - - -Of every 100 residents of the metropolitan district, 45 live in the -suburbs--over the line in Maryland and across the Potomac in Virginia. -The take from these sections, in legitimate taxes and the proceeds of -vice and crime, is so attractive that the city fathers of Washington -have their greedy eyes on annexing this adjoining land onto the -voteless District. - -Almost everywhere else, unincorporated territory across city lines is -a world apart. These county sections usually look different, smell -different and are different from the city. They are bad or good, -where people go to get away from the law, or go to get away from the -lawlessness of the big city. - -The border of D.C. is arbitrary. As the population of the capital grew, -it spread. For all practical purposes, nearby Maryland and Virginia are -as much a part of the city as any part of the city itself. Most of the -residents of the suburbs work in the capital. - -The entire area is really one municipality, though those living in -Virginia and Maryland can vote. - -There are no caste or social lines between the District and the -suburbs. Society people may live in Washington, Virginia or Maryland. -Residences of high government officials are spread over the three. The -big wheels of the underworld are likewise scattered. The same overlords -control the rackets in the entire metropolitan district. - -The state lines provide gangsters with yet another safeguard. -Extradition warrants are required to move them from one area to -another. For some specific crimes, the authorities are hampered by the -fact that no extradition is authorized. Smart lawyers take advantage of -these false barriers. For instance, each day’s collection of lottery -money in the District is moved into Maryland. Conversely, much of -Maryland’s bookmaking take is deposited in District banks. That is all -done on legal advice. - -Technically, police officers in hot pursuit may cross state lines -to make arrests, even for traffic violations. But few crimes are -committed in the presence of a cop, and almost never any involving the -upper echelons of crime. The satellite regions are remarkably free -of Negroes, who prefer the city which they have all but taken over. -That’s why the suburbs grew in size to such extent that Silver Spring, -Maryland, adjacent to the District, of which outsiders seldom hear or -read, is now the second largest city in the state. - -The suburbs run the scale from swank sections where only those of -great wealth reside to dingy squatters’ rows where moonshining, murder -and mayhem are daily dillies. Most of the ritzier suburbs are on the -Virginia side. Chain Bridge Way, Warrenton and Middleburg are peopled -by the horsey set, where there are great estates lived in by possessors -of ancient, honorable family names, as well as by the newly-made -aristocrats of the New Deal, union officers, left-wing lawyers, -five-percenters and State Department aides. Chevy Chase, partly in -the District, but mostly in Maryland, is tony, too. So is Bethesda, -Maryland. - -But the great mass of suburbanites in both states are middle-class -government employes who commute to and from work, play bridge, go to -the movies and propagate. - -As will be seen here, you can find almost anything in the way of crime -or vice in Washington, but what you miss can usually be met in some -of the Maryland suburbs when the heat isn’t on, especially in Prince -Georges County, which, for its size, probably has more slot-machines, -strip-teasers, resident hoodlums and general deviltry than any other -place in the world--subject to a “clean-up” in progress at this writing. - - -_A. Maryland_ - -This is the Free State, where anything goes. - -Chicago has Cicero, Washington has Prince Georges County. - -The same cause which gives Washington the unenviable lead as the Number -1 law-breaker among cities--public apathy--is what usually makes Prince -Georges County unique among county areas of the country. Washington -does not have the vote, the residents of Prince Georges do have it. -And they exercise it by usually voting Democratic and corrupt. Last -November they kicked over the traces for the first time since 1864. -But the Republican county commission won’t get far, even if it tries. - -Without a dream of winning, the GOP nominated well-meaning nonentities -without a policy, organization or knowledge of the local problems. -Their victory was as surprising to themselves as to these reporters. - -The facts for this chapter were gathered shortly before the November -election. The new county government was sworn in on December 5. -We returned to Prince Georges in early February for a recheck and -found little changed. The new sheriff, Carlton Beall, made ten raids -since New Year’s Eve. But the strip-joints still ran, though not so -blatantly. Instead of featuring the nudies in their ads, they gave them -second billing and headlined the male M.C. instead. But the babes were -just as bare. - -The gambling was under wraps, too, but it still flourished. The big -gamblers took the precaution of moving their books and their bank -accounts back to the District, whence they had fled a decade ago. - -The crime syndicate’s technique was to keep moving across county lines -from Anne Arundel to Howard to Prince Georges in the area near Laurel, -where the three join. - -The militant Republicans fired the Chief of Police and appealed -to Senator Kefauver for aid. At this writing, the Senate Crime -Investigating Committee tossed the hot potato right back into Maryland. -One of Kefauver’s four colleagues on the Committee is Senator Herbert -O’Conor, Maryland Democrat, elected with the aid of the corrupt -Democratic machine so soundly trounced last November. - -The second act of the new Republican commission was to hire another -Democrat to succeed the ousted Democratic Police Chief. - -The Prince Georges border is a 15-minute drive from the heart of -Washington. Depending on the road you take out of town, you soon reach -Bladensburg or Colmar Manor. The latter is Rum Row, with several blocks -of dirty drinking-joints where wind-broken broads solicit drinks, roll -drunks and whore, often as a pastime when no dough is available. - -If you go to Colmar Manor to spend money, Silver Spring in adjoining -Montgomery County is the place where you can get money. This is no -gag. The entire main street of Silver Spring and nearby Mount Rainier -in Prince Georges is lined on both sides from the District border -for more than a quarter of a mile with personal loan agencies. This -is because D. C. law makes it almost impossible for small loan firms, -which lend you money on your own signature or that of co-signers, -to operate. It so limits the interest rate as to make the business -unprofitable, fixing it at one percent a month. On the other hand, both -Maryland and Virginia are much more liberal with the loan companies. -The former allows three percent monthly and the latter two-and-a-half. -The Washington wage-earner, working for the government or privately -employed, does his borrowing across the borderline. If he should -default, the loans are collectable in the District, though its courts -are increasingly looking into the conditions under which the loan was -originally granted and refusing to issue judgments where they believe -the interest is usurious. - -Most Washingtonians know Prince Georges County as a place to go to have -fun. This is not because Maryland’s laws, or even their enforcement, -are more liberal than the District’s. With few exceptions, they are not. - -The legal liquor closing on weekdays is 2 A.M. in both. No hard liquor -can be sold at all on Sundays. They cheat in Prince Georges. - -Prince Georges County is lined with dumps that specialize in -strip-teasers. There are also many fag-joints. Peeling isn’t against -the law in Washington, either. It goes on in the 9th Street burlesque -houses when they operate, and at Kavakos’, near the navy yard. But -Washingtonians prefer not to patronize the nuders near home. Their -feeling of delicacy is overcome when they drive five miles. - -Washington’s huge homosexual colony overflows up to the Baltimore -Highway and into a place called the Conga. Mike Young’s occasionally -specializes in fairy shows, too. - -Prince Georges is a long strip predominantly devoted to gaiety, -night life, gambling and whoring. At this writing, one of its most -famous places is in a barnlike structure called the Crossroads. It -has strippers and corny shows. Its huge bar is loaded for a pick-up. -In case you do, but are not prepared, “sanitary rubber goods” are -dispensed in slot-machines in the men’s rooms. The night we were there, -we saw three fancy one-armed bandits whirring and swallowing. These -were manufactured by Bell, which means their take goes direct to Frank -Costello, instead of reaching him indirectly through other subsidiary -companies, which sell machines to local syndicates. The Crossroads is a -hangout for hoodlums. We recognized some well-known police characters -there. - -One of its owners is local gambling overlord Snags Lewis, about whom -more later. Last year there was a shooting in the room, but Prince -Georges County Patrolman Burgess made no report because his father had -a piece of the place. Burgess is now off the force. - -The Dixie Pig is a few yards down the road from the Crossroads. This -barbecue bazaar is a hangout for prostitutes and gamblers. It is owned -by Earl Sheriff, who, strangely enough, was the sheriff of Prince -Georges before he went to Lewisburg penitentiary on an income tax -charge, after pleading nolo contendere to protect the top shots. - -Sheriff, now out on parole, is still electioneering, fixing and -collecting campaign funds for the local Democratic machine. He worked -hard for defeated Senator Tydings. - -While Sheriff was having his troubles, Ralph Brown, late chief of -the Prince Georges County Police, settled with the government out of -court. The Democratic leaders of Prince Georges who were unaware of the -vice there, or blind, are Congressmen Lansdale G. Sasscer, T. Howard -Duckett, and T. Hampton Magruder. The latter two are attorneys. - -Prince Georges County has a police force of 41 men, plus its village -and town cops. But the county never asks for State Troopers. That is -not surprising, because while we were gathering information for this -book the Prince Georges grand jury said there was no gambling in the -county. We saw a lot of it with our own eyes. Maybe state cops could -stumble on some of it. Maybe. - -Clean-up or no, there usually are more floating crap-games, illegal -bookies and after-hour spots in Prince Georges than there are in Reno, -where all such things are legal. The Republicans may temporarily drive -them under cover--or back to the District--but those boys never stop. - -The local Democratic machine was so powerful that, in 1947, the United -States Department of Justice had to intervene directly with Maryland’s -then Governor Lane to close down some joints. State troopers quickly -shut all gambling houses--save one run by Mike Meyers, who was too -cantankerous even for them. They finally drove him out by stationing -police-cars around his joint every night, and taking the names of -customers. After the heat was off, however, the county reopened wide. - -The Prince Georges underworld was ruled until his death last year by -Jimmy La Fontaine, who is known in gangland circles to have been a -20-percent partner with Frank Costello, the Mafia boss in New York, who -handled the other 80 percent of the Prince Georges take. La Fontaine -was a big financial backer of the local Democratic machine, though his -own plush gambling casino across the street from the District line -is now closed, pending probate of his multi-million-dollar estate by -Attorney Charlie Ford, who gets the cream of all gambling, whoring and -other organized criminal cases in the District of Columbia, Maryland -and Virginia. - -Now the underworld is run by lieutenants of those who operate as vice -overlords in Washington. Among them are Monk Seal, the bookmaker, who -also has a piece of the Crossroads, and the aforementioned Mike Meyers, -who handles the dice end. Snags Lewis is the local representative of -the nationwide horse wire service, owned by the heirs of the late Al -Capone, and is Frank Costello’s direct representative. - -Policy-slip collections in the District are paid off to Pete Gianaris -at night at the close of business. Gianaris is an interesting character -who ran a $50,000 party in the ballroom of the Statler Hotel to -celebrate the christening of his young son. This was cheap, considering -that he imported such expensive Broadway stars as Buddy Lester to -entertain the cream of local society. He is a beloved, big-hearted -citizen. - -The Costello interests were operating hundreds of slot-machines in -Prince Georges. Some years ago, they were legalized by local option, -but they remained contrary to state law, which was not enforced. Some -locals, pushed out of the picture by Costello’s strongarm boys, started -a tax-payers’ suit in the state courts and the Prince Georges local -option law was thrown out. But some of the officials apparently haven’t -heard of the decision yet. - -That is not so surprising, since the sheriff, who seldom finds -time to enforce the state laws, is busy applying the lash and -cat-o’-nine-tails. Archaic Maryland law provides for whipping some -classes of prisoners, the sheriff acting in person. - -Among other joints in the county is one called the Hilltop, in -Hillside. It was formerly a barbecue pit, now is a snake pit--a noisy -madhouse catering to school and college kids who want to see what the -well-undressed peeler isn’t wearing. The Quonset Inn, also in Prince -Georges, is run by the Chinese syndicate of the District, which has -established perfect harmony with the white bosses. You can see naked -women at the Senate Inn, Waldrop’s, and occasionally at La Conga. - -Meanwhile, the temporary exodus of Prince Georges gamblers has -stepped up wagering activities in other nearby Maryland counties. -Montgomery, mainly residential, with swank Chevy Chase and hard-working -middle-class Silver Spring, woke up to find its Elks’ Club the victim -of a police raid. - -Then Sam Morgan, also of Silver Spring, described as one of the most -important gamblers in the area, was locked up by State Troopers -when they swooped down on “lay-off” establishments near Laurel Park -and Ellicott City. These were nerve-centers for the transmission of -contraband money in and out of the District. Morgan drew a suspended -sentence. No one ever goes to jail. - -The Baltimore Highway houses many tourist cabins, where pleasure-bound -Washingtonians can drive and hire a room without baggage for $3, if not -using it all night. A big turnover is the gravy for these guesthouses. -A few cabin resorts are reserved for Negroes only. - -The Negro population of this part of Maryland is comparatively small, -most of its members doing menial or service labor for the white folk. -However, the well-heeled boys of Washington’s colored set like to drive -up the road a bit with their dusky dames in their Cadillacs. - -The nearest amusement park to the city of Washington is Glen Echo, -about seven miles away, in Maryland. This is the typical smalltown -Coney Island, with swimming-pools, crazy rides, dancehalls, hot dogs -and the inevitable pick-ups. Many professionals work the park in the -summer, but they are outnumbered by the forlorn femmes from Washington -who come there in pairs or even larger parties, looking and hoping. - - -_B. Virginia_ - -The Virginia suburbs present a more respectable exterior, though under -the surface there’s plenty going on. The policy of the Old Dominion is -policy. - -Virginia’s laws do not permit the sale of hard liquor for on-premises -consumption. Only beer and wine may be drunk that way. Hard stuff -must be bought at liquor stores and taken out. This isn’t conducive to -anything like gay night life. Virginians go into the District or up to -Maryland if they want hi-jinks. Otherwise, most of their fun-making -takes place at house parties. There are a few dives. But the after-hour -“bottle-clubs” which plague Washington are to be found in Virginia too. -One of these is the Commonwealth at South Pitt and Wolfe, in Alexandria. - -The average resident of Virginia’s suburbs is financially a step or two -above his Maryland neighbors. There are more fine homes and estates on -this side of the river. The Negro problem is not so incendiary, because -this is Virginia, where Jim Crow is king by statute, and colored people -live in restricted areas and behave, or else. This is one of the -reasons why the Negroes floated into the District, where they changed -places with the whites, who overflowed back into Virginia. Remarkable -was Prince Georges 64-percent population increase in the decade; but -Arlington County, Virginia, had 125 percent. - -The absence of night life in the nearby Virginia suburbs has been -noted. This minimizes prostitution. Gambling is an important industry, -as it is all over the nation. - -Virginia authorities are disturbed by an influx of bookmakers and -policy-sellers, white and black, from the District. Recently a Negro -woman was arrested in Arlington with $3,000 in a paper bag, which was -picked up that day in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters--for numbers -bets. - -Sam Lano, who used to operate the Syndicate slot-machines in Prince -Georges, is president of the Arlington Music Corporation, which flooded -the county with pinball machines, many being used as gambling devices -by local merchants. Lano came here from New York two years ago. Over -a year ago he was convicted in Marlborough Circuit Court for having -threatened a Prince Georges tavern-owner with prosecution on a bad -check if he didn’t keep Lano’s machines in his place. He was sentenced -to a year and his conviction was upheld by the Maryland Court of -Appeals. So far, however, Lano hasn’t served one day in the cooler, and -no effort was made to detain him when he transferred his operations -to Virginia. The police of Bangor, Me., are looking for him for the -removal and concealment of mortgaged property. - -Considerable moonshine liquor is available in the Virginia suburbs. It -comes from stills operated in the mountains in the western part of the -state, and from Georgia. - -On the whole, you might compare this area to the best of Westchester, -or Chicago’s North Shore outskirts, or Beverly Hills. That doesn’t mean -there isn’t plenty of dirt. It does mean it has to be something special -before it hits print. - -Meanwhile, considerable friction is developing as well-heeled -northerners flock in; a repetition of the carpetbag days. - - - - -10. UNCLE SAM: LANDLORD - - -This is Washington’s largest segment--the federal domain. More than -40 percent of the property in the District is owned by Uncle Sam. -(Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands is said to be the largest private -owner of real estate in the District. She owned the huge Westchester -apartments, but sold the property recently to Hilton.) - -Though not contiguous, it has an entity of its own. It is immune from -local law. That is important, because some federal property oozes -across District borders, such as the Pentagon and the National Airport, -both on the Virginia side. - -To complicate the confused problem of law enforcement, this federal -potpourri has its own local police--not one force, but several. The -Capitol Police have jurisdiction on the Capitol grounds and several -blocks on either side, as far as the Washington Union station. The -Terminal Police police that. The White House Police are the cops for -the Executive Mansion and surrounding areas. They are under supervision -of the Secret Service, a branch of the Treasury. The Capitol cops are -under control of Congress itself. The terminal, owned by the railroads -and the government, picks its own bulls. - -The Park Police are part of the National Park Police, a division of the -Department of the Interior. They are the law in the parks and squares, -on the boulevards, and on the road in Virginia leading to the Pentagon -and the Airport. - -All other government buildings are policed by the Public Buildings -Police, a Treasury unit. The National Airport, in Virginia, has exempt -status. Its own cops not only patrol the grounds, but the main road. -The Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery and other military establishments in -the vicinity are under jurisdiction of the Armed Services Police. - -Hundreds of thousands are employed in this federal domain. Many more -use its facilities or live in its lee. This makes the task of policing -almost too complex to be figured out by any court. - -Elsewhere, when there is a conflict of authority over the situs of a -crime, both jurisdictions fight for the right to arrest and try the -accused. In the District it works the other way around. If it’s a -borderline case, both sides duck. - -For instance, if you’re pinched for anything on or along the road -leading to the National Airport there is a conflict between the -National Park Police, the Airport Police, the local Virginia Police, -municipal and county police, and possibly, the MP’s. No one wants any -part of it. So there is merry law-breaking in this federal domain. - -At this writing, 27,000 people are employed in the Pentagon. It is -a city within a city. Like all cities, it has its peccadillos. Many -elevator operators are runners for bookies. Many colored messengers, -male and female, sell policy slips. Reefers can be had. The cops--all -kinds--don’t know what to do about it. The military police don’t like -to arrest civilians, even those employed by the Army. The Virginia -police say they have no authority because it’s federal property. - -The same apathy that marks everything in Washington pervades the -Pentagon and other federal buildings. A high Army officer, highly -placed because his brother is close to the President, is a homosexual. -He had gathered 95 other officers of similar inclinations to form what -was known as the “Fairy Brigade.” Though scandalously abnormal acts -have been committed within the Pentagon walls, no consequences ensued. -No one knew how to go about it. Instead, the suspected fairies were -transferred to distant posts--separately, of course--in the hope that -when they got into trouble in their new stations their commanding -officers would pick up the buck. - -More recently a Signal Corps captain in the Pentagon was apprehended -lurking in the stair wells, where he exposed himself to young women. -The Army took the easiest way--transferred him to Fort Monmouth, where -he was eventually chased out of the service. - -The same situation applies in all government buildings in the District -and in the suburbs. No one wants to do anything about anything. There -is scarcely a government installation anywhere in Washington where -you can’t place a bet or buy a numbers slip. When elevator jockeys -aren’t selling them, clerks and typists, white and dark, are. Dates and -assignations are made on U. S. property by government girls looking for -fun or extra earnings, and by come-getters who barge in and solicit men -for dates after work--even sometimes for affairs right on overstuffed -leather couches which we own, you too. - -Any punitive action in these cases is not by police officers. When -things get out of hand, department heads fire the culprits. - -While the Kefauver Committee was investigating bookmaking, two elevator -operators in the Senate Office Building, in which the hearings were -conducted, were taking bets on horses with full knowledge of most -Senators, many of whom were placing wagers. - -That guy you see at the corner of 1st and B, outside the House Office -Building, talking to a cop, is a bookmaker’s runner. That’s his -station. That’s where typists, messengers and other help in the House -of Representatives lay it on the line. - -Many have fallen into debt because of the convenience with which -they can place bets all day. Hundreds are in the clutches of the -loan-sharks in Maryland and the shylocks, who work their trade right -in the government office buildings, exacting 100 percent interest for -a one-month loan. Many are in arrears on their income taxes for this -reason; those who owe more than what is withheld. This has posed a -serious problem for the collecting authorities, who are balked by a -quirk in the law which forbids them to garnishee tax delinquents among -federal employes. - -The indifference to rules that apply in private employment results in a -sort of Alice in Wonderland atmosphere throughout the unwieldy federal -domain. - -Humorist George Dixon’s story about the two crews hard at work in the -Pentagon sums it up: - -One crew puts up partitions. The other crew takes them down. The paths -of the two crews seldom cross, though there have been embarrassing -occasions when they arrived at the same office simultaneously on -conflicting missions. But that was the fault of “inefficiency” higher -up, not of the putters-up and the takers-down. - -Retired brass which had come roaring back to the Pentagon found itself -assigned to broom-closets because many mere swivel-chair warmers had -commandeered enough office space for a bowling alley. - -That’s why the Pentagon has two crews, working independently, day and -night. One makes offices bigger for new brass, the other makes them -smaller for the old. - -The confusion is proving hard on fixed Pentagon employes. They suffer -severely from wet paint. - - - - -PART TWO - - -THE PEOPLE (_Confidential!_) - - - - -11. THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A DAME - - -Women are the same everywhere, except in Washington, where they not -only are different, but there are more of them. - -Females generally fall into two categories, good and bad--the good -being so because they can’t get the necessary masculine cooperation to -be bad. - -We have seen them all, all over the world, but nowhere else are they -like they are in Washington. This town has 100,000 more nubile women -than men. Forty-five percent of all its females earn their own livings. -Most of them are government employes, and thus have better security -than is provided by a husband. Many support husbands, or assist toward -the expenses of the mutual establishment. Being self-supporting, they -are, on the average, better dressed than you’ll find them anywhere -else. That is on the “average.” There is little “high-fashion” except -in diplomatic and social circles, because government salaries are -average, not high. - -Most Washington men are only fair wage earners, too, and that limits -the loot. It is not so easy to promote a mink coat in Washington as it -is in New York, though there are more minks per corpus in Washington -than are won, wangled or plain bought in Philadelphia, Chicago or -Boston. - -Our capital is a femmocracy, a community in which the women not only -outdo the men in numbers, but in importance. Males hold more exalted -positions, but such work as is accomplished could not go on without -the efficient, well-trained and permanent secretarial corps, almost all -female. - -Everything in Washington is slanted toward dames. The accent in the -stores is on things women do or buy for themselves, instead of on -home-furnishing and children’s clothes, which are the bedrocks of -department store trade in other cities. - -Elsewhere, femmes are divided into specific classes. They are wives, -whores, glamor girls, home girls and office workers. Here none matches -her opposite number as you know her. The females in the capital defy -classification by other standards, and lap over into categories not -laid out by economic divisions or natural vicissitudes of physical -appeal. Prim, bespectacled bachelor-girl secretaries enlist as $10 -call girls after hours or on Saturdays and Sundays--not for the money, -but for adventure, substitution for romance. A friend of ours had to -entertain visitors. He phoned for three call girls. When they arrived -he saw to his horror one was his secretary. - -Washington’s biggest she-group is made up of G-girls, government girls, -who will be taken apart in later paragraphs. Running a close second -are O-girls, those who work for organizations, such as unions, charity -groups, scientific societies, trade and mercantile bodies, and those -who do the paper work for lobbies which maintain permanent offices here. - -Washington proves that the emancipation of women is baloney. See what -happens here. They have jobs and make as much as most men. They have -the freedom to live alone and like it, but they don’t. They have -the opportunity to do vital work, to carve out careers in the civil -service, as some do. But all, including most of the married ones, are -desperately unhappy. They are caught in the unreality of this huge -farce. It can’t be a home, it can’t be a place to live in and love, -it’s just a rat race running the same course every day. - -Tens of thousands of young and ambitious girls flock into Washington -from every state, territory and dependency, and from foreign nations. -There are even two from Samoa, pretty Laida and Marion Kreuz, whose -brother, Peter Coleman, is a policeman in the House Office Bldg., and a -night law student. The mass migration is similar in number, but not in -purpose, to that which occurs in New York and Hollywood and to a lesser -degree in Chicago and San Francisco. - -The girls that come from the farms, the inland cities and the tributary -towns to the other great metropolises come with stardust in their -eyes. Having discovered that what they have is too good for the local -cow-manicurists, soda jerks and grease station monkeys, they assume it -can be used to start them on the road to fame and fortune in the big -city. Most fail to find the golden pot at the end of the rainbow or -even get anywhere near it in New York and Hollywood. The disappointed -fall by the wayside or return home and marry the mailman. - -The psychological urge which uproots girls from their native -environments to come to Washington is the same, but its manifestations -are different. The youngster who pulls strings to get a government job -may be, and quite often is, prettier than her neighbor who hitch-hiked -to Broadway. But apparently she hasn’t the same confidence in her -charms as her brasher sister, so she goes to Washington instead. - -The young ones who come to the capital to work for Uncle Sam are -on the whole better educated than kids who want to make careers in -show business. Most of them must have graduated from high school and -business school to get a government job. There are some among the -chorines who stuck a toe in a college, but all they need for success -is to know the difference between the right and left leg, and remember -when not to cross them. - -Not all girls who come to Washington come to work for the -government. Not all are high school graduates. Washington draws more -street-walkers, who are strictly out for business, than any other town. -They set out from the nearby hills of West Virginia, Maryland and the -Carolinas, and they are purposeful as to their objectives. Many aren’t -bad-looking. So the question again arises, why didn’t they go to New -York or Hollywood and try for bigger stakes where flexible morals pay -off better and the field for a killing is bigger? - -The answer again is--no confidence. They don’t feel important enough to -make good in the big league. They are afraid of the megapolis on the -Hudson. Washington has small-town ways and the whores are small-town -girls. Street-walking requires no influential connections, deals, -financial backlogs, tests, skills. They step off a bus and can be in -business before they pass a crossing. - -The general belief is that when girls leave home they dream of going on -the stage. Washington proves that many leave home just to get away from -Home. - -They have one commodity they can sell. And they don’t have to carry -samples in a briefcase. And they must go on the road for customers--too -many complications where they are well known, have families, church -connections, lovers or husbands. - - - - -12. G-GIRLS - - -_A. Government Girls_ - -About 200,000 women work five days a week for Uncle Sam. They come -from every corner of the nation. And no matter how long they remain -here, few of them ever really live here. They sleep in various kinds of -barracks, rooming-houses, rundown hotels, board with retired married -ones, and in all constitute a class so large and so displaced that the -city cannot absorb them as it does working-women in other communities. - -They are not all physically repellant, nor do they behave generally -like spinsters are supposed to. The deadly monotony of their routine -tasks and their lonesome lives wears out their charm before it destroys -their looks. They are a hard, efficient lot, doing men’s work, thinking -like men and sometimes driven to take the place of men--in the -proscribed zones of desperate flings at love and sex. Lesbianism is -scandalously rampant, frequently an acquired dislocation rather than a -pathological aberration. - -The existence of the average G-girl revolves between routine grind and -physical frustration. She leaves her job at five. If she goes home, it -is to her tiny room or apartment to heat her dinner out of tin cans and -ponder whether to wash her panties or write letters home, or get drunk. - -It isn’t all wrapped up in the fact of the female overflow. Left-over -women can learn to do with half their share of men. But strangely, -where every guy ostensibly could take his pick and date alternately, -it doesn’t work that way. The Washington male clerks and middle-class -bureau employes largely avoid their opposite numbers. They, too, are -hall-room habitués, and they fraternize by some unwritten rule with -other men, usually normal men. Propinquity does not work its magic -here as the dominant factor in the mingling of the sexes. - -Thousands of visitors and thousands of servicemen from nearby -installations, most of them dame-hungry, don’t have to hunt; they are -hunted. Not only that, but often they are paid, and seldom are they -allowed to pick up checks without a struggle. - -One of the sights of Washington is the outpouring of the janes at five -o’clock. Many of them dash for cocktail bars, where they compete with -the harlots, who violently resent them and call them “scabs.” - -A favorite after-work guzzle-and-grab spot is the Cafe of All Nations, -in the Mayfair House, at 13th and F. Wise men in the mood are there -awaiting the stampede--not only for pleasure, but for the gigolo’s -mite. Men and women are paid the same for equal work. Therefore the -income is high for females and low for males as such things are usually -adjusted. We gave the place a play at the right time and sat at a table -with a third man who had come with us. A waitress shuffled up to us, -and in voice and manner characteristic of an old-timer doing a familiar -task, said, “The young ladies at the next table would like to buy you a -drink.” We nodded, the potables were delivered, our hosts raised their -glasses, and soon they joined us. We had another round, and when we -insisted on taking the tab, not only for our drinks but theirs, too, -they left us; they knew we weren’t “regular.” - -A T-man in the course of a check turned up one instance where 12 -G-girls had banded together and were keeping one man, in an apartment -on Q Street. - -Of course, among hundreds of thousands there are thousands not so -situated. Many are beautiful, their intelligence is beyond the average, -and even humdrum government work cannot make eunuchs of all men. -Desirable girls quickly find that they get preferential receptions and -promotions even in civil service examinations. There is a middle-aged -woman with a superior position in the General Accounting Office, who -has risen because she functions as the procurement officer for members -of Congress and other dignitaries. The G-gals hear about her specialty, -get in touch with her, and if they have appeal they find fun and get -ahead. Outstanding ones are sometimes invited to entertain legation -attachés or visiting celebrities. - -Second-class lobbyists, who cannot finance dazzlers in the top -echelons, have lists of typists and file-clerks and secretaries who -are happy to be taken out, or taken in, and are not prissy over how an -evening winds up. - -Beyond these escapes from a circumscribed daily existence, there is -nothing else. A couple of gals will walk the Mall on Sunday, hoping to -get picked up; or they join a church, or go to one of the countless -dances held during the winter season by state societies, where they -find everyone else as desolate as they are; or they scrimp and save all -week for a thrilling breakfast-lunch on Sunday at the Statler, where -they find to their dismay everyone else in the room is a government -girl, too, and stranded for company. - -Many secretaries of Senators, Congressmen and executives are their -office wives. All Congressmen’s offices contain sofas paid for by the -Treasury. - -These females, when they arrive, usually have accents, idiosyncrasies -and dress foibles peculiar to their regions of origin. They quickly -fall into the common mold. This is not surprising to your authors, who -for years have been writing about Broadway showgirls. Within six months -after one leaves the farm to join the chorus, she has acquired a new -veneer which covers all she brought with her. You can’t, in any one -chorus-line, classify the girls, except by their current hair shades. -They are as uniform as if they wore uniforms. - -The government is like a chorus; instead of 20 girls there are 200,000, -and they all talk the same--mainly about favoritism shown to another -by the immediate superior whom they accuse of sleeping with her. They -dress the same--usually in suits. They eat the same--salads and dainty -desserts. They live the same--in spick and span tiny rooms, with -intimate wash hung on the line in the bathroom, which does triple duty -as a kitchenette. They drink the same--martinis. - -Their sex-lives are remarkably alike, too. Some are afraid they will. -Others are afraid they won’t. And it all boils down to the same -sustained jitters, but in different wrappers. - -The G-girl is in an unnatural vacuum. She has no time-limits; her -sentence is for life, usually. She isn’t home and she isn’t away. Her -marriage outlook is bleak. No family ties console her. She is more -often wooed by women than by men. - -She makes a mockery of the theory that a woman’s first instinct is for -security. - - -_B. Girls with Glamor_ - -Let it not be surmised that government-girls are all the girls. There -are wives and fiancées, college co-eds, a sprinkling of debutantes and -other daughters of the rare society clans, smart saleswomen, even a few -presentable sob-sisters. - -But the true glamorette, as she is known on Broadway and Fifth Avenue, -Vine Street and Sunset Boulevard, and even in such remote oases of joy -as Galveston, Texas, is virtually non-existent. - -Chorines are but a memory of leg and lavender for the old inhabitants. -Except for a rare transitory line in a night club, there is no such -thing. Occasionally an imported single or sister-act plays the -vaudeville house. Some of the painted peelers who work in the suburban -dives sleep in Washington hotels. A movie celeb popping in for -publicity, to attend a birthday ball or be photographed smiling down on -Truman from the top of a piano, is an event. If there are any gorgeous, -dangerous, slinky spies, we didn’t find them. Judy Coplon, by the men -who specialize in the field, was called exceptionally lush for that -trade. So we stopped looking. - -The indigenous flora shape up about as they do in Brooklyn, except that -they are better dressed and have less sooty complexions. They do not -come downtown in slacks. Sloppy galoshes are de trop. Most girls at 16 -appear and behave grown up. - -But few can enter the accepted avenues where beauty may command a -respectable commercial return. In any ranking hierarchy of glamor the -model comes first, having long since passed the chorus girl, because of -the more stable rewards and higher standards brought about by the great -advertising demands. Washington has little need for animated manikins. -Some of the choicer shops employ them to demonstrate clothes. There is -no extensive advertising field. - -The most lucrative and the steadiest calls for models come from sources -not seeking those who might be employed in industrial cities for -modeling. They hook on as hostesses, guides, ushers, and to decorate -the booths and exhibits at conventions and trade shows, which are -numerous. Those who are engaged sporadically earn a minimum of five -dollars an hour, plus indeterminate tips. Their morals vary with the -personal equation. The models who are willing to pose in the nude -at stag-parties get fifty dollars an evening. These register with -surreptitious characters of the middle-world between flesh-market -procurers and shady promoters. - -Among the better-known models’ agencies are Models Bureau, in the -Chastleton Hotel; Ralston, 711 14th Street, NW, and Phyllis Bell, 306 -13th Street NW. - -The girl who sets out to be a model in Washington is usually one of -those rare creatures--the native. An out-of-towner with such ambitions -would naturally head to New York. - -(_Note_: Most model agencies are schools instead of employment -agencies. They seek to sign job-seekers to contract to learn how to -walk, instead of sending them out to work. Some, billing themselves as -agencies, provide girls--but not for modeling.) - -Another reason for the shortage of really high class cheesecake is that -there is almost always a displacement movement in effect. - -The trains and planes to Hollywood are loaded with lookers, sent there -with entree obtained for them by such influential VIP’s as cabinet -officers, four-star generals, bureau heads, etc. When a prominent daddy -gets fed up with his dame, he can’t just brush her off; she might make -trouble, and that might get into print. - -So the procedure is to phone Hollywood, where a liaison contact is -instructed to obtain a job at a studio for the chick. The big film -companies employ scores of so-called “contract” gals at $150 a week or -so, who do nothing but pose for publicity stills, date chosen visitors, -like out-of-town exhibitors, and otherwise make themselves useful and -amiable around the lots. One in a thousand rises and may become a star. - -The movie industry is always skating on such thin ice, what with -anti-trust laws, etc., that a request from Washington is a command. So -it’s a happy out all around. Mr. Big gets rid of his discarded girl, -she goes willingly because no girl can turn down a film contract, and -Hollywood stores up a favor for the next time it needs one. - -Many girls with talent originated here but they scrammed as soon as -they were old enough to know better. Among them were Helen Hayes, Kate -Smith and Mary Eaton, all members of the St. Patrick’s Players. - -Washington has no clubs or theatres with lines of girls. The best a -babe with light feet can do is get in as a teacher at a dance studio, -quite a business in Washington. The local classified phone directory -has four pages of listings of dance instructors. That’s because dancing -schools are a swell way for lonesome people to meet each other, and -that’s what Washington has plenty of. The local Arthur Murray licensee, -across the street from the Mayflower Hotel, is the largest Arthur -Murray studio in the world. At least 2,000 girls find full or part-time -employment working as instructors in the dozens of studios. Many of -these girls are little more than taxi-dancers. - -Pretty, personable ones can make up to $100 a week with tips. Those who -take dates after hours do even better. - -The real Washington glamor girl is the kept woman. You’d be surprised -how many there are. All the bigger hotels and the glossier apartment -houses around Dupont Circle and out Connecticut Avenue are loaded with -them. They are the ones you most often see in mink coats, in expensive -beauty parlors and fine shops. They are maintained mainly by important -government officials, Senators, sports and millionaires from all -over the country who make their headquarters in Washington. Many an -executive who commutes to the capital keeps a cutie there full time. - -All Washington giggled when it heard the story of the tall, stately -blonde whose bills were paid by a Cuban sugar millionaire, and who fell -in love with an assistant manager of the Shoreham Hotel, where she was -living in high style. Her Latin lover found her in flagrante delicto -with the hotel employe. The men squared off for a fist fight, but -first locked the babe in a clothes closet. They blacked each other’s -eyes--but she fractured her ankle trying to kick the door down. - -To add to the embarrassment of the unhappy Cuban, his wife had been -spying on him and his love through high-powered binoculars from Rock -Creek Park, across the street. She sued him for divorce in New York. - -A genuine glamor-gal does pop up now and then. One was Evelyn Knight, -the radio and record star, who warbled for $75 a week in Washington -hotels until a couple of years ago, then clicked in Manhattan and is -now dragging down thousands. - -Bette Woodruff, another home-grown dish, seems to be on the upgrade. A -dress model, Bette had a yen to sing. One day, on a dare, she phoned -maestro Dick Williams to tell him she was available. He didn’t know -her from Eve, took her name to shut her up. Next day his vocalist got -sick. He phoned Bette in a hurry. That was less than a year ago. Now -she’s thrushing regularly, and well. - -But Jan Du Mond, a five-foot-three night club canary, pianist and -composer, drives a cab by day. - -“My little coupe broke down,” she told a reporter. “I couldn’t afford -a new car. Becoming a taxi-driver provided me with transportation at -night to get to my engagement--the company lets me take the car home.” - -Besides, she meets the most interesting people! - -Sometimes a government gal switches to a glamor gal. One was Sandra -Stahl, “Miss Washington,” in last fall’s Atlantic City beauty contest. -Sandra was a secretary for Air Force Intelligence, but she has a face, -a figure, a noodle and a voice. She was the dark horse when she sang -before 3,000 people in Rock Creek Park, but 14 judges, including the -Treasurer of the United States, sent her to Atlantic City. - -Sandra comes from Long Beach, California. In our “New York, -Confidential,” we noted that many of Gotham’s orchids on display come -from Southern California. Maybe Sandra got on the wrong train. - - - - -13. COMPANY GIRLS - - -This is a specialty known only to Washington. - -With the procuring situation as it is, the business of getting girls -for fun, friendship, or what have you in mind is so commercialized, -it’s incredible. - -In our excursions into life in New York and Chicago, we found that -girls you pay for an evening can be divided into two classes: -party-girls and call-girls. - -You summon the former, but they are not necessarily whores. You whistle -for the others only when there’s to be a party. - -If this seems contradictory, it’s because the dividing line is so -tenuous, it usually isn’t there. But for our purposes, we shall group -them together and call both “C-girls,” which stands for company girls, -which is just what the womanless men who call them want them to be. - -There are as many kinds of C-girls as there are kinds of women. They -range from the lowest, who will come to your room for $5 for a quickie, -to the most ultra, who expects $100, plus expenses, as a fee for her -company for an evening, and nothing guaranteed. If it happens, it must -be romanced or financed with honorarium. - -The C-girls include the cheapest cocottes and some of the smartest, -prettiest New York models. The only thing they have in common is you -can phone them or someone who acts as an agent to make a deal, sight -unseen, for their presence. The more they get the less they give. The -true party-pretty undertakes only to appear for the evening, maybe -entertain an important customer or that Congressman who’s going to -investigate you or that general who places the orders. The call-dames -are cheaper and more reliable. - -They are available from all hotel bell-boys. A friend who lives -in Washington said they weren’t necessary, for you can find a -street-walker on any avenue or a hustler at almost any bar. We asked -how about the transient, who doesn’t know that, so doesn’t know -where to look, or is afraid. The bell-captain, who can get anything, -including booze after hours, is the functionary out-of-towners over the -age of puberty call. Using his services also means no raid from the -hotel dick, who is an ally. - -Lobbyists have lists of company-girls whose services they utilize as -required. They exchange names with each other, so most of them have -a master-list. In addition, there are agents, quite often apparently -respectable, middle-aged women, who run “secretarial bureaus” that -supply company-girls, often do contract businesses with large users, -whom they bill by the year. - -The secretarial bureau is important in the blind date business in -Washington. Without much trouble, you can get the kind of girl you want -by calling almost any of them. The procedure is this: You phone for -a stenographer to be sent to your hotel room. She, however, is never -the “date.” After giving her a nominal amount of dictation, you remark -you are alone and friendless. She tells you one of her girl friends is -lonesome, too, and would consider a date. You wait in. She arrives. - -A problem for those who must entertain men of class is the low quality -of the female commodity obtainable except from specializing agencies. -Government gals, many of whom are on call, are superior intellectually, -have better manners, though the professional predators run prettier. -With the short supply of charmers, those who maintain a superior -standard import them. Many big lobbyists and others who entertain -frequently have lists of New York models and showgirls who will come -down to Washington for fun, expense money, and maybe a mink. - -There is a middle-aged woman in New York, who gives her name as Mrs. -Hansen, who makes regular monthly trips to such Eastern cities as -Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, where she meets prominent -businessmen and offers to introduce them, at a fee of $10 each, to -any of a hundred Powers and Conover models whose photos she has in -a scrapbook and whose names she has on a typewritten sheet. She -guarantees to produce any girl thereon in Washington within 24 hours, -the girls to receive $100 and expenses for each day’s company. - -But that is still run-of-the-mill. A babe named Teddie, with an -apartment in the building on the southwest corner of 16th Street, in -the 1600 block, handles knockouts, some married, for as much as $250 a -night. - -Virginia Wall, who lives at 2500 Q Street (phone Hudson 8783) at this -writing, was chosen by those who know her as--“the most promising -younger company-girl in Washington.” She knows many other company girls. - -Florence Bowers, a Southerner who lives at 1716 Newton St., phone -Hobart 5634, is a well-known company girl who will get others when -needed. - -Elizabeth Morley, 2124 P St., phone Hobart 7421, will get company-girls. - -Mary Lou Vane, 1205 Clifton St., NW, is a superior company girl. - -Washington has its corned beef and cabbage, but don’t say we don’t -bring out its caviar. - - - - -14. FOR IMMORAL PURPOSES - - -It may startle you, though not necessarily stop you, to know what very -few know--it is a felony to transport a female one step up or down or -sideways in the District of Columbia with what grandma used to call -“dishonorable intentions.” - -The Mann Act was invented by a Chicago blue-nosed representative named -Mann, after a hophead parlor-whore in melodramatic mood threw a note -out of the window of the late Harry Guzik’s cathouse on which she had -written “I am a white slave.” A milkman found it and turned it in at -the 22nd Street police station. A puritanical young prosecutor named -Clifford Roe, instead of laughing, made it so scandalous that the -term “white slave” became the common synonym for a prostitute. Mona -Marshall, the girl, was no slave at all, and when she came out of her -fog she proved it. Her case history showed that she had been seduced -in Wisconsin and brought to Chicago and placed in the house, quite -willingly, by a traveling man who thought it was wasteful to give it -away. - -That came out in testimony and Congressman Mann fathered the law making -interstate transportation a penitentiary offense. Too many jokes about -crossing state lines have gone into the legend since then for anyone -not to understand the possible consequences of taking ’em in one state -and making ’em in another. But what has been very sparsely advertised -is a phrase in the Mann Act which states, “or on federal territory.” -Washington is federal territory. - -So, if you meet one in the lobby and take her up in the elevator, -you’re a candidate for Atlanta. - -This clause has been enforced with ultimate results. But for many -years, by unwritten policy, the Department of Justice stopped paying -attention to private, non-commercial infractions. But in no way has the -letter been ameliorated, and at any time this statute could be applied, -as the income tax evasion law was used to convict murderous gangsters, -if an Attorney General so instructs. It can be used without even the -technical provisions required to substantiate an attempted rape. The -language states, “for immoral purposes.” Such purposes need not be -successful. There is a mistaken notion that paying a female’s fare has -something to do with it. It has not, except as evidence of the intent, -which is the res gestae. - -Let it not be assumed that this is a major deterrent for the Washington -wolf, before whom is spread a field alabaster with white lambs -generously interlarded with black sheep. Yet the fine art of subtle, -sophisticated flirtation, with skill, poise and aplomb, which has -illuminated the finest works of the masters through the ages in every -form of expression, seems extinct here. - -Those in residence are boors; the transients are in a hurry; and the -distaff defense being negligible, no true swordsman deigns to fence -when he can hit a broad on the head with the handle. - -Chief among Washington ladies’ men is handsome Warren Magnuson, -bachelor Senator from the state of Washington, where some of his I.W.W. -constituents would probably kick over the traces if they saw the -highfalutin’ fillies he runs with in Washington. The Senator is a man -among men, with the reputation of seldom wooing one girl at a time. He -often entertains several in one evening in his Shoreham apartment. We -know. They talk. - -Not all wolves are single. We will not divulge names, or tell how -they cover up. Your imagination will picture how easy it is in a town -where so many are seeking favors, to get a stooge to come along as the -cutie’s alleged “date,” while the principal apparently came along only -for the ride. - -Not all wolves, of course, are Senators or such with official immunity. - -A simple way to get acquainted is to watch the papers for announcements -of State Society dances. Most lonesome G-gals belong to these -societies, composed of expatriates from their home states. Once every -week, throughout the year, one of these groups throws a party or a -dance. Admission is open to all. The Officers’ Service Club dances are -swell, too. - -At this writing there are no public ballrooms of the type of Roseland -in New York or the Aragon in Chicago, not because they’re illegal, -but because they have been unprofitable. In the summer this lack is -filled by moonlight cruises of the Wilson Steamship Line on the river. -The boats leave from the 7th Street wharf nightly, at 8:30, and the -charge, including dancing, is one buck. Plenty of unattached women go. - -The Potomac is mighty important to wolves. Practically the last of the -night-boats in the country plies from Washington to Old Point Comfort -and Norfolk, Virginia, summer and winter. - -In years gone by, the fabled Albany and Fall River boats to Boston -could have told such stories. - -Steamers of the Old Bay Line charge $4.67 each way, with staterooms at -from $1.50 to $5.50. - -Last fall, a couple of evangelists chartered a Wilson liner for an -evening prayer service on the Potomac. Many pious people showed up, but -so did a swarm of scarlet sisters. - -With all the game flying low you’d scarcely think it worth while for -entrepreneurs to promote stag-parties. Yet many hotel ballrooms are -engaged for shows at which talent, imported from Baltimore, is seen and -appropriately appreciated. These nude nymphs perform also at Waldrops -on Rhode Island Avenue, across the Maryland line. - -Lots of smooth, mysterious guys in Washington, not pimps, make livings -introducing lonesome men to pretty babes. One, named Al Walters, ran -a series of dances called the “UN Victory Girls.” He was investigated -by the Washington vice-squad, which found nothing illegal, though it -did determine that his net income from promoting these get-togethers -was $325 a week. Walters is still around town, always surrounded by -eight or ten pretty bimbos, usually blonde, and he can get to the right -people because he is a great introducer. - -Young love gets a break in Washington, too, because the burg with its -environs is small-town in construction, with front and back porches, -lawns and alleys, and plenty of dark streets and nearby country nooks -to drive to. Chief among the lovers’ lanes are Hains Point and the -Anacostia Flats, along the Anacostia River, where the Bonus Army of -’32 made camp. Not all who court Eros in these secluded spots are -juveniles. Many adults take their occasionals there, especially white -men afraid or ashamed to check into free-for-all assignation houses. - -We got the following story from a cop who worked the case. A -blonde waitress at the Copacabana restaurant, a rendezvous for -Latin-Americans, went with a stranger in his car to the Anacostia -Flats. A woman’s screams tore the night air. Startled householders in -the vicinity, rape-conscious because of the front-page sex murder of -a girl the day before, phoned police. The squad car cops sped to a -surprised girl and an embarrassed gent. “I always scream at a time like -that,” she elucidated, with indignation. - - -WISDOM OF A WASHINGTON WOLF - -When you see someone waiting for a bus or streetcar, it’s considered -polite to offer a lift in your car. Washington gallants are very -polite, especially if the hitch-hiker is cute. - - * * * - -We noticed Washington wolves seldom ply their dates with flowers. This -may be because the girls are so anxious they’d give the guy orchids. Or -maybe because Washington is an Eastern city, and in the East--New York -especially--few well-dressed women wear corsages. - - * * * - -Most G-gals start work early in the morning. The wise Washington lupo -learns to date them for cocktails at five in the afternoon. - - * * * - -Some characters tap the female college alumnae lists for recent -graduates resident in Washington, then pick names at random and phone -with an invitation to a Yale or Princeton hop which never seems to come -off. - - * * * - -HOTELS FOR WOMEN ONLY: Hattie M. Strong Hall, (YWCA) phone ME 2100, -Meridian Hill, CO 1000; All States (cooperatively owned) NA 2483. (If -the gal you’re phoning isn’t home, ask the switchboard operator if -anyone else wants a date. She could know one.) - - * * * - -The abortion racket is wide open in Washington, with illegal -practitioners protected from high-up. Prices run from $35 to $500 a -job, depending on your color and your bank-book. The lowest charge is -for Negroes. Unmarried G-gals can get by for $75. Married women with -husbands who work are charged $100. Single ones in a jam who have rich -or important paramours are nailed for as much as $500. (In New York -$1,000 isn’t unusual.) - - - - -15. GARDEN OF PANSIES - - -If you’re wondering where your wandering semi-boy is tonight, he’s -probably in Washington. - -The good people shook their heads in disbelief with the revelation that -more than 90 twisted twerps in trousers had been swished out of the -State Department. Fly commentators seized on it for gags about fags, -whimsy with overtones of Kinsey and the odor of lavender. We pursued -the subject and we found that there are at least 6,000 homosexuals on -the government payroll, most of them known, and these comprise only a -fraction of the total of their kind in the city. - -The only way to get authoritative data on fairies is from other -fairies. They recognize each other by a fifth sense immediately, -and they are intensely gregarious. One cannot snoop at every desk -and count people who appear queer. Some are deceptive to the -uninitiated. But they all know one another and they have a grapevine -of intercommunication as swift and sure as that in a girls’ boarding -school. Since they have no use for women in the main, and are uneasy -with masculine men, they have a fierce urge, even beyond the call of -the physical, for each other’s society. They have their own hangouts, -visit one another, and cling together in a tight union of interests and -behavior. - -Not all are ashamed of the trick that nature played on them. They have -their leaders, unabashed, who are proud queens and who revel in their -realm. Your reporters, after years around show business, are familiar -with those of their breed, unembarrassed in their presence. But, with -the exception of crude male prostitutes whom they have encountered -in police courts and on the sidewalks of New York’s Lexington Avenue -and in Harlem, they still had a whisper of an illusion left: they got -the idea, because they had met so many with marked talent, that by a -pathological compensation many of them possessed artistic traits. - -In Washington they found this false. The exceptional ones do drift to -Broadway and to Hollywood. But they are no more representative of -their numbers than are the gifted men and women who find their places -in the arts of the great mass of people from whom they become detached -to follow the livelier professions. - -Now we have found out where the dull, dumb deviates go. We had assumed -that, as they grew up in small communities where they soon became -obvious and odious, they took flight for the stage, the screen, -interior decorating, exotic literature and other fields centered in the -metropolitan market-places. That is not true. Only a few can and do -enter the avenues where their talents make them equal, often superior. - -So, what becomes of the marked twilight-sex, unwelcome at home, pariahs -afar? We might ask what becomes of the club-footed or pock-marked girl -similarly situated. She is in a panic about the present, still more -so about the future, and she searches for security. Where can that be -captured? Nowhere else as surely as in the civil service. There, in the -mediocrity and virtual anonymity of commonplace tasks, the sexes--all -four of them--are equal in the robot requirements and qualifications. -There is no color line, no social selectivity; not even citizenship -is always a prerequisite. Once the precious appointment is filed in a -machine which knows no discrimination, there it stays for life. - -Like immigrants from foreign lands, for these people are aliens in -their own, they attract--more often send for and finance--those who -speak their language and live their kind of lives. Congressman A. L. -Miller, of Nebraska, a physician, author of the District’s new bill -to regulate the homos, enunciated with an oratorical flourish the -deathless statement that, “birds of a feather flock together.” William -Jennings Bryan came from Nebraska, too. - -The 6,000 who made the perennial payroll drew many more thousands who -flunked it. Like pug-nosed, freckle-faced girls of no distinction, who -become waitresses and car-hops, these inverts who are washed in with -the tide and beached in the mud become clerks in shops, hairdressers, -waiters, bartenders, most often in the places habitually patronized by -those of their own stripe. - -The Washington vice squad had listed 5,200 known deviates. Dr. Ben -Karpen, psychiatrist at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, believes they are in -the tens of thousands. - -Their chief meeting place is in leafy Lafayette Square, across -Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. They make love under the -equestrian statue of rugged Andrew Jackson, who must be whirling on his -heavenly horse every time he sees what is going on around his monument. -Lafayette Square is no bohemian section, like Washington Square in -New York. The three sides not surrounded by the White House have such -buildings as the Cosmos Club, formerly the home of Dolly Madison; the -national headquarters of the League for Political Education of the -American Federation of Labor; the Hay-Adams House, one of Washington’s -finer hotels, and other dignified structures. - -How the fairies happened to pick this place for their rendezvous, and -how the cops let them get away with it, no one can trace. - -The police keep making arrests, but it does not deter the homos from -hanging out around the square. They make pick-ups there and quite often -engage in immoral acts practically under the eyes of the sparrow cops. - -They also foregather in Franklin Park, a few blocks away, in the center -of the business district. - -There is no geographic section where degenerates generally live. That -is part of the general picture, everything, everywhere, in Washington. - -Many rich fairies and lesbians live in expensive remodeled Georgetown -homes, the nearest thing to a left-bank neighborhood. This is also a -left-wing center. - -Some parties which take place in Washington pervert sets are orgies -beyond description and imagination. Every invention of Sacher-Masoch -and the Marquis de Sade has been added to and improved upon, and is in -daily use. Weekends find the pansies and lady-lovers on broad, baronial -estates of wealthy perverts in nearby Virginia and Maryland. Many of -the third sex journey regularly to New York, where they have friends in -esoteric circles. - -Washington has its transvestites, who get their thrills from appearing -in the clothes of the opposite sex. Some of the ritzier dress shops on -Connecticut Avenue couldn’t exist if it weren’t for the fairies who buy -French imports. Many dress in drag on Thanksgiving Day and mingle in -the holiday crowds with the costumed young folk. - -While these lines were being typed, a member of the staff of Democratic -Senator Edwin C. Johnson, of Colorado, who recently made front pages -when he attacked the morals of the movie industry, was arrested -by two vice squad officers in the men’s room in Lafayette Square -and charged with committing indecent acts. Booked in $500 bail, he -pleaded not guilty. He and Senator Johnson, who appeared with him in -the preliminary hearing before the United States Attorney, made no -statements. He was later acquitted by a jury. - -The same day, Assistant U. S. Attorney Warren Wilson asked for the -night closing of public comfort stations, calling them breeding places -of perversion. Commenting on the increase of such cases, Wilson said, -“90 percent of these offenses are committed in men’s rooms operated by -the Federal government.” - -Wilson mentioned Lafayette Square, Stanton Park, Dupont Circle and -Franklin Park. He recommended that all these comfort stations be closed -as soon after 4 P.M. as policemen on the 4–12 shift could do so, and be -kept closed until 8 A.M. - -“These stations were constructed when there were no other facilities -in downtown Washington,” Wilson said. “Today, hundreds of restaurants -are required to have toilet facilities by law. Many hotels have been -constructed since the comfort stations. - -“Public places are becoming cesspools of perversion.” - -Many cocktail lounges and restaurants cater to irregulars. Most of them -are near the Mayflower Hotel. The most popular resort is the Jewel Box, -near 16th and L, NW, formerly known as the Maystat. It is a cocktail -lounge with entertainment by a piano-player, who sings semi-risqué -lyrics. - -The waiters are obviously fairies. Most customers seem to fit into the -pattern. The night we went there, a police car, with siren screaming, -pulled up. We figured it was a pinch. After the cop threw out two -customers, a waiter told us everything was o.k. - -“Those boys got fresh,” he said. “They tried to flirt with those two -women sitting there. We don’t tolerate flirting--anyway not with women.” - -Then he minced off, hand on hip. - -Fags also like a restaurant known as Mickey’s, behind the Mayflower. -They patronize the second floor of a place in the 1700 block of H -Street. One night two Congressmen, a couple of army officers, and two -young servicemen were mixing beer and gin there, and kissing each -other. They also swish around the Sand Bar in Thomas Circle. - -A favorite meeting-place for keeping appointments is the lobby of the -Franklin Park Hotel. The Riggs Turkish Bath, the only one in town, -under Keith’s Theatre, was closed up because these undesirables took it -over. Its license has since been restored. - -Black Washington has its share of deviates, too. - -There is free crossing of racial lines among fairies and lesbians. We -have seen aristocratic Southerners, on the bias, hunt down Negro men -for dalliance. We bumped into a gal in show business, who we know is -queer, sitting with two mannish-looking women at the Jewel Box. She -invited us to a party in Black Town, an inter-racial, inter-middle-sex -mélange, with long-haired, made-up Negro and white boys simpering while -females of both races mingled in unmistakable exaltation. - -During the summer, groups of colored fairies make up “yachting” parties -and cruise the Potomac on the steamer Robert E. Lee. One Saturday -night, last summer, over 100 cops were dispatched to the docks when the -“Society of Female Impersonators” was to have a midnight sail. They -found 1,700 Negro men, all dressed as women, on the boat, and as many -more trying to get on. A riot was in the making, but the cops busted it -up and kept it quiet when they hauled away two wagon-loads. The ship -finally got off at 2 A.M. - -Two weeks later, in another melee on the same boat, a colored man was -fatally shot by a police detective after he jumped into the water. -Another Negro, who pleaded guilty to having started the riot, was fined -$200 for having endangered the lives of 600 persons. Some months later, -Washingtonians were mystified by an ad in a daily paper which read as -follows: “S.S. Mt. Vernon--moonlight cruise--8:30 P.M.--beer--stag or -drag.” - -No one knows how many lesbians there are, because the female--or is it -male--of the pervert species is seldom spoken about and is much less -obvious. Psychiatrists and sociologists who have made a study of the -problem in Washington think there are at least twice as many Sapphic -lovers as fairies. A large incidence of lesbianism is concomitant with -the shortage of men, where women work together, live together, play -together, so love together. - -Some display themselves, strut around in fairy joints; all queers are -in rapport with all others. You will see them also in some of the late -bottle-clubs, on the make for the same girls the he-wolves are chasing. - -The mannish women used to hang out at the Show Boat Bar, H and 13th, -until the management drove them out. Now in David’s Grill, formerly the -Horseshoe, in back of the Mayflower Hotel, they outnumber the pansies -who haunted the place. Many lesbians frequent Kavakos’ Grill, in the SE -section, though this is not any joint so specializing. The club, owned -by Bill Kavakos, a rich Greek who likes to gamble, is near the Navy -Yard. It caters to sailors and slummers. - -A breakdown of occupations in one group of 543 perverts who were -arrested showed some interesting sidelights. Among them was only one -actor, but 92 students. There were 58 army personnel and 28 from the -navy. Even the rugged Marines appeared. Among the deviates were one -bartender, one barber and one baker. There were four attorneys, only -two doctors and only one embalmer. This is the record: - - Accountant 7 - Actor 1 - Airport employee 3 - Army: - Commissioned 9 - Noncommissioned 49 - Attorney 4 - Baker 1 - Barber 1 - Bartender 1 - Businessman 7 - Butcher 1 - Cab driver 2 - Clerk 48 - Diplomat 1 - Doctor 2 - Embalmer 1 - Embassy personnel 1 - Government employee 57 - Guard 9 - Historian 1 - Horse breeder 1 - Interior decorator 3 - Jeweler 1 - Laundryman 6 - Librarian 3 - Marines, U. S. 2 - Minister 3 - Musician 5 - Navy: - Commissioned 1 - Noncommissioned 27 - Page boy 1 - Pharmacist 4 - Porter 6 - Radio personnel 3 - Realtor 2 - Reporter 2 - Restaurant personnel 27 - Salesman 10 - Sculptor 2 - Servant 10 - Service-station operator 2 - Skilled laborer 17 - Stenographer and secretary 4 - Student 92 - Teacher and Professor 12 - Technician 3 - Unemployed 50 - Unskilled laborer 31 - Writer 2 - --- - Total 543 - -With more than 6,000 fairies in government offices, you may be -concerned about the security of the country. Fairies are no more -disloyal than the normal. But homosexuals are vulnerable, they can -be blackmailed or influenced by sex more deeply than conventional -citizens; they are far more intense about their love-life. - -Foreign chancelleries long ago learned that homos were of value in -espionage work. The German Roehm, and later Goering, established -divisions of such in the Foreign Office. That was aped by Soviet -Russia, which has a flourishing desk now in Moscow. According to -Congressman Miller, who made a comprehensive study of the subject, -young students are indoctrinated and given a course in homosexuality, -then taught to infiltrate in perverted circles in other countries. -Congressman Miller said: - -“These espionage agents have found it rather easy to send their -homosexuals here and contact their kind in sensitive departments of our -Government. Blackmail and many other schemes are used to gather secret -information. - -“The homosexual is often a man of considerable intellect and ability. -It is found that the cycle of these individuals’ homosexual desires -follows the cycle closely patterned to the menstrual period of women. -There may be three or four days in each month that the homosexual’s -instincts break down and drive the individual into abnormal fields of -sexual practice. Under large doses of sedatives during this sensitive -cycle, he may escape such acts. - -“The problems of sexual maladjustments are urgent and still far from a -solution. In the Army, several thousand were discharged. When caught in -the act, they were generally discharged without honor, which means loss -of citizenship. Many failed to survive rigors of warfare and intimate -association with men. The majority were unable to conceal their -tendencies and were eventually eliminated with disgrace. - -“Never is the bond which unites two friends such that the acquisition -of a new friend by one is regarded angrily by the other; but quite -otherwise is the life among homosexuals. Here jealousy reigns supreme. -Male homosexuals will not share their fairy with anybody. - -“The sexual attraction exercised by a male on another may be apparent -in many ways. The homosexual will become excited by the mere presence -of some man in a public place. They often approach that man, though he -is a stranger. A taxi-driver finds fares making indiscreet advances. -The homosexual has no sensation in the presence of the most beautiful -and seductive female. Her amorous advances may be repulsive.” - -Until the recent purges in the State Department, there was a gag around -Washington you had to speak with a British accent, wear a homburg hat, -or have a queer quirk if you wanted to get by the guards at the door. - -One high State Department official was a notorious homo who preferred -young Negro boys. He was detected in a Pullman car of the Southern -Railroad--on the funeral train to bury Speaker Bankhead, father of -Tallulah--making immoral advances to a porter. The story reached -newspaper offices, but before it could be printed the State Department -sent out an urgent appeal to editors to “kill,” because it might -imperil the war effort. When this official’s misdeeds were placed -before President Roosevelt, it was said he refused to replace him -because they both “wore the same school tie.” After resigning from the -government, this official almost died of exposure when a Negro farm -hand, jealous because of his attention to another, slugged him. - -Aware of the seriousness of the problem, the State Department has a -highly hush-hush Homosexual Bureau, manned by trained investigators and -former counter-espionage agents, whose duties are to ferret out pansies -in Foggy Bottom. - -But the department cannot free itself of boondoggling tendencies, for -at the same time it retains a personable and intelligent young lady to -prepare a treatise on homosexualism, the purpose being to see if it’s -possible to cure or contain the deviates who remain on the roles. Her -assignment requires her to visit faggot dives, observe the queers in -action and ask them how they got that way. - -The following will be denied, but whenever possible the YMCA is vetoing -the use of its facilities, especially the swimming pool, to all State -Department employees, just to be on the safe side. - -A man of almost cabinet rank in the Defense Department is also a -pervert, with bivalent tendencies, a two-way performer. - -These are no isolated incidents. The government is honeycombed in high -places with people you wouldn’t let in your garbage-wagons. - -David K. Eichler, a brilliant 37-year-old Harvard post-graduate who -was a top policy-maker in the State Department as Deputy Secretary -General of the Far Eastern Commission until a couple of months ago, -was arrested by Park Police on the Ellipse, charged with committing an -unspeakable act with a Negro man. He put up $25 “forfeit,” a Washington -variation of bail cash, about which more in another chapter. The next -day, at the hearing, the colored man pleaded guilty, but when Eichler -didn’t appear the judge told the prisoner he might change his plea, -inasmuch as his co-defendant wasn’t there. - -The black fairy said, “Never mind, judge. I had a good time.” - -Shortly after his arrest, Eichler went on a vacation trip to the South. -After learning about the pinch, security officials instituted a search -for him and summoned him back to Washington. Eichler admitted nothing, -but resigned his $9,000-a-year job. He wasn’t asked to stay. - -On the other hand, the Grand Jury voted a no-bill when Eugene -Desvernine, 34, acting officer-in-charge of Caribbean affairs in the -State Department, was arrested for an alleged sex offense against a -13-year-old boy. Desvernine, suspended from the department after his -arrest in East Potomac Park, has been restored to duty. - -The original charges against fairies in the State Department listed -only 91, but considerably more than a hundred have been discharged from -it since. More are asked to withdraw. And there are believed to be -hundreds not yet shown up. - -Republicans who tried to get a special “pervert squad” formed were -voted down on straight party lines by Democrats, who found themselves -having to protect strange bed-fellows. When you read of a fag being -fired or quitting, don’t think Washington’s homosexual population -is reduced that much. It isn’t. Odds are the discharged degenerate -is shifted up on some other government payroll. At least eight were -transferred from the State Department to Agriculture. Hundreds of -others driven from one department minced into others. - -At the end of 1950, State said they were all gone. But on the first -day of 1951, the Washington papers carried this brief item under the -heading: “Two Men Face Sex Charges.” - -“Alan A. Wakefield, 26, State Department employe, was released under -$300 bond pending a hearing on a disorderly conduct charge. Vice Squad -detectives arrested him in the men’s room of a downtown hotel.” He was -since convicted of disorderly conduct. - -Dr. Kinsey wasn’t appalled by the 6,000 fags in government jobs. -According to his calculations, 56,787 Federal workers are congenital -homosexuals. He includes 21 Congressmen and says 192 others are bad -behavior risks. - -We still favor the two-party system. - - - - -16. THE LITTLE RED HERRINGS - - -The district headquarters of the Communist Party--the local setup, not -the Washington nest of the national outfit--is only a block away from -the doorway of the F.B.I., on 9th near F Street. So close is the line -of battle drawn. - -This Union Square of the District of Columbia is, appropriately, on -Skid Row. It is the apparatus that recruits government employes. And -sometimes 9th Street is more active and important than 16th Street--the -White House. The District chairman is Roy H. Wood. - -This book does not bandy the right or wrong of Communism. It accepts -and proclaims it all wrong. But it will stay within its limitations of -discussing Washington, the city. So it will conduct you mostly through -the muck where crawl the punks in the ranks. - -The State Department boys call foreign Reds “Agrarian reformers.” We -call them cobras. The real story of the extent of their infiltration -into the government will never be told. Hundreds of files have been -impounded or destroyed, and their subjects cleared. - -The following tale is no exception. It is, rather, the rule. One -night a mysterious informant called on Constantine Brown, brilliant -and patriotic foreign news analyst of the _Washington Star_, with a -photostatic copy of an order from a Deputy Chief of Staff, directing -the Army to destroy the records on several thousand subversives. - -Brown hurried to the home of Senator Styles Bridges with the evidence. -By 9 A.M., Bridges had called the Military Affairs Committee together. -An hour later it met and phoned the offices of the Secretary of War -with an ultimatum not to destroy any orders. When the officer who had -issued the order met with the committee, Bridges looked coldly at him -and said, “I can forgive an officer who makes a mistake or loses a -battle, but an officer who betrays the security of his country ought to -be shot.” - -Meanwhile, a similar order was given the Navy, but was not caught in -time to head off the destruction of the records. F.D.R. was President -at the time. - -We are hopeful these things will come to an end, but do not expect -too much. That is because we know the C.I.A.--Central Intelligence -Agency--is loaded with Commies at the lower level, with some seeping -right up into the upper brackets. - -A bright spot, however, is the advancement to the position of ranking -minority member of the House Un-American Activities Committee of Harold -Velde, young ex-F.B.I. agent, now representing Abraham Lincoln’s old -Illinois district in Congress. Velde, at 40, has been a G-man, a county -judge, and is in his second term in the House. His training under -J. Edgar Hoover sets him up as a canny spy-catcher; his hatred of -subversives, left or right, will make him a brake on Commie-coddling. -His predecessor on the committee was California’s new Senator Nixon, -who nailed Alger Hiss, and in Congress, Senator Dirksen, who beat Scott -Lucas. The Senate’s own Red probing committee is also good news. - -Your authors delved into how the rank-and-file protectors and -comforters of Communists in Washington got that way. We know about the -over-educated Harvard prodigies, recommended to key spots by Felix -Frankfurter, but how does a $3,000-a-year file clerk in State, or -Defense, meet Reds in the first place? By what means is he wooed and -won to betray his country? Jim Walters of the _Times-Herald_ exposed a -lot. Here is more: - -Red spies came here as soon as Lenin and Trotsky pulled their -successful November coup in 1917. But not until the late Roosevelt -handed diplomatic recognition to the enemies of civilization in 1933, -did a sizeable apparatus begin to build openly in Washington. In the -early years of the New Deal it became fashionable to be “liberal,” to -love all radicals, including revolutionaries. - -The government was overloaded with Reds, pinks, fellow-travelers, -social planners, do-gooders, proletarians, boondogglers and Socialists. -The federal establishment is still up to its neck in conspirators and -collaborationists, despite a few publicized firings. - -Let’s take the case of this humble clerk who is seduced by Reds. -Seduced is just that. We covered the modus operandi used by the Pervert -Sections of foreign chancelleries in the previous chapter. But not -all government employes are homos or susceptible. The normal must be -romanced with natural methods. Sex-starved government gals are enticed -by smooth, suave, good-looking men. Meek male clerks, in soporific jobs -at standardized sustenance-pay, are awakened with a sudden whiff of the -esoteric when fast-working, trained good-lookers make a play for them. -These happenings are not cribbed from E. Phillips Oppenheim novels. -They are planned that way and they come off. - -Wealthy left-wingers with mansions in Georgetown cooperate avidly. -Humble government employes are invited to exotic, erotic parties. This -sudden entrance into a world of wealth, taste, refinement, liquor and -libido is irresistible to hoi polloi. - -Smart Red undercover agents try to get a hold of some kind on their -victims, something insidious. Soviet agents press a systematic campaign -to bring women employes of the State Department under their control by -enticing them into acts of adultery and abnormality. Parties are staged -in rich surroundings with pornographic exhibitions, unlimited liquor -and every form of dope--and a hidden, talking moving picture camera -recording it all. - -As many as 65 or 70 attend these aphrodisiac get-togethers, where many -wear rich Oriental costumes and Arabian Nights music completes the -intoxication of all the senses. Not only potential friends are thus -won and hooked, but dangerous foes are silenced. One gossip writer, a -feared crusader, has within the last couple of years become a virtual -transmission belt for the Communist line. He was called into a secret -projection room and shown a devastating film of his behavior at a -drunken, depraved orgy. We have seen “stills” from it. - -This use of sex as a means of recruiting is a basic tactic. It has -been developed to such an extent by the Reds, they now seek to -convert children thereby. Herbert J. Benjamin, long a key figure in -the Communist Party in the United States, was arrested recently by -vice squad men for selling lewd pictures and literature to Washington -children, and convicted of violation of the D.C. code. - -Benjamin, a former secretary of the International Workers Order, long -a contributor to party magazines and periodicals, was mentioned in a -memo by Earl Browder, November 27, 1939, as an alternate to the tenth -convention of a national Communist Party committee. Later he was the -organization’s national press director and was in charge of the St. -Louis office of a Communist political association. He and his wife -lived in the Trenton Terrace apartments, on Mississippi Ave., SE, where -other tenants were Rob Hall, Washington correspondent for the _Daily -Worker_, and Joseph Forer, a veteran attorney for Reds. Benjamin’s wife -was manager of the apartment house. - -The pinks are still working strenuously to grab off and bring up new -followers from the incubator stage. As these lines were written, -three names listed by the District Board of Education as speakers for -its in-service-training program were found to be also in the House -Committee on Un-American Activities’ files as left-wingers--Dr. Paul B. -Cornely, Freedmen’s Hospital medical director; Dr. Alice V. Keliher, -of New York University; and Dr. Dora B. Smith, of the University of -Minnesota. Superintendent of Schools Corning said, “The names were -identical with names in the House Un-American Committee records.” Since -then Red and Socialist-slanted text books have been found to be in use -in Washington’s schools. - -Until two years ago, there was considerable radical financial -interest in radio station WQQW. The stock has since been placed in a -voting-trust with a good American as trustee. For years this station -refused to sign off with “The Star-Spangled Banner.” - -The Dupont Theatre specializes in interracial and foreign films, most -of them slanted left. Danny Weitzman, owner of the building, was active -in the Wallace presidential campaign. - -The Reds and bleeding hearts play up their “love” for Negroes at every -opportunity. This often pays off big dividends because so many colored -people are employed in government offices. A few Negroes are dumb -enough to be misled by the Reds’ baloney about the brotherhood of man. -But to their eternal glory, the great mass of Negroes are among the -most patriotic citizens in the country. A few malcontents, who have -been taken in by the crocodile tears of the Eleanor Roosevelt brand of -reformer, occasionally indirectly render aid and comfort to the enemy. - -To show how much they love the Negro, the white Communist brethren -hold their District powwows at Shilo Baptist Church, a Negro house of -worship in the NW section. - -It is a Communist strategy to line Negroes into the party through white -gals who, to show their complete compliance and condition of servitude, -are urged to give themselves to colored men. Into this specialized -service they seem to wade with more than token application. - -Mrs. Louise Branston Berman, millionaire radical who declines to -state if she’s a Communist on grounds of self-incrimination, spends -much of her time in Washington. She uses her great wealth to help -the enrollment of left-wing recruits through social contacts. Louts -who never dined above a cafeteria before are invited to sumptuous -banquets in her homes in various parts of the country. Visiting Negro -dignitaries who can’t get accommodations in hotels are her house -guests. Mrs. Branston will learn for the first time here that when she -put up the Negro singer, Paul Robeson, government agents had “bugs” -in every room of her house from the parlor to the boudoir--she ought -to hear the recordings. We did. They’re neither intellectual nor -musical--but they are illuminating. - -A principal Communist apparatus and recruiting ground for new Reds on -the lower levels was the late but unlamented UNRRA. - -The organization was rotten with traitors during the time Mayor -LaGuardia was its director. Either he didn’t know what was going on, -because he attended meetings only a few times, or he didn’t care. - -When UNRRA was disbanded, its Red membership was moved almost en -masse to the payroll of the United Nations secretariat. Many are now -stationed in New York, where they are sabotaging U.N. work as far as -they can. Others are attached to U.N. field offices in Washington. - -If anyone doubts it was the policy of UNRRA to aid Communism and -that this had the approval of the present administration, which is -bent on fighting Communism, let him read the following excerpts from -a memo which we filched from the UNRRA files. It is an inter-office -communication, written in 1947, and addressed to Col. Katzin, a South -African, then an important UNRRA man and now top aide to Trygve Lie. - -It follows: (The italics are ours.) - -“It should be made clear that _the administration, in pushing for -distribution to Communist areas_ and in requesting Edgerton to report -on such distribution, has in mind _actual shipments into Communist -areas_ and not merely movements out of Shanghai with the expressed -intention of making such shipments.” - -Another paragraph reads, “In reference to Shanghai 6404, it is -interesting to note the U.K. position that _the program should be cut -proportionately if the (Chinese) Nationalist government does not meet -its obligations for Communist area distribution_.” - -In other words, we strengthened the Chinese Reds so they could kill our -boys three years later. - -Another batch of Communists and Communist-lovers came into the U.N. -through its International Child Fund. This department is loaded -with ex-State Department employes fired on suspicion of subversive -activities. - -That is a common habit. If all the homos, spies and other undesirables -fired for cause were traced, hundreds would be found snugly ensconced -in other bureaus, ostensibly screened, actually given screens of -protection and falsification by the radicals in high places. - -We are not indicting Eleanor Roosevelt or Supreme Court Justice -Frankfurter as Communists. Yet it is impossible to study the set-up of -the District of Columbia white collar Communist underground without -finding tie-lines from them to members of this group. - -The man of mystery in Washington is wealthy, brilliant, daring Max -Lowenthal. He wrote the unwieldy book purporting to pulverize the -F.B.I. which sold only 6,000 copies. Almost as many were given away. -Yet no one knows much about him. He is a shadowy figure who thrives -on obscurity, though he has filled public posts of importance. Until -Congressman Dondero, of Michigan, investigated him, his name was -obscure in Washington. Today not ten people in the government know -more about him than the fact that he is frequently more powerful than -the President and the Congress of the United States. This is some -of what Congressman Dondero charged on the floor of the House of -Representatives about Mr. Lowenthal whom he referred to as sinister and -surreptitious: - -Like the Communist Party, whose cause he has served so well, he -operates on two levels. One is seemingly respectable; the other -completely underground. He is native-born. His name does not appear in -Who’s Who. To secure even a sketch of his biography has been a task. - -Born in Minneapolis in 1888, like many other parlor pinks, -fellow-travelers, Communists and convicted perjurers, he attended -Harvard Law School. In those days he came under the influence of -another man who through the years has manipulated Charlie McCarthys in -Government office. There is a striking kinship between the master, -Justice Felix Frankfurter, and the pupil, Max Lowenthal. - -He served as a secretary to Judge Julian M. Mack in New York, then -infiltrated the respectable law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. -After a few years he founded his own firm, Lowenthal, Szold & Brandwen. - -Later he secured an appointment as Assistant Secretary of the -President’s Mediation Board in 1917; in 1918 he was in the War -Department; in 1920 he was an Assistant Secretary to the President’s -Industrial Conference. He became executive secretary for the Wickersham -Commission on Law Enforcement, but when he found he could not run it -he resigned. He became research director of the Banking and Currency -Commission, was on the staff of the Senate Committee on Interstate -Commerce, also affiliated with the Board of Economic Welfare. - -In Germany, known as general counsel to General Clay, he had as an -assistant George Shaw Wheeler, the American traitor, Communist and -renegade who shocked all America when he denounced the land of his -birth and asked Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia for asylum. - -Evidence of his unswerving loyalty to Soviet Russia is clear and -unequivocal. There is an interesting sidelight. The California -authorities raided the office of the Russian-American Industrial Corp., -whose head, the late Sidney Hillman, had turned on Communism, but his -general counsel still follows the party line. - -He was a member of the left-wing National Lawyers Guild, a member of -the National Committee of the International Juridical Association with -Lee Pressman. - -Carol Weiss King, who represented more Communists than any other -lawyer, was a law clerk in Lowenthal’s office. - -Lowenthal, living in New York, spent much of his time in Washington; -his influence is a menace to the best interests of America--so said -Congressman Dondero. - -Don’t kid yourself. The Reds are not on the run in Washington. No -Communist control law means anything if the administration doesn’t want -it enforced. The anemic Security Board appointed by the President to -apply the McCarran Act, loaded down as it is with left-wing apologists, -is the tip-off. - -One day after Senator Tydings, who became an ex because he -“white-washed” Owen Lattimore, returned to private life he joined the -law firm of his father-in-law, Joseph E. “Mission to Moscow” Davies. A -senior partner in that firm is Seth Richardson, appointed by Truman to -head the Security Board. - -Meanwhile, the rapid expansion of Federal employment has forced the -government to forego the usual pre-job loyalty checks of tens of -thousands of new workers--hundreds of Communists are going on the -payroll and will be there for months, possibly years, until their -backgrounds are delved into. - -With a green light, the F.B.I. could break the back of the Communists’ -underground. But J. Edgar Hoover cannot make policies. He is just a cop -who has to follow orders. At this writing the orders have not come. The -traitors in Washington are safe. On the other hand, those who testify -against Reds are frequently harassed by Justice Department lawyers. - -If this weren’t so ghastly serious, some phases of the great Communist -spy-hunt would be laughable. For instance, there’s the story of -the prominent woman lawyer from New York, retained to represent a -left-winger about to be questioned by a Congressional committee. This -Communist kept his full status well hidden. He couldn’t afford to -hire a lawyer who handled Communist cases. So this portly Portia was -retained. She had no known Red connections. - -On her way to Washington she stopped in Baltimore, to confer with -a well-known Communist counsel there, to be briefed. It began as a -business confab. They arranged a follow-up rendezvous in Washington. -The Baltimore attorney’s wife suspected him, followed him to Washington -and caught him in the act with the lady lawyer from New York. - -The wife sued for divorce. The co-respondent testified, admitted -intercourse but denied adultery. - -“I was raped,” she cried. - -Cross-examination: - -Q.--Did you have intimate relations with the defendant? - -A.--Yes. - -Q.--Did you consent? - -A.--Yes. - -Q.--Then how do you make that out rape? - -A.--I found out since that he is a damned Communist! - - - - -17. KICKING THE GONG AROUND - - -It may be news that widespread addiction to narcotics is a -comparatively recent American manifestation. Long after the turn of -the century, a few trickles supplied pig-tailed Chinamen, despondent -prostitutes, ex-cons who had picked up the habit in stir and a few -rich fools who would try anything for a bang. Juvenile use was unheard -of. Marijuana was unknown outside pad-parties in the Harlem jungles -and among a thin fringe of Mexicans. The Harrison Narcotics Law, first -federal recognition of the existence of such an evil, is only 35 years -old. - -We are solemnly convinced that the great growth of this plague in the -past 20 years has been parallel to the spread of Communism in our -country. And it has not been confined to our country. - -Estimates by the Narcotic Control Section of the United Nations, that -one of every ten people on earth uses habit-forming drugs in some -manner or form, are borne out in this country, where the evil is -prevalent in all sections. It is the greatest tangible menace facing -us. And dope addiction, on the rise, can be traced definitely to Soviet -Russia. - -It has long been a tactic of nations bound on enslaving others to -deaden the ambitions and energies of their victims with dope. - -Examples of this stretch back to the dawn of written history. In the -last century, British imperialists introduced the habit into China to -control that nation. Nazi Germany flooded Poland and Czechoslovakia. -Japan built huge narcotics factories in Manchuria to weaken the -Chinese opposition. Russia is doing more of it now. Raw stuff pours -in from Mediterranean ports. It originates in lands behind the -Iron Curtain. Its importation into the United States serves Russia -twofold--prostrates a prospective enemy and gets its hands on needed -American exchange to be used for propaganda purposes and payment of -undercover agents here. International bank drafts could be traced. - -One courier can carry $1,000,000 worth of uncut dope on his person. - -There are many points of community interest between the Reds and that -other great international conspiracy, the Mafia, which controls the -sale of drugs in America. The Commies will team up with anyone who will -promote civil disorder or do their dirty work. The Mafia is interested -in making a dishonest dollar and will work with any partner. - -The center of the narcotics industry in the United States is in the -district of former left-wing Congressman Vito Marcantonio, in East -Harlem. During the days of his ascendancy, American Labor Party -district leaders were able to supply police protection through -alliances with both Tammany Hall and anti-Tammany Mayor LaGuardia. - -Generally untrumpeted was the fact that when the infamous Charles -“Lucky” Luciano was ordered deported from Cuba, the titular head of the -Cuban Communist Party offered him sanctuary and appeared as his counsel. - -A study of the Congressional Record will show that most of the bills -and measures designed to weaken the enforcement of the Narcotics Act -have been introduced by left-wingers and fellow-travelers. Many pink -lawyers represent the underworld combine. - -One of the most startling tieups was seen in the recent flooding -of this country with cocaine. The Bureau of Narcotics had all but -eliminated this devastating drug. There had been none here for 20 -years. Cocaine for American consumption comes from Peru, where the -coca leaves grow. A couple of years ago an Agrarian Communist group -called the Apristas took over that country briefly. Seventeen cocaine -factories were constructed in Lima, eleven licensed by the local Red -government, and the others ran with the knowledge and connivance of -the authorities. Their entire produce was routed to the United States. -Coincident with saturation of this country with cocaine, which sank in -price to as low as $1.50 a capsule, America went through its greatest -crime wave. - -When Commissioner Harry J. Anslinger traced the source of the deadly -narcotic to Peru, the New Deal State Department refused to intervene, -as it was required to do by the international treaties which outlawed -the traffic. The reason for this failure, amounting to criminal -negligence, was that we could not interfere in Latin American affairs. -The cash for the cocaine was being used to foster Communism in South -America. - -Last year the Reds were kicked out of Peru by what Washington pinkos -still refer to as “the oligarchy,” who immediately thereafter closed -the coke factories. Since then, this traffic has almost dried up in the -United States. - -Likewise the administration has failed to inform the American public -that the Permanent Central Opium Board in Geneva, Switzerland, has -branded Soviet Russia and several Iron Curtain countries as palpable -violators of international treaties and UN conventions regarding the -control of narcotics. - -You will probably learn here for the first time that the following -governments, in addition to Russia, were named as treaty-violators for -failure to meet their obligations: Red China, Czechoslovakia and Poland. - -Among others who failed to cooperate were Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Oman and -Liberia, the African Negro republic in which Negro slavery is still -practiced. - -Narcotic conditions in the capital are shameful. This is no fault -of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics, whose fighting chief, Commissioner -Anslinger, is handcuffed by red tape, apathy and a penurious budget. -The Bureau has a personnel of less than 180 for office and field work -throughout the world. Its annual budget is less than $2,000,000. This -is a drip in an ocean, yet Anslinger must cope with the deadliest evil -known to man, backed by a huge and wealthy underworld organization -controlling tens of thousands of peddlers, sluggers and killers, and -owning billions of dollars. - -That the unsung agents of this Treasury bureau have done as well as -they have is a miracle. They could do better, especially in Washington, -if they had the cooperation of the judiciary. They haven’t. - -You can buy reefers on any corner in Black Town or in front of any -high school in the District. You can purchase hard stuff at dozens of -corners, of which we can name many and will note some. This disgrace -indicts judges in the courts of the District of Columbia. All are -federal, not elected, but appointed by the President. This goes for -the Municipal Court bench, which sits for six years, as well as the -District Court, appointed for life. - -Every judge appointed in the last 18 years was put on the bench during -a Democratic administration. More than 95 per cent are Democrats. Few -are Washingtonians. With few exceptions, these judges are divided -into two classes: Those representing the big-city bosses and gangs, -and radicals named to appease bigger and redder radicals. The former, -obviously, are expected to be lenient to law-breakers protected by the -organized underworld. The latter, mostly fuzzy-minded intellectuals, do -not believe in punishment, especially when the evildoer is a Negro or -of any minority race. They can’t find wrong in any man. They believe -criminals are mishandled wards of society. - -The Washington field office of the Bureau of Narcotics--with only three -or four agents--arrests dope peddlers as fast as they can be found and -turns up enough evidence to secure convictions. But the courts almost -uniformly issue suspended sentences or small fines. - -The stench was so bad, dope peddlers were selling the contraband across -the street from the White House, at the eastern end of Lafayette -Square. The great brains regarded the venomous situation without -qualms. What’s a little dope among dopes? - -In desperation, Anslinger removed every agent--including one of his -best men, former agent-in-charge Roy Morrison--from the city of -Washington. He felt it was needless to risk his men’s lives to get -evidence against junk peddlers who were sure to keep out of jail -because of a fix or muddle-headedness. Thereafter, for a short time, -no effort was made to enforce the narcotics laws in the District. -Conditions got so bad, even the judges knew they must cooperate to -avoid a national blow-up. After Anslinger restored the agents, the -judges began meting out stiff sentences. But the heat soon came off and -they are back at their old habits. - -An example of what often happens when a dope peddler is arrested in the -District is the case of William Potts, indicted on 14 counts arising -from the sale and possession of heroin. On the day set for trial, an -essential witness of the government could not be found. The court was -so informed. The judge turned to the counsel for defense and asked if -he was ready for the trial. Defense counsel was, but the U.S. Attorney -said he was not, because of the witness’s absence. Thereupon the court -asked if the defendant would waive a jury trial. He did. Immediately -and without the pretense of trial, the court ruled. “I find the -defendant not guilty.” - -William P. Estoffery came into court with a record of ten specific -narcotics convictions, but the United States District Court gave him -eight months to three years, which meant he could be back on the street -in three months. One of his previous convictions was for possession of -counterfeit prescription blanks. - -Here is another sample of the judicial road-blocks erected against -enforcement officers who arrest dope peddlers in the capital: - -Constitutional rights to privacy also give a defendant protection from -illegal police raids on homes other than his own, the U.S. Court of -Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled recently. - -The court made the ruling in reversing the conviction of Jesse W. -Jeffers, Jr., on narcotics dealing charges. - -Jeffers, 27, Negro, was found guilty in Judge Alexander Holtzoff’s -court on testimony that police, without a search warrant, raided a room -at the Dunbar Hotel and found 19 bottles of cocaine he allegedly had -hidden there. - -Jeffers lived elsewhere in the hotel, but the room was rented by -relatives of his. - -Setting a rare principle of law, the Appeals Court held evidence of -the cocaine cache should have been excluded from the case because the -police raid was illegal. It pointed out the Constitution’s Fourth -Amendment specifically bans illegal searches of a defendant’s home, -and said the principle should be enlarged to cover illegal raids on -“premises that were not his.” - -Judge E. Barrett Prettyman, in a dissent from the majority opinion, -said “I do not see how an individual’s rights can be invaded by -Government seizure of ... unstamped narcotics, not on the individual’s -person or premises.” - -He emphasized the case “is important in the enforcement of the -narcotics laws.” - -The curious part of the whole affair is that the defendant admitted the -untaxed, unstamped dope was his. In fact, he demanded its return from -the government. - -In another of its feats of legal legerdemain, beyond the poor reasoning -of a couple of reporters who didn’t graduate from Harvard Law, the -august court said to the defendant in effect: “Possession of dope is -illegal, so you can’t have it back, though you didn’t commit any crime -when you had it before.” - -Try and figure that one out. - -Shortly thereafter the Appeals Court again overruled the same judge in -another narcotics case and ordered a new trial for Clarence Butler on -the grounds that Holtzoff’s “facial expressions” were prejudicial. - -An official memorandum of the United States Treasury Department sets -out facts as follows: - -Since early in 1946, the Bureau has experienced repeated delay in -obtaining prosecution of its cases in the District of Columbia. In -numerous trials where out-of-town agents were witnesses the Bureau -had to bear the expense of bringing them to Washington for testimony. -Repeatedly, after the agents arrived, the hearings were continued. The -Bureau could not stand this gaff and had to “stop narcotic enforcement -in the District of Columbia.” - -Dope cannot be manufactured locally. The Washington wholesalers must -get their supplies from the international monopoly. The general -practice in other cities is for the organization to deliver the -wholesale lots to localities where they are to be consumed, but in the -case of Washington the wholesale jobbers go to the distribution depots -in other cities and pick up carload lots. - -All narcotics in the United States are controlled at the top by a tight -ring of evil men who, in turn, issue state and territorial rights to -middlemen. Washington merchants are ordered to make their purchases in -New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, but mainly in New York. - -Marijuana is brought up directly from Mexico, but much inferior quality -reefer seed is planted on farms between Washington and Baltimore and in -Virginia. - -The local dope set-up is largely controlled by Negroes, though Chinese -also are active in the trade and have become more so since the -Communists took over China. The two tongs frequently import their own. -At this writing Red China has 500 tons of opium for sale abroad. This -is equal to the world requirements for medical and scientific needs -for more than a year. Chiang Kai-shek prohibited the production in -China in 1934. The Communists have revived Jehol and Manchurian opium -cultivation, and are reopening Tientsin dens. The tongs have not been -adhering of late to the agreement which limited them to noncompetitive -sales. Both are selling _pin yen_ (opium) and _bok for_ (heroin). -Police believe the recent but short-lived tong wars on the West Coast -were attributable to breaches of the basic compromise, plus efforts of -Chinese Communists to take over the tong dope distribution machinery. - -Occasionally, when sources of supply are temporarily cut off, or when -the Italians are able to offer a more favorable price, the Chinese -Syndicates send a man to buy directly from the Mafia. This dope is -stored in a warehouse near 108th Street and 2nd Avenue, New York City, -in Marcantonio’s bailiwick. - -Another difficulty in narcotics enforcement, not even whispered about -in Washington, is the leakage from diplomatic sources. It is politic -for the Bureau to deny this is so, because nothing can be done about -it. But huge amounts of concentrated dope come in envoys’ sealed -pouches. There is, as everyone in Washington knows, a lively racket -in the diplomatic corps in black market money. No easier method of -acquiring dollars is possible than through sale of dope. Some of this -contraband is used by members of the embassy staffs, themselves. In -some Near Eastern and Oriental countries, a daily intake of narcotics -is considered as normal as our use of coffee and tobacco. Many Latin -Americans are slaves to marijuana, especially in the eating form, not -otherwise available in the States. Some of this, which doesn’t find its -way into the channels of trade, is presented by the diplomats to their -American friends. - -This will be denied, too, but ranking members of the diplomatic corps -who are narcotic addicts and who can’t get the stuff from other sources -have it provided for them by the protocol boys in the State Department, -who withdraw it from official government sources. - -We were offered reefers by peddlers in the alleys along 4th Street, SW; -also at the corner of 7th and T and 7th and O, NW. - -In an all-night diner at Vermont and L, frequented by musicians and hep -kids, we were offered reefers also. - -Hard stuff is obtainable with no trouble from street salesmen in Thomas -Circle. In this neighborhood, which is bossed by Attilio Acalotti, you -can place a bet on a horse, buy a numbers ticket or get a call girl. -The service is performed for you by sidewalk newsboys and pimps on the -steps of the National Christian Church. - -In recent years, rich white racketeers have gone in for opium smoking -themselves. They get it in Chinatown, where a few poppy parlors are in -operation. As noted, members of the On Leong Tong deal mostly in opium -and the members of Hip Sing in heroin. - -Heroin is sold openly on the corner of 5th and H, in the Hip Sing -section of Chinatown. To prove this, we became accessories to a -violation of the law. - -This is how simple the whole transaction was: We were steered to a -broken-down wreck named Joe, a well-known dope addict. Despite his -habit, Joe is an expert locksmith, a genius at his trade. He can’t -work steadily, but so talented is he, the police and other local law -enforcement bodies and private detective agencies frequently hire him -to pick locks. That’s how he gets the money to support his habit. We -gave Joe $6 to buy a deck of heroin and left him on the corner while we -drove twenty feet up the block as Joe waited for his contact, across -the street from the Gospel Mission. - -We walked back and passed Joe as he handed the $6 to a young Chinese, -who had appeared out of an area way. Joe said the Chinaman’s name -was Benny Wong. This is one of the commonest Chinese names, there -may be 500 with it in Washington. While Benny went to get the stuff, -Joe sat down on a stoop and fell asleep. He had been loading himself -with secanol, a synthetic, to keep his nerve steady until he got the -heroin, and he was in a pitiable condition. While Joe slumbered, two -metropolitan cops walked by. They thought he was drunk. One went to get -the wagon while we talked the other out of pinching our decoy. A few -minutes after the cops left, Benny returned with the heroin. That’s all -there was to it. - -The “hooked” addict’s cost of supporting his “yen” runs from $35 a -week up, though if one “has a monkey on his back,” meaning the urge is -desperate and irresistible, he will be soaked from $50 to $100 a week. -Those who can afford the best stuff or who no longer get a bang out of -cheap grades are bled for as much as $500 a week. - -When Hyman I. Fischbach, brilliant counsel of the Congressional -committee investigating crime and law enforcement in the District -of Columbia, queried Assistant Commissioner Harney of the Narcotics -Bureau, some startling facts about narcotic addiction were brought out, -yet missed by the press and the public. These hitherto unpublished -excerpts make interesting reading. - -MR. HARNEY. That also depends too on the cost of the drug and the -amount of his income. Addicts can get along--during the war we had lots -of them who had needle habits. Their intake was probably one-fourth -grain or half a grain a day of actual narcotic. The addict might -develop until he gets as high as 20, 30, or 40 grains a day, considered -a lethal dose for a non-initiated person. They build up resistance -power. They get hoggish. - -CONGRESSMAN DAVIS. What is that term? - -MR. HARNEY. Use a lot of the drug. In days when drugs were freely -available that was one reason for institution of cocaine. A man would -stupefy himself with narcotics and with cocaine he would get an extra -thrill and get out of it and brighten up and keep from going to sleep. -The addict may spend $5 or $10 a day in addition to other expenses, and -not being able, or disposed to work, usually becomes a thief. He can -be a prowler or he might be a pickpocket. Some addicts are very good -burglars. He might be a stick-up-man, not often. - -A woman will be a prostitute or shoplifter. A man might be a panderer. -Many addicts buy in decks, 8 ounces or 2 or 3 ounces. The preaddict -would use a few grains. It differs in different localities. - -MR. DAVIS. Does the price differ? - -MR. HARNEY. Expressed in terms of actual narcotic content for the -preaddict it may be $2 or $3 a grain. - -MR. FISCHBACH. Mr. Harney, is it your point that an individual -otherwise law abiding necessarily turns to petty crime in order to -support the addiction? - -MR. HARNEY. I would not say necessarily, but it is often apparent. -I want to emphasize that addiction, particularly in the past, has -been much among the criminal element. A man was down in a dangerous -environment before he became addicted; he had to get in that sort of -association in contrast to the casual person who might become an addict -from medical reasons, but the ordinary addict becomes so by association. - -MR. FISCHBACH. Then your point is there is an epidemic effect to it? - -MR. HARNEY. We have a rather unusual and alarming situation which -developed since the war. It does not quite follow the pattern I set -out. My theory used to be that most addicts were old enough to be -associated with criminals and get into the underworld with addicts -before they themselves became addicts. Today, in certain localities, -we have young people, some minors, and the pattern seems to be -experimentation in marijuana first. That loses its thrill and those -persons become addicts to heroin. Sometimes cocaine comes into the -picture. - -MR. DAVIS. Is marijuana used as a starter and later other narcotics are -used? - -MR. HARNEY. I would not say always, but frequently. Young people get -into the marijuana atmosphere and you have a field for the cocaine and -heroin addicts. - -MR. DAVIS. Are they induced to begin with marijuana by purveyors of -heroin, cocaine, morphine, and other drugs, to lead them into addiction? - -MR. HARNEY. That pattern follows. Later dealers sell all three -commodities. Youngsters come into the marijuana smoking atmosphere and -soon there is no kick in it, and someone will tell them, “Try this.” - -MR. FISCHBACH. Now who is that person? - -MR. HARNEY. The peddler, or a cocaine addict, or a heroin addict. - -MR. FISCHBACH. I would like to direct the attention of the committee to -the case of Charles M. Roberts, alias Jim Yellow, and ask if that case -presents some problems which your Bureau experienced in the District -with regard to the enforcement of the narcotics law. Present the facts -in the case of Jim Roberts, what kind of a person he was, how he lived, -what quantity of drugs he had when taken into custody. - -MR. HARNEY. Jim Roberts had two convictions for violation of the -Federal narcotics laws. He had convictions for other crimes, including -charges of assault. We used an agent in an undercover capacity. Roberts -lived in a luxuriously furnished apartment. Some of these figures I -cite are on his own statement and probably you will allow for bragging, -but he had a beautifully carved television set which he claimed cost -him a couple thousand dollars, and he drove a new Cadillac. While -the officers were in his presence money was handed to him in a paper -grocery bag. Roberts referred to a hatchet and said he was waiting to -christen it in blood. When the car was seized the hatchet was under the -seat of the car. Roberts’ style of living represents big-shot narcotic -dealers. It makes a tremendous impression on others who might think of -entering the racket. - - * * * - -In addition to users of standard narcotics, many in Washington go in -for esoteric kicks. A growing fad in the Negro district is to inhale -incense with marijuana added. - -Barbiturates are sold without prescription, because the D.C. law has -no teeth in it. Some become habituated to these drugs and, instead of -being put to sleep by them, get all the wallop out of them that others -get from opium. Many drug stores sell nembutals over the counter for -25 cents each. Nembutals are the prostitutes’ favorite. Among initiates -they are known as goof balls, or nemies. They grew popular during World -War II, when there was a scarcity of narcotics. Most who prefer goof -balls to marijuana usually end up on morphine, heroin or cocaine. - -Evelyn Walsh McLean’s daughter, who was married to Senator Reynolds, -died from an overdose of goof balls. - -As elsewhere, reefers are the real menace. This product of the hemp -plant is easily available, can be grown anywhere, is cheap, and in some -circles is in good repute. There is no such thing as an innocent reefer -smoker. Sooner or later, anyone on “muggles” must become a law-breaker -to some degree. Peddlers put their heads together, know how badly any -customer is hooked. Then they jack up prices to beyond what most people -can pay honestly. - -All weed-heads are cop-haters. Even in reasonably normal condition they -carry a fierce resentment against conventional forces of society. - -Reefer smoking is not habitual in the sense that the addict suffers -“withdrawal” symptoms, as when he is taken off other stuff. But neither -is cocaine habit-forming in that sense. Both work on the emotions. -Their use causes a physiological change in the brain. The reefer smoker -who gives the stuff up does not turn violently ill. But he doesn’t give -it up. He likes its effect and needs its lift to give him courage. - -Sooner or later, all reefer smokers go on to cocaine, because the -effect is the same as from reefers, a hundredfold. When the bang of the -hemp wears off, cocaine is the only thing that can take its place. And -because cocaine is so expensive, one must become a criminal to afford -its use. And the cocaine gives one the courage to be a criminal. - -The subject of tea-hounds brings us quite naturally to our next -chapter, juvenile delinquency, in which stimulants are a large factor. - - - - -18. THE YOUNG IN HEART - - -Juvenile delinquency as a topic has become a bromide. You’d think -there was little left to add. But here we found not only more of it, -but conditions behind it were frequently the exact opposite of those -obtaining in other populous cities. - -It is generally accepted as beyond dispute that youngsters go wrong -because of poverty, congestion, lack of play-space, exposure to -the tenement atmosphere, the saloon and miserable home life. But -Washington, with its top average of prosperity, nothing that could -rightfully be called slums, no tenements and no out-and-out saloons, -has a more alarming per capita of teen-age law-breakers than New York, -Chicago, Detroit or Kansas City. - -Remarkable, moreover, is the discovery that white youth is more -delinquent proportionately to the total of all criminals of their race -than Negro youth. Over all, however, more colored children break laws -than whites. A study of records, talks with social workers and personal -prying into many cases make it evident that more young people go wrong -because of overprivilege than underprivilege. - -Most kids who get into trouble are well fed, over the height and weight -scientifically charted for their age, are well dressed, and have -superior intelligence quotients. We checked on one, 15 years old, five -feet nine inches tall, weighing 140 pounds, the son of a government -official who earns $12,000 a year. He confessed to more than 100 -larcenies, burglaries and purse-snatches, and he had escaped from two -postal inspectors who arrested him for looting mail-boxes, searching -for government checks on which he intended to forge endorsements. He -and a 12-year-old accomplice had broken into 37 houses in the NW area -in 20 months and had robbed scores of cars. He said: - -“Everybody here is on the make. We want money, too.” - -Of 2,412 arrests of white males for Part 1 offenses, serious crimes -including homicide, rape, robbery, burglary, larceny, auto-theft and -aggravated assault, 564, almost 25 per cent, were committed by boys 15 -and under; 1,897 of the 2,412, or 75 per cent, were committed by boys -20 or under. - -The figures for Negroes are the reverse. There adults are in the -preponderant majority. During the time when white males of all ages -committed the 2,412 specific offenses for which they were arrested, -7,729 Negroes were apprehended. Of this large number, only 1,702 of the -crimes were committed by Negro boys 15 and under; of these the number -charged to males 20 years and under was 3,477, considerably less than -half, whereas white juveniles rolled up 75 per cent of the total for -their race. - -Also a departure from the usual big-town findings is the sex -proportion. Juvenile delinquency is almost a complete male monopoly, -about the only one in the female-heavy District. Harlem and -Bronzeville, Hell’s Kitchen and the dregs of Brooklyn have their -“debs,” the feminine auxiliaries of the boys’ gangs of muggers, -street-fighters and thieves. The girls constitute a good one-third -of the problem children, engaged in picking pockets, shoplifting and -prostitution. But in Washington, in the period when the 2,412 serious -crimes were charged to white males, only 309 were committed by females, -and of these only 19 were under the age of 15; 96 were 20 and under. -Negro females of all ages were arrested for 1,091 Part 1 crimes, of -which only 38 were girls up to 15 and only 161 were 20 and under. - -One reason for the huge incidence of juvenile delinquency, but by no -means the decisive one, was an idiosyncrasy of the population trend -here, topsy-turvy to every other in the country during the last 10 -years. While the mean age of Americans was growing to such an extent -that it appeared we were becoming a nation of old people, Washington’s -population increased 26 per cent--but its child population, as of birth -records, increased more than 60 per cent. Nobody seems to know why. - -If this has anything to do with the high influx of Negroes, the figures -above quoted challenge it as a delinquency cause. Our observations -led us to the conclusion that the principal influence is a system and -habit of coddling found nowhere else. By Act of Congress, none but -the Juvenile Court can take jurisdiction over offenders before they -are 15; defendants under 18 must be transferred to it on the court’s -demand. This branch is dominated by fat matrons and skinny old maids -who make a profession or a vocation of “child welfare.” To them that -means no punishment; everybody is innocent. In time the judges, New -Deal appointees all, many from crackpot groups with socialistic and -other distorted tendencies, have been conditioned to contempt of the -law and slant toward paternalistic lectures and acquittals. The result -is an enormous rate of recidivists, and the figures represent multiple -arrests of such repeaters rather than of so many individuals. - -In the rare instances when the punks are sentenced to confinement, they -go to federal reformatories, where they get short terms and de luxe -treatment. - -Statistics are cold; many people skip them or disbelieve them. But cops -are practical. And so appalling has moppet misbehavior become that an -extra detail of 30 officers has been assigned on duty around the clock -to watch and buzz the teensters, in an unprecedented campaign to ease -Washington’s biggest growing pain. - -The vacuum in which federally appointed judges and officials -responsible only to Congress can place a community is well illustrated -by the juvenile delinquency procedure. - -Judge Edith H. Cockrill, of the Juvenile Court, adjudicated in a star -chamber, concealed from the public. Nothing came out of her court but -rumors. One lawyer said her court is “a social worker’s dream and a -lawyer’s nightmare.” He said children and their parents are treated as -“patients,” none as offenders. The result is that about three-fourths -of the kids processed through Washington Juvenile Court grow up to be -adult criminals. Public pressure forced her to issue her first report -last month, after more than two years on the bench. - -Judge Cockrill is a typical Fair Deal beneficiary. She graduated from -the University of Tennessee in 1939, then got her legal experience with -the OPA. Figure out how that qualifies her to sit as a juvenile judge. -Before her appointment, a couple of years ago, by President Truman, she -had never tried a case in juvenile court. Her present calendar calls -for about 60 cases a day, including bastardy, nonsupport and parental -responsibility. - -The previous incumbent on the bench was Faye L. Bentley, who -voluntarily committed herself to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital--for Mental -Disorders--for treatment in 1948. This is a course we recommend to some -other judges. - -Convicted juvenile delinquents are sent to the National Training School -for Boys, the National Training School for Girls, and the Industrial -Home School. - -The Department of Justice estimates three of every four graduates -of these reformatories become adult criminals. And this though the -Training School for Boys, known as “The Hill,” goes in for all modern -techniques and dodads, such as plastic surgery, psychotherapy and -psychology. There are church facilities, athletics, television, radio -and musical instruments. The boys are taught shoemaking, cooking, -farming and other trades. The school specializes in group therapy, -which has its advantages and its absurdities. Sometimes an entire group -can be spoiled by one or two tough young kids who become ringleaders. - -Except in the Negro sections, Washington has been spared the scourge -of kid gangs. There are no major foreign-born settlements in town. -Therefore the white kids seldom organize into mobs. Juvenile -delinquency in other cities is often blamed on Italian, Irish, Jewish, -Mexican and Puerto Rican under-age gangs. - -But organization seems to be coming into fashion. While these lines -were being typed, three local men were attacked and brutally beaten by -a gang of 12 teensters in the 700 block, 6th Street, NW, apparently -for the fun of it. The victims said the boys shouted insults at them -from the sidewalk as they drove past. The three stopped and got out -of the car. The gang then swarmed on them, beat them with bottles, -belt-buckles, brass knuckles and improvised blackjacks. - -Wherever young white criminals work together they are more often -prone to choose school or college mates, or members of the same -boys’ clubs as buddies. For instance, police broke up the exclusive -“Weekend Burglars” gang, whose activities had stirred up residents -of an exclusive NW residential section when they discovered that the -criminals were home on leave on weekend passes from a military academy -in Maryland. The three boys, the oldest 17, all came from wealthy -families. Their method of “cracking” a home was this: - -They would ring a doorbell; if no one answered, they cut through the -screen and smashed the glass in the door. Inside the house, they -ransacked it for three articles, taking nothing else. Playfully they -would toss furniture helter-skelter and break china. The money they -spent. The whiskey they drank. The stolen guns they showed off with. - -Kids of all ages and both sexes and races are smoking reefers in -prodigious quantities. These are easily obtainable from peddlers who -work outside the schools, and inside some schools, from students, -themselves. The current price for the weeds to school-children is 50 -cents each, sometimes three for a dollar. - -The young dope-fiends are not confined to any neighborhood of the -city or to any economic class. One high school in the area, attended -by children whose parents are in the upper brackets, is reported to -have 95 per cent addiction. A major kid crime element is marijuana. -Youngsters go on from it to more potent narcotics, then commit petty -crimes to obtain the funds to buy the drugs. Reefers and other dope -sharply bring out latent lawlessness. - -High school athletic events have become a scandal. Bootleggers purvey -liquor openly in the stands. Hundreds of stinking-drunk youngsters are -swept out of the stadiums after every game. - -Professional gamblers attend these games and make book without any -pretense, taking bets from the kids of from 25 cents up and giving -tickets in return. - -Neighborhood stores adjacent to schools also purvey bootleg liquor and -take bets from the juveniles, not only for their own school games, but -on the horses and numbers. - -Juvenile delinquency is almost as bad in the suburbs. There kids have -cars, and “hot rod” races are common. - -Youngsters ape their elders when they see the callousness of parents -to the processes of law. Laxity, favoritism, New Deal “liberalism,” a -general spirit of contempt for law enforcement are reflected in the -growing generation. The solid virtues are “old hat.” Youth is on a -rampage. - -Washington has no monopoly on young criminals, but it has more of them -per capita than any other city in the nation. - -Lame-brains like to point out that only colored people are confined to -“slums” in Washington; that no whites live in ghettos in the capital. -If so, how come that juvenile delinquency among the whites is as -startling as among the blacks, more so, in fact? As reported elsewhere -in this book, Washington’s crime rate leads the nation. It is all the -more startling to discover how many of these crimes are committed by -children. - - - - -19. BOOZE AND BOTTLES - - -Washingtonians imbibe three times as much as you do, friend voter. -Except for a few silly restrictions, no place in the country offers -as many inducements to the potential alcoholic. The answer is, 14,151 -drunks last year created a jail “housing crisis.” The number more than -doubled in the last five years. Liquor consumption of the District -is three times the U. S. average. Every resident, including new-born -infants, soaked up almost four gallons of hooch last year. - -Even allowing for thirsty tourists, conventioners, and Virginia and -Maryland commuters, Washington drinks more than any other U. S. city, -including dissolute New York and debauched Chicago. - -This is the place where price control was invented, yet the District -has no peacetime minimum price law on bottled goods. You can buy -standard brands for a dollar less than anywhere else. Many unnamed -whiskeys and gins are cheap; it doesn’t pay to cook your own. Whiskey -costs less than $2.50 a fifth, and gin can be bought for $1.75. Yet the -bootleg business is a major industry. Millions of gallons sold in the -District, on which no tax was paid, swell the known figures. - -The liquor control situation is an anomaly. Like the District of -Columbia, itself, the liquor laws were born of compromise, this between -Congressmen from the wet and bone-dry states. - -You can drink hard liquor in restaurants and cocktail lounges, but only -when sitting at a table. Beer and wines may be dispensed over the bar, -but not to standees. You’ve got to find a stool. Some genius figured -you can’t get plastered sitting down, forgetting that many who drink -and sit can’t stand up again. - -Hard liquor may not be sold on Sundays, though beer and wine can be. -Bars can remain open until 2 A.M. every night except Saturday and -Sunday, when they must shutter promptly at 12. You can’t line drinks -on your table; anything in your possession at the closing hour will -be swept out of your hand. Most places issue the last call 15 minutes -before the limit and in that final quarter-hour there are wild -drinking scenes as customers try to get drunk all at once. - -Liquor for off-premise consumption is sold in bottle stores, of which -there are about 350. They close at nine on weekdays and at midnight -on Saturdays and all day Sundays. A package store license costs $815 -a year, but it will cost you $50,000 to buy one, as the ABC Board has -frozen the rolls. - -Those who can’t get a bun on by closing time have no trouble locating -an oasis after the curfew. At this writing there are 613 so-called -bottle-clubs running in the District, in addition to hundreds of gin -flats in Black Town, where almost any cab driver will steer you. -Bootleggers work certain street corners, where you can buy bottle goods -after hours. - -The legal age minimum is 18 for beer and 21 for hard stuff, but this -law, like almost all other rules and regulations, is breached more -often than honored. - -Citizens and Congressmen seek sporadically to rationalize local liquor -laws, in hope of cutting down violations. But the dry bloc buries the -bills in committees. Everyone was surprised when the House District -Affairs Committee managed to bring up a bill permitting sale until two -on Saturday nights. This turned out to be a piece of parliamentary -jockeying in the fight against the President’s FEPC Bill, of all -things. That law, obnoxious to Southerners, would have come up for a -vote unless one with legislative priority could be sent in ahead. And -that bill, according to the calendar, was a proposed law to liberalize -drinking habits in the District. So the Southerners brought it up, -side-tracked the FEPC, and, a couple of weeks later, when it came time -to vote on the booze act, roundly routed it. - -The thirsty visitor finds it easy to find a bottle-club and become a -full-fledged drinking member on the spot. The names, locations and -owners of these after-hour spots vary from day to day. Occasionally, -after clean-ups, all or most close for a couple of weeks or a couple of -months. As these words were written the District was recovering from -its most painful drought, brought on by revelations before the District -Crime Investigating Committee, headed by Attorney Fischbach. - -The front-page stories forced the cops and U. S. Attorney Fay to close -some joints. Others lay low awhile. A murder in the Hideaway Club -didn’t help, either. - -We made an intensive study of bottle-clubs. Of the score or more -we visited, we found only one apparently operating legitimately and -according to law. That was the Lyre’s Club, about which more later. Of -the 600-plus such clubs in Washington, it is possible that a few adhere -to the book, but we didn’t hear of them. - -On paper, bottle-clubs are supposed to be membership organizations, -incorporated for social and benevolent purposes. Members bring their -own liquor, which is held for them, their names on the labels. The -clubs sell setups and food. - -Charlie Ford, a Washington attorney to whom we will have occasion to -tip our hats in much more detail later, is the lawyer for a number of -clubs. He officiated at their births. - -Here’s how most of them really work. Regular patrons, i.e., “members,” -are supposed to pay annual dues of about $10, depending on the club, -but most regulars pay nothing. Transients, i.e., guests, are charged a -door-fee of one or two dollars, depending on the club. - -Setups are sold, to those who bring their own liquor, at a nominal -price of 35 cents and up. If you haven’t your stuff parked or with you, -most clubs will sell it to you under the counter or advise you it can -be had from a guy seated in front of the entrance in a car. - -These clubs are incorporated as non-profit private enterprises, not -required to pay Federal amusement taxes even when they provide floor -shows and dancing. Nor need they have ABC liquor licenses, because they -are supposed not to be selling. - -Many of them operate as follows: The prospective owner or owners and -a couple of their friends or employes incorporate as a social or -benevolent organization. The real owner then rents and furnishes the -premises, which he in turn sublets to the so-called social club at a -rent which will approximate all the “take” from membership and door -charges. The “club” thereupon turns over the kitchen, the sale of -setups and the hat-checking and cigaret stand to the real proprietor, -as a concession, in return for a token payment, which in turn goes back -to the proprietor with the rent. - -In clubs that sell liquor illegally or provide gambling, records of -such activities are not kept. The proceeds go directly into the owner’s -pocket. If raided or threatened by cleanup drives, the clubs disband. -The owner organizes a new club under the same terms and repeats the -process. - -A new twist is being added since the Fischbach exposé. Some club -proprietors are making deals with units of legitimate bodies, such as -veteran groups, labor unions, etc., whereby the clubs share some of -the profits. One, the Amvets, closed after the Hideaway shooting, its -Charter lifted by the national organization. - -Bottle-clubs find customers in a variety of ways. Some employes of -licensed night clubs and restaurants hand out guest-membership cards -to patrons who inquire where they can go after two. These steerers -write their names on the cards and draw a kickback for every customer, -usually a dollar a head. - -Many cab drivers shill for the bottle-clubs, as well as for gin flats. -Cab drivers’ pay varies with the size of the party. They sometimes -get as much as $5 a haul. They are the chief source of prospective -patronage for the colored bottle-clubs. More than 500 after-hour spots -in Washington are operated by Negroes or in the Negro district. All -cater to blacks and whites. The twenty to thirty white bottle-clubs -running are segregated as to Negro musicians and actors. In one club -we saw three pretty blonde girls with two Negro men. They were all -reefer-smokers, palpably. - -Cabbies who hustle for the bottle-clubs not only do so in front of -hotels and licensed cabarets and restaurants, but try to pirate -customers away from opposition clubs. When they see a prospect waiting -for the peephole to open, they tout him away “to a better place, where -you won’t have any trouble.” The Hideaway, in Georgetown, depended -almost entirely on such maneuvers, as it is far out and off the beaten -track. - -The pirates were acting so brazenly, police stepped in to curb the -practice by giving tickets to drivers parked at strategic spots. The -law requires cabs to cruise at all times, except in posted hack-stands, -which are only outside major hotels. - -Food, dancing, entertainment, and often dames are for sale at the -clubs. Sometimes waitresses are available, but they work until 6 in the -morning, by which time the average rounder has forgotten all about it. -The price for a $10 girl picked up in a club is $20. - -Some provide craps, stud poker and other games. The night we were -there, a crap game ran on the top floor of the Atlas Club, on -Pennsylvania Avenue, two blocks from the White House, and at the -Stage-crafters Club, another hangout of General Harry Vaughan. The -Atlas applied for a private club liquor license, which would permit -legal sales, but the application was held up by the ABC Board until -the club president, Sidney Brown, who was abroad, could return for a -personal appearance. It happened that Mr. Brown, the sponsor of this -after-hour spot, was abroad because he is an employe of the State -Department. Some months previously, gambler Gary Quinn said he was the -president of the Atlas. The license was denied, so it is still running -as a bottle-club. - -Among the after-hour clubs operating at this writing are the Top Side, -501 12th Street, NW; the Guess Who, 811 L Street, NW; the Acropolis, -719 9th Street, NW (patronized by Greeks); the Culinary Arts, 307 -M Street, NE, and the Yamasee, 1214 U Street, NW. The last two are -colored clubs. - -The most notorious of the after-hour-spots speaks, the Gold Key, was -closed by Committee revelations. It has since reorganized as the -Downtown Club, with some of the same characters. Most of the others -are patronized by unimportant transients or night workers, such as -musicians, waiters and bartenders. - -The Gold Key got the cream and they’re back again. Among its regular -patrons were local sports, including playboy Senators and officials. -Waitresses there made as much as $150 a week in tips, whereas they are -lucky to knock down $50 in other places. When lawyer Charlie Ford drew -up the papers for the Gold Key, its original organizers were Albert -Glickfield, alias Al Brown, Patsy Meserole, and Harry Conners, his -brother-in-law. Meserole is a former New York gangster, one of the last -surviving members of the late Legs Diamond mob. Glickfield is a gambler -and associate of Frank Erickson. The accountant for this after-hour -club was Henry W. Davis, a division head in the Accounting Division -of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, an agency of the U. S. -Government. - -Meserole left the Gold Key to open the Stagecrafters, 433 3rd Street, -NW, and took a lot of the top political and theatrical business with -him. His partner is Dominic Ferone, another ex-New York mobster. -General Vaughan is a patron. It sells liquor openly and provides -gambling, and waitresses will get women for them as wants ’em. Meserole -testified under oath that many Congressmen and Senators were customers. - -When Congressional investigations indicated the club was operated -illegally, it was shuttered until the heat was off. But so heavy was -the influence of its owners, through business ties with members of the -New York Syndicate and the exalted position of its patrons, that as -soon as the investigation shut down, the club reopened, not quietly, -but brazenly. - -We have before us an ad in a Washington daily which reads: - - NOTICE.... - Members and Their Guests - STAGECRAFTERS CLUB - NOW REOPENED - Same Place.... - Same Policy.... - Same Committees.... - Same Benefits.... - Membership Drive Now On - Help Get New Members! - EDWARD P. MESEROLE, Secretary - -The Stagecrafters is the haunt of unsavory “introducers” who make -contacts with wealthy chumps there, offering girls and gambling. Police -recently arrested a lout, who, they charged, had become acquainted -with William H. Engelmann, a photo-lithographer from Baltimore, out -for a fling with friends in the Stagecrafters. The prisoner suggested -a blackjack game and took him to a room in the Ambassador Hotel, which -is owned by Gwen Cafritz’s husband. Engelmann was soon a $1,500 loser, -and asked his host to cash a check. He said he would, at the hotel -cashier’s booth, and left with Engelmann’s check. Engelmann became -suspicious when the man didn’t return after an hour. He found the man -had checked out. When the fellow was caught, police said, they found on -him a deck of marked cards. - -Another bottle-club that opened after the adjournment of the -Congressional investigation is on the site of the Palm Grill, at 14th -and Q, under a new name, the Sunrise. - -The shuttered Turf-and-Grid was reborn as the aforementioned Amvets. -The Turf’s owner, Richard O’Connell, has been employed by the -government since the beginning of the New Deal, in such agencies as the -original NRA, the Department of the Interior (under “Honest Harold” -Ickes) and more recently in the Red-infested Wages and Hours Division -of the Department of Labor. - -Another club that operates on and off is the United Nations Social -Club. When we visited it, its chief social activity was a crap game. -Another is the Crystal Cavern. - -When George P. Harding, a 39-year-old gunman and underworld fingerman, -was shot to death by Joe Nesline, notorious Prohibition era bootlegger, -in the Hideaway--an aftermath of last year’s conquest of Washington by -the Mafia--Washington’s bottle-clubs took another shellacking. - -Congressmen beat their breasts, newspapers shrilled, the DA promised -action and the cops vowed to close all the joints. For a few days a -couple of clubs went easy; at this writing most were again in action. - -The Hideaway, scene of the crime, was reported “closed for good” by the -precinct captain, but Joseph Horowitz, an owner, announced “business as -usual” while the cops were telling everyone the premises were empty. At -press time, the present and future status of the club was in doubt. - -Legitimate clubs are a necessity until the District authorities amend -the outmoded liquor laws. One which we liked is the Lyre’s. Most -members of this club are night-workers whose hours are such that they -could never get a drink or relax if they had no place to go after -2 A.M. Among them are musicians of the big hotels and night clubs, -waiters, waitresses, hatcheck gals, government swing-shift people and -visiting entertainers. We spent considerable time at the Lyre’s and -noted everything was on the square. No patrons were permitted to enter -who weren’t members or their guests, and no drinks were served except -out of members’ bottles. - -The Lyre’s is chummy. There’s a mainfloor bar and lounge and a basement -dining-room and dance floor. Most of the musicians in town hang out -there and put on jam sessions all night long. Its hosts are Vince and -Mildred Carr, former Baltimore and Philadelphia night club operators. -They have many friends in show business. The Carrs won’t tolerate -hookers and drunks, allow no soliciting, gambling or hoodlums. But -unfortunately the Lyre’s is unique. - -Not all who want to drink late can afford to or can get into or know -about bottle-clubs. Those who spend an evening in a licensed cabaret -and find themselves still sober or out for fun at two, or at midnight -on Saturday, are up against it. Licensed clubs and cocktail lounges -can’t sell for off-premises consumption. If you tip your waiter -liberally he will dig up an empty Coca-Cola bottle and let you fill it -with the remaining liquor at your table. - -Some people who run dry at midnight Saturdays drive to Maryland, where -bars and package-stores close at 2 A.M. - -Washington is loaded with bootleggers and blind tigers. We have already -referred to the gin-flats in Black Town, where home-made gin--raw -ethyl alcohol flavored with juniper and sometimes diluted with apple -cider--is sold. Prices are reasonable, as low as 50 cents a drink -and $3 a bottle. The flats, usually five- or six-room affairs, have -juke-boxes. Parlor floors are cleared for dancing. Beds are handy. If -cops come, it’s a private party. But cops don’t come. - -We pulled up in our cab to the NE corner of Popner and U Streets, and -waited five minutes. A colored man came over and asked us what we -wanted. He had gin, Scotch and corn. We bought gin, trade-marked, $2.50 -for a pint. - -David Douglas Davenport, self-styled “Union Station bootlegger,” has -been selling booze in the railroad terminal for years. He charges $5 -for a pint of whiskey, which he keeps stashed in an automatic coin -locker. Davenport has a record for court appearances, 115 in one year. -He lost to the law once, and did two years in the District jail. The -day he got out of the can he was in business in Union Station again and -still was at this writing, though arrested again and out on bail. - -Many after-hour bootleggers sell legitimate stuff, which they buy at -Washington’s low prices, and retail at 100 or 200 per cent profit. -Hundreds of other bootleggers, especially Negroes, dispense moonshine. -Most of this is acquired from mob sources in Brooklyn and New Jersey, -where the Mafia operates gigantic stills capable of producing thousands -of gallons a day. According to Carroll Mealy, capable and efficient -head of the Alcoholic Tax Unit, the rum-runners take this stuff to -Washington in 1940 Fords, with Cadillac or racing motors in place of -original power. This model is preferred for its carrying capacity, -maneuverability and inconspicuous appearance. The souped-up motors can -hit 120 miles an hour against pursuit. - -Much moonshine is made in Washington, though none of the raided stills -was found with a large capacity. The stuff is cooked at 2nd and G -Streets, NW. But legitimate Washington sources supply liquor to be run -into nearby dry and semi-dry states and counties. - -Not all who buy from bootleggers get drunk. Some get robbed. - -“The tough part about it was that I never got the whiskey,” Army Sgt. -Filmore M. Broom, 41, moaned to police. - -He said a Negro offered to sell him a bottle, but when the sergeant -pulled out his wallet, containing $190, to pay, the Negro snatched it -and ran--with the whiskey, too. This happened at 5th and Neal Streets, -NW, and police are looking for a Negro with red suspenders and a white -straw hat. No winter description available. - - - - -20. CAFE AU CORN - - -Foreigners who have never seen the United States dream of beholding -its wonders, of which the first two are New York and Washington. They -envision not the monuments or the Government Printing Office, but a -glittering world capital swirling with diplomats in colorful costumes, -officers in dress uniforms, and pageantry punctuated with dazzling -dames of the haute monde and the demi-monde. For this is the capital -of capitals, and it must have everything, including what none of the -others has--dough. - -If there is any spectacular life in Washington, that is not for the -eye of the uninitiated stranger. The days are vapid and the nights are -stupid. Washington is dominated by elected and appointed functionaries -who are schooled to believe they must never be caught having fun. -Therefore, after dark it is more like Paducah than like Paris. - -There are many hotel grills and lounges, which are night clubs after a -fashion, and some cafes; but their chief patronage depends on visitors -and government dependents. Both classes are drawn largely from farms -and villages, with only a minor proportion from centers of laughter and -light. Washington’s night life is a dull, dismal and dreary reflection -of our Main Streets, hard cider and juke-box roistering. - -The few local sports and the free-fingered lobbyists seek their -pleasure at private parties and behind closed doors of hotel suites, -or fly northward to nearby New York with its El Morocco and the Stork -Club. - -The two principal night clubs in Washington are operated by Chinese, -with American shows and dance bands. They are the Lotus and the Casino -Royal. - -Both are built for the mass-consumption trade, with popular prices -and acres of dance floors. Hicks and tourists are dance-bugs. Dick -Lam, host at the Lotus, is one of the town’s best-known and best-liked -showmen. He was one of the original founders of the China Doll, in New -York, and has uptown manners and know-how. - -The Blue Mirror, around the corner, specializes in hot jive. Kavakos, -as mentioned, features nudes, as does the Players, opposite the Center -Market. - -Not only can and do some Washington cabarets get away with stuff that -would land their owners in the clink in New York, but there seems to be -no police control or regulation of acts. - -For instance, Billie Holiday, the Negro singer who has served time on -narcotics and prostitution falls, is barred from New York night clubs -through the ukase of the Police License Bureau, which fingerprints all -entertainers and thumbs those with records out of town. But while this -was being written, Miss Holiday was starring in Washington’s Brown -Derby. - -Washington caters to visiting theatrical celebrities. Hollywood stars, -to whom the capital spells spotlight, are flattered by attentions of -politicians who, in return for free shows and broadcasts, flatter them. -This racket was invented by President Roosevelt, and, ever since, -theatrical headliners have been welcome luncheon and dinner guests -at the White House. In Washington they generally stay at one of the -five leading hotels and may be found dining or drinking in the lounges -and restaurants of the Mayflower, Carlton, Statler, Shoreham and -Wardman Park. Autograph collecting is not a highly developed hobby in -Washington; but some juvenile half-wits plant themselves outside the -hotels when such celebs are in town. - -There is nothing the equivalent of Morocco, 21, Colony, Stork, or Toots -Shor’s. The Mayflower lounge, nicknamed “The Snake Pit,” is that--the -mad gathering-place at cocktail time for the local celebs: the -Senators, lobbyists, army brass and blondest cuties. - -Most Washington night-life is as flat as those who patronize it. The -headwaiters are off the beam. The major-domo of the Wardman Park’s -Caribar, typical of most of the town’s, is so provincial he doesn’t -know he could get rich trying to cater to the few spenders that stumble -in. We watched him a whole evening and didn’t see him snare a buck. - -Patrons of Washington supper-clubs are lousy tippers. Most smalltown -Americans adhere to a strict ten percent. When they think they can get -away with it, they stiff even that. Captains, headwaiters, cigaret gals -and retiring-room attendants they ignore. Southerners are worse. - -We were twitting one Senator from a border state about the free -haircuts the tax-payers provide for the members of the upper house in -their private barber shop. This Senator replied, in all seriousness, -“It’s almost cheaper to go outside. When you get it for nothing, you -gotta tip the barber.” - -The best palm-warmers are South American diplomats, who apparently have -no regard for American money. Lobbyists, who like to flash big bills, -especially when they are entertaining impressionable legislators, run -for place. - -Few Washington waiters deserve much. The service they give is as -terrible as the tips they don’t get. - -Dance floors are crowded with jitterbugs. Rumbas never flowered in -Washington. When a band plays one, flabbergasted hoofers try to jive to -it. - -Few clubs or rooms have rules against parties of unescorted women or -stag men. If they did, they’d starve. It is not unusual to see half -the tables in any room surrounded by all males or all females. The -larger popular-priced clubs have signs on the tables reading, “Dancing -permitted with your escort only.” This is a dead letter, or there -wouldn’t be any dancers. - -Prices are cheap compared with Gotham’s. A few hotels impose cover -charges when they book expensive name acts. - -No room has more than one band, which plays both for the show and -the dancing. During intermissions, the silence is broken by noisy -drunks. Like all towns with early closing, people get loaded early. In -Washington serious guzzling begins at cocktail time. Many of those who -drink are oafs who don’t know how to hold their hooch. - -Most Washington saloon-goers are ill-mannered. On Saturday nights, when -the last round is announced at 11:45, many arise as one and walk out, -even in the middle of an act. - -Washington has no cafe society. Its gathering places are -utilitarian--for foods and drinks. No warm camaraderie, no light good -fellowship, no wit, no animation. Corny commoners in stereotyped -surroundings. Peoria on the Potomac. - - - - -21. CALL ME MADAM - - -This is a brief brush-off of the social parvenus who scrambled up as -Society scrammed out--through death and Democratic administration. - -Faded and forgotten are the days and nights when Washington was ablaze -with social brilliance and the gossip behind the fans reflected the -sturdy foibles and feuds and infidelities of a class in superior strata -of lineage, wealth and those graces which cannot be acquired with -sudden fortune. - -Society is always the shadow of one luminous, scintillant, predominant -woman, such as Mrs. Potter Palmer was in Chicago and the dowager -Vanderbilt remained until senility denatured her in New York. In -Washington that woman, even though she seldom entertains or permits -herself to be entertained, must be the wife of the President. She -need not be a Dolly Madison. She can be a recluse, a Quaker like Mrs. -Herbert Hoover; a New England villager, like Grace Coolidge; a grande -dame like Mrs. Benjamin Harrison or an Ohio hick like Mrs. Warren -Harding. But she is the undisputed ex officio queen bee of the social -life of the capital. She sets its tempo, she elevates with a nod and -she extirpates with a frown. - -Few Presidents’ wives would have won social preference had their -husbands not squirmed through the labyrinthian catacombs with that -miraculous luck which makes one man what they say any American boy can -become. But once he takes that oath, his lady assumes a crown. Whether -she chooses to wear it or not, she can and must exercise its power over -her realm, Society. - -And Society withstood the hostesses of gentlemen, soldiers, -backwoodsmen, a sheriff, a tailor, a school-teacher, a rail-splitter -and a Buchanan. But it could not survive Eleanor Roosevelt. - -Here came a woman of blood and millions, married to an equally -high-bred, landed manor squire, perhaps the most charming and dynamic -and handsome of all our Presidents. And the first tap of her flat heels -across the White House threshold led off the funeral march of Society -in the capital. - -It is unnecessary to review her attitude and behavior; no First Lady -was ever so unendingly publicized. That she became invested with -certain homely and all-wooly virtues by the worship of millions is -precisely why she choked the last breath out of social tradition with -her Negro friends, her boondoggling, sweaty indigents, her professional -Socialists, her dedicated slum-house guardians of gutter garbage, and -her antics as the militant apostle of democracy and equality. The -bedrock of Society is inequality, the existence and recognition of an -aristocracy. - -Whether it is good or not for fundamental Americanism, it was as lethal -to the remnants of a baronial stratum in Washington as the Emancipation -Proclamation was below the Mason and Dixon line. - -No female in American history had ever been so despised in the -drawing-rooms and so venerated in the kitchens and furnished rooms. But -that hatred within the walls of the elegant was not enough to sustain -even a social underground. A few dauntless matrons held out. They tried -to continue executing the motions from memory, but they perished on the -inglorious field of futility. They were the last. There were no wounded -and no prisoners taken. A dynasty that had flourished for 150 years had -been wiped out as were the Romanoffs. - -And, surely, Bess Truman was not sent from above for the Restoration. - -From the founding of the city until the recent demise of Evelyn Walsh -McLean, who owned the Hope Diamond, Washington was celebrated for its -intrigue, romance and scandal in high Society. - -Eleanor “Cissie” Patterson and Mrs. McLean were the last of the city’s -great hostesses. Mrs. Patterson retired from the tea-table wars when -she became active in newspaper work. With her death, and that of Mrs. -McLean, the Washington Society pages were taken over by the climbers. - -One needs no long memory to remember when social leaders from -everywhere converged on this city. Dupont Circle was Fifth Avenue -refined and rarefied, the cream of established snobbery, wealth, -officialdom and diplomacy. - -Ambitious minglers from the Middle West, such as the Pullmans, the -Leiters and others, bypassed New York’s fatuous 400 and came directly -to Washington. - -Social history there begins with beauteous Elizabeth Patterson, of -Baltimore, who wed Napoleon’s younger brother. Its first tasty scandal -was whispered in Jefferson’s time, about the French Ambassador who was -reputed to have married his jailer’s daughter, who had saved him from -the guillotine. - -Early Washington Society was titillated by duels among high personages. -The duel on the Hudson shore in which Alexander Hamilton was killed -by Aaron Burr, in 1804, was talked about for years, until 1820, when -a new gory sensation arose to take its place: the mortal wounding of -Commodore Stephen Decatur in an arranged meeting of gentlemen across -the District line in Maryland. - -After a hundred years, Washington still talks about Peggy Eaton and -President Jackson’s Kitchen Cabinet. But, today’s mundane morsels will -make no interesting reading, leave no spice for the raconteur. - -Society is on the wane everywhere. Taxes, Communist and New Deal -propaganda, the high cost of living, make it virtually impossible to -keep up huge menages. Now only rich labor leaders, black marketeers, -gangsters and grafters can afford the expense. - -There are a handful of rich dowagers like Mrs. Jay Borden Harriman and -Mrs. Gifford Pinchot, but they are out of the running. - -Cornelia Pinchot only entertains the “intellectuals,” and they are -legion in Washington. Where you find an intellectual in the District -you will probably find a Red. Mrs. Pinchot does not know it, but the -Commies have taken the elderly hostess over and are making hay with her -name. - -She lives in a Gay Nineties mansion on Scott Circle, where she often -throws parties for the National Association for the Advancement of -Colored People, attended by white and colored college professors, -pansies and political economists. Mrs. Pinchot looks her age, though -her hair is dyed the most amazing shade of carrot-red. - -Mrs. Robert Low Bacon, the hostess of the Republican intellectuals, -rarely hits the gossip columns. Even Evie Robert and her mother, Mrs. -Helen Walker, have been dormant for years. Evie, the wife of “Chip” -Robert, a brilliant political wire-puller, does not and never did -give parties for social advantage. They were to advance the political -prospects of her husband. - -Today’s Washington Society has no class levels. All you need is dough -and the urge and the energy to spend it on freeloaders. If you can snag -more important political people to your parties in any one calendar -season, from October to May, than your neighbor, you are Number 1 -social leader, regardless of whether you wore shoes before you were -twenty. - -Perle Mesta, a determined hostess who was lucky enough to have been -gracious to Harry Truman when he was a secondary Senator from Missouri, -is living proof of the potency of the Washington cocktail party. Her -reward was the appointment as Minister to Luxembourg. - -But Mrs. Mesta is by no means the only social climber in Washington, -though she is and was the most publicized. - -We would like to tell you about Mrs. Gussie (Gushie) Goodwin, formerly -a Chicagoan. She is the wife of Federal Judge Clarence Norton Goodwin, -who sentenced Harry Bridges in the Communist leader’s first round -before the courts. They were friends of the Woodrow Wilsons, which gave -them some kind of claim to social standing. Meanwhile, Judge Goodwin -started to go deaf, which handicapped him as a social figure. Gussie’s -star was setting. - -Then came a turn to her fortunes. She met a charming Latin gentleman, -Ramon Ramos, at a cocktail melee. He was a professor of Spanish. Gussie -got an inspiration. She was going to cement Latin-American relations -and her own social relations. She started a private class. Her little -study group met once a week at her home. During the first year, there -were eight women in it, each of whom chipped in a buck towards the -professor’s fee. - -Gussie began calling the wives of the more important officials and -Senators, and invited them to join her group. She was very careful to -see that it was equally divided between Republicans and Democrats. -One of the ladies who gladly became a member was the wife of Senator -Harry Truman. After the Trumans succeeded to the White House, the -Secret Service wouldn’t allow Mrs. Truman to go to the lessons at -Gussie’s house, so all the meetings were moved to the White House, -though Gussie continued to be its leading spirit. Mrs. Goodwin was very -offish. When Dean Acheson resigned as Undersecretary of State, his wife -was not asked back. - -Meanwhile, Professor Ramos showed he had hidden talents. His hobby -is cooking. The ladies were charmed. So an extra feature was added. -Each week the program was expanded to include a luncheon, held at a -different woman’s house. The Professor masterminded the menu, while the -ladies did the cooking and waited on the others. Mrs. Truman came to -these parties and pitched in with the work. The luncheons were run on a -Dutch treat basis, and each woman continued to pay her dollar fee per -lesson. - -By this time there were sixty or seventy ladies in the group, including -good Queen Bess. Some took private Spanish lessons on the side. Mrs. -Truman was one of the few who was really serious and wanted to learn -the language. Most of the others apparently came to the meetings -because the Professor had the personality to hold “menopause Minnies.” -Among the students were a few who thought they should come along for -the ride without paying for lessons or the luncheon, because of their -social position. One was Mrs. Robert Patterson, wife of the then -Secretary of War. Mrs. Truman always paid. - -When the Professor began to get too much publicity, Gussie busted it -up. After all, the whole purpose was to make Gussie a figure, not the -Professor. Gussie even went so far as to ask newspaper society writers -to use her name instead of his, saying Mrs. Truman had complained about -the Professor’s publicity, which was not accurate. - -Anyway, no one learned much, but that wasn’t the Prof’s fault. - -In the absence of Madame Mesta, Gwendolyn Cafritz is ballyhooed as -Washington’s leading hostess. She is a social climber who invites only -those in office or who she thinks are due to be in. She sadly misjudged -the 1948 elections. She excommunicated the Democrats. So she had a -hell of a time recouping her position. She still has her eye on the -Republicans in 1952. - -Compared to Madame Mesta, Mrs. Cafritz is a good-looking woman, in -early middle age. She may have been a raving beauty when she was a -slim, black-haired girl. - -Her husband, Morris Cafritz, is a millionaire Washington real estate -owner. His office, in the Ambassador Hotel, which he owns, is next -door to the hotel’s High Hat cocktail lounge, which is favored by the -pick-up gals as a hunting preserve. Gwen drives her husband slightly -nuts with her parties. He would prefer to play poker, at which he is -adept. A lot of hogwash has been written about the Cafritzes since they -zoomed into political and social prominence. Gwen was born in central -Europe and may or may not have been the daughter of a college professor -or a nobleman, as the stories go. - -Cafritz’s father ran a grocery store in Washington. The son’s early -days were spent in a bowling alley which he owned and operated. Then he -turned to real estate in boomtime and found the Midas touch. - -Gwen’s enemies spread catty stories about her. One says she was a -Broadway chorus-girl before she met her husband. If she was, she -must’ve been a beaut. The other is that she was employed in Cafritz’s -bowling alley. The researcher finds it difficult to separate the truth -from the chaff. There are no clippings about her early days in the -Washington newspaper morgues. Cissie Patterson was her close friend. It -is reported she destroyed the clippings in her own library and asked -the publishers of Washington’s other papers to do likewise. - -Meanwhile, Mmes. Mesta and Cafritz had better look to their laurels, -because a new assault is being made on Washington’s social citadel, -this time by a bullet-proof princess--Tawhida Halim, a cousin of King -Farouk of Egypt, and immensely rich. She and Frank Rediker, a denizen -of Gotham’s cafe society set, were recently wed, repeat engagements for -both. - -The princess then acquired a mansion at 2339 Massachusetts Avenue, in -which she and her bridegroom began to give lavish parties, designed to -outdo any of the Cafritz woman’s, with the elan that goes only to those -born to the purple. - -(_INSIDE STUFF_: The Redikers’ social campaign is being managed by -Leonard McBain, elegant publicist and society arbiter of New York’s -plush El Morocco, where the snootiest people on earth gather. Leonard -has steered royalty before. He could do marvels for Tawhida.) - -Since the old aristocrats died or went into hiding, it is easier to get -into Washington’s society columns, if you care to horn in with inferior -white trash. - -Almost anyone, including justices of the United States Supreme Court, -will go to any party to which they are invited. Many who aren’t invited -will also show up. The trick nowadays is to entertain lavishly and -often, and sooner or later the papers will have to write about you, -because there is nothing else to write about. - -Ambitious hostesses buy the “Social List of Washington, D.C.,” and -invite names from it at random. The odds are 90 percent will show up, -but the odds are as high that 95 percent of the 90 per cent aren’t -social. This list competes with the standard “Social Register.” It -contains most of the names in the latter, plus an amplification -consisting of prominent politicians and diplomats. It is published by -Carolyn Hagner Shaw. Mrs. Shaw told us a “board” selects the candidates -for entry in the book. The board, however, is highly secret. One -Washington newspaper insists it is as mythical as the balanced budget. -Mrs. Shaw claims no one ever tells her why a name is added or dropped. - -If you thought Maj. Gen. Harry Vaughan was part of the _crème de la -crème_ of the Washington social whirl, you’d better change your mind. -He isn’t any more. Not if you take the word of Mrs. Shaw. She omits the -military aide to the President from her fancy green directory of the -socially prominent. Mrs. Shaw doesn’t know why General Vaughan isn’t -socially correct any more. She blamed it on the anonymous board. - -About 200 who sought to make the list were turned down. Again no -reasons given. Many bought copies at 12 bucks, hoping to see their -names in. They didn’t. - -However, Guy George Gabrielson and William Marshall Boyle, respective -chairmen of the Republican and Democratic National Committees, were -among the new names added this year. The book also has the _dernier -cri_ on what to do about cards. They should not be left at Blair House, -but given to the guard at the northwest gate of the White House. - -“A courtesy call should be made on the President and his family once a -year. This is a mark of respect that should not be neglected.” (This -was before two Puerto Rican enthusiasts tried it.) - -Mrs. Shaw reminds her readers “During World War II, formal observance -of the conventional days set aside for leaving cards on various -officials was canceled. A return to formal recognition of these -traditional days has yet to take place, and it is doubtful that it will -ever again become obligatory to leave cards on certain days.” - -As to protocol, it notes: “It is well to remember personal friendships -do not count. The rank of one’s guest must be the deciding factor.” - -If you are not sure of the comparative ranking of any guest, it is -better not to invite him. Many of the biggest social wars were caused -by such things. Still remembered is the feud between Alice Roosevelt -Longworth, then wife of the Speaker of the House, and Dolly Gann, -sister and hostess of Vice-President Curtis, over their respective -precedence. - -Officials and embassies receive advice on protocol matter from the -State Department, but non-official hostesses are on their own. Mrs. -Shaw supplies a service which gives assistance in seating. - -An important fixture in Washington is the debutante party. These -have almost disappeared in New York, where each year’s crop of young -hopefuls is introduced in a mass get-together. In Washington, the -girl who doesn’t get a dinner-dance on her own is a social slob. -Washington’s Elsa Maxwell for these parties is Mrs. Curt Hetzel, who -succeeded Mrs. Merriam. Mr. Hetzel is a pianist in a restaurant--Ted -Lewis’. Mary Stuart Price, a young woman, handles some debby parties as -a sideline. - -Club life is another sacred institution. Many important political -decisions are reached at such places as the Burning Tree Club, the -Chevy Chase Club, and the Sulgrave, famous for the McCarthy-Pearson -battle of the century--more maybe than in the Senate and the House -cloakrooms. The 1925 F Street Club, where ranking members of the -Senate give parties, was once the exclusive home of Mrs. Laura Curtis -Gross, who lent her house for parties. It is now a sanctuary for the -whipped-cream of Washington society. Its dining-room seats about 60 and -the club’s membership is strictly limited. - -Washington’s newest aristocracy is evidenced by stone piles. The wife -of the man who can build the biggest and plushiest office building is -the reigning social leader. - -Those currently with the highest batting average are Morris Cafritz, of -course, Gus Ring, Garfield Cass and Preston Wire, all with gleaming new -structures named after themselves. Much of the money of the real estate -_nouveau riche_ came from wise investments in Black Belt housing, or -from refugee sources. - -Until very recent years the august justices of the United States -Supreme Court remained aloof from social functions, but during the -days of the New Deal and Fair Deal, when the court was packed with -soft-shirted politicians, the custom changed. Judges like Douglas are -avid party-goers. The late Frank Murphy was a mixer with true CIO -deportment, a hoofer and Saturday night sport. The result is that the -opening of the fall season is now coincident with the convening of -the Supreme Court. Then the jurists can meet the typists and clink -cocktails with mobsters’ mouthpieces. - -The easiest way to get into what is called “society” is to be elected -or appointed into it. Every ex-cow-puncher, dirt-farmer, smalltown -lawyer and big-city ward-heeler who now has an “Honorable” in front of -his name is as social as those who were born into it, bought their way -in, or got in through a diplomatic passport. - -All 96 Senators and 435 Representatives, nine cabinet officers, -countless under-secretaries, assistant secretaries, judges, department -heads and military brass are social, with a listing in the directory, -though some never wore ties or socks until they got to Washington. -These ex-officio lions became the life of the party in 1933. - -Washington once thrived on dirt in high places. Grover Cleveland’s -bastard child didn’t interfere with his electoral or social standing. -Nor was Woodrow Wilson ruined when a certain lady was booted out of -Washington by the Secret Service. President Harding’s house on K Street -is still remembered. There’s nothing like it now. And his village -sweetie and her baby have vanished. President Truman’s poker games are -penny-ante, not the lusty ones of yore. - -The late Roosevelt administration is credited with more snappy spice -than any other in history. Out-of-school tales were told about most of -his children. The President and his wife were not spared by gossipers. -But President Truman’s personal life is treated as dull and austere. - -His advisers are farmers or aging professors. They were pirates in the -first Roosevelt decade. The sports, drinkers and rounders who held high -cabinet and military rank then are either gone or too old. Now most -official vice is grubby stuff, with call-girls supplied by a protected -vice-ring, about which nothing is ever heard, and which no Congressman -or Senator will admit he knows. - -President Truman’s pal, General Harry Vaughan, is comparatively quiet -now, held to mama’s apron-strings. There’s gambling for him and the -President in the White House. There’s no liquor shortage, either. The -President likes his bourbon. He never smokes. He will not countenance -whoring in his official family, though he doesn’t put detectives on -official tails. - -Probably the only real sport in town is Senator Warren Magnuson. -The others save their skylarking for New York. When they do it in -Washington, they are as frightened as schoolboys at it, and often as -unimaginative. - -What a change from the Roosevelt days, when sex was the prerogative -of all government officials, and usually paid for by the grateful -tax-payers! Uncle Sam even had to help Harry Hopkins do it. A -monkey-gland doctor grafted sex virility on Hopkins and two other -aging administration stalwarts, one of whom recently resigned from a -little-cabinet post. - -The doctor billed the wealthiest of the three $3,000 for each -treatment. He charged the other two $1,000. Hopkins had already stiffed -the medico for three operations when he asked for the fourth, in view -of his pending marriage to a young woman. The doctor’s verdict was no -money, no honeymoon. But Hopkins had a way out. He suggested the doctor -needed a vacation anyway, so he offered to get him an appointment to -make an inspection trip to army medical bases in the West Indies, -with all expenses paid for self and wife, plus $35 a day fee until -the $3,000 was paid. The doctor took the trip and Hopkins took the -honeymoon. - -High military brass is quiet today compared to the lusty generals and -admirals of the ’20s and ’30s. Washington is still talking about how -General Pershing, then chief of staff, ordered young General Douglas -MacArthur to the Philippines after MacArthur married Mrs. Louise -Cromwell Brooks, of the Philadelphia Stotesbury clan. Mrs. Brooks, -after her divorce from her first husband, met “Black Jack” Pershing -abroad. When she returned to America, she became his official hostess -in Washington. She was 25 to his 60. Two months after their wedding, -in 1922, the MacArthurs were shipped to the Philippines. Washington -cats said Pershing sent his successful young rival into exile to get -even. He had also exiled the captain of the Army polo team, who was -attentive to the rich, beautiful Louise. She is now Mrs. Alf Heiberg, -the proud owner of Washington’s only private atom-bomb shelter, which -she constructed under her Georgetown Mansion. - -The late General of the Armies, a widower, was quite a man with the -women. He kept a Roumanian babe and her mother at the Shoreham Hotel -for 20 years. - -“Thirty” was written to Washington Society when a local paper fired its -social editor because she refused to print the names of Negro hostesses! - - - - -22. STRIPED PANTS - - -Elsewhere, men who wear them bury the dead; here, most of those who -wear them are dead but not buried. - -The decadence of the diplomats ran parallel with the fadeout of -society, though not for the same causes. Continental and cosmopolitan -life on Embassy Row was a war casualty. - -The democratization and bolshevization of Europe turned their -extra-territorial domains here into tawdry outhouses reflecting -monarchies and empires riddled into busted republics and dictatorships, -either scrabbling for the necessities of life or committed to the -political policy of shabby proletarianism. - -The kings are no longer king. The courts of Vienna, Berlin, Moscow, -Madrid, Rome, and of the giddy little Balkan states are now the -headquarters of Labor Parties and worse. The crowned heads of England, -The Netherlands and the Scandinavian kingdoms are kept figureheads. -Diplomatic display is a sin against poverty and the world rash for -unilateral social and economic status. - -There is not an embassy in Washington which does not cost far more than -it did 20 years ago. That is because they have become workhouses where -the press of international business is sordid and tremendous. Gone are -the Thursday and Friday open-house hospitalities and grand balls in -Technicolor, animated by gowns and costumes and uniforms of galaxies of -all nations. - -“These are difficult and different days,” the deans of diplomacy sigh. - -The old spirit has vanished not only from the governments, but from -their representatives, who are living close to the vest, hoarding -precious American dollars against revolution or overturn by popular -vote of their countries. Ambassadors and Ministers are salting away -what they can skim off in Black Belt real estate, farms and U. S. -securities. Some go much further. They are actual dealers in American -goods which they can procure and can send home free of import duty to -their countries. At the same time they blackmarket merchandise here, -where they can buy liquor, cigarettes, cosmetics and other excised -products free of internal revenue tax. For the best whiskey and -champagne they pay $13 a case. - -During Prohibition, a small Central American legation was actively in -the rum-running business, importing huge quantities under diplomatic -immunity, then reselling to Jack Cunningham, a local bootlegger. One -day rival gangsters caught up with Cunningham in an alley in I Street, -and there he was knocked off. The killing was hushed up. It would have -involved too many untouchables. - -These business opportunities and the degree of austerity which is still -light as compared with most of the globe--all of it except Canada and -South America--have made Washington the choice diplomatic plum, in -place of London and its Court of St. James’. - -The diplomats here are timid, precise and industrious. They are fearful -of a false step which might mean recall, for here they are saving -against eventual retirement. But their caution cannot withstand their -greed and some smuggle dope in via their sealed and search-proof -official pouches. They have discovered the glories of the American -installment plan and buy not only land and houses, but cars and -mechanical gadgets unobtainable at home. If they are transferred they -rent out their properties here, which, in the only currency still -reasonably dependable, makes them rich wherever they go, even into -exile. - -Another factor which helps reduce the gaiety and glamor of Washington -diplomatic life is the competing diplomatic corps accredited to the -United Nations, in New York. It is gradually getting the ace publicity -breaks. - -The question of sex looms big on the agenda of every ambassador. He -prefers all his aides married, with wives in residence, so they will -create no scandal. Many of the younger members of the various staffs, -with modest jobs and salaries, are bachelors. These men are usually -forbidden, under pain of being sent home, to fool around with women in -Washington. Their chiefs, from time to time, order them to go to New -York “to have a party.” - -If the press of business is too great to allow for long weekends, when -the ambassador notes that the young men on his staff are getting hot -britches he sends them to Baltimore, where they are unknown and nothing -is barred. - -Ambassadors, themselves, and senior diplomats with roving eyes, are -taken care of by the Protocol Division of the State Department, which -also handles the sex problems of visiting foreign brass. That’s a -job for specialists. There are so few girls in Washington glamorous -enough to satisfy VIPs. Sometimes it is not politic to have them -associate with local talent anyway, because of its tieups. So the State -Department has compiled a list of amiable New York models, willing to -come to Washington to spend a night with a foreign dignitary. They -get $200 a night and expenses, from “contingent funds” coming out -of the pockets of the American tax-payers. They are provided on an -ancient reciprocity custom, in exchange for girls supplied to American -junketeers who flit abroad. - -This privilege is avidly utilized by American Senators, Congressmen and -other officials, and is one reason why so many find it necessary so -often to fly to Europe, Asia and South America at government expense. -One prominent Republican solon, who never cheats in Washington, was -shown such a good time by a French babe supplied by the Quai d’Orsay, -he ended up in a Paris hospital for five days and has been a sick man -ever since. - -When the State Department procures women for foreign dignitaries, -they are given security and VD tests. It is easy to see how delicate -diplomatic relations might be ruptured by a microcosmic thunderclap. - -Many embassies have their own “company- and party-girl” lists. They -do not always want the State Department to know what they are doing. -There’s a girl named Mary Karrica, 1471 M Street, NW, who furnishes -them to the diplomatic corps. - -One of the major problems of such dialectics for the State Department’s -bright boys arises when a visiting notable plans to tour the country -and doesn’t plan to sleep alone. Protocol then makes contacts through -local police departments, which are expected to know the best -call-house madames in their own towns. - -When the young Shah of Persia visited America a couple of years ago, -the State Department had no trouble furnishing desirable girls for him -in Hollywood and Chicago; but in New York, where he wanted a blonde -that night, they had to get him a Powers model. Apparently his majesty -liked it, because the next day he gave her an emerald worth $20,000. -The guy from the State Department who told us about this sighed, “But -the bitch still took our $200!” - -Years ago, when Italo Balbo made his triumphal tour of the country, he -turned his nose up at showgals and screen stars. The Italian air ace -insisted on one from the Social Register. The Navy was in charge of -entertaining him. Some of its younger attachés dug up a semi-society -babe from Chicago, who was willing to take a fling with the Italian -aviator. The Navy had no dough for the purpose, so the young officers -chipped in $300 to buy her a watch, and told her it was from Balbo. Now -a graying middle-aged woman, she still prizes the watch “given to her -by the dashing Italian.” - -Most foreigners are discreet. Little rough stuff seeps out of the -embassies. The Washington newspapers cover Embassy Row--there are -two--16th Street and Massachusetts Avenue--but usually give their -readers stories about cocktail parties, dances and weddings, instead of -snappy copy. - -Being confidential reporters we did not go through the front doors. -What we know is mostly backstairs buzz, out of the kitchens and garages -of the following embassies: - -ARGENTINA--The Embassy, at 1815 Q Street, provided Washington with -one of its liveliest tidbits. The real lowdown has not been divulged -before. We got this out of confidential Congressional files, where the -information was testified to under oath. - -Nina Lund, niece of ex-Senator White, of Maine, was one of Washington’s -loveliest and most popular dishes. Her husband, Nathaniel Lautrelle, a -local department store executive, suspected her frequent absences from -home were not to go to the beauty parlor, so he and three men, whom he -engaged, followed her to 3030 O Street, NW. Those with Lautrelle were -Lt. Joseph Shimon, wire-tap expert of the Metropolitan Police who was -recently under Congressional investigation; Joseph Mercurio, a dope -addict and locksmith, and James Karas, former Pinkerton agent, who -now operates the flower-shop in the Mayflower Hotel. Mercurio sprung -the lock on Apartment 2 and the four entered. They found Nina and an -Argentine Ambassador naked. - -Shimon got five grand for his service. Lautrelle and Nina got a -divorce. The Ambassador, sent here originally because Eva Peron fancied -him, went back to Argentina for consultation. - -But they have something else to occupy their minds these days. Many -employes and upper attachés of the Argentine Embassy are feathering -their futures by shipping electric refrigerators home, packed as -personal household furniture. - -This is simple, as it is not unusual for diplomats to buy enough -personal furniture in the country of their station to furnish their -homes. Hundreds of refrigerators can be packed into such cases, and -each so smuggled brings a premium of $100 in American currency, worth -ten times that in Argentine currency black markets. - -BRAZIL--Hospitality in the Embassy, at 3000 Massachusetts Avenue, is in -the best old-fashioned tradition. The Ambassador, Mauricio Nabuco, is a -bachelor. His hostess is his sister, Carolina. - -The Ambassador is one of Washington’s best hosts. He constantly -entertains at large formal affairs and at intimate gatherings to which -statesmen, musicians and poets are invited. No scandal attaches to the -Ambassador, but he likes to have pretty women around him. Maybe that’s -why he entertains so much. One 18-year old cutie told us, “Oh, the old -guy is harmless.” - -CHINA--There’s little gaiety as we write, in the Embassy at 3225 -Woodley Road. But things were not always so. As witness: - -Congressman Hale, of Maine (Rep.), is a short, white-haired, pompous -gent, heavy with dignity. Not long ago he attended a formal affair at -the Chinese Embassy. - -Suddenly a woman came up behind him and “goosed” him. The legislator’s -dignity exploded with a scream. He turned around to confront his -tormentor. The embarrassed lady apologized. “Oh--I’m sorry--I thought -you were someone else!” - -A good-looking, well-knit young man, employed by one of the government -agencies, was showering in the bathroom of the YMCA, where he lived, -some years ago. - -Out of the corner of his eye he saw another man in the room, but -thought nothing of it, as the bathroom is public. - -When he came out of the shower the other was fixedly staring at him. -Our friend grew embarrassed, and was not especially put at ease by the -other’s appearance. He was an elderly Oriental. - -Our friend inquired what was doing. The Oriental, in a singsong voice, -replied: - -“You like go bed with rich Chinee lady?” - -The chap was going to bop the guy, but first he tried to find out what -it was all about It developed that a high-placed woman in the Embassy -liked American boys, sent her servant to recruit them in places like -the Y, after having them looked over. What a switch on the oldie about -“Is it true what they say about Chinese women?” - -The son of a famous Protestant clergyman worked for the Maritime -Commission, where he became friendly with the commercial attachés of -many countries. He found some would take loot. This troubled him. He -discussed it with an older man who had a desk in the same office. - -This older fellow used to run errands for Lepke and Gurrah and their -famed Murder, Inc. After Bill O’Dwyer destroyed the ring, he got a job -with Uncle Sam. - -He advised the young fellow to grab what he could while the grabbing -was good. So the minister’s son became the bagman for several embassies. - -About this time the Chinese bought some gunboats and let out word they -were in the market for repairs in American shipyards. The yards were in -a post-war depression, needed business. Immediately, representatives -called at the Chinese embassy. An official there, who spoke better -English than most of us, mumbled in pidgin and routed all inquiries to -“the young man in the Maritime Commission, in whom we have implicit -faith.” - -The young fellow collected more than half a million in cash as the -go-between, then beat it with the loot. - -DENMARK--Ambassador Henrick de Kauffman and his family are so proper it -hurts. The Embassy, at 2839 Woodland Drive, is like a morgue. - -EGYPT--They are still laughing at this at 2301 Massachusetts Avenue. An -Egyptian officer came to Washington recently on a buying mission. His -embassy bespoke the American authorities to give him the A-1 treatment, -the best. The Navy boys took him to Charleston to see the ships and set -him up in style. The visitor wanted a blonde. But he was black, and -Charleston is down South. This posed a problem. They finally found a -woman, but had to take her in through the back door. - -The Egyptian was insulted. He returned home without buying. - -FRANCE--No Parisian spice about the Henri Bonnets; however, there is -no doubt the wife of a very exalted member of the staff is a Communist -drop and transmission belt. - -Mme. Bonnet has family connections interested in the sale of Lanson -champagne. Important friends and guests pose with her, popping a bottle -of the labeled bubble-water. - -Latest to fall for the publicity gag were Averell Harriman and his -wife, photographed with Mme. Bonnet while opening a bottle of the -champagne. It got into all the papers. - -GREAT BRITAIN--The embassy, at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue, under the -Right Honorable Sir Oliver Shewell Franks, Knight Commander of the -Bath, C.B.E., and Lady Franks is as dull and austere as England itself. -But a former British Ambassador had as his lover his Russian valet. - -ICELAND--Plenty of problems at the Icelandic legation. Lovely Margret -Thors, debutante daughter of Minister Thor Thors, got too friendly with -thrice-divorced Blaine Clark, Washington playboy, so Ma and Pa packed -her off to Iceland, where Clark couldn’t follow without a visa, which -the old man wouldn’t give. Margret promised to be a good girl and was -permitted to return, but has to behave. - -IRAQ--As we write, Abdullah Ibraham Bakar, Iraqui minister, has a -headache. That’s because Cham Chum Sesi was arrested for murder in -his basement room of the Iraq Chancellory, 2205 Massachusetts Avenue. -Muhmud Rodani, chief janitor, had been stabbed in the neck with a -kitchen knife. Sesi told police he killed the janitor because he had -made repeated improper advances to him. The diplomatic set talked about -a lovers’ quarrel there when a new homo came from Iraq. - -NORWAY--The dean of the Washington Diplomatic Corps is Ambassador -Wilhelm Munthe de Morgenstierne. The Norwegian Embassy, 3401 -Massachusetts Avenue, generates no gossip. - -SAUDI ARABIA--This country is orthodox Mohammedan, goes in big for -polygamy. The Ambassador, Sheikh Asad Al-Faquih, had no desire to -insult America by bringing extra wives with him, was afraid to affront -his wives by choosing one and leaving the others at home. The result -is there are no women in the Embassy at 2800 Woodland Drive, or in the -homes of any of the attachés. When they want parties, they go to New -York, or to the State Department, where Protocol provides. - -SPAIN--America and Spain long exchanged no ambassadors. Don Eduardo -Propper de Callejon, Spanish Minister, was nominally in charge of the -Embassy. The wily Spaniards got around having no ambassador here by -sending Don Jose de Lequerica, former Foreign Minister, as “Inspector -General of all Spanish Embassies in the Western Hemisphere.” However, -the farthest he got from Washington since 1947 was Cuba. - -Lequerica is a personality kid and a lobby genius. He entertains -lavishly. His conniving paid off with the Spanish loan, and in time -with full recognition. Ambassador Lequerica had cultivated the law firm -of Sullivan, Cromwell and Dulles, until the 1948 election returns were -in and Dulles was out--as potential Secretary of State. He switched to -Max Truitt, son-in-law of Vice President Barkley. Smart guy. - -Minister Propper de Callejon is married to an English Rothschild and is -as proper as his name. - -SWEDEN--Ambassador and Mrs. Erik Boehman are no exception to the rule -that all Scandinavian embassies are tame and respectable. Theirs, at -3900 Nebraska Avenue, is. - -TURKEY--The Turkish Ambassador, Feridun Cemal Erkin, insists on decorum -in his Embassy at 1606 23rd Street. Turks there put on gloves and -are fully clothed when they go to bed with their wives, an Orthodox -Mohammedan custom. - -UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS--The Russians used to be the big -spenders. Parties in the great white Embassy at 1125 16th Street were -Washington’s most brilliant affairs. Invitations were eagerly sought -after. The Russian government paid all expenses of the Ambassador and -his staff, even bridge losses. The Russkies were terrific gamblers and -few locals could go along in games with them. Once when a Washington -businessman was asked to play bridge at 25 cents a point he pleaded, -“I’m only a capitalist, not a proletarian.” - -There was always plenty of food and liquor in the Red retreat. All -members of the local press corps were remembered with presents, -especially beluga caviar. But now the Russians don’t go out except to -official functions, and that goes for their satellites, too. And they -travel only in pairs, one to spy on the other. - -The Russians and their slave states bring their own females from -abroad, because they’re afraid to trust American women, Communist ones -included, any more. In the good old days, the consecrated American -left-wingers used to go to the Soviet Embassy, where they proved their -party loyalty by getting in the hay with the men from Moscow. After -many frightened American Reds got religion and betrayed the cause, -Soviet diplomats were forbidden to Ostermoor with American women. This -did not cause too much hardship, because most American Communist women -are no dream-girls; even the Russians shrank from them. - -Almost every member of the embassy set has a wife or a concubine posing -as a wife with him. In Russian Naval Headquarters, a few handsome young -orderlies are being used. There are said to be few homosexuals in -Russia, where perversion is strictly punished, except for “Kremlin and -world revolution.” - -As one humorist remarked, “There are no fags in Russia, because they -like goats; but where can they find goats in Washington?” - -As a further check on their own people, members of the Soviet Embassy -staff are not permitted to live alone. Even couples must share -apartments with others. - -The Russians have been getting special kid-gloving in Washington since -1933, when the Embassy became the fashionable place to go. At Teheran, -Stalin asked President Roosevelt for permission to set up a shortwave -radio transmitter in the U. S. to enable his boys to contact Moscow -directly. Roosevelt sent a memo to General Marshall, instructing him -to cooperate. Marshall wrote back that the law absolutely forbade any -foreign government to maintain a transmitter in this country. F. D. R. -penciled across it, “Do it anyway.” - -Consequently, an entire wing of the Pentagon was turned over to the -Commies, where they sent over a million words a week. The President -ordered Military Intelligence not to try to break the Russian code, but -some officers took their oath to defend the Constitution literally, -and overrode the President without his knowledge. As these words are -being written, thugs of the NKVD are sitting 24 hours a day with -ear-phones and transmitters in Russian Naval and Military headquarters -at Massachusetts Avenue and Kalorama Road. - - * * * - -When an embassy wife isn’t worrying about a change in government at -home, which may mean the recall of her husband, she’s worrying about -getting her daughter properly married. A lot of the debutantes of -the embassy set are beginning to get American ideas after attending -American schools. The foreign aristocrats don’t like it. - -Embassy wives have rarely been known to fool around. On the whole, -embassy children behave themselves. When they don’t, they get packed -off to schools in their own countries. - -With the exception of the Iron Curtain diplomatic slums, there is -considerable camaraderie among attachés of the various embassies, -though usually on equal strata. They go dancing in the hotels, visit -at each other’s homes, ride and play golf together. Some time ago, an -attempt was made to start a United Nations Club at R and 19th Streets, -by Meredith Howard, who is the twin sister of Mrs. Teddy Hays. Hays, a -big Democrat and White House intimate, is assistant to Federal Security -Administrator Oscar Ewing, the socialized-medicine man. The idea was to -get younger members of the embassies together, but it blew up when Miss -Howard left town with no public explanation. - -When it comes to con games, the diplomats and foreign missions could -show Yellow Kid Weil something. - -Washington and New York are constantly being dazzled by members of -foreign missions who come here talking about purchases in hundreds of -millions (the dough to be put up by Uncle Sam). - -Salesmen, sure-thing boys and big executives turn on every tap to -entertain the foreigners and grab their business. - -Girls are provided, expensive gifts are passed, and plenty of money -changes hands. Then, suddenly, the mission packs up, leaves without -buying, says it can’t find what it wants. - -Cooks and butlers in every Washington embassy get kickbacks from the -merchants. Groceries, meats and other household goods are overpriced on -a regular scale for the embassies, with a rebate going monthly to the -aforementioned functionaries. - -Lower-echelon foreigners have their wild parties in the Washington -field offices of the United Nations. There is no central installation -of the international body in the capital, but offices are spread out -around the town. - -One of the principal places for after-work revelry is in the U.N. -offices in the Longfellow Building, on Connecticut Avenue, where booze -and babes are available every day after five. - -Employes of the embassies, foreign missions and the U.N. and such carry -special cards which exempt them from the payment of all U.S. taxes such -as DC sales, Federal amusement tax, etc. They are, of course, exempt -from income tax, too. - -It’s a racket in Washington to borrow a friend’s card when making any -expensive purchase like a mink coat, where the sales and luxury tax -swindle comes to 22 per cent by this means. - -A racket begun in UNRRA and now going on in other foreign aid -organizations is engaged in by top administration figures and important -diplomats: - -Most of the durable goods aid sent abroad goes with the proviso that it -must be resold in the currency of the country to which it is consigned, -and the money must be used to provide local home relief, such as food, -clothes, etc. - -So the way it works is this: The embassy wangles a shipment of, shall -we say, locomotives. They arrive in the country of destination. They -are then duly and dutifully resold in the currency of the country. But -the law doesn’t say for how much. - -Some locomotives were sold in Greece for 10 drachmas each. The drachma -runs about 1,000 to the dollar. The local poor get the ten drachmas. -The local political bosses, gangsters and crooked diplomats split the -resale profits with their opposite numbers in America. - -That’s big racketeering. A couple of Washington sisters have a petty, -but profitable one. They operate a so-called Embassy social list and -charge chumps to get on it, dangling invites to diplomatic balls as the -bait, which they obtain from legation employes for a “cut.” - -Some fall for it. Our confidential advice is, don’t pay. You can crash -almost any Embassy party--but who wants to? - - - - -23. THE RIGHT TO PETITION - - “_Congress shall make no law abridging the right of the people - peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a - redress of grievances_”--First Amendment to the Constitution. - - * * * - - -Don’t you believe it. Congress hamstrung lobbying by requiring -practitioners to register. Then it appointed a committee to investigate -them. Neither gesture got far. Lobbyists are among the most delightful -people in Washington. They are the friends of everybody, including the -Congressmen who are “probing” them. - -Lobbying is like the Indian rope trick. Everyone talks about it, but no -one has ever seen it done. It’s one subject all Congressmen shy from, -regardless of party. That’s because there are lobbyists on both sides. -You can hardly expect a Congressman to insult a supporter. - -Many ex-Congressmen, who can’t bear the thought of returning -home after their defeat, remain in Washington as lobbyists. They -enjoy an advantage, because, forever after, all ex-Senators and -ex-Representatives have the privileges of the floor and the -cloak-rooms. They can collar the ones they need while the legislators -are in action. Thus, members, who are always aware of the possibility -of being lame ducks themselves, keep these pleasant prospects of -earning a generous living after retirement open and in good working -order. - -When you read about lobbying being a $100,000,000 business, don’t -believe that, either. Maybe they soak their clients that much, but most -of it goes on padded expense accounts. Lobbyists are their own best -press-agents. They are more responsible for the hue and cry against -lobbying than are the reformers. By making it look more difficult, they -can load their take. - -Lobbying is as old as Magna Charta, which first granted people the -right to petition their sovereign. Ever since, those who wanted -something have hired someone to speak up for them. Washington is full -of these hucksters. They are about the brightest spot on the glum -scene. They spend, entertain, throw wild parties with pretty gals as -souvenirs, tip lavishly and keep the hotel and liquor industries going. -They are the only cream here in a welter of skimmed milk. - -An Act of Congress, of doubtful legality, requires lobbyists to -register and divulge the amount and source of their income. Some do, -many more don’t. Those who comply are the technical lobbyists--in other -words, they are errand boys who merely transmit messages and appeals -from their clients to the Congress. Many have no physical contact with -Congressmen at all, reaching them through mimeographed propaganda -mailed from a Washington office. - -But most of those we consider lobbyists are the ones who feel they -are not required to register. When we mention anyone in this chapter, -we are not inferring that if he is not a registered lobbyist he is -breaking the law. We group together for purposes of posing a picture, -every Washington lobbyist, fixer, five-percenter, hot-shot lawyer, -industrial press agent, and man from Missouri. They are a multitude, -especially men from Missouri. - -When a really big fix is made, it usually is not handled in Washington -at all. The deal is consummated back home, as a quid pro quo for a -large campaign donation, after which the county or state chairman sends -word through channels to his men in Washington that the matter should -be okayed. - -Lobbying can be a delightful and well-paid occupation. The mouthpieces -of the industrial petitioners are usually charming gentlemen who -know how to entertain. Buying an uninstructed Congressman C.O.D. is -obsolete. Giving him a high time will do it, and the lobbyist can -pocket the money earmarked for bribing and tell his client he passed on -the boodle. - -Most solons are lonely uprooted rustics. Usually their wives are away, -holy frights they are glad to leave back home. These men want to talk -and drink with someone. You don’t even have to get them girls, just -invite them to a hotel and spend an evening with them. They’ll be so -thankful, they’ll do anything you want. - -The average big lobbyist doesn’t bother with run-of-the-mill Senators -and Representatives, who are in the bag without much trouble. He sets -his sights on the key characters like committee chairmen and floor -leaders, and even they can be snared at little cost, though naturally -to corral a chairman means an even heftier bill to the employer. The -procedure used in the case of VIPs is simple and cheap. Each lobbyist -is on friendly terms with some local hostess, for whom he does favors -or to whom he gives gifts. When he has an especially important deal -on, he asks her to invite his prospect to a party. During most of -the evening he keeps away from the man he wants to meet, until by a -fortuitous accident he is placed next to him at the table. Even then -the conversation is kept chatty and frothy. A couple of days later, -the lobbyist phones his erstwhile table companion and invites him to a -rubber of bridge or a game of golf, and from then on he’s on his own. - -Administrative heads and assistants are much more sought after than -Senators. They are the ones who receive the deep freezes and their -wives, the expensive gifts. In the final analysis, the best contact -is a clerk, not a division head. The clerks do the work and make the -decisions while their bosses drink cocktails. - -Much of the big-time fixing is done by law firms. Many New York outfits -maintain offices in Washington. These firms usually have partners -belonging to both parties, so they are prepared for any political -eventuality. - -We would like to introduce you to some of the boys in Washington who -can get things done: - -First comes to mind an attorney, Charles Patrick Clark. Mr. Clark is a -wonder-worker. When others can’t score, Clark is called in. Even Max -Truitt, the Vice President’s son-in-law, had trouble getting Franco’s -loan, so Clark hit in the pinch and Congress voted it. It may be a -coincidence, but Clark was a counsel for the Senatorial Committee -Investigating War Frauds when Harry Truman was its chairman. - -Part of Clark’s success can be ascribed to the majestic manner in which -he entertains. He used to project his parties in Georgetown, but now -hosts it in a palatial four-story building near the Mayflower Hotel. -It set him back a hundred grand to furnish its interior. The yard was -landscaped at a cost of $25,000 more. Clark can muster more pretty -girls than anyone else in Washington. You will always find enough of -them at his parties. He has two stunners in his office, a blonde and a -brunette, who frequently are escorted by his clients and his contacts. - -Congressman Buchanan, Pennsylvania Democrat, chairman of the committee -investigating lobbying, fell for Clark’s charm. He and his wife visited -Clark’s play-place. - -Clark is hot-tempered. He recently had a fist fight in the lobby of the -Mayflower Hotel with Charlie Rogers, handsome former counsel of the -committee that nailed John Maragon. - -Dan Hanlon, a former law-partner of Democratic National Chairman Bill -Boyle, has an office at 1727 Massachusetts Ave., where he handles -internal revenue cases with much success. Hanlon is from Missouri. But -as Boyle seems to be on the way out so is Hanlon. - -The business is intensively departmentalized. Different lawyers -have ins in different branches of the government. Persuasion on the -Department of Justice is handled by Laughlin Currie, a former Truman -appointee, through Tommy “The Cork” Corcoran, a Roosevelt favorite. - -Treasury Department matters go through Joe Nunan, former Commissioner -of Internal Revenue, who does not practice personally before the -Treasury yet, because the law requires ex-employes to wait two years -before they may represent clients in bureaus to which they were -attached. But his associates are not so hobbled. - -Former Senator Burton K. Wheeler is the man to see if you have any -trouble with the Interstate Commerce Commission. Wheeler can have -anything he wants in Washington. President Truman passed the word -along. It was Wheeler who advised Truman not to resign from the Senate -at the time of the Pendergast scandal. Harry has been eternally -grateful ever since. - -The law firm of Thurman Arnold, Abe Fortas and Paul A. Porter has -practically everything for its field. All three are prominent -ex-New Dealers. Porter’s contact is with the Federal Communications -Commission. Arnold, once a trust-buster, now defends trusts. Fortas, -onetime stooge of Harold Ickes, is the boy to see for anything in the -Department of the Interior. Among the clients of this firm is the -Western Union Telegraph Company, for which they are the registered -lobbyists. During their plugging for the telegraph monopoly it was -brought out under oath that at least one block of 17 percent of its -stock was owned by underworld figures. Since then, Western Union was -indicted twice in New Jersey for engaging illegally in transmission of -racing information, which the Grand Jury investigation indicated was -the company’s main source of profit. - -The Arnold firm secured $200,000,000 for the Puerto Rican government. -It also defended Owen Lattimore against Senator McCarthy’s charges. The -boys netted $600,000 last year. Drew Pearson’s daughter is married to -Arnold’s son. - -Arnold is the playboy of the firm, congenial and convivial. - -When Dean Acheson’s law firm swung the $90,000,000 Polish loan, its -fee from behind the Iron Curtain was $1,000,000, plus an equal sum for -expenses. - -Leon Henderson, the social planner who admits he won World War II -single-handed, deserves an important place in this chapter. As one of -the brain-trust of the “progressive” Americans for Democratic Action, -brother Henderson throws the weight of that organization’s supposed -voting strength around Washington for the benefit of his private -clients. That is, when he is not too busy making a fool of himself with -some young blonde on a New York dance floor. - -The A.D.A. pipeline into the White House is David Garrison Lloyd, -assistant general counsel to the President. - -Robert Nathan, the CIO economist, who comes up with fantastic -suggestions such as that the cost of labor has nothing to do with the -final price of the commodity, helps support himself by “economizing” -for capitalistic clients trying to borrow dough from the RFC. If they -hire him, they usually get it. - -Those who shed tears for Louis D. Johnson when he was fired as -Secretary of Defense need have no worries about how Louis is going to -make a living in the future. He is a partner in the firm of Stepto and -Johnson, and he has high connections. - -Louis, who put the stigma on five-percenters, is one of the biggest -operators on government contracts in town. Incidentally, there’s -nothing illegal about five-percenting and the fee is now seven and a -half percent--Truman inflation. - -Though out of the administration, Johnson is so potent and powerful -that failure to retain him is a death warrant on some deals. He -specializes in alien property work. - -Once again, as during World War II, the lobbyists and five-percenters’ -password is “Are You Protected?” - -That goes for a lot of things. It means are you protected against the -law, against competition? But, mainly, are you protected from your -clients? - -Too many fixers found themselves double-crossed. After they had -delivered, they couldn’t collect. - -Now the smart ones won’t unbutton a button until the cash is put up -in escrow. Fancy deals are worked out on paper to cover up the shady -nature of the real transaction. - -One contact man whom it was a pleasure to have lobby you was Howard -Hughes’ fat errand boy, Johnny Meyer. Johnny is a prodigal entertainer -and check-picker-upper. During the Senatorial investigation into how -come Hughes got some government contracts, it was testified that Johnny -supplied gifts and gals lavishly. He introduced Brigadier General -Elliott Roosevelt to his former wife, Faye Emerson, and picked up the -tab for the wedding expenses. - -Elliott screamed at the hearing, “You are persecuting me because -my name happens to be Roosevelt.” The Republicans who conducted it -immediately got cold feet. - -Their temerity in hounding Elliott and Johnny was not forgotten. Three -years later, the radical lame duck Senator, Claude Pepper, conducted an -investigation to try to prove that former committee chairman Brewster -had tapped Johnny Meyer’s wires. - -If he did, he must have had a good time. We know. We were with -Johnny in his Statler suite, and he was with us in ours. His “in” is -former Washington Governor Mon Wallgren, who is an old drinking and -poker-playing crony of the President. Wallgren has entree at all times -to the White House and now holds a Government hand-out job so he can -keep his lines and connections in order. - -While on the subject of lame ducks, we mustn’t forget Scott Lucas, -former Senate Majority leader. He is now ready, willing and able to -handle such Washington legal and contact matters as may be brought to -the attention of himself and partner, Charles A. Thomas. - -Many of the lawyers, lobbyists, fixers, five-percenters, etc., with -wires into high places, do not actually practice in Washington, -preferring to do their work through correspondents or connections. - -One of these is Jake Arvey, the Illinois Democratic boss and associate -of Mafia hoodlums, who operates through the Washington office of Louis -Johnson. Arvey is the kingpin of the wire-pullers. - -Often the extent of a fixer’s ability is overrated. An intermediary -needs only to be seen with a big politician to have the word get out -that he’s “in.” Then, after spending thousands, a client sometimes -gets the idea he’s got to hire another lawyer to do the actual work. -Sometimes the fixers themselves turn the actual leg work over to -capable attorneys, sit back, and take the credit. - -There are many of these bread-and-butter lawyers who accomplish -what all the politicians and five-percenters can’t, because they -really know the law. For instance, one prominent politico told us -that while few tax cases are “fixed” at the Washington level, many a -fearful and repentant chiseler has been fleeced by smart operators -who told him they were wonder-workers. For results, he recommended -two relatively unknown but very successful practitioners, Bert B. -Rand, Washington-wise attorney, and Nathan Wechsler, hard-hitting, -astute C.P.A., because they had the staff and experience to meet the -government on an equal basis. - -Similarly, in the field of constitutional law and the intricacies of -corporation procedure, and claim work, they look up Loring Black, a -former Congressman from Brooklyn, who retired from the House in 1934. - -One young fellow who can do more for you in Washington with less -fanfare doesn’t make it his business. He is Hal Korda, onetime -newspaperman, who has many powerful friends on both sides. When the -Dems found out he knew Republicans, and vice versa, they began to -use him as a channel to square things they didn’t want to talk about -directly to each other, and he secured campaign contributions for both. - -Many members of Congress lobby, legitimately, for their own -communities, or the industries thereof, or for public organizations in -which they have a deep interest. - -For instance, Joseph Rider Farrington, the delegate from the Territory -of Hawaii, who holds a seat in the House but no vote there, has been -foremost in the fight to secure statehood for the Islands. Farrington -has labored mightily in that cause, and could show the professionals a -thing or two. If Hawaii ever achieves statehood, Farrington can take -the bow. - -Incidental to that great libertarian campaign, Farrington also plugs -the produce and products of the Territory and is its chief booster for -tourism. His office in the Old House Building resembles a cross between -a steamship agency and a Chamber of Commerce. - -On the other hand, Henry Latham, one of the three Republicans in the -House from the City of New York--if you count Javits a Republican--is -a strong and sincere booster for the Navy. Were it not for his -“lobbying” in committee, we would have no Marine Corps today. - -Latham, a Navy officer in World War II, did not know he had been run -for Congress or elected until his ship went into a South Pacific -coaling station two months after the 1944 elections. He has been -reelected ever since. - -He spotted the joker which would have wiped out the Marine Corps in -the administration Defense reorganization measure and tied the bill up -until the Devil Dogs were assured of being more than a mere “police -force.” - -Acey Caraway, finance director of the Democratic National Committee and -longtime pillar of that body, is opening an office for “consultation” -in the LaSalle Building. Acey, often referred to as the “junior Jim -Farley,” probably knows more Democratic rank-and-filers than anyone -else in the party. - -Among the law firms which have had the most success in lucrative -immigration matters is the New York one in which Rep. Franklin D. -Roosevelt, Jr., is a partner. - -Thomas Shoemaker, a former Commissioner of Immigration, also shows -remarkable results in such cases. - -New York’s left-wing New Deal Republican Congressman Jacob K. Javits -is a partner in Javits and Javits, 1025 Connecticut Avenue. Several -immigration matters have been settled successfully by them. - -Wholly apart from such legal practices, the current price for -bringing in a rich refugee who can’t make the quota or other entry -requirements is $75,000. This is split between three Senators and/or -Representatives, to sponsor so-called “private” bills. - -These bills are always passed, because the three interested members -buttonhole other Congressmen, who themselves need support to pass their -own private bills. That is called “Congressional courtesy.” - -An embarrassing incident happened recently when President Truman vetoed -one such bill, after the 75 Gs had been passed and spent. - -The Vice President’s son-in-law, Max Truitt, lobbies for American -flag steamship lines, and has had conspicuous success in obtaining -government handouts. He is effective also for the Kansas City wheat -pit, a favorite whipping boy of the administration he’s married into. - -Lobbying before the Maritime Administration is dream business. It had -17 billion dollars’ worth of ships to sell after the war. - -Much of this government property found its way into the hands of the -right people, who floated their purchases, if not their ships, by -borrowing from the government, then immediately reselling at double or -triple to corporations they organized. - -In addition, these purchasers charged off hundreds of thousands against -their income taxes for expenses, on transactions which they frequently -went into with no more than a few thousand dollars to start with. - -Truitt is the most active in the ship field and is registered as a ship -lobbyist with Congress. - -The firm of the late Secretary of State Stettinius also dabbled in -Maritime Administration work. His associate was handsome ex-Congressman -Joe Casey, of Massachusetts. - -One of the most up-and-coming of the lawyers with “inside” connections -is Margaret Truman’s “date,” Marvin Braverman. It is doubtful whether -he has much influence, but people are beginning to credit him with it, -and he is no chump. He is taking advantage of the publicity. - -Braverman is related to Harry Hershfield, the radio wit and cartoonist. -And if his small talk is anything like Harry’s, we don’t blame Margaret -for liking him. Because Harry is the funniest man alive. - -Former Housing Administrator Wilson Wyatt, a roaring Fair Dealer, is -lobbying for big interests to repeal war-time taxes as well as for the -Dominican Republic dictatorship. - -Clark Clifford, the President’s former legal adviser and ghost-writer, -is not starving in private practice, either. - -Clifford says he “doesn’t need law books.” He uses the Mayflower Hotel -menu instead. - -Another law firm with great influence is Fulton, Walter and Halley, -with offices over the Occidental Restaurant. Hugh Fulton was chief -counsel for the Truman Committee. Rudolph Halley was on the staff. The -firm has done handily representing Howard Hughes, owner of TWA. As -special counsel for the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, between New York -City and suburban New Jersey, they secured a 50-percent fare increase -from the ICC. In our book _Chicago Confidential_, we said that the -underworld had large blocks of stock in the Hudson and Manhattan. Since -then Halley, who was the counsel of the road, confirmed our statement, -reluctantly, and we have affidavits to prove it. - -A law degree is not always necessary to a successful contact man. -Some of the most prosperous in Washington bill themselves as press -agents. There is, for instance, a little man from Missouri, Victor -Messall, who dresses like a race-track follower and has his walls -plastered with pictures of the President. Messall was a beaver on the -President’s Senatorial campaigns. Later he was on his secretarial staff -in the Senate. He has testified under oath that he has so many clients -he can’t remember them all. A witness charged before the Kefauver -Committee he had given Messall $1500 to help him to get sugar-points -illegally from the OPA during the war. The chairman of the committee -was a Democrat. The counsel was the aforementioned lawyer for the -Truman committee, Rudolph Halley. The subject was suddenly dropped. - -Another who bills himself as a press agent and is blossoming into a -power which some call sinister because of his connections, is a former -newspaperman, Dave Charnay, who runs a publicity firm in New York and -Washington, Allied Syndicate. Charnay is a long-time friend of Frank -Costello, reputed king of the underworld, and has done public relations -for Rep. F. D. Roosevelt, Jr., and Manhattan Borough President Robert -F. Wagner, Jr., son of the author of the Labor Act. - -During the administration of Mayor LaGuardia, when gangsters were -ordered out of New York night clubs, Charnay, then still employed as a -reporter for the New York _News_, was made “president” of the famous -Copacabana at a salary of $500 a week. Charnay was known as Costello’s -press agent. - -Among other clients, his publicity firm represents John L. Lewis’ -United Mine Workers, at a reputed annual fee of $175,000. Those who -may seem mystified at his range of clients, may be surprised to learn -that Lewis, though he doesn’t know it, is a prisoner of the Mafia. It -started many years ago, when the United Mine Workers imported Sicilian -sluggers from the big cities. With this “in,” the mob bosses began to -cast greedy eyes on the colossal fortune owned by the mine union. The -Mafia’s policy is never to replace present management if it can take -over a flourishing concern. The infiltration went on under Lewis’ nose, -yet the beetle-browed egomaniac does not know he no longer is the boss -of the United Mine Workers. The boys let him think he is. Last year, -the Mine Workers tried to take over New York’s taxi industry, with an -abortive strike in which Mafia associates took a part. Charnay’s firm -handled the strikers’ publicity. - -Charnay now has a pipeline directly to the White House, through the -close personal friendship between John L. Lewis and Dr. John Steelman, -assistant to the President. Some months ago, on his retirement as -Secretary of the Navy, John L. Sullivan joined Charnay’s firm as -chairman of the board, but he resigned to practice law. Paul H. -Griffith, assistant Secretary of Defense until he was replaced by Anna -Rosenberg a few months ago, is now a vice-president of the company. - -Charnay had a pleasant luncheon tête-à-tête with Kefauver counsel -Halley, before the crime committee began its hearings, and offered to -work for it without pay. - -Another interesting lobbyist is Samuel Haines, whose contract with the -hotel and cafe industry to try to get a reduction in the 20 percent -amusement-tax was on a sliding scale, his fee to be determined by -the degree of eventual tax reduction. The tax wasn’t cut, but he got -$46,000. Haines entertained Senators and Representatives in a playroom -at his home, where he had slot-machines, reverse-rigged so the players -always won. - -A mysterious man about town is Dave Gordon, always seen with beautiful -dames. Gordon is a close friend of Nate Lichtauer. Lichtauer is a -shadowy enigma. Little is known about him. But this is to tell you -he engineers the juiciest deals. (“Juice” is the capital slang for -political pull.) Lichtauer is a collector for the Democratic National -Committee. He makes the arrangements. When the contributions come -through, he passes the word to Dave Niles, in the White House, who -pulls the proper strings. - -One of Lichtauer’s closest associates is Milton Kronheim, another -mystery man. He used to be in the bail-bond business in Washington and -went surety for gamblers. He is now the city’s biggest and richest -wholesale liquor dealer. He is in on everything. He once peeled off 250 -bills--$1,000 bills--to pay an OPA assessment, then put the balance of -the still impressive roll back in his pocket. - -He is close to General Vaughan and John Maragon, and thick with -Jake Arvey, Chicago Democratic boss, friend and apologist for Al -Capone’s cousin, Charlie Fischetti, king of the Chicago underworld. -Kronheim’s son was recently made a Municipal Court judge in Washington. -Truman nominated Kronheim’s lawyer, “Jiggs” Donahue to be District -Commissioner. And Kronheim supplies the White House liquor. - -One to watch as a power is a Boston lawyer, Paul T. Smith. He got -that way because he and Dave Niles ran a forum in Boston called -Ford’s Lyceum, a sort of left-wing Chatauqua in which Frankfurter had -a powerful say. When Police Chief Barrett was under Congressional -pressure, Niles and Smith interceded. - -It was through the connections he made with dreamers and schemers like -Harry Hopkins, who used to lecture for him, that Niles moved himself -into the White House under Roosevelt and has remained under Truman, -the only man Harry dared not fire. Niles, whose hand turns up in -everything, may be the real ruler of the country. - -Anyway, when attorney Smith gets a case with a Washington angle, he -phones the White House. He usually gets what he wants. - -Niles still operates Ford’s, spends every weekend, from Thursday to -Monday, in Boston. Niles’ hatchet man is Donald Dawson, of Missouri, -formerly with the RFC, now White House Liaison Officer in charge -of personnel. He is the last word on all federal nominations and -appointments, but his word is Niles’. - -A couple of weeks before this went to press we saw Dawson lunching at -the Statler with General Vaughan and Johnny Maragon. - -If the impression was conveyed that after Maragon’s conviction and -denial on appeal that the pet five-percenter was out of action, you -were so wrong. Up to this writing, Maragon has never served a day -in jail, and he probably never will. News about Maragon is a scarce -commodity in Washington, and bum steers are handed newspapermen. It was -publicly reported that Maragon was ill and in the hospital of a Federal -prison. The White House intimate had not spent one minute in jail. -Maragon, the crooked fixer, is still in business and still has entree -to the White House. The wise guys know that if he is ever punished, it -will be perfunctory, because Maragon took the rap for a lot of way-ups -and what he could tell would rock America. He is still being taken care -of so he will never need to shine shoes again. If he isn’t pardoned by -the time this comes out, it’s in the works. - -From time to time, socialites and even foreign noblemen who need the -jack lobby for it. A successful contact man is Baron Constantine von -Stackelburg, once with the World Bank. He and his beautiful wife host -lavish at-homes for the benefit of such interests as the Florida citrus -fruit industry. - -Clients of lobbyists are divided into four groups. You may disregard -the inspired baloney that they all represent the capitalists. Only a -small fraction do. - -The others who employ lobbyists are (1) Labor unions, farm federations -and left-wing pressure groups; (2) nonprofit and nonpolitical -organizations such as the Red Cross, American Legion, Elks, Knights of -Columbus, etc., and (3) government bureaus. - -The most powerful lobby in history was for the Anti-Saloon League. - -By far the mightiest since then, at least until Senator Taft’s -overwhelming victory, were lobbies of the labor unions. By tradition -and shaded reporting the representatives of the money barons are -villains; but the labor boys are more vicious and intolerable. And they -don’t spend or entertain, which is even more heinous. The money charged -against the unions for legislative purposes goes mostly to supply dames -and hootch for visiting union chiefs. - -The American Federation of Labor crowd hangs out at the Hamilton Hotel, -where all the choice ringside tables in the supper club are reserved -nightly for them. A stable of fillies is available to send up to the -rooms of the dignitaries who dilute their champagne with the tears they -spill for the sans-culottes. - -The United Mine Workers frequent the Carlton. - -The CIO also played at the Carlton until a Negro delegate was barred. -Most of the boys quit in a huff, and moved across 16th St. to the -equally tony Hay-Adams, where Negroes are also barred. - -Many labor unions are represented by female lobbyists, and some of -these will turn a trick in the hay if that helps the sacred cause. The -labor broads still don’t run as homely as some of the Congressmen’s -wives. For unions and other such pressure cookers do not usually offer -money, call-girls or liquor. They threaten to withhold votes back at -home. - -As soon as a freshman Congressman checks in, the union harpies make -a grab for him. One whom we know, a Republican elected to fill an -unexpired seat in a Democratic district, received a visit from a -couple of union goons the first day he moved into his office. They gave -him orders how to vote on a pending measure. Congressman John Saylor, -who is six feet four, grabbed them by the necks and walked them to the -wall, where he showed them his certificate of election. - -“I thought I read my name here, not yours,” he said. Then he threw them -out. - -One of the most indefatigable female lobbyists is the daughter of -former Senator Burt Wheeler. Though her father cleans up representing -robber barons, her client is the left-wing United Electrical Workers -Union. Congressmen report she’s a pest who coaxes with a smile, and if -that doesn’t work, she threatens. - -Old-timers in Congress will tell you about the dame lobbyist who -represented some milk producers. She was a handsome woman, so -voluptuously built that they referred to her as “Elsie the Cow.” Her -lobbying career ended in 1937, when she was caught in a hotel room with -a Congressman. - -For all practical purposes, lobbyists representing unions and minority -groups do not often buttonhole Congressmen directly. Dave Niles handles -all labor and left-wing angles, and arranges for the votes and rewards -or punishments. - -Anna Rosenberg, friend of Niles, former New Dealer, practiced -industrial relations successfully until her appointment as Assistant -Secretary of Defense. - -Lobbyists for government bureaus often double as unpaid fixers for -pressure groups, using government funds. Entertainments of Congressmen -by State Department officials at cocktail parties are referred to as -“smokers.” - -Sometimes pressure group lobbyists receive government favors and -privileges denied the less favored. An intensive lobby was conducted -against the Mundt-Ferguson anti-Communist bill by a former senatorial -employe who was not registered as a lobbyist. - -He is Palmer Webber, who was staff director in 1943 for Sen. Pepper (D) -of Florida, and chief economic adviser in 1944 to Sen. Kilgore (D) of -West Virginia. Webber bore down on his Senate contacts from a rent-free -office in the Library of Congress. How he got it free nobody knows. - -For two years Webber held a job as “legislative correspondent” on -Capitol Hill for the Federation for World Government. Records in the -office of the secretary of the Senate show Webber was not registered as -a lobbyist for the federation and the organization is not registered -to conduct a lobby. In addition to his arduous efforts to defeat the -anti-Communist measure and his work for the federation, Webber was a -demon, worked for votes for passage of the fair employment practices -bill. - -Webber was transferred by the World Government Federation from -Washington to New York “to do research.” The shift was for “political -reasons.” - -He is an errand boy for the Lawyers Guild, which the House Un-American -Activities Committee cited as a “front” organization. It has also -been active in another “cause” sponsored by Webber--the drive for an -investigation of the F.B.I. - -In 1947, Webber, a Ph.D., conducted a class in political philosophy -at the King Smith school, where the democratic form of government was -smeared to GI and other students. - -A reporter attended Webber’s class on May 27, 1947, when Senator -Pepper was a guest. A woman student referred to J. Edgar Hoover as the -American Gestapo head and declared the Catholic church was leading a -crusade for war. - -A woman in the audience, a secretary to a Republican Senator from the -Midwest, jumped up and shouted, “Thank God for the F.B.I.” - -Webber was arrested in Charlottesville, Va., for distributing Communist -Party literature. Police records show he paid a forfeit rather than -fight the case. - -He was at one time a research director for the CIO Political Action -Committee in Washington and in 1948 was a paid director in charge of -activities of the leftist Progressive party in 11 southern states. - -Another who lobbies against anti-Communist bills, and is openly so -registered, is former Democratic Congressman Jerry J. O’Connell, of -Montana. - -Utilizing his privileges of the floor, as an ex-Representative, -O’Connell strides into the House and Senate while they are in session, -and delivers advice, orders and inspiration to left-wing Congressmen, -and threats to others. - -When the Senate was debating the Communist control bill in an all night -session last September, O’Connell took up a station at the Senate door -with a reporter from the Daily Worker, and without any pretense of -disguise, dictated the unsuccessful opposition’s floor strategy. - -But listen to the hue and cry when a manufacturer’s lobbyist buys a -Coca Cola for a Congressman. - -Being a government lobbyist can produce desirable advantages, -especially for a Marshall Plan press agent. - -A survey reveals that the Economic Cooperation Administration -information office has been giving several of its employes free -visits to Europe and the Middle East. Robert Mullen, director of ECA -information, toured Europe. He mapped a $7,500 ’round-the-world trip, -but postponed a visit to the Orient when the bullets began to fly. - -Mullen sent an heiress to the J. P. Morgan banking fortune to London -for a convention of clubwomen--to get new propaganda material on the -Marshall plan to influence American clubwomen. He sent an inexperienced -youth, hired as a “picture expert,” to Paris and London, to see the -sights and get new pictures for propaganda purposes here. - -Though ECA has 73 American press employes in Paris alone, and 56 in -16 other Marshall Plan missions in Europe, plus 222 Europeans on -these staffs, ECA sent a former woman reporter to Paris to get “human -interest” stories for a clubwoman propaganda pamphlet. - -The ECA press information office in Paris has a chief who gets about -$20,000 a year in salary and expense money, has highly paid former -reporters on his staff, but the ECA here sent a man from Washington to -show a group of editors about Europe. Several others went to Europe on -similar assignments. - -Mullen has 48 on his Washington staff, drawing a total of $280,000 -a year. Among these are the Morgan heiress, an ex-bullfighter, the -daughter of a symphony conductor and a score of graduates from defunct -war agencies. He separated a noted Negro Air Force pilot, who achieved -some success as an author, from his Washington staff and dispatched him -to Formosa at $15,000 a year to direct Marshall plan press information -there. - -The American press agents for ECA will draw $673,000 in salaries this -year. - -Congress gets around sporadically to investigating the lobbying “evil.” -The latest “crusade” was conducted by leftish Congressman Frank -Buchanan, who muddled the issue so much, no one knows what happened, -except that the National Association of Manufacturers emerged the -villain. Congressmen don’t hanker to expose lobbies, even if they’re on -the other side. When the investigation was first voted by the House, -Buchanan wanted to give the appropriation back, an unprecedented -departure where committee chairmen always yell for more. Buchanan tried -to handcuff the lawyers engaged to conduct the investigation, though -both were good Democrats and good Fair Dealers. But they were also -honest. Lou Little, of Pittsburgh, a co-counsel, quit broken-hearted. -Counsel Benedict Fitzgerald, of Greenfield, Mass., a whiz of a prober, -was not even allowed to write the report. Buchanan refused to swear -in some witnesses; if they lied it would not constitute perjury. When -counsel called attention to that, he angrily shut them up. - -The real brains of the investigation into lobbying was Lucien Hilmer, -committee staff director. He is regarded as a left-wing lawyer. When -George Shaw Wheeler was fired from the government for consorting with -Communists, Hilmer appeared as his lawyer and beat the case. Two years -later, as an economist with the U. S. Army in Czechoslovakia, Wheeler -vindicated the Civil Service Commission when he moved in on Berlin Red -headquarters. He announced he was a Communist and always had been one. -Hilmer shares a law office with John F. Davis, who represented Alger -Hiss before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Hilmer had -worked under Max Lowenthal on the old Wheeler Committee. - -And did we remember to tell you that the Kansas City Chamber of -Commerce has an office on 16th St., across the road from the Russian -Embassy? Both pressure groups have displayed amazing influence in -Washington. - -_INSIDE STUFF_: The law requiring lobbyists to register is used as a -racket by some. They advertise in trade papers: “Lobbyist, registered -with the Congress of the United States,” then sell prospective chumps -the idea they are “licensed” to lobby. Anybody may file his name and -set up his own “cause.” - - - - -24. RACKETS BY REMOTE CONTROL - - -Our newspaper confreres, in the main, were willing to be hospitable and -helpful when we galloped in and made no secret of our aims. We don’t -expect them to write our books. But they often give us tips, which -saves work. - -The first question we asked was, “Who is the Washington Mafia boss?” - -The invariable answer was that the local underworld was unaffiliated -with the national setup, free and independent, self-contained. - -All our experience made us reject that picture. We had traced and -charted organized crime through the gang wars of Prohibition to this -day. We had charged and it was being substantiated that no city of -importance was left out of the clutches of the Mafia, with its brains -in New York and its powerhouse in Chicago. It was inconceivable that -a rich, large center on the Atlantic seaboard, almost a suburb of -Manhattan, could be bypassed. So we found out for ourselves. This is -the situation in Washington: - -The National Syndicate, for reasons of prudence, has avoided first-hand -operations in the District. You find few important Sicilian names in -the police files. Vice, crime, gambling, narcotics and, to a smaller -extent, contraband liquor, are farmed out by franchise to a cohesive -local mob which deals with and pays tribute to national headquarters. - -Despite tremendous influence, legal advice and guidance and the -constitutional immunity against self-incrimination, the Mafia has -an almost superstitious fear of Congressional committees. A city -administration can be bought or scared or rigged. But nobody can -capture 96 Senators and 435 Representatives. And any one of these is -one of the immediate bosses of Washington; and any one of these can -arise any day and demand a probe of anything. On the rare occasions -when important racketeers were dragged to Washington on subpena, with -all the assurances they got from many members beholden to them and -the shocking obeisance paid them openly, they wet their pants in the -witness chair. - -Yet, these greedy gluttons can’t find it in their miserly souls to -declare it an open town, any more than they can force themselves to -pay honest income taxes, though they awaken in their silk pajamas -screaming, from nightmare dreams about Al Capone and Alcatraz. - -District of Columbia is and was dominated by Emmitt Warring, Gary -Quinn, Sam Beard, the Sussman brothers and Attilio Acalotti. The chief -operation of these men is gambling, which will be traced in more detail -later. They staked out locations in Washington, worked together in -harmony, well aware that the capital would not go for Chicago-style -assassinations. - -But the national Syndicate did not hesitate to work openly in the -adjoining Maryland suburbs, where the late Jimmy La Fontaine, who died -in bed at the age of 81 in 1949, was the local front man. Fontaine’s -rococo gambling casino, across the street from the District line, was -as far as the Mafia cared to go openly. His chief lieutenants were -Snags Lewis, Pete Gianaris and Mike Meyers. Snags has pleaded guilty to -a mild rap on a bargain which will take the heat off others. - -We have described the dope setup in the District, where local -wholesalers send to New York for supplies, so that the Mafia does -not have to deliver them in the capital. By a similar procedure, -the gamblers and other racketeers procure their wire service from -representatives of the big mob, across the border in Maryland. Snags -Lewis was the local wire service man. - -When it came to such things as numbers, whoring, illicit liquor and -after-hour spots in the District, the local boys tried to hold on to as -much as they could. They didn’t want to divvy up with the Syndicate. -The big mob didn’t like that. - -When the Mafia moves in, it gears its method to local situations. For -instance, Dallas, one of the last hold-outs, is being taken over at -this writing by strong-arm work and gunplay. - -But when the beach-front bookmaking syndicate in Miami held out, it -was cut off from its wire service, then local cops did the gangsters’ -work by raiding the recalcitrants, to make way for the Syndicate’s own -operators. - -It was clear to Frank Costello in New York and Charlie Fischetti in -Chicago, the operating heads of the underworld, that gat-work would not -be tolerated in Washington. They knew the Metropolitan Police couldn’t -be counted on to cooperate, with J. Edgar Hoover on the grounds. -Few understand why the F.B.I. has not acted against the Mafia. Its -jurisdiction is circumscribed by Congress, and the black-handers have -been smart enough to keep out of fields in which Hoover may act. - -The outside mobsters adopted a third procedure to tighten their hold on -the local underworld, one that had worked with great success in other -towns. It came through with flying colors in Washington. Last year -there was an epidemic of robberies of local underworld figures, and not -by accident or coincidence. - -One victim was Emmitt Warring. Three men forced their way into his -home, at 3900 Macomb Street, and robbed it at gun-point. Insiders -say the amount of cash lifted from Warring’s safe was about $100,000. -Warring told newspapermen it was only $20,000. He refused to cooperate -with the police and would not admit or deny that the holdup had taken -place. In the same week, the same thugs held up Johnny Williams, a -numbers racket boss. Robert “Ryebread” Schulman and Theodore “Little -Joe” Scheve also were held up. Williams’ father-in-law is Dick Austin, -a numbers king in Atlantic City and Washington. - -Chief of Police Barrett said, “I am alarmed by the crimes. We can’t -have this sort of thing going on here. Pretty soon somebody’s going to -get shot.” That was Scheve. But nobody got arrested. Then Washington -racketeers saw a great light. They made peace with the Big Mob, which -established its regency over the District, leaving the former operators -in as partners with nominal control. - -George P. Harding, victim of the recent slaying in the Hideaway Club, -engineered the Warring robbery for the Mafia. Harding was born in Italy -and had a long and bloody career as a gunman and killer, before being -slain by his friend and associate, Joseph Nesline. - -Nesline, who admitted the shooting, is a four-time loser. He told -police it was either “Harding or me.” His story was Harding had accused -him of running out with his share of the gravy in a gangster-operated -oil well deal in Texas, where Frank Costello and his boys are buying -heavily into leases and royalties. The dead man had been sitting with -George A. Clainos, white-slaver and member of the local Syndicate, who -passed him a gun. - -The actual cause of the killing, which we are telling you confidential, -is that it was ordered from Mafia headquarters in Brooklyn, because -Harding, who knew too much, was an intemperate drinker and was talking -too much. - -Harding had been warned “to be good or else” several months ago, -through word transmitted by Tony Ricci, alias Tony Goebels, who is the -message-center for the Unione Siciliano. - -The formula of permitting local operators to retain management was -followed last year when the mob moved into Tampa and Jacksonville, -Florida, and was used also with much success in Newark, New Jersey, -where the non-Italian mob of Abner “Longy” Zwillman was absorbed into -the Mafia. The Cleveland branch, run chiefly by Jews and Irish, was -given the same modus operandi and absorbed. - -The chain of command and remittance from the District to top -headquarters is through Prince Georges County, Maryland, where Gianaris -handles the numbers intake from the District and Lewis superintends -payments for horse wire service--which is utilized also as a clearing -house to transmit receipts from all other illegal activities, entered -on the books as payments for the services or as losses on bets. - -La Fontaine’s organization is kept together by Lewis and Meyers. -Charlie Ford, Washington lawyer, who appears frequently in this book as -counsel for gamblers, vice-hucksters and bottle-clubs, is the trustee -of La Fontaine’s fabulous estate. In this connection some complicated -bookkeeping is required. - -It develops La Fontaine was only a front man. Eighty percent of his -holdings belonged to the Big Mob. His death brought intricate mixups, -and what was his and what was the Mob’s had not been identified in full -detail. The situation is similar to that which followed the slaying -of Edward J. O’Hare, Chicago mobster, who operated race tracks for -the Capone syndicate. The stock of Sportsman’s Park, Chicago, and the -Miami Beach Kennel Club was in his name. He left it to his heirs and -associates. It took years for the accounts to be straightened out, and -when they were, some money was paid over in the form of a “loan” to -Paul “The Waiter” Ricca, a close associate of the late Capone, who is -one of the ruling heads of the secret Grand Council of the Mafia. - -The La Fontaine payoff to the top was made through Nig Rosen of -Philadelphia to Meyer Lansky of New York. Lansky is a tributary of -Frank Costello and a gambling partner of Joe Adonis. Nig Rosen is a -friend of Washington Police Chief Barrett. - -La Fontaine was one of the most colorful men Washington ever saw. His -legendary career as a gentleman gambler spanned half a century. This -last of the gas-lit era gamblers was one of five children of a poultry -dealer. He was apprenticed to his father’s trade and might have carved -for himself a similar career, except for a fatal flaw in his make-up: -he could not bear to kill a chicken, nor could he stand the thought -of others killing chickens he had raised. He hid his favorites in his -father’s attic. - -A three-cent strike Jimmy made on the old St. Louis lottery netted -him $12. With this he set up shop across the Potomac in Virginia. He -then went to work for the Heath brothers, old-time gambling combine. He -soon had his own card table and he prospered. Subsequently he opened -the Mohican Club, near Glen Echo, Maryland. Expanding, he purchased a -large tract in Prince Georges County and established “Jimmy’s Place.” -Around it he built a high green fence and within it men won and lost -fortunes. Women never got past the door and no man who couldn’t afford -to lose was ever admitted again. It was staffed by more than a hundred -carefully chosen attendants, all covered by social security. They made -regular contributions to a retirement fund. - -The house limit was $200 on craps, $500 a card on blackjack, and $10 on -numbers, with no-limit games in private rooms for certain customers who -could stand a tough tap. “Jimmy’s” catered to as many as 2,000 gamblers -a night. - -Oddly, La Fontaine never got out of the poultry business. His passion -was cock-fighting and he maintained a stable of 100 birds. Seeing -them killed in action did not affront him. He also made horse book -and traveled from track to track. La Fontaine bankrolled Tex Rickard, -the fabulous fight promoter, in his early days. After Rickard’s death -he formed a silent partnership with Herman Taylor, Philadelphia fight -promoter. - -Jimmy served a jail term for income tax evasion and paid a fine of more -than $200,000. The Big Mob had long cast covetous eyes on La Fontaine, -who by now not only had his own profitable gambling enterprise on which -he himself admitted paying off $100,000 a year for local protection, -but he controlled also the entire underworld in the lush Maryland -counties adjoining the District. About 20 years ago, emissaries from -Philadelphia came down to muscle him out. One representative of Nig -Rosen, a gunman named Milsie Henry, was mysteriously murdered, for -which La Fontaine was loudly but not officially mentioned. The case -is still unsolved. Shortly thereafter, La Fontaine was kidnaped by -hoodlums from New York and Philadelphia. Before he was returned his -family had to come up with $40,000 “expense money.” And the Mafia was -declared in on his enterprises. - -Most naïve Washingtonians believe the appointment of attorney Charlie -Ford as the trustee of his estate was a logical sequence, as Ford is -a gamblers’ lawyer. He testified before a house committee that he -represented many gamblers, some of whom were such powers that they -were unknown to the police or public as gamblers. He refused to divulge -their identities. One is a liquor dealer and another, a local jeweler. - -Ford has legal contacts with the topmost figures of the Mafia. When the -wife of Charlie Fischetti, one of the most powerful men in the national -underworld, the most powerful in Chicago, was subpoenaed before the -Kefauver Committee, Ford flew to Chicago to represent her, though the -Fischetti-Guzik gang has staffs of legal sharks who specialize in -outwitting the authorities. - -Quite often there is legal jockeying following the death of important -gangsters like La Fontaine. - -After Bugsy Siegel was slain in Beverly Hills, Morris Rosen showed up -from New York at Siegel’s ornate Flamingo and took over all of the -murdered man’s assets before his body was cold. They had never belonged -to him at all. They were Syndicate property. So was 80 per cent of La -Fontaine’s. - - - - -25. WHO’S WHO IN MOBOCRACY - - -For two books and for the hundreds of newspaper stories we have done on -American gangsters and their maze of intertwining organization we got -enough to be publicly proclaimed America’s top experts in the field. - -We have been offered lectures and speaking engagements before bodies -of bankers, merchants, criminologists, police conventions and on radio -programs. But we have saved some new names and some newly-discovered -secrets for this book, because a “confidential” without that factor -would be regarded as a gold brick; and because our publisher knows us -and trusts us and hasn’t the rabbit in him that the owners of other -media display, when they say: - -“But you just can’t publish that kind of stuff. You’ll get us all -killed!” - -One magazine which paid for the rights to do a digest of _Chicago -Confidential_ weakened and, instead, did a piece speculating on our -chances of surviving our tenure on the bestseller lists! - -We have our own ways of getting this material, which so many think is -so dangerous. It comes from many sources, all confidential. Some of it -is right from the racketeers, themselves, for they have vendettas and -jealousies and hatreds on which they don’t dare to act in the open. The -widow of a murdered hoodlum drove hundreds of miles and met us in a car -in Central Park and gave us the tale of who rubbed him out and why. -This was a woman who had told the cops and the prosecutors that she -knew nothing, had no idea how her husband made a living, had never met -any one who was even “shady.” - -Here and there a person who has been shaken down or shaken out, and -thus knows a small angle which may be valuable as a tip-off on one or -two people and authentic tactics gets to us and spills. - -We don’t believe all we hear. But facts mesh up and patterns form and -truths evolve. - -We have sketched for you the process whereby the pennies, dimes and -dollars of the numbers-players, horse-bettors, hookers and junkies -are harvested in Washington and funneled to the satraps who live in -penthouses and mansions in New York, Chicago, Beverly Hills and Rome. -They are big industry, our biggest. And while the principals hide in -their drawing-rooms even if they pass through Washington, to or from -Florida, they must maintain here high-powered lawyers, tax experts -who study and report every decision of the Treasury, lobbyists, press -agents and spies. Many of the vast legal businesses into which they -channel their cash have branch stores and offices here. The Syndicate -is an international conspiracy, as potent as that other international -conspiracy, Communism, and as dirty and dangerous, with its great -wealth and the same policy--to conquer everything and take over -everything, with no scruples as to how. - -This gigantic money trust has assets of billions, exceeding the -combined wealth of Morgan, Rockefeller and all the Wall Street -freebooters of old. - -It owns, through legitimate sources of trade, incalculable commercial, -residential, hotel and investment real estate, surpassing the holdings -of insurance companies. Through its purchase of stocks and bonds -it controls some and is attempting to control other transportation -companies, as well as railroads, hotel chains, distilleries and -breweries, department stores and chain stores, clothing and dress -manufacturers, steel and iron works, franchised automobile -distributors, trans-Atlantic steamship lines, a movie producer, a -radio chain, a big-league ball team, phonograph recording companies, -insurance corporations, banks, theatres, night clubs, laundries, -oil wells; it has been buying into even newspapers. This is only a -condensed catalog of its dishonest interests in once-honest enterprises. - -A thief is always a thief. These modern pirates could not go straight. -As soon as they dip their sticky hands into something legitimate, it -goes crooked. - -One of their favorite tactics is to buy in the open market enough stock -of a company, to create a nuisance value. They organize a minority -stockholders’ committee and dig up proxies. They have no real intention -of trying to get control, but some time before the stockholders’ -meeting, they approach the management and offer to sell at a premium, -usually three or four times above the market listing. This is cold -blackmail. - -Another tactic, employed when they secure control of a transportation -company, is to use their political connections to get a fare raise. -That enhances the stock on the market, then they unload. - -They buy into some companies to get enough stock to rig the price, -a felony. In at least one instance with which we are familiar, the -underworld put a representative in as an officer of a transportation -company. He then sold company stock short on the securities exchanges. -This is a violation of SEC law. When a complaint was made by other -stockholders to the SEC, the man they talked to shrugged his shoulders -and said, “Forget it. They have a fix.” - -Operators with such tremendous financial interests know their way -around Washington. One of their chief sources of contact is through -Democratic county, state and national committeemen, who are beholden -for campaign contributions. Sometimes cash is handed over to sweeten -the kitty. The committeemen and political bosses pass the orders along -through their Congressmen in Washington, or, when the fix is important -enough, directly to a specialist at such affairs right in the White -House. - -The Tammany and Flynn interests in New York and Jake Arvey’s tight -Chicago combine are powers. The Rhode Island organization of Senator -Pastore and Attorney General McGrath, the crooked Connecticut machine -that made Senator Brien McMahon, and the Maryland organization, about -which more later, get whatever they want. Senator Herbert O’Conor -is the godfather of the Maryland outfit, and he is a member of the -Kefauver Committee. - -The Colorado machine handles the loot for the Mountain States. The -errand-boy for the West Coast gamblers, dope runners and procurers -is the California Democratic organization, of which at this writing, -Jimmy Roosevelt is the chairman, but the mobsters don’t stick long with -losers. - -In _Chicago Confidential_ we gave an outline of the organization and -chain of command of the international underworld Syndicate. - -The Mafia, an age-old institution, has existed in Sicily since before -the beginning of written history. Sicily always has been, and to this -day is, subject territory. It was owned by ancient Phoenicians, Greeks, -Carthaginians, Romans, Imperial France, Italy and even Britain. The -Sicilian peasants always worked for absentee owners. - -In prehistoric times, the Mafia began as a patriotic terrorist society, -somewhat like the Irish Republican Army. Venal leaders sold out, -offered protection to some estates while they sacked others. They -anticipated the protection racket by centuries. - -The Mafia and the dread Black Hand are the same thing. The black hand -was the sign over which the Mafia’s threats were delivered. During -several thousand years it came about that almost every native of Sicily -had to have some tie or connection with the Mafia. Some were members, -others were relatives of members, or partners, hired killers and -spies. Others did business with it; still others were the terrorized -unattached who dared not refuse its bidding. - -Sicilians vie with Cantonese as the most migrating people in the world. -Sicily, like Canton, is overpopulated and poverty-ridden. Another, more -important factor, appears to be that at every change of government, -Mafistas were forced into flight and exile in droves. They settled and -colonized all over the earth. There are huge Sicilian colonies spread -around Europe, in England, South America, North Africa, the Orient and -the United States. - -Every Sicilian colony had a hard core of black-handers, who set up an -invisible government and preyed first on the other colonizers. The -various groups were in correspondence with each other, cooperated in -business deals, provided places for other fugitives and expatriates. - -The first great influx arrived in this country exactly a hundred years -ago, about the time Napoleon 3rd extended his influence to Sicily. -Thereafter, every ten or twenty years found other large groups on -their way here, especially after such periods of uncertainty as the -unification of Italy, World War I, the Mussolini ascendancy, and after -World War II. From time to time the Italian government tried to wipe -out the Mafia, and after each attempt thousands more came to wink and -leer at the Statue of Liberty. - -Though the Italian government never could exterminate the Mafia, it did -wipe out similar terroristic societies on the mainland, such as the -Camorra, of Naples. The members of these other secret societies who -could escape fled to Sicily, where they were welcomed and integrated as -brothers by the Mafistas. - -Their overseas affiliates were absorbed by local Mafia units. This -process took place also among outlawed Greek secret societies, and the -dread Black Hand of Serbia, which was akin in purpose to Sicily’s Black -Hand. Meanwhile, as Mafia bosses got fat and rich, they smuggled in new -killers, many from Cuba and Puerto Rico. - -The American Black Hand was content to operate exclusively in Italian -circles for years. All Italians had to pay tribute, a tithe of their -earnings, from the dollar-a-week of the corner bootblack to five -thousand a night of Enrico Caruso. Failure to pay meant the Black -Hand letter, and continued failure, death. Now the Mafia is smoother. -It “owns” acts on a ten-per cent business deal. Frank Sinatra was -discovered by Willie Moretti and is the pet of the Fischettis. He gave -a gold cigarette case to Charlie Luciano, inscribed “To my friend.” - -Recent developments in New York again demonstrate how this works. -A $4,000-a-year city fireman, an Italian who had changed his name, -testified he was operating a $200,000 talent agency, which, in -theatrical parlance, “stole” acts from other agencies. Two were -“thefted” from agent Lou Perry: Alan Dale, another Italian who is the -hottest crooning find of the year, and Toni Arden. The fireman, whose -name is Gerry Purcell, booked these two and another, Terri Stevens, -into the Copacabana, where all three “clicked” and started their climbs -to fame. - -In _Chicago Confidential_, we described how Big Jim Colosimo, then -the local Mafia leader, set up the organization which under Al Capone -and Johnny Torrio, was able to drive out of Chicago all the competing -non-Italian and sectional mobs. Prohibition made them fabulously rich -and potent. - -The same thing happened in New York. While Colosimo was the head of the -Chicago chapter, Lupo “the Wolf” Saietta headed the New York branch. -After he went to prison, Joe “The Boss” Masseria took over, after a lot -of mayhem. - -They began to call the Mafia the Unione Siciliano then. At times it -tried to pretend it was a respectable Italian-American benevolent -society. Joe “The Boss” reigned at the top of the Unione for nine -years, until he was murdered in 1931. His chief lieutenants were -“Lucky” Luciano and Frank Costello. When Masseria was killed they moved -in. - -The Irish and Jewish mobs were being driven to the wall. The same -thing happened in every important city. By the middle 1930s, the -Unione Siciliano was dominant in every racket. Wherever there were -non-Italians left, the only way they could do business was to accept -the overlordship of the Mafia. If they were good boys they were allowed -to come in and get rich. If they tried any monkey-business, they were -assassinated, like Bugsy Siegel, or turned over to the law, like Lepke -and Gurrah. - -No one knows whether the top Italian hoodlums like Capone, Luciano and -Costello took over the Mafia, or whether the Mafia took them over. That -is an academic conjecture, as they are now one and the same thing, with -the worldwide facilities of the Unione Siciliano the nucleus on which -all organized vice, crime and corruption, not only in the United States -but all over the world, has been built. - -In _Chicago Confidential_, we stated in passing that since the exile -of Luciano in Italy the American “president” or executive head of the -Unione Siciliano is Frank Costello, and the vice-president is Capone’s -cousin, Charles Fischetti, in Chicago. - -The worldwide Mafia is composed of a supreme head in Palermo, Sicily, -a Grand Council consisting of high-ranking executives, subordinate -officers, and a global membership. - -Luciano, following his deportation in 1947, has been installed as the -Supreme Head of the International Mafia. Members are divided into two -distinct groups, inner circle and outer circle. The latter includes -members of ordinary rank and standards. The former consists of those -who command wealth, influence or proven underworld power. Membership in -this group is kept at a minimum, since it derives a major portion of -all proceeds from its general diverse illegal enterprises. - -Members of the elite few are almost invariably, through ancestry -or direct birth, from Palermo and its adjoining areas. A very few -non-Italians have been taken into the ruling circle. According to the -U.S. Bureau of Narcotics, American members of the Mafia are necessarily -members of the over-all group, which therefore has continued to -include former American gangsters who left the U.S. by deportation or -voluntary flight. Prominently mentioned among these are John Schillochi -(International List 298); Dominic Petrelli (International List 259); -and Nicola Gentile (International List 133), all of whom were in Italy -when last heard of, though informants tell us they have since been seen -around New York again. - -Other important members of the Mafia, such as Francisco Paolo Coppola -and Sylvestro Carrolla, found their way to Mexico, where they took over -the local Mafia. Other lesser figures represent the fearsome fraternity -in Canada, Argentina, Brazil, France, and England. - -The Bureau of Narcotics has compiled what is believed to be the -only master list of the inner circle of the Mafia. It is based on -documentary evidence in the form of address books, papers, interstate -telephone calls, police records, screened informants, etc. During the -recent Kefauver Committee hearings, Commissioner Anslinger supplied -the document under oath to the committee. Extracts from this list are -printed in the back of the book. - -Even before the Mafia had organized the entire American underworld, it -had strong communication lines into Washington. These were first built -up during Prohibition, when the boys passed money back to the capital -for their own protection. They also made liberal contributions to the -campaign funds of dry Congressmen, without whose votes, for whatever -cause, the racket was worthless. During the insane days of Prohibition, -the underworld began the process of undermining the honesty and probity -of federal officials, which has since been carried to an extreme. - -Until the 18th Amendment, law-breakers feared Uncle Whiskers. There -were few federal criminal laws. Most criminals didn’t want to tangle -with Washington. Only nuts got themselves mixed up with the postal -inspectors or the Secret Service. After the wholesale bribery and -corruption of the 1920s, all respect for national law enforcement had -gone into the ashcan. - -Now, due largely to the example of the F.B.I., the Bureau of Narcotics -and the Treasury Intelligence, the public’s faith in federal -law-enforcement and investigative agencies has been revived, but -the prosecuting and judicial ends have never come back. Most felons -would rather be arrested by federal than state or city cops, because -they know they can make a better deal with the prosecutors, and if -everything fails, federal sentences are light and the prisons are soft. - -Before the underworld was completely organized, Washington was a -“neutral” city, where mob meetings and conventions were held. In such -cities the delegates must not pack guns. Rough stuff is out by common -consent. Other such open cities are Saratoga, Hot Springs, Las Vegas, -Atlantic City and Miami. These were and are important resort centers, -and are kept neutral because machine-gunning might scare tourists away. -Washington was no-man’s-land for obvious reasons; they knew tommy-guns -wouldn’t be tolerated in the Capitol’s shadow. - -Commissioner Anslinger recalls such a gangster convention in the -Shoreham Hotel, two decades ago. The Commissioner dropped into the -Blue Room for dinner and saw Luciano, “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn, Frank -Nitti, “the Enforcer” of the Chicago mob, Izzie Bernstein of Detroit’s -Purple Gang, and three other hoods, each with a bejeweled blonde. They -were registered at the Shoreham under assumed names and spent a week -there holding meetings. - -When Anslinger lamped the boys, he went to the lobby and had Lucky -called out. Luciano was offended, beefed about the interruption of his -party. He said, “You can’t do anything to me. We got Constitutional -rights. We’re only sight-seeing.” - -Anslinger said, “That’s all you’d better do,” then glancing at the -blondes, he added, “remember the Mann Act.” - -A few weeks later, Jack McGurn was knocked off. It developed that this -meeting was called for his trial. He had been getting out of line. So -he was summoned from Chicago to meet his peers from the other cities. - -The organized underworld’s influence in official Washington is -incalculable. Its direct ties, even to the top, are so firm that -in many instances even a political revolution will not dislodge -them. They succeeded in doing that which the Communists failed to -do; they infiltrated and took over the government. They are the true -subversives, though that never comes out in Congress. - -The Mafia’s power is built around these factors: - -1) The underworld’s ownership of and contributions to local political -machines. The mob has no politics or ideology. It pays liberally to -both sides, so it will have a friend in court no matter who wins. Even -the former American Labor Party Congressman, Vito Marcantonio, was on -intimate terms with Mafia hoodlums, accepted campaign contributions -from them, associated with and fronted for their racketeers in New York -and in Washington, and welcomed them into his American Labor Party. He -appointed the son of the infamous “Three Finger Brown” Luchese to West -Point in 1946. Luchese was and is his contact in Tammany Hall. - -2) The Mafia’s huge cache of currency, hidden in private safe deposit -vaults and in banks throughout the world. Its earnings from illicit -sources are so great, and come in so fast, the boys cannot invest it -fast enough. They must hide most of the money because they failed to -pay income tax on the major portion of it. It is no exaggeration to say -they have billions of dollars in U.S. bills. With this bankroll they -can bribe at will, elect many officials, and swing public opinion to -incredible degrees. - -3) The Syndicate’s interests in countless large legitimate businesses -and industries give it a responsible, respectable voice in Washington -through trade associations, lobbyists, law firms, banks, Congressmen -who would do a favor for a local businessman but would not be seen dead -with a gangster, and a considerable segment of the press, daily and -periodical, and the radio. - -4) The hoodlums’ tie-up with some labor, which came about when -unions needed sluggers, or when tough guys muscled in to grab union -treasurers, or used them as part of their extortion rackets. Lobbyists -representing the unions are feared and toadied to. - -5) The Italian voting bloc now controls some of the largest cities in -the country. It is the largest single unit in New York, where all three -candidates for mayor in 1950 were Italians. Too many of their men in -office have ties to the Mafia. They can count on the votes of their -countrymen in nominations and elections. The mass votes of Italians -are bartered back and forth and usually can be delivered, by Black -Hand threats in Italian neighborhoods, by appeal to blood relationship -and national pride, or through the pages of powerful Italian language -newspapers. - -During his recent campaign, New York’s Mayor Impellitteri charged that -Gene Pope, publisher of Il Progresso Italiano-Americano, the biggest -Italian daily in the country, was an intimate of Frank Costello. We -have seen them dining together on intimate terms. - -No book could comprehensively cover the mob’s facets in Washington, but -here are a few, at random: - -The President’s military aide and poker pal, Major General Harry -Vaughan, has associated with Frank Costello. They were brought together -through his stooge, the convict John Maragon, who was a pal of the late -Bill Helis, Greek millionaire and partner in Costello’s New York and -Louisiana enterprises--as well as in a Scotch distillery. - -Joe Adonis, New York mobster and lieutenant of Costello, had financial -dealings with Harold F. Ambrose, former special assistant to the -Postmaster General. Ambrose pleaded guilty to charges of operating a -$600,000 fraudulent stamp-selling scheme. Adonis was questioned by the -D.C. grand jury, but refused to talk, after which the United States -had amnesia about his connection with the case. Ambrose is related to -Democratic Senator O’Mahoney. His failure to go to trial protected his -underworld associates. - -Attorney General McGrath, who may be a U.S. Supreme Court Justice -before this appears in print, was a Senator from Rhode Island and an -important member of Rhode Island’s Democratic machine. That outfit has -tight ties with the underworld. Within days after McGrath was pushed -upstairs to the Attorney Generalship, to make way for Bill Boyle as -Democratic National Chairman, McGrath made a trip to New York City. -There he or his double had dinner at the Copacabana night club with -Joe Nunan, former Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and Julie Podell, -manager of the cafe. It has been frequently charged in New York -that Costello has an interest in the corporation. The late Mayor La -Guardia ordered police to cancel the club’s license if Podell, long an -associate of Costello, was ever found on its premises again. Podell, -while giddy, told one of your reporters that Costello had advanced -$50,000 to open the club. - -At the time of the dinner party there, the Copa was a possible -defendant in a tax-action growing out of an investigation into the -charges that it was owned by Costello. Since then, Podell was in Hot -Springs with Costello and several other mobsters from all parts of the -country, in an annual convention. McGrath has since stated there is no -organized crime or vice in the country. - -Former Attorney General Tom Clark, now a Justice of the United States -Supreme Court, was closely associated with attorneys who represented -underworld figures. There were no major underworld prosecutions -during his term of office. A Congressional investigation elicited the -startling information that Clark’s boyhood pal, Maury Hughes, a Dallas -attorney, was retained by five members of the old Capone mob, who had -been convicted of extorting millions from the movie industry, to induce -the federal authorities to nol-pros outstanding indictments against -them and secure premature paroles. - -Hughes, with other lawyers close to the administration, worked this -feat of legal legerdemain. While these pages were being written, -the same Maury Hughes secretly succeeded in keeping Alan Smiley, a -notorious West Coast gangster who had been ordered deported, in the -country. Smiley was Bugsy Siegel’s buddy, and was seated next to him on -a love-seat in Virginia Hill’s Beverly Hills mansion when Siegel was -ambushed and assassinated, in the only spot in the room visible to the -torpedoes hidden outside, in bushes. - -Until recently, Smiley had been passing himself off as an oil broker -and real estate man in Houston, Texas, where he lived with his wife, a -former movie starlet, in Glen McCarthy’s swank Shamrock Hotel. Smiley -took up with a Texas oilman, Lenoire Josey, who liked to gamble. Smiley -said he liked that, too. He knew some good places. - -He and Josey went to Sam Maceo’s ornate casino, the Balinese Room, in -Galveston. Then they went to the Mounds Club, in Cleveland. After that -they went to the Flamingo, in Las Vegas. A trip to Phil Kastel’s (and -Costello’s) beautiful Beverly, outside New Orleans, followed. When -Josey counted up he had lost $500,000. Smiley “admitted to being a big -loser, too.” If so, he got some back, because he owns a bit of stock in -the Flamingo. - -While these lines were being written, the California Crime Commission, -headed by Admiral William H. Standley, Retired, castigated government -aides for their ties with criminals. He said the relationship between -the underworld elements and certain officials “must of necessity make -it embarrassing for Federal officials to undertake prosecutions.” - -A specific example was Sam Termini, described as a godson of the late -Charlie Binaggio, who would have had to earn $900,000 income last year -to be able to afford the cash payments made on his mansion in San Mateo -County. He paid income tax on no such sum. - -It cited the case of Dorothy A. McCreedy as a specific example of -tieups between criminals and government officials, stating: - -“The McCreedy woman is a convicted madame, a major figure in the -prostitution racket in California for years and operator of two large -whore-houses in Honolulu.” - -She was reported to the Income Tax Bureau as a suspected evader, but -“she is also a partner in a business called Safety Step Sales Co., and -one of her partners is Ernest M. Schino, chief field deputy in the -Office of the Collector of Internal Revenue.” - -They tell a spicy story about Dorothy, whom we know well--personally, -not professionally. When F. D. Roosevelt made his first trip to Hawaii, -the Secret Service failed to send ahead a black open touring-car -of expensive make, familiar and standard for the President on open -display. Honolulu was winnowed. Only one such car was found in the -Territory. It was owned by Dorothy, who used to drive her gals through -town, to show them off, for promotion. - -Dorothy pridefully lent the car. Everyone in Honolulu recognized it -on sight, but the President didn’t know that. He flashed his historic -grin, waved his hat, but couldn’t understand why the cheers were -accompanied by an obbligato of guffaws. - -It was charged, and never refuted in the 1950 campaign, by both -Governor Dewey and Mayor Impellitteri that Ed Flynn, New York political -boss and intimate of the late President Roosevelt, is Frank Costello’s -contact in New York State. Flynn, who has, and retained after the -debacle, the national patronage in the state, used it frequently to -procure appointments in high places, including the federal district -bench, the New York State Supreme Court and some prosecutors, of men -known to be friendly to associates of Costello. His defeated choice for -governor of New York, former Congressman Walter J. Lynch, of the Bronx, -had, while he was in Congress, introduced a “sleeper” which would have -permitted the underworld kings, notorious for such frauds, to evade -prison sentences for tax delinquency. - -A report, in the possession of the Los Angeles Police Department, which -we have seen, states that Flynn or someone who looked remarkably like -him--with Frank Costello, Phil Kastel and others--was in Mexico City in -December, 1948. Costello was in conferences that contemplated taking -over the Mexican National Lottery. The group was partied by A. C. -Blumenthal, expatriate New York showman. - -Lynch, like his boss Ed Flynn, was a never-deviating New Deal-Fair Deal -Democrat. He never voted against an administration measure. In the last -Congress there was a mighty affinity between New Dealers and crooked -dealers. For instance, former Senator Lucas, of Illinois, the majority -leader, was beholden to the Nash-Kelly-Arvey machine. Appointments of -shady figures to federal positions in Illinois cleared through him, the -senior Senator, as all must. - -Left-wing Democratic Senator Hubert Humphrey, of Minnesota, is a pal -of ex-convict Charles Ward, millionaire calendar printer. Ward has -many ties with the underworld all over the country, and was one of -the financial backers of Anna Roosevelt’s attempt to start a daily -newspaper in Phoenix, Arizona. This was once he was outsmarted in -a money deal. As is not unknown in the Roosevelt tradition, he got -one cent on the dollar back. Bill O’Dwyer said he found a direct tie -between Ward and Brooklyn’s Murder, Inc. - -Under such auspices, the underworld is establishing a firm grip on -Minnesota. Its attempt to take over the Minneapolis and St. Paul -traction systems is a part of the general picture across the land -and was exposed by Lait last summer in his _Daily Mirror_ column. It -resulted in the indictment of one of the mobsters, Kid Cann, so called -because of his many incarcerations. - -The New Dealers have been kind to the underworld ever since their -victorious election in 1932, after Costello and Jimmy Hines, with -Ed Kelly, had successfully managed the convention fight in Chicago. -While Frank Murphy was Attorney-General he saw to it that prosecuting -attorneys laid off the boys. Internal Revenue agents prepared a tax -case against Costello and Frank Erickson, but the U.S. Attorney was -ordered to pigeonhole it. - -Following Frank Erickson’s conviction in New York on gambling charges, -District Attorney’s investigators seized his books and papers. Among -them was a memo reading, “Phone Daddy Long Legs.” - -The sleuths jumped on this. They figured it was a code or nickname for -one of the mob aces. That is one of the toughest problems encountered -by racket-busters, i.e., breaking down the aliases used by the kings of -the underworld on their books and in their records. - -The gumshoes rushed over to the Island and interviewed Erickson in his -cell. - -“Who is Daddy Long Legs?” they asked. “And what did you want to call -him for?” - -Erickson laughed uproariously. “Why shouldn’t I phone him?” he -inquired. “After all, I’m related to him by marriage and he’s the Vice -President.” - -After the investigators had recovered from their shocks, this is what -Erickson told them: - -“An in-law of mine is an in-law of Barkley’s. Barkley visited me in my -Long Island home. My grand-kids are crazy about him. They nicknamed him -‘Daddy Long Legs.’” - -The story of the Binaggio killing in Kansas City, anticipated in -_Chicago Confidential_, is recent, but the full background of the case -has never been aired before. - -President Truman is and was a loyal member of his county Democratic -organization. And as such--a party man who never split his ticket--he -was forced to go along, though unwillingly, when the Chicago hoodlums -put Binaggio in as the leader. - -When the President first went into politics, the Mafia was just one of -the mobs. It had not organized the country. In the 1920s, most of the -big city machines were owned by Irish bosses, who were tied up with the -local Irish underworld gangs. Each city was independent of all other -cities. - -On the surface, the conviction of Tom Pendergast by U.S. Attorney -Maurice Milligan was a smashing victory for law and order. But it was, -at the same time, a greater victory for the Capone and Costello mob. -There are high government cops--not friends of the administration, -either--who have the wild idea that the only effect of Pendergast’s -conviction was to permit Charley Fischetti’s ambassador to Kansas -City, Tony Gizzo, to put in his own man, Binaggio, as county leader. -Milligan’s brother Tuck was counsel for Joe de Luca, a Mafia boss and -convicted dope smuggler, during and after his brother’s term as United -States attorney. Milligan prosecuted few Sicilian hoodlums. T-men -demanded 20 years for De Luca. Milligan’s office asked for only 3 for -his brother’s client; he was sprung shortly thereafter and the stool -pigeon who convicted him was murdered. We looked up the official record -and that is so. - -As new Democratic leader of the President’s home county, Binaggio had -great influence. Naturally, the President wanted to carry his own state -in local and federal elections, so he had to work through his home -organization. The presence in it of people like Binaggio and Gizzo may -have turned his stomach, but that was politics. - -We have explained that the Big Mob does not operate directly in -Washington on the street and sewer levels, such enterprises being -franchised out to locals. The Syndicate does do business in the -District in connection with its legitimate affairs and some of -its larger sub-rosa undertakings. In the latter category are -black-marketing, the sale and resale of government surplus, padding -of war contracts, etc. The boys had an office in the Thomas Circle -Building during World War II, in which they dished out war contracts. -One day a man was killed there, but so great was their influence that -no record was made on the police blotter. The newspapers still know -nothing about it. - -A couple of hotels in Washington are owned by interests known to be -backed by underworld coin. Many chain stores owned by mob money have -branches there. Money of “Lepke” Buchalter, executed head of Murder, -Inc., is in Jarwood’s men’s clothing store, across the street from the -Department of Justice. The history of this chain makes a human interest -story. - -When Lepke surrendered, to be turned over to J. Edgar Hoover, he -understood the boys put in a “fix” so he would be tried on federal -charges and not turned over to Brooklyn’s crusading District Attorney, -Bill O’Dwyer, on the Murder, Inc., rap, which meant the chair in Sing -Sing. - -But Hoover would have nothing to do with such a deal, and gave him up -to New York State. Lepke was convicted of first-degree murder. He knew -he had been railroaded by the Mafia, which had wanted to get rid of -its Jewish partner. He threatened to blow the whistle, and was promised -leniency if he would talk. His wife, an attractive brunette, went to -see him in his cell and told him her life had been threatened, she -would be croaked if he spilled. That was not so. Lepke loved her, so he -went to the hot seat with his lips sealed to protect her. - -Most of his illegal profits had been stashed away in secret safe -deposit vaults. He told her where they were. While Lepke was in -the death-chamber, his wife was often seen with Arthur Jawitz, a -slick-looking young guy, who had attracted the attention of the Feds -when they were looking for Lepke, whose bed he was keeping warm. - -Shortly after Lepke’s electrocution, his widow married the black-haired -young man, and set him up in the men’s clothing business. They changed -their name to Jarwood. The underworld says Lepke left her $20,000,000 -in U.S. currency. A former wife of Jawitz showed up, charged he had -married Betty Buchalter bigamously. She said Betty was “keeping” Jawitz -while her gangster husband was still alive. - -After the Kefauver Committee quizzed Lou Wolfson, head of the Capital -Transit Company, which owns the street-cars and buses in Washington, -seeking gangster-ties, it went no further. There was no evidence. -Wolfson, who lives in Jacksonville, Florida, says he is a legitimate -businessman. We have no knowledge to the contrary. But it was developed -under oath at a Senatorial hearing that Wolfson and one William B. -Johnston had, between them, raised a fund of half-a-million dollars for -the campaign of Florida’s governor, Fuller Warren. Wolfson and Johnston -each put $154,000 into this private, special campaign kitty, and were -intimately associated during the campaign. Johnston is president -of Sportsman’s Park racetrack in Chicago, and several dog-tracks -in Florida, which were owned by the late Al Capone. Johnston makes -frequent payments to Capone associates as “loans.” He admitted he had -been associated with mob-owned enterprises. - -Another witness, Leo J. Carroll, testified that it was general -knowledge in 1948, that with the election of Governor Warren, one-third -of whose campaign Wolfson financed, “the Mob would take over Florida.” -It did. - -A few months after Wolfson secured control of the Washington transit -system, he was permitted to raise the fare to 15 cents a ride, on the -plea of extreme poverty. Right after that, the company doubled its -quarterly dividends from 50 cents to $1 a share. Company stock scored -a sensational advance, reaching $39. When Wolfson landed control he -bought 109,000 shares at $20. - -Wolfson’s campaign to buy the local transit system was authorized by -the ICC and the Securities Exchange after an adverse recommendation -of the examiner and over opposition of minority stockholders. In less -than ten months, the Wolfson group succeeded in dominating the board of -directors and placing its own men in strategic executive spots, one of -whom is Frank E. Weakly, president of the Wardman Park Hotel. - -Now the SEC has granted Wolfson permission to sell some of his stock -at the inflated price, which gives him the company and his money back. -At this writing, he is negotiating to buy the Washington Redskins from -George Marshall. - -You can feel the presence of the mob in Washington. You can see -evidence in many directions that it is there. John L. Laskey, -immediate past president of the District Bar Association, resigned -the chairmanship of its law enforcement committee because he -had represented three witnesses called before the Senate Crime -Investigating Committee in connection with Florida gambling. He was a -former U.S. attorney. - -When Frank Costello testified briefly last year before the Senate -Interstate Commerce Committee investigating the transportation of -slot-machines across state lines, the photo of a Senate attache calling -a cab for him while Capitol policemen pushed nosy spectators away, -was widely published. But what hasn’t been printed is that a table -was reserved for him in advance in the Senators’ private dining-room -in the Capitol, and while the great Costello dined with his staff of -lawyers, a couple of U.S. Senators humbly waited for seats. The Senate -dining-room is operated on a concession basis by the son-in-law of a -Chicago vending-machine manufacturer. - -It could be some of the Senators are on Costello’s payroll. The law -firms of at least 40 Senators and Congressmen regularly represent the -wire service and local gamblers in their home towns. - -Now let’s gander the Kefauver Committee. - - - - -26. TERROR FROM TENNESSEE - - -The House and the Senate have unlimited power and initiative in one -function only--they can investigate anything. - -No President can veto a resolution for an investigation or by law curb -its activities or its scope. Theoretically, the purpose is to acquire -facts on which to base future legislation. Some of the mightiest of -our historical moves have sprung from such inquiries. Giants have -risen in the course of them. Harry Truman would probably have remained -an obscure little nonentity were it not that he became chairman of a -comparatively inconsequential Senate body which got to asking questions. - -One of the surest ways to grab public attention is for a legislator to -propose a resolution for a special investigation. If it passes it is -not submitted to a standing committee, but its author is by established -custom chosen as its chairman. - -This is the story of a special Senatorial investigating committee. -In many ways it is typical of such things under the Fair Deal, where -politics can strangle this last independent prerogative of Congress. - -The central character of this tale is Estes Kefauver, who sprung a -Senate motion to investigate crime. Your authors have a personal -property right in this venture. For Senator Kefauver had read _Chicago -Confidential_, and what he found there made his hair stand on end. This -is no conjecture. His resolution was prompted by what we had discovered -and published. - -He was sincere, impulsive and ambitious--if you can call a yen to be -Vice-President an ambition. He is our friend, and as such we wish -him well and, as Americans who know a little more than most of their -fellow-citizens about what is going on, we cheered the possibilities of -an untrammeled turning of the turf that would show up officially any -important portion of the staggering facts for which we risked our lives. - -Kefauver began bravely. He realized that he had lightning bolts in both -hands; that he not only could become one of the foremost men of his -time, but that he could accomplish priceless service to his country. -With the infinite power that was his, he could expose and perhaps -destroy the Syndicate and the Mafia which rules it, and save us from -the creeping, leaping conspiracy of criminals which already in many -elements of our life has superseded constituted government. - -But he wants to be Vice-President. - -At this writing, he is 47; Barkley is 73. Political wisdom would -dictate that the second man on the next national Democratic ticket -should come from a border state. Kefauver is from Tennessee. He became -a headliner when he licked boss Ed Crump. He is of Dutch-American stock -and a Protestant. - -He has four years more on his Senate term and could be re-elected. But -for a national nomination one needs a majority of the delegates at a -convention. Delegates are party men, designated by the party. - -He had no more than taken his first bold steps when the party went to -work on him. No Democrat can fight the Mafia and get anything from most -Democrats except obstruction. They are so intimately and intricately -interwoven with the underworld plunderworld through all political -strata that they must protect it. - -Kefauver was too naive to foresee this. He comes from one of the few -states where there is no gangsterism except in picayune city and county -affairs, and in those the Republicans share the chicken-feed rewards. -Kefauver campaigned in a coonskin cap and unhorsed the Memphis machine, -which had no great state-wide strength from within and no tie-ups to -bring it help from without. But the explosion that followed when his -bill passed rocked the whole national party. - -Kefauver, in his innocence, had read our book of disclosures, but -like thousands of others, he failed to grasp the significance of the -political forces which have become integrated with the system, without -which it could not have spread, and to which it has contributed and -does contribute incalculable money, leadership and votes. It was -inconceivable to him that mayors and governors he knew and many of the -statesmanlike Senators with whom he mingled, could be beholden to, not -to say slaves of, swarthy, sinister men, many of them ex-convicts, who -traffic in bodies of women, making and supplying dope-fiends, dealing -in extortion, smuggling, bootlegging, hijacking, bribing and murdering -in the principal cities and states of the union; that these hyenas were -a controlling influence in nominations and elections; that they owned -vast commercial and industrial enterprises, labor unions, even some -newspapers, and that their pirate hands gripped the steering wheels of -enormous financial fleets. - -He read it. But he couldn’t believe it. And what he did believe of it -he couldn’t digest. - -Now he finds himself in the middle of a giant whitewash. He is the -chump whose good name is used to shield the key figures of the Mafia -and obfuscate their tie-up with the big city Democratic machines. He -does not admit it publicly but he is heartbroken. - -Senate Republicans, seeking an issue, jumped in to support the proposed -investigation. Kefauver’s bill at once became a hot potato the -Democrats couldn’t drop. - -Dave Niles, Bill Boyle, J. Howard McGrath, and Scott Lucas huddled. -They found it was too late to sidetrack the proposed investigation; -it had to go on, but with “sensible” safeguards. Suggestions that -the probe be transferred to other committees were waved aside as -impractical; it was necessary to have a front for this and Kefauver -was perfect for the job. He is a man of personal honesty, with no -embarrassing machine or underworld connections. - -The committee was voted, but with the surprising proviso that the -Vice President should name the minority party members. This was -unprecedented. Minority leaders always choose their own committee -members. The purpose of this tactic was to deal Michigan Senator Homer -Ferguson, the Republican’s top investigator, out. Membership was -limited to five, three Democrats and two Republicans. Thereupon Vice -President Barkley followed orders, named two GOPers, one harmless. -Both were in the middle of violent primary campaigns, fighting for -political survival. It was known they could not spend much time with -the committee. Wiley, a good man, is a ranking minority member of -the Foreign Relations Committee. He was kept close to that post by -the Korean mess. Julius Cahn, Wiley’s intelligent aide, was rendered -impotent. And Tobey is more a New Dealer than most Democrats. He got -campaign support from the administration, and in payment gratuitously -but muddle-headedly blamed gambling in New York on Dewey. - -The motor of a Senatorial investigating committee is its counsel and -the staff. The members have other duties, must attend other committee -meetings, must be on the floor for roll-calls. And they are not -usually professional prosecutors. They are at the mercy of their staffs. - -That’s when the shenanigans began. Kefauver had no experience with such -shenanigans. He didn’t know whom to retain. Tom Murphy, Alger Hiss’ -nemesis and later Police Commissioner of New York, was recommended. But -Murphy was persona non grata in Washington because he had guts enough -not to throw the Hiss prosecution, after he had learned that would -please the Attorney General’s office. - -Dave Niles told Kefauver to ask Ferdinand Pecora for advice. Pecora, -then a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, was getting by on -the reputation of having exposed the money barons of Wall Street in the -early 1930’s. Pecora is a thoroughgoing New Dealer and Kefauver is one -of the faithful. They failed to tell the man from Tennessee that Pecora -is Bronx boss Ed Flynn’s man. Flynn is head of the machine in which -Frank Costello is a power. Pecora attended Costello’s celebrated party -at the Copacabana nightclub, with half the local bench, a number of -jurists who owed their robes to Costello. - -Pecora recommended his protégé, Rudolph Halley, of the law firm of -Fulton, Walter and Halley, for counsel and Felix Frankfurter phoned -to confirm it. Halley had been on the staff of the Truman Committee -when Fulton was its chief counsel, so he looked good to Estes as an -experienced prober. But Halley had been an attorney for the Hudson & -Manhattan Railroad, in which it was alleged underworld characters owned -stock. Kefauver told your reporters he had heard a rumor Halley might -have represented them, and had asked him about it before hiring him. -Kefauver looked us in the eyes and stated, “Halley said it wasn’t so. -Naturally, I took his word for it.” - -After the Kefauver Committee had been functioning some months, Halley -admitted to your reporters before witnesses, that he knew there were -large underworld holdings in that company, which had been his client. -We have a sworn affidavit which reads as follows: - -“Mr. Halley stated that the statement in the book _Chicago -Confidential_, to the effect that the underworld syndicate has bundles -of stock in the Hudson & Manhattan tubes, was substantially correct; -that it was his own personal knowledge, as former counsel for the -Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, that the underworld owned large blocks of -stock in that company.” - -After a change in management, Halley was dismissed from the H & M, -and went to work for the Kefauver Committee at $120 a week. The new -management of the railroad said it had virtually eliminated suspicious -stockholders and emasculated shady directors who could not be fired. - -Among the investigators hired by the committee were ex-cops, -disappointed lawyers and the usual Washington hanger-on-ers, -recommended for jobs by influential friends. - -Kefauver’s principal source of information about the underworld was -what he had read in _Chicago Confidential_, He knew no more. He asked -Mortimer to take a leave of absence from his newspaper and act as paid -adviser to the committee. Mortimer accepted, but said that he would -take no compensation. Over the weekend, Kefauver withdrew his offer in -a telegram in which he blamed other Senators. He said they feared other -newspapermen would be offended. That was an alibi, quickly arranged -when influential Democrats vetoed the idea. But he took advice from Nat -Perlow, editor of the Police Gazette! - -At the first open hearing of the committee, subpenaed gamblers -were represented by Morris Shenker, St. Louis lawyer, formerly on -the Missouri Democratic committee. As a result of his good work in -obtaining campaign donations, Shenker was named by Bill Boyle to the -Democratic finance committee. He hastily resigned after the deal was -exposed in Lait’s column. - -Every effort was made to keep Kefauver concentrated on gambling. -Syndicate heads know the nation is not shocked over bookmaking. -Whenever witnesses or informers got hot on narcotics, the spine of the -Syndicate system, or began to talk about the huge investments of the -underworld in legitimate business, they were brushed off. There were -rumors of fixes, payoffs and other such skulduggery, though Kefauver -was absolutely in the clear. But whenever he was warned such things -were happening, Kefauver, a softie at heart, who believes evil of no -one, said it was impossible. - -Though he promised your reporters his committee would hold open -hearings in New York and Chicago before election, at which no punches -would be pulled, he folded up like a frightened puppy. After one day in -New York, at which no one of importance was questioned, the committee -adjourned until after the election, with the statement that Joe Adonis, -who had been allegedly sought for 90 days, was unavailable. Your -reporters saw Adonis every night at the corner of 50th Street and -Broadway while committee investigators were supposed to be searching -for him. While the great man-hunt was supposed to be on, Adonis -voluntarily surrendered himself to New Jersey authorities who wanted to -prosecute him for gambling. - -When asked why Costello hadn’t been called before election, a committee -spokesman stated “We have nothing to ask Mr. Costello.” - -Similar wariness was shown in Chicago. When former police captain Dan -Gilbert, who was Jake Arvey’s hand-picked candidate for sheriff of -Cook County, was on the stand at a secret hearing, he was questioned -about his wealth. Your authors had exposed him as the richest cop in -the world, a millionaire. Gilbert’s salary had never topped $9,000 -a year, yet he admitted at the closed hearing he owned more than -$350,000--which he said he had acquired through “speculation.” The -committee dropped it then. Senator Kefauver, in an interview, said, -“Captain Gilbert was a forthright witness.” When the _Chicago Sun -Times_, a Democratic New Deal newspaper, got hold of the minutes of -the secret hearing and splashed the text on Page 1 a few days before -election, Kefauver threatened to hold someone in contempt for the -leak. Yet the committee did not explain why this information of public -interest had been bottled up before election, and why Gilbert’s bank -accounts and securities had not been scrutinized. - -Later, Kefauver imperiously “directed” Eugene C. Pulliam, publisher -of the _Indianapolis Star_ and _News_, “to discontinue” publication -of a series exposing gambling as revealed by previous committee -investigations, under penalty of a contempt citation. - -While Estes was threatening other newspapermen with jail, columnist -Drew Pearson, his fervent supporter, was permitted to obtain access -to secret committee records, including highly confidential income tax -returns. - -Wherever the committee held hearings, its staff tried to pick on the -little guys, fingered as the goats. The procedure in Miami was to put -six local Jewish bookmakers out of business. The Mafia was muscling in -on them anyway. The dispossessed were scheduled to be closed up so the -Chicago Sicilian mob would have clear sailing in Miami as soon as the -hullabaloo about the crime investigation blew over next year. - -Only half-hearted efforts were made to locate important figures. -Where, at any time, any were questioned or threatened with contempt, it -was because the situation was so wide open that no cover-up could be -attempted without bringing the newspapers down. - -At this writing, Harry Russell, Chicago hoodlum, is the only -recalcitrant witness brought to trial. He’s a small potato, a Jew -taking the rap for the Mafia. - -The position of the Committee has been that witnesses could refuse to -incriminate themselves only on federal offenses, but that if it was -state prosecution they feared, they had no immunity--tenuous reasoning -any way you look at it, though many lawyers say it’s legal. - -But Kefauver has been letting his enthusiasm get the better of him, and -recently stated at an open hearing, “Don’t think we’re going to let -you get away with this. We are working closely with local prosecutors -and will turn our records over, particularly where anyone defies this -committee.” - -Though no comment appeared in the papers, the mob lawyers knew he -had played into their hands. He might have made the contempt stick -before; now, however, since he himself has stated he’s acting as an -agent for the states--though unofficial--it’s a million to one not one -recalcitrant witness will be convicted. - -The only state in which the committee got tough before election was -Pennsylvania, where the municipal machines are Republican. In New York, -boss Flynn and Tammany were unmolested, and the onus was put on Dewey -for having tolerated gambling in Saratoga. There was no mention that -when Lehman, F.D.R.’s “good right arm,” was governor, gambling was just -as wide open there, and more so. - -One of your reporters remembers seeing a limousine with New York State -license Number 1 parked under the portico of Piping Rock, a notorious -and expensive Saratoga gambling joint run by Luciano. That was Governor -Lehman’s car. It is possible his chauffeur was inside playing dominoes. - -But the strategy of the Democratic brain-trust miscarried. People in -New York knew Costello was running the town and trying to get control -of the state, even when the Senate committee, with all its power -and money, fiddled and twiddled. Chicagoans knew the Fischettis and -Capones, Boss Arvey, Dan Gilbert and Senator Scott Lucas were political -bedfellows, which charge was aired daily in the papers during the 1950 -campaign. - -Wherever the committee gave the Democrats a clean bill, the people -rebelled and kicked them out, most frequently on just that issue. But, -where the committee had tried to show the underworld is tied up with -Republicans, as in Pennsylvania, the GOP scored a great victory. - -The two Democratic members of the committee, in addition to Kefauver, -are Lester Hunt, of Wyoming, and Herbert O’Conor of Maryland. Where -Hunt comes from, “crime” means cattle-rustling and claim-jumping. -O’Conor, however, is the Democratic leader of the Maryland -organization, which is in cahoots with one of the tightest and biggest -Mafia concentrations in the country. Not only were no hearings held in -Maryland before election, but Kefauver refused to send investigators -into Prince Georges County, described heretofore as one of the most -vicious crime spots of the country, even when citizens implored him to. - -Instead of cracking down on murderers, procurers and dope-peddlers, the -committee wasted time, money and effort on an investigation of comics. -An effort was made to label the strips as the chief cause of America’s -crimes. - -The Senate investigating committee has, through ignorance or by design, -been playing directly into the hands of the Mafia. Most Syndicate -key figures no longer have anything personally to do with gambling, -except as bankers and protectors. Gambling is a seasonal business and -investigations and clean-ups are discounted in advance, like rain in -baseball economy and warm weather in Sun Valley. These catastrophes are -averaged off over a long period. The computations contemplate temporary -droughts at the street level. Except for a few who will go to the can -for a few months and be paid for their time, nothing is disturbed. -Bookmakers still take bets right outside the Senate committee room. - -If no gambling casinos run in Miami this winter they will next winter. -Meanwhile, those who want to gamble will fly to Havana, where the same -mob operates the wheels and crap games. Anyway, you can still bet on -the nags in Miami, clean-up or no. At this writing, at least two fully -equipped casinos are operating in the area. - -But while the committee was grabbing front pages with its gambling -exposures, the big boys were immune in the affairs that really matter -to them, like manipulation of the stock market, black marketing, -smuggling, counterfeiting, dope and other forms of profitable -deviltry, the proceeds of which they invest in real estate and -securities, so that as of now, the crime cartel is more potent in the -money marts of the world than all the highbinders so long hissed at, -the “international bankers.” - -After Col. George White, Commr. Anslinger’s ace investigator, on loan -to the Committee, was withdrawn, Scott Lucas high-pressured Truman -to penalize White. White had turned up evidence that beat Lucas in -Illinois. - -Purposely or not, Halley even helped the giggling gangsters get rid -of the few rivals who remained. Few Sicilians got a going-over; but -the heat was turned on the handful of Jewish and Irish cheaters who -survived. - -Personally, Kefauver is a delightful and appealing personage, tall, -a former football-player with the charm of an F.D.R. and the fine, -delicate features of a Woodrow Wilson. He may well be your next Vice -President. After that--well, any American boy with no such start could -be. His friends kid him and accuse him of saying “Good morning, Mr. -President” every morning when he looks in the mirror as he shaves. -Kefauver frowns at this. He says, “The Chief in the White House will -get sore.” - -Kefauver’s main weakness is that he is a Don Quixote for “causes” -(except FEPC), has too much energy and tries to do too many things. He -is on almost every regular and special committee it is possible for a -Senator to make, so hasn’t time to do justice to any. He is in modest -circumstances, cannot be bought or bribed, though he could have had -millions to throw the investigation--as it is being thrown anyway. Many -believe some of that money went elsewhere, without his knowledge. - -An employe of the committee, whose name will not be divulged by us, -disgusted by what went on, unburdened himself. He said “a fix was -made in Miami” to relieve a certain wanted hoodlum from testifying; -and that another deal was put over in Chicago to protect some of the -most important Mafistas. A fund was raised in Hollywood to choke off -disclosures. - -One investigator had as a chief recommendation, other than brief -service with the F.B.I., that he had been a cop in a mid-Western city. -With this background he was sent in to “bust” the mob in New York, a -job that many District Attorneys couldn’t do. He knew so little of New -York that he had to ask how to get to Times Square. - -This investigator, “unable” to find Joe Adonis during a 90-day search, -was very diligent when it came to finding himself a new, high-paying -job. During the course of an investigation into mob control of -legitimate business, it was testified that one Bill Giglio, now under -indictment on a tax rap, had “muscled” into a sugar and candy company -during the last war, and that as a result of such activities he now -owned a research and development laboratory, the entire output of which -was being sold to a large and respected chemical corporation. - -While going over Giglio’s books the Kefauver man naturally had occasion -to call on the large corporation, and he ingratiated himself with its -officers, who were not called to testify in Washington. The result was -that, right smack in the middle of the Kefauver investigations, this -dick quit to head up the plant-security set-up of the big corporation, -which now has a lot of war contracts. - -But the payoff is that, a couple of years ago, before the Kefauver -Committee was thought of, the same fellow was in charge of security at -a Long Island plant making restricted military products. There it was -discovered that the future Kefauver agent was protecting the bookmakers -in the plant, and he was booted out after the F.B.I. was tipped off. -The book at this plant was operated by Joe Adonis. Kefauver was so -informed, but did not fire his agent. - -Federal and state enforcement agencies are squawking that the mob is -getting access to confidential files through leaks in the committee. - -But if the committee had wanted to probe, the goods were in reach. -Individuals all over the country sought to put facts in its hands. -Whenever possible, those who managed the investigations looked the -other way. - -Bill Drury, the honest Chicago ex-police captain, who was slain by -gunmen last September, might have been alive now were it not for this -committee. We were in constant communication with Drury, in fact Jack -Lait received a letter from him in New York the morning after he was -assassinated. Almost his last act was mailing it. When the committee -first got under way, your authors suggested to Kefauver that he hire -Drury and his partner, Captain Tom Connelly, as investigators. These -men knew more first-hand about the underworld than almost anyone alive. -Counsel Halley interposed. He told us the men were not “reliable,” -because they had been fired from the Chicago police force. That was -their chief recommendation to us. They had been rooked out of the -crookedest force in the country because they were fearless, honest and -untouchable. - -We told Kefauver the only way he could convince us his investigation -was on the up-and-up was to hire these men. He promised us he would. -That was in July, 1950. - -Meanwhile, Drury and Connelly sought to contact Kefauver, failing which -they tried to get in touch with Halley and the chief investigator of -the committee. They hated the mob so hotly, they offered to work for -nothing, though they were poor men. Had Drury been retained as an -investigator, he’d still be living. No cop has ever been killed except -in actual combat. The underworld never murders a policeman who is going -about his business. But an ex-cop--yoho. - -A lot of misinformation has been published about what preceded the -actual assassination, last September 25. After his death, committee -employes realized they would have to explain Drury’s frequent phone -calls. A story was dreamed up in Chicago to the effect that Drury -was seeking “protection” and that Halley, after a couple of weeks’ -consideration, had agreed to arrange for it. That runs for the end -book. Drury never asked anyone for protection. He was the bravest man -we ever knew. He often traveled without a gun, but the mobsters feared -his fists more than bullets. We spoke to him a few days before he died. -He was not frightened. He was angry. He told us he had been trying to -contact committee investigators for weeks to give them information. He -said that ever since he had outlined to them what he was prepared to -prove he got brushed off when he called again. - -The Democratic _Chicago Sun-Times_ charged categorically that Drury -was rubbed out because someone on the Kefauver Committee “leaked” -to the mobsters what Drury said he had the goods on. He told us his -investigations implicated someone on the committee’s staff. - -A few days after the murder, Kefauver phoned us long distance to -tell us to get all our records and correspondence concerning Drury -together as he was going to subpena us at once, in an effort to solve -the cowardly crime. That was October 1, 1950. As these words were -being typed in February, 1951, the subpena remained unserved and the -assassination unpunished. - -On the other hand, Lait and Mortimer were under considerable pressure -from important personages, Republicans as well as Democrats, “to lay -off Halley,” and place the blame for the miscarriage of the Kefauver -committee on the chairman instead of on his staff. We refused to be -bought, bribed, threatened or intimidated. - -By resolution, the original life of the committee was until February -28, but it is probable that additional hearings will be authorized for -March. - -The plan, as this went to press, was to save all the fireworks for -a final blow-out in New York, at which the glamor pusses of the -underworld, such as Virginia Hill, dubbed by us “Mafia Rose,” would -be called for the publicity value. Virginia was served with much -hullabaloo in September, but was saved six months to hypo the last act. -Frank Costello was also slated to be called if he “cared to talk.” - -The big boys have brazenly stood on their “constitutional rights” -on the advice of high-priced counsel who assured them their chances -against conviction on contempt, which is a misdemeanor punishable by a -year in a Federal “country club,” were about a hundred to one. - -It was decided by the Mafia Grand Council that if things got too hot, -Costello would have to be the goat. He has been getting too much -publicity for the conservative rulers of the Unione, who still live in -cold-water tenements with fat old-country wives. - -They resent the airs put on by the glamor-boy hoods, who, they feel, -and with some justification, are putting the finger of the law on the -syndicate. - -One Mafia faction is for going further. In the event the spotlight hits -Costello his number is up. He has so been told by Tony Ricci, alias -Goebels, who manages many such things. - -We have not seen it, nor have we any confidential information about the -contents of the committee’s final report, but we are willing to bet it -will be along these lines: - - 1) There is crime. - - 2) No political party has the monopoly on it. - - 3) There seems to be a Mafia. - - 4) Gamblers should pay their income tax. - - 5) Kids should go to Sunday school. - - 6) Communities should appoint Crime Prevention Societies. - - 7) Because of the international situation, let’s forget it and call - the whole thing off. - -The plight of honest Senator Kefauver is not unique. Wherever possible, -the underworld uses such characters to do their dirty work. They fall -for it, probably because dreamers and social planners are gullible, -not practical like their more conservative brethren. That’s why -political bosses frequently back them and surprise semi-suspicious -suckers who think they know things. - -For instance, when the late Boss Kelly of Chicago, one of the most -ruthless thieves who ever lived, thought he saw the handwriting on the -wall, he nominated good men to run for Governor and Senator. At no time -after Adlai Stevenson went to Springfield and Professor Paul Douglas -got to Washington did these Utopians ever open their mouths or do -anything, or even complain about the iniquities in Chicago, though we -told plenty and a lot of other dirt wasn’t confidential. - -He hand-picked as his successor Martin Kennelly, a mild old bachelor -who didn’t know when it was Wednesday. This was a “businessmen’s -candidate.” The mob and their Democratic sidekicks gave him the -business. - -Kefauver even has a soft spot for accused Commies. He was one of the -seven Senators to vote against the McCarran Bill, which Marcantonio -opposed in the House. Douglas, who didn’t have guts enough to vote no, -because that would have imperiled Lucas’ chance in Illinois, did hop in -to uphold the President’s veto. - -The only Senator running for reelection who opposed the McCarran Bill -all the way was Lehman, a ticket-mate of mob-backed Pecora and Lynch, -an old codger of eminent respectability and Wall Street millions, who -is and always was “safe”--he’s too wrapped up in Park Avenue dignity -and too flattered by public honors to see or understand that with -his silk-gloved hands he pulls hot chestnuts out of the oven for the -dirtiest crooks, traitors and political plotters in the land. - - - - -27. LUCKY NUMBERS - - -The first thing a Congressional investigating committee gets, the sine -qua non, is an appropriation. The next is a sheaf of time-tables. Then -comes the joyful junketing-time to remote places--remote from the -capital and remote from the subject. - -The Kefauver committee made the grand tour--California and Florida, -Chicago and New York, about everything but Yellowstone Park. Its golden -fleece was gambling. They could have cleaned up their quest for about -$1.60 on a taxi meter. - -All the evidence, all the interstate involvements and local conditions -which are the particular province of Congress, they could find in -Washington. We did. All gambling in the capital is interstate because -it is inseparable from its lines into and out of Maryland and Virginia. - -We outlined the setup of the nationwide underworld Syndicate. We -brought it to the District line. At that point the on-the-spot gamblers -take over. - -They have been mentioned as Emmitt Warring, king of Georgetown; Attilio -Acalotti, “mayor” of Dupont Circle; Sam Beard and his partner Gary -Quinn, and the Sussman brothers. Of money gouged from suckers, 90 per -cent clears through them, and “Black Jack” Kelleher, Frank Erickson’s -local observer. - -A curious situation here is that “policy” or “numbers” gets a bigger -play than bookmaking. The reverse is true almost everywhere else. The -reason ascribed by the cognoscenti is that while everyone earns a -fairly good living, few have enough surplus cash for important horse -betting. But numbers tickets can be bought for from one cent up. That -game is far more profitable for the operators, too. Bookmakers can’t do -much better than putting a ceiling on track odds. They must follow the -mutuels, though they stop at a 20-to-1 payoff. Bookies who can’t lay -off enough often lose on a day. - -The winning numbers pay only 600 to 1, whereas 999 numbers are drawn, -and the draw can be fixed. - -In most towns, the numbers play is predominantly by Negroes. In -Washington it is general, with white government employes in the -majority. The policy slips are usually sold by colored runners, often -messengers and elevator boys in government buildings. The salesman -withholds 25 per cent of the gross. Average booking is $50 a day. - -The take from the numbers, in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, is -deposited in the branch of the Hamilton Bank at 20th and Pennsylvania -Avenue, in the Foggy Bottom section. The Congressional committee -investigating local crime ascertained that this bank did not report the -large deposits of small coins. The deposits are withdrawn each day and -transferred to Maryland, where local representatives of the Syndicate -divide the receipts and send its cut to the Mafia in New York. - -The sale of numbers is so widespread, the police can make only token -arrests. Invariably, when the peddler, usually a Negro, is locked up, a -representative of a bonding outfit appears at once and posts bail. Next -day a member of the Charlie Ford law firm appears in court. Several -defendants testified the lawyers paid their fines. The operation will -be described in detail later. - -Numbers sellers are picked up all over the town, and they are not coy. -For instance, police got a squeal that two men were selling policy -slips from an auto parked in the 1200 block of 7th Street, NW. Cops -questioned them and numbers slips “just rolled out of a paper bag on -the car floor.” The prisoners were very “surprised,” the more so when -200 numbers books were found in the car’s trunk. - -Vice squad dicks stopped in to get a shine at 209 K Street NW. They saw -numbers lying on a chair next to two men. When they searched them they -found many more in their possession. - -Policy is a lottery. Under federal law, that is a felony. But the only -way to cut in on the racket is to get tough. Twenty-five-dollar fines, -paid by lawyers reimbursed by the bosses, are no deterrent. But Judge -Thomas D. Quinn handcuffed the police even on that. He served notice -on the U. S. Attorney’s office that he “will not tolerate” prosecutors -delaying court action on gambling cases until they can get grand jury -indictments. - -According to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the government -is within its rights requesting these continuances, but Curtis P. -Mitchell, an attorney for some arrested as gamblers, alleged the civil -rights of numbers suspects were being disregarded. - -Judge Edward M. Curran spiked the government’s case when it attempted -to clean up gambling in Thomas Circle. Though one defendant pleaded -guilty to operation of a lottery, Judge Curran ruled police did not -have enough “probable cause” to arrest the others, who were admittedly -in possession of numbers slips. - -Washington judges openly acknowledge the fact that the fines they -impose are paid by the bosses. - -Judge Henry A. Schweinhaut, of the United States District Court, -frivolously presented a numbers operator named “Lemon” a chance to -prove there is honor in Washington’s gaming fraternity. - -He asked him to come forward and provide the $300 fine for an aged -Negro who was convicted before him of taking numbers bets. - -“Lemon put up bond for the defendant. Maybe Lemon will pay the fine,” -said the District Solomon. “I’ll give him a chance to prove his loyalty -to an old employe.” - -Defense Attorney Mitchell, who has figured in these pages before, -quickly disillusioned His Honor. “As a practical matter, a numbers -backer wouldn’t be apt to pay a $300 fine for a man who only had a -three-dollar-a-day numbers book,” he explained. - -But the judge winked and said, “If Lemon doesn’t pay, it might get -around that he will let one of his men stay in jail. It might reduce -his prestige in the fraternity.” - -Did we hear someone talking about legalized and licensed gambling? This -is it, with a bow from the U. S. District Court. - -In recent years the top rulers of the netherworld have disassociated -themselves as much as possible from street-level vice and crime, -preferring to remain on the sidelines, where their take comes in clean. - -The situation in Washington is a pattern and example for the rest of -the country, because, for obvious reasons, the tygoons have preferred -to have no direct dealings with law-breaking in the nation’s capital. - -The method whereby the take from policy, Washington’s chief form -of gambling, goes upstairs is unique and ingenious, the product of -brilliant legal scheming. - -First of all, each local numbers bank is, for the records, completely -independent. Its operator, who employs the runners who actually sell -the lottery tickets, is supposed to be completely unaffiliated, and -it would take a smarter guy than any government lawyer to prove him -otherwise. - -In the beginning, most of the local banks were really unaffiliated. -Since then, on occasion, some have tried to remain that way. This is -what happens when they do: The Big Mob sends in “customers” to bet a -certain number; then, through its ability to control the daily winning -number, that number comes up and the banker goes broke. - -But if he wants to play ball, they sell him an “insurance policy” which -guarantees him from undue loss--which is prevented by the control of -the winning number. His daily premium is the payoff money. - -The funniest one happened when a policy salesman asked police to lock -him up because one of his clients had a $60 hit which the runner -couldn’t pay off--having lost the money playing the numbers. It came -about when a cop admonished Lawrence Fields, obviously drunk, to quiet -down. Fields begged to be arrested on the numbers charge. The cop asked -Fields whether he realized the seriousness of what he was saying. -Fields replied, “Nothing will happen. My boss pays protection.” - -The boss was identified in court as Sam Beard. Beard claims he is in -the pickle business, but he once served 53 months in jail for gambling -and 13 months for tax evasion. Fields got 90 days. His client is -waiting outside the District jail. - -But don’t think bookmaking is a peanut industry either. Local -authorities estimate the take of bookmakers within the District at -$100,000,000 a year--not gross business, but net profits. - -Horse money goes to Prince Georges, Maryland, as already described. -Snags Lewis, the wire service representative, transmits the payoff and -profits to New York and New Jersey. - -Though Bernice Franklin, former sweetheart of Attilio Acalotti, -testified in federal court that at least three members of the -Metropolitan Police were paid off by gamblers in her presence, -Washington authorities never show any enthusiasm toward investigating -charges of corruption against cops. - -When District Commissioner John Russell Young testified recently before -a special grand jury probing Washington gambling, he was not asked -about the possibility of bribes being paid by the gamblers. Assistant -U. S. Attorney John W. Fihelly, conducting the inquiry, left it flat -and started on “several weeks vacation.” - -You can freely make a bet on a horse in almost any place in Washington -except a church--with elevator boys in government buildings, at corner -cigar and drug stores, lunch stands and bellboys. If you still can’t -find a place, the ingenuity of the Washington bookmaker will solve your -problem. For instance, the police said they broke the biggest gambling -brokerage ever operated in Washington with the arrest of two men in a -“doctor’s office,” on California Avenue, N.W. Police said one of the -men they arrested was a physician. He told them he could make more -money with betting slips than with prescriptions. - -“There wasn’t even a band-aid in the place.” But there were the -following items: - -Betting slips; a looseleaf notebook which appeared to be a gambling -broker’s record, containing $75,000 in IOU’s from all over the country; -two promissory notes totaling $35,000; $134 in cash, an expensive -radio, and a clock with a sweep second-hand. While police went through -the place the phone rang. A voice on the other end “started to give me -hell for a bum steer, saying the odds had dropped to 8 to 5,” Sergt. -James Roche said. - -Police Lt. David McCutcheon told the District license board that a -gambler paid the proprietors of Filo’s restaurant, 1700-A 9th Street, -NW, $200 a month for the concession to take bets there. At this writing -Filo’s is still in business. - -During the seasons, Washington gamblers make book on baseball, -football, basketball and hockey. Walter Lephfew and Skylar Wilson -were arrested this year in what is described as a $2,000,000 football -lottery. - -We placed bets with bookies who hang out in the G & W Lunch Room, 17th -and L. - -Much of the local gambling is controlled by Greeks who operate in -restaurants and private clubs. - -We saw gambling going on openly on the second floor of a building on -the northwest corner of 9th and H; also in the Greek restaurant on the -second floor of 9th and G. - -A dice and horse room was being operated over the Bazaar restaurant, at -17th and L. Say that Steve Akaris sent you. That’s how we got in. - -You can find roulette in a place at 5th and G., also over a restaurant -in the 100 block of Vermont Avenue. - -Don’t think gambling doesn’t account for plenty of violence in the -District. - -On recommendation of the District license board, the commissioners -turned down a police request that they revoke a billiard hall license -of William G. Heflin. Earlier in the year, Joseph H. “Big Joe” Scheve, -a convicted gambler, was fatally shot there. Before that, James T. -Skeens shot Edward Ryan in the leg there. Police charged the billiard -hall was frequented by criminals. We saw bookmakers taking bets there. - -A 25-year-old fireman with twenty pairs of crooked dice in his pocket -was found stabbed to death in an alley as an aftermath of a crap -game in which 15 persons participated. Every die was without 1, 3 and -5, making it impossible to toss a 7. The dice were of all sizes and -colors, “suitable for almost any occasion.” - -One-armed bandits are banned by District and by the new Federal law. -However, $100 federal stamps have been purchased for 50 such machines, -operating at this writing in the city of Washington. Those in officers’ -service clubs have since been removed, but many operated brazenly in -places open to the public. - -Pinball machines, illegal in most big cities, especially in New York, -and not permitted in the Virginia counties across the Potomac, are a -popular indoor sport in Washington. They are found in restaurants, -drugstores, bottle clubs and playlands. Many are used as gambling -devices. The federal tax of $10 on each has been paid for 1263. - -Federal records show 15,000 one-armed bandits and gambling devices -registered for Maryland, of which 5,000 are in the District suburbs. - -Most slot machines are manufactured in Chicago. Those destined -for areas in D.C. or nearby, where they are against the law, were -shipped to wholesalers in Danville, Va., then distributed sub rosa to -Washington and Baltimore. - -Payoffs are pretty lousy. - -The new Federal slot machine law is a laugh. It was dreamed up in an -effort to stave off Kefauver’s investigation. - -The only Senator who really fought it came from Nevada, where the -one-armed bandits are legal, and into which, under the new Federal law, -they can be imported freely. Nevada had nothing to lose and everything -to gain. - -The same Senator fought contempt citations against recalcitrant -Kefauver witnesses, proving, to Estes’ surprise, what we had told him -about Democratic-underworld alliances. - -The joker in any statute forbidding the interstate transportation -of slot machines is they are manufactured from standard and -interchangeable parts which can be assembled anywhere by any competent -mechanic. Instead of shipping the finished device, the Costello -interests will merely send the parts to local distributors who will put -them together--and save freight costs. - -The underworld’s Washington representatives actually lobbied for the -passage of the bill, figuring that its adoption would look like a -solid accomplishment to the public, and take the “heat” off other -monkey business. - -Attorney General McGrath and the New Deal liberals who plugged for the -measure had another reason. They hoped it would put the F.B.I. on the -spot. Its enforcement being impossible, Hoover and his G-men would take -the blame--either that or the F.B.I. would have to hire thousands of -fly-cops and become a new, super Prohibition unit, exposed to wholesale -graft and bribery, which would please the Reds and the crooks. - -We don’t think gambling will ever be eliminated. We don’t think the -public wants it to be. It is a human appetite, like sex and liquor, and -no sumptuary legislation can wipe it out. But gambling corrupts law -enforcement officers. While wagering is illegal and undercover, this is -inevitable. When cops take bribes from bookmakers they feel they do no -essential harm. But it’s a start and soon they will sell out to anyone. - -As to the cure, no two agree. Even your authors have divided opinions. -One believes in legalizing gambling, the other points out Nevada, where -it is legal, as the horrible example. There the same mobsters control -it and law enforcement officers are bought up as usual. - - - - -28. IT’S A CRIME - - -No thanks is due United States Attorney George Morris Fay for the fact -that figures and information regarding the local wave of crime are -still available. - -Shortly after he took office, in 1946, Fay rewrote the Constitution -and closed off the court files from inspection by the press on felony -cases. Not satisfied, last year he tightened up in Municipal Court, -introducing a form of censorship for newsmen trying to check facts. - -But we finagled some figures: - -Per capita computations show Washington recorded one murder for every -25,555 persons in 1949. But Chicago, generally conceded the gunmen’s -playground, had one murder for every 26,902. Washington jumped to one -for every 11,000 in 1950. - -On the basis of population, Washington led 16 cities of 500,000 or -more in aggravated (felonious) assaults during the first six months of -1950; and it was second only to Chicago in the _total_ number of such -cases. Washington had 1,911, exceeded only by Chicago’s 2,184, and -Chicago is five times as large as Washington! - -Though crime in Washington decreased slightly in 1950, as compared to -1949, the District is high among the leaders, per capita and in total -number of offenses, in every major classification. - -Crime has always been a popular pastime here. It increased so -alarmingly during the first years of the New Deal that a group of -public-spirited citizens formed the Washington Criminal Justice -Association in 1936 to help combat it. - -The Attorney General in that year called Washington “the crime capital -of the world.” The backers hoped for a virile, hard-hitting body, -similar to the Chicago Crime Commission, which under Virgil Peterson, -its executive director, has done so much to spotlight the workings of -the underworld there, or like Danny Sullivan’s Greater Miami Commission. - -The original organizers of the Washington association included a number -of do-gooders, such as Eugene Meyer, who bars the identification of -Negroes in his paper. The body soon found itself struggling without -sufficient funds. It is now supported by the United Community Services, -which allots it only enough to pay for a director, an assistant and -a secretary. The able director, Edward J. Flynn, is a competent, -imaginative individual, handcuffed by lack of funds and public -disinterest. He can do little more than keep a record of crimes as they -occur, compile statistics and offer recommendations. They are good, but -no one wants them. - -The situation has gotten worse rather than better since the Attorney -General castigated the city. In 1936 there were only about 7,000 -serious crimes. The number dropped to about 4,000 in 1944. But by last -year it had skyrocketed to 13,000. It is now slightly lower. - -Washington is still the crime capital. - -In other chapters we touch briefly on the so-called “organized” -crimes--prostitution, gambling, and narcotics. This chapter deals -mainly with offenses of violence and those against property, which are -usually regarded as unorganized. - -But director Flynn agrees with your authors that, with the exception -of private crimes of passion, occasional robberies by hungry men and -juvenile delinquency, all crime is now organized to a degree. Flynn -said: - -“Highly organized criminal groups, carrying out skillfully planned -operations, exist in Washington.” - -The police disagree with him, naturally. But the record is clear for -any observer who follows the entire procedure through, from commission -to arrest, bail-bonding and arraignment. The combine appears in the -fencing of the loot. Burglars in Washington have a union to which they -contribute a percentage of their take in return for bail when arrested, -legal representation and fixes where possible. No professional burglars -operate until they make arrangements in advance for disposition of -their stolen goods, and, thereafter, the other services. Non-members of -the union cannot secure bail at any price and are denied the services -of the top criminal lawyers. - -Why has the nation’s capital more crime than other cities? Flynn says -it is indicative of community lethargy. He thinks that is not unique in -the District, but is equally true in every city. If that is so, there -must be a special reason why Washington is more lawless. - -Others blame it on the lack of home rule and local government. Yet -every investigation and survey elsewhere shows that corrupt municipal -city hall gangs are the protectors of vice and crime. The high rates -in Washington cannot be blamed on the foreign-born, because only six -percent of the population is non-native. As we showed earlier, Negroes -commit most of the crime. But there are Negro criminals in other large -cities, especially in New York and Chicago, where they do likewise. Why -then are Washington’s Negroes even more felonious? - -There is no doubt that Washington is a cesspool of iniquity and a -Utopia for criminals. The setup of the local government and the calibre -of the men who enforce its laws and sit on its benches are partly -responsible. Archaic and often ridiculous laws and regulations are a -contributing factor. - -For instance, guns are easy to buy in second-hand stores. There is no -law requiring a license to keep a gun in a home. That forbidding the -carrying of one in a car is a dead letter. It is a felony to carry a -concealed weapon on the person without a license, but there are few -arrests and fewer convictions for this, because the District courts and -prosecutor feel it is no offense to carry an unloaded weapon, even if a -clip of cartridges is in the same pocket. An expert could load the gun -without removing it from his pocket. - -The fantastic interpretation of laws by the U. S. Attorney and the -federal courts has handcuffed the cops in their efforts to clean the -town. - -Not long ago a Negro was arrested for kicking and assaulting another -man in a bus station. Though police found an unlicensed pistol on the -prisoner’s person, and bullets in another pocket, the U. S. Attorney -refused to prosecute for either the assault or concealed weapon. When -queried, a representative of his office said it was obvious the colored -man was a nice guy, because he didn’t load his gun and shoot his -victim, who lay helpless on the floor. The prisoner had a record. When -asked at a later date whether, in view of all the circumstances since -developed, the D.A.’s office would prosecute, the spokesman said, “No. -No judge will convict a colored man here for a minor offense like that.” - -The federal judges are lenient because they are federal judges. Of -the 308 with life appointments throughout the United States, 224 -are Democrats. During the first 17 years of the Roosevelt-Truman -administrations, 289 judges were given such appointments, of whom -272 were Democrats. The same ratio shows up in the District of -Columbia. The Democratic judges are the choices and flunkies of -corrupt city machines or of unions, left-wingers and fellow-travelers’ -organizations. The city bosses’ men are lenient to law-breakers because -their masters order them to be so. The radicals’ nominees seldom throw -the book at a defendant, because Commies, pinkos and phony progressives -hate cops, refer to them as cossacks. - -A captain of the Metropolitan Police told us that even honest -Washington coppers seldom make arrests any more, because they know -what will happen when they get in court. The judge will harass, -bullyrag and humiliate them. It is not unusual for a District jurist to -castigate the policemen, call them liars and framers, then discharge -the prisoners without hearing defense evidence. When the defendant is a -Negro, the cops know they are going to get a going-over from the bench. - -In 1937, after four years of Democratic administration, 90 percent -of all major crimes went unpunished. Since then, largely through -the efforts of Flynn’s Washington Criminal Justice Association, and -more recently of counsel Fischbach’s revelations, about which more -later, judges have been afraid to be too raw, and are giving stiffer -sentences and holding prisoners in higher bail. - -However, out of 811 of those indicted for major offenses in the last -report period who did not enter pleas of guilty, only 281, about one -third, were found guilty. Of those found guilty, the largest number -received light sentences, far less than the maximum authorized by -law. Even among those who pleaded guilty, more than 20 percent were -permitted to assume lesser offenses. - -An example of the penalties meted out for serious offenses is seen in -those convicted of first- and second-degree murder: of 22, only three -got sentences of 15 years to life; one drew 80 months to 20 years; all -the 18 others got less than 20 years, with terms tapering down to one -of three-to-nine on a first-degree murder, and one of one-to-four on a -second-degree murder. None got the chair. - -Disposition records on cleaning up major crimes are made to look good -through an ingenious invention known as “Willie Pye” arrests. Whenever -anyone is pinched in Washington and decides to take a plea, the cops -induce him to admit every other unsolved crime of the same nature which -is still open on the books. If the accused agrees to take the rap for -these unsolved felonies, thus getting the police off the hook, they do -not present further evidence to the grand jury, and the felon is not -tried for the other offenses. Thus many complaints are charged off and -police take official credit for solving crimes where no solution has -eventuated. - -The practice grew to such an extent about a decade ago that a public -stench arose. After a conference between law enforcement officials and -prosecutors, it was agreed to end it. But it goes right on and the -evidence of it appears every year in tabulations of “cleared by other -means.” There were 667 so disposed of in 1949. - -It is believed the term “Willie Pye arrest” first came into police -parlance in Washington when a man so named lived there, about 50 years -ago. His business was crime. Willie was indicted on two housebreakings -and confessed to many more, which were then written off as closed. - -An unnamed desk sergeant immortalized Willie by using his name for the -practice of shutting numerous open cases by getting multiple pleas and -choosing to proceed on only the last. - -The blowup came when Leroy Mason, who was doing a stretch in Occuquan -Work House for three robberies, was still being charged for crimes -going on on the outside. A nameless Washington newspaperman composed a -deathless ditty, as offensive to grammar as the sentiment is to decency: - - _Willie Pye was a regular guy, - He took the rap for you and I._ - -Though the F.B.I. reported a six percent drop of crime in Washington -this year, the local jail population reached a new high. The courts -sent 21,062 to District jail in 1950, an all-time record. Meanwhile, -the police had closed less than 60 percent of all cases involving -serious felony, which by the way, was an improvement. - -Arrests for the more serious crimes by race were as follows: - - _Offense_ _Total_ _White_ _Colored_ - Arson 34 13 21 - Aggravated Assault 2956 342 2614 - Embezzlement and Fraud 201 146 55 - Forgery and Counterfeiting 100 72 28 - Grand Larceny 1099 326 773 - Housebreaking 2878 634 2244 - Homicides 55 10 45 - Incest 5 1 4 - Rape and Carnal Knowledge 191 39 152 - Receiving Stolen Property 59 31 28 - Robbery 1033 230 803 - ---- ---- ---- - TOTAL 8611 1844 6767 - -The high incidence of Negro and juvenile crime was dealt with in detail -in previous chapters. One reason there are so many colored law-breakers -in Washington is that many judges in nearby Southern communities order -Negro defendants to get out of town, instead of holding them for trial, -and these gravitate to Washington. - -Tough guys of both races hang around on the streets and insult -passers-by with impunity, snatch purses, stick up pedestrians and mug -and yoke. - -Most crimes in Washington are committed from Friday through Sunday. -Almost everyone has a two-day weekend, and the drinking and celebrating -begins Friday night. - -The First, Second, Third and Thirteenth Police precincts account for 57 -percent of all serious crimes. The First is “downtown,” with tourists, -transients and night life. The others are predominantly Negro. - -Among the more profitable of the organized crimes are these: - -Housebreaking, comparatively easy because of the large number of -private homes and two- and three-story detached apartment buildings. -The stolen goods are fenced in East Baltimore Street, Baltimore. - -Auto thefts, growing more serious. - -Bank robberies, not uncommon. - -Pickpockets and cold-finger men find easy loot at the countless -cocktail parties and other functions constantly given by lobbyists, -conventioneers and diplomats. It is a cinch to crash these. -Jewel-thieves have rich pastures. Social climbers and ambassadors’ -women are loaded with rocks and constantly display them. A big gem haul -is sent to Holland for recutting, via reverse channels used by the -Mafia to smuggle dope. The reset ice is smuggled back. - -Because of the ease with which fixes are maneuvered, the lenient -sentences, the failure of local courts to extra-penalize repeaters, -Washington is indeed a picnic-pasture for crooks from all over the -country. When other places get too hot to hold them, they hop a rattler -for the capital. - -The pickings are easy. The payoff is high. The risks are minimal. The -burg is a pushover. - -Sex is a crime, too; a statutory felony. The incidence of such offenses -in the Nation’s capital is so great as to be startling. The nature of -them nauseated even a couple of hardboiled reporters like us. - -The figures are public property, compiled by the F.B.I., the local cops -and the Davis committee. Howard Whitman, who has been doing a series -of articles based largely on newspaper morgue material, printed the -computations in _Collier’s_, later put them into a book on prurient -misdemeanors. - -Whitman slanted his findings to _Collier’s_ special-pleading formula -and found that “crime is a slum-connected characteristic.” - -That is a laugh. Washington is freer of depressed living areas than any -city in the country. - -“And Negroes are ghettoized in these slums,” adds Whitman gratuitously. - -Whitman quotes with approval the Committee for Racial Democracy -which urged that “training in minority group problems be instituted -immediately as a part of the regular in-service training of all -policemen,” the non-sequitur supposition being that the colored folk -out-rape, out-maim, out-steal and out-mugg whites eight to one because -the coppers haven’t been trained in minority group relations. - -Nor are sex-criminals, white or colored, permanently taken off the -streets after once being caught. Washington is a recidivists’ paradise -because of its ridiculous so-called “collateral rule” which takes the -place of posting a bond. - -A defendant could, and still can, despite a promise of the courts to -tighten up, post a $25 collateral instead of a bond with a police -captain. Thereupon if he does not appear in a court he is automatically -found guilty and the collateral is forfeited as a fine. And that closes -the case instead of the judge issuing a bench warrant as in other -jurisdictions. - -In the case of violent sex cases, the maximum collateral is $500 -forfeit in the same way. A new judicial rule says all aggravated sex -cases must be taken to court, but they are not. - -Abortions are cheap and easy to obtain. Police are able to arrest -only a few of the operators, and then only when complications arise. -Even then, few are convicted. This racket is highly protected by an -interstate ring allied with the Mafia. A ten million a year branch was -uncovered in San Francisco, built around a prominent female Chinese -physician, not publicly involved because of her high political and -social connections. She is a close friend of Virginia Hill, gal friend -of the late Bugsy Siegel. - -Curiously, Washington is the nation-wide headquarters for the mail -order sale of dirty pictures and post cards. Why this should be so is -puzzling, though those who operate the business here face no tougher -penalty than elsewhere because it is a Federal offense anyway. - - - - -29. THE LAW - - -We mean the poor underpaid bulls, who enforce it--or, anyway, are -supposed to. - -Last year the Attorney General of the United States held a conference -of mayors and other local law enforcement officers to try to figure out -the causes of crime. When it was over, we button-holed a mayor of a -Western city and asked him the following question: - -“How come no one mentioned that hardly a crime or a vice violation is -possible without the connivance of or the knowledge of local officials?” - -The mayor replied, “That’s an easy one to answer. We are all local -officials.” - -We do not charge that the really terrible conditions in Washington -are the fault of the Metropolitan Police. Most of the cops on that -overworked force are honest. If given the opportunity they would love -to do their duty. Most policemen all over the country are honest, too. -They are slaves of a setup with the establishment of which they had -nothing to do and which they are powerless to correct. Big payoffs -are not made to men in the ranks. The orders go out from up above. -Patrolmen follow orders. When they see others getting, they often ask -what’s the use of being honest themselves? Why make pinches when the -prisoners are always sprung from up above? - -For many years strenuous efforts have been made to sell the idea that -the federal government and everything connected with it is straight and -efficient. The Metropolitan Police force is an agency of the United -States government. Only Gilbert and Sullivan could do justice to it, as -a comic opera. But the laughs are costly. - -The boss of the force carries the complicated title of Major and -Superintendent. His name is Robert J. Barrett and he got the job -because he was related to the former chief. - -A fantastic story made the front pages last year, then was hushed -and forgotten. Police Captain Anthony Richitt charged under oath, -before a Congressional investigating committee, that he had been -ordered by Police Inspector Jeffreys to turn in a false report on a -gambling complaint. He also swore that the District crime investigating -sub-committee was worrying the police chief, who, he said, was on -intimate terms with gambler Emmitt Warring; and further, that Warring -delivered messages from the chief to precinct captains. - -Such charges elsewhere would have popped up a seething scandal, at -least a grand jury to-do, with the probability of new brass in the -police department. It took a long time, but even in Chicago the -police commissioner, the county chairman and the millionaire chief -investigator for the State’s Attorney quit after publication of -_Chicago Confidential_. - -You think anything like that happened in Washington? In this home of -laissez faire the grand jury wasn’t interested even to the extent of -whitewashing the mud. - -The incident was treated as a private feud. It was officially settled -on the records when Richitt apologized to his boss, in a public -apology, six words long: - -“I regret the incident ever occurred.” - -No explanation, no retraction, no withdrawal of the charges. - -Barrett’s reply was nearly as short: - -“Richitt has complied with the orders of the department as far as I am -concerned.” - -Thus was departmental satisfaction restored. But there was no -satisfaction for the public. No determination was ever made as to -whether the chief had ordered his subordinate to falsify arrest -records. It was decided by all concerned that this was of no interest -to the tax-payers, the grand jury included. - -Barrett had forgotten he had told the press he had what he called -“evidence tending to show perjury” on the subject of Captain Richitt. -Chairman Davis of the House District Sub-Committee, before which the -stink started, got into the act and announced he, too, had closed the -book on the affair. - -The terms of the deal apparently were such that neither Barrett nor -Richitt are ever again to question the other’s activities. Some months -before, evidence was brought forth that Richitt had bought seven autos -in addition to the one he was driving during 27 post-war months, when -civilians could get cars only in the black market. No explanation was -volunteered by anyone, though Richitt had sold most of the cars as soon -as he bought them. - -Your authors know this is a common practice in police departments all -over the country. - -A sergeant of the Bridgeport, Connecticut, force was fired for similar -activities. Many cops used their emergency priorities to order cars -which they then transferred to dealers, without ever taking possession. -The cops rarely handled the money. The dealer went with them to accept -delivery and paid the purchase price, the cops chiseling from $500 to -$1,000 on each transaction. - -When we arrived in Washington to dig for this book, we asked: “Who -makes the fixes?” - -In other cities, contacts are closed with precinct, ward and district -leaders of the political party in office. If you want to retail -women, make book, land pickpocketing privileges or get a summons or a -violation squared, you go to see this local boss. - -If money is to be passed it goes through him. Many favors are granted -in return for party loyalty, votes or campaign contributions. He takes -care of those, too. The leader passes the word along to city hall, -where it is relayed to the local police station. In some towns, Chicago -for example, the channels are short-circuited in advance, so the leader -can go direct to his police captain. - -But what happens in Washington, where there are no voters, so there are -no district leaders? How do you fix the cops? Who is the collector? - -Some naive Washingtonians said there is no such thing. There is no -collecting. There is no graft. - -That is cockeyed. The payoff is through the local police captain, who -acts as the collector for anyone in the District Government who is to -be fixed. The captain retains his own percentage of the boodle, plus -anything he can steal, then passes the balance up above, through the -regularly established channels. - -Such a system plays hell with the poor cops on the street. The guy who -pays the captain for protection knows he doesn’t have to take care of -underlings. The most the uniformed patrolman is good for is a meal, a -cigar and an occasional five-spot. Vice squad men and detectives can -sometimes do a little modest shaking, but not enough to get rich on. - -A police captain told us this story: Two Chicago detectives came to -Washington to pick up a wanted prisoner. It is the custom among all -police departments to entertain cops visiting on business. Washington -has no fund for such purposes. Its men are so poorly paid, they can’t -treat. But the two assigned to keep the visitors happy had worked the -bright-light belt, so they knew where they could cuff a few small night -clubs. During the evening, one Chicago detective asked the Washington -cop, “What is your job worth?” - -The reply was, “I get $3,300 a year?” - -“No, I don’t mean your salary; what’s it worth?” - -The Washingtonian looked puzzled. The policemen from the Windy City -said, “You can talk freely. We’re friends. No wise cop in Chicago would -take the job unless he could pick up at least $10,000 a year on the -side.” - -Washington policemen who can average $20 a week extra consider -themselves lucky. Not so many higher officers. - -Internal Revenue agents, who never allow themselves to be quoted, told -us some officers have safe deposit-vaults choked with big bills. But -many others are honest, like chumps. They have to go along with the -crooks to hold their jobs. They can’t squawk without implicating too -many important higher-ups. - -Salaries of Washington policemen range from a take-home pay of only -$200 a month for the lowest-grade patrolman to about $10,000 a year -gross for the chief. Military ranks are used. Private, sixth grade, the -highest non-officer rank, pays $3,750 a year. A corporal gets $4,025, a -sergeant $4,228, a lieutenant $4,600, and a captain $5,300. That’s the -salary on which Captain Richitt bought eight cars in 27 months. - -If the fix you’re after is of a nature which the local precinct -captain can’t handle, you go through a certain District Commission -employe who is the bagman for one of the three District Commissioners. -The Commission is the immediate boss of the police department. Any -commissioner can issue orders to the chief. - -There are occasions, however, when a really strong in is needed. -Washington is federal territory and is ruled nominally by the national -administration. In such an instance, the guy who wants to call the cops -off has to try other doors. The odds are, even if he is in business in -Washington, he has his roots elsewhere. Many Washingtonians maintain -voting addresses in the states from which they originally came. Others -have friends, partners and relatives in various states. - -The procedure is to make the connection through a Democratic county -committeeman back home or through a member of Congress in the home -state. Congress is the ruler of the District, and almost every -Congressman is as busy as a Chicago alderman fixing everything from -parking tags to felony warrants. - -It is similar when a cop needs influence to square a rap or get an -appointment or a promotion. Elsewhere we know that being a paid-up -member of the local political club never hurt the career of a -policeman. Here there are no political clubs, and most cops are not -even Washingtonians. Their jobs are not confined to locals, but are -open to all American citizens, regardless of residence. You can take a -civil service test back home in Oskaloosa, then arrive in Washington a -full-fledged policeman. - -Most Washingtonians don’t even want to get on the force at the -penny-ante salary. But $3,000 a year looks good to a cotton-picker in -Mississippi, where the annual per capita income is $600. When he gets -to Washington he finds the $600 back home goes further than $3,000 here. - -So, what does a cop do when he needs help? He follows the procedure -outlined above. If he comes from out of town he corresponds with his -local ward-heeler or goes directly to his Congressman on Capitol Hill. - -We asked one cop, “What do you do if you’re a native of Washington and -have no vote?” - -He replied, “You’re just out of luck.” - -That is, unless you’re a Negro. - -The Washington force had some fine colored cops and detectives, -native-born men who decided to make a career of police work in the -days before Washington was flooded with the displaced from the -plantations in the Deep South. In those days Negroes got no special -privileges in Washington. Now almost all of the 300 colored policemen -are political appointees. The white applicant undergoes a rigid and -rigorous investigation; Negroes are forced on the force even over the -disapproval of the department’s intelligence squad. - -Many colored policemen have rackets on the side, are gamblers, operate -whore-houses or do a little pimping. - -The frequency with which the following happens is too great to set it -aside as a mere isolated example: White cops tell you colored ones -often stop pretty white women drivers, bawl them out and threaten them -with arrests until they cry, then offer to square it for some petting. - -Testimony under oath, reported in a previous chapter, in which a -former sweetheart of gambler Attilio Acalotti charged she had seen -hush-money slipped to three cops, was not pursued by police brass, the -District Attorney or the grand jury. Several defendants were convicted -for trying to influence her to change her testimony, though Acalotti, -“Snags” Lewis and Frank Billeci were granted new trials on the gambling -charges. - -Our indictment is not against Washington’s police. As we said, most of -them are honest, conscientious, decent citizens, thwarted by something -above their reach. - -The culprit is the system. That is responsible for the childish, -irresponsible atmosphere of everything in this dizziest of American -cities. - -Don’t think, despite the annual yaps for more assistance, the -Washington police force is radically undermanned. Compared to numbers -in other cities, it is not. The Metropolitan Police have the second -highest manpower per capita of any large outfit in the country. It is -not up to authorized strength, but that goes for most cities. That -doesn’t tell the story, because, as we indicated, there are at least -five other police forces operating in the city, with several hundred -more cops on tap. Generally speaking, the jurisdiction of each force is -limited to the particular area for which it was created. All Washington -policemen have the right to make arrests for crimes committed in their -presence in any part of the District. For purposes of convenience, -deals are made between various forces, so sometimes one patrols a -district which really belongs to another. For instance, if a small -square or park is situated miles away from the next nearest park, the -city police often relieve the National Park Police of the necessity of -sending squad-cars far off their regular beats. - -There is a reverse, too. The Metropolitan force has about 1,800 men for -its 14 precincts and one harbor station, but men are continually called -for and assigned to guard visiting diplomats and dignitaries, and for -special duty at the White House, government establishments, and even as -ushers at tea-parties. With days off, sick leaves and men on special -assignments, the force is lucky when it can put 300 cops on the streets -on any shift. - -The police are used for many duties delegated to others in -well-regulated cities. For instance, policemen must act as collection -agents for wives with delinquent husbands. Any Congressman can call and -ask for police protection, which means he may want a cop in front of -his house as a parking attendant for his private parties. - -Any time the President or an important official drives through -Washington, special cops are strung along the route to clear traffic. -Wives of Congressmen and expectant mothers with a drag rate a police -escort to a hospital. Even the circus can call for a special detail of -22 men. - -It is almost impossible to keep any foot patrolmen on the streets. -The force is all-motorized, that being the only way it can get around -the sprawling District. Meanwhile, there are no harness-bulls on -beats to keep toughs and thugs in line. So serious is the shortage of -personnel that the black marias attached to each of the 14 precincts -roll the streets 24 hours a day instead of being in their garages. The -patrol-wagons are equipped with two-way radios and respond to calls the -same as do squad cars. This is a help for spot work, one up on most -towns. - -One chief trouble with the police department is that so few of its men -are natives. They have no local civic pride. Another factor is the -constant turnover in personnel, because of the lousy salaries and lean -pickings down below. There is no adequate pension system. In New York -they can retire on a minimum of half pay after 20 years, regardless of -age, which means a man who goes on the force at 21 can get off at 41 -with a life pension. But in Washington you cannot apply for retirement -before age 55, with 25 years’ service. And even then there is no -guarantee you will be allowed to quit, as retirement is not automatic, -but at the pleasure of the board. Usually only one-third of those who -apply are permitted to quit. - -On the other hand, Washington cops work an eight-hour day on an -authorized five-day week, and are not restrained from holding jobs on -the outside which don’t conflict with their assigned duties. Many own -or work in stores. Several are chauffeurs. Embassies hire them for -body-guards. Some drive cabs. A few owned fleets of them, but this was -forbidden when it was found they were using their police pull to get -their drivers off for traffic violations. - -One policeman, Private John U. Carroll, managed a chile parlor in -the 700 block, 11th Street, SE. There was nothing wrong with that, -according to regulations, but the police trial board nabbed him -when he failed to report that he had been in a fist fight with some -customers in his place. According to testimony, Danny Petro, a former -professional pug, walked into the “parlor” and slugged Carroll’s pal. -That brought on a four-man melee in which the cop was injured. The -trial board fined him $75. After being restored to duty he retired, -claiming a veteran’s disability. - -Though the department lowered standards because of the difficulty -of recruiting men, its record for solving crimes is still good. But -convictions and sentences are far under the American averages. The -present laws and regulations so hamper the police that even if all were -honest and intelligent, which they aren’t, serious inroads into the -crime situation would be impossible. - -One of the most serious roadblocks is the fact that after they make an -arrest and hold a prisoner for the magistrate, they cannot make their -complaints to the court direct, or tell the judge what it is all about. -Washington rules require policemen to go to the U.S. Attorney and -plead with him to book a case. The prosecutor thus sits as practically -a committing magistrate, as the defendant and his lawyers are heard -at the same time, and they can bargain with him for a nolle pros or a -lesser charge. - -If the U.S. Attorney decides not to handle a case, the police are sunk. -They cannot ask the municipal judge to hold or commit. In many other -jurisdictions, New York for instance, the arresting officer acts for -the state at the preliminary hearing, before a magistrate, and not only -tells his story to the judge, but can question the prisoner. - -The U.S. Attorney is usually reluctant to prosecute. Even if he decides -to, the cops are due for a browbeating from the judge. This story is -no isolated incident--it is typical of what constantly goes on in the -local, politically appointed courts: - -Many policemen told us the courts work against them. When they make -arrests they have to go to trial on their own time and are usually -kept sitting there all day at the pleasure of the defendant and his -lawyer. The defendant may wander around, but the policeman is required -to remain in the court until the case is called. He is not even -permitted to go to the washroom. If he does, the eagle-eyed shysters -call the case immediately, with court consent, and the defendant is -discharged--for lack of prosecution! - -Several policemen who went to the toilet were threatened with contempt -citations. - -From the time a policeman makes an arrest, until the final disposition -of the case, the entire atmosphere of the District enforcement -machinery is mined against him. The District Attorney’s office is -skeptical of anything he says, and is inclined to side with the -accused. The courts, frequently presided over by gangster-appointed -judges or left-wingers whose constituents are rebels against the -accepted code, bend backward. They make defendants of the cops instead -of the prisoners. So most policemen shrug and forget about it. For -instance, in the Black Belt, not one of every three known crimes is -reported. The experienced cops take it easy, go to the ball games and -dances. - -The most absurd straitjacket in which the Washington police are -confined is the law which forbids them to serve warrants. They may be -served only by deputy U.S. marshals. - -This completely screws up the orderly procedure, because District -judges, who are hot hell to protect the civil rights of murderers, -pimps, dope-peddlers and gamblers, refuse to hold a prisoner in most -cases unless he is arrested on a warrant. And they never uphold a John -Doe warrant. - -For instance, on one occasion, two cops assigned to the vice squad at -night, working undercover on prostitution, got into a house and nabbed -several bottles of whiskey there. They called for a police car. When it -arrived, further search turned up narcotics. Twenty-six were arrested -without a warrant. The police knew the courts would not hold them for -even disorderly conduct, because arresting officers could not specify -which offense each and every one had committed. So the prisoners -were not photographed or fingerprinted. All were allowed to post $5 -collateral, which was, of course, forfeited. - -A cop can arrest a man whom he sees in the process of house-breaking on -burglary, but if he then fans him and finds a gun he cannot charge him -with a concealed-weapon violation, because he had no warrant for the -search. When police have information that a crime is being committed on -a premise, they must first get in touch with the U.S. Commissioner or a -judge, then locate a deputy marshal to come and serve the warrant. - -But don’t you assume you can get away with anything in Washington. The -cops are death on jay-walkers. If you cross against the light you’ll -be jugged. That in Washington is more serious and more culpable than -murder! - - - - -30. HOW TO STAY OUT OF JAIL - - -These are the steps: - -First you break the law. - -Then you get pinched. - -Then you hire Charlie Ford. - -Who is he? Charles E. Ford is the “Fifth Street Cicero.” - -Ford, a behemoth of 220 pounds, is 52. He has been practicing law in -Washington for 28 years. His father, a New Jersey Democrat, was the -public printer of the United States in 1913. Since then a lot has been -printed about his son in the public records. - -As noted, Ford was the late Jimmy La Fontaine’s lawyer and is a -trustee of his estate. He appeared in Chicago to convince the Kefauver -committee it couldn’t force Anna Fischetti to testify against her -husband, Charles, the notorious Capone gangster. And he convinced it. - -But not all Ford’s work is so aristocratic. He and his associates take -them as they come. Hardly a day passes without defendants in criminal -court being aided and comforted by Ford or someone from his office. - -He is the darling of the gambling and prostitution fraternity. His -clients seldom go to jail. The police don’t feel so bad when they lose -to Ford as they do when other lawyers oppose them. For Ford is a great -friend of the cops. Whenever a policeman gets in trouble, Ford takes -his case, usually without fee. - -Charlie is one of those big, brash, bluff guys everyone loves, -especially the newspapermen. He feeds them plenty of copy--and -liquor--and never hesitates to give them a lift when they need -background material on gangsters and criminals, without violating his -fiduciary ethics. He is a social guy who likes to entertain and who -loves to eat. One of his clients was the late Tom O’Donnell, and under -the terms of his will Charlie operates the two celebrated O’Donnell -restaurants and patronizes them freely. - -Whenever his waist gets out of bounds, he goes to Hot Springs, -Arkansas, for the reducing baths and a few days of friendship and -cheer with Owney “The Killer” Madden, retired gang chieftain, now Hot -Springs’ most eminent elder statesman. - -None of Charlie’s clients has ever gone to the electric chair. -One was sentenced to death for murder, but saved Charlie’s record -by considerately hanging himself in jail. So he is one up on Sam -Leibowitz, whose lone mistake waited for the ministrations of the -public executioner. But Ford is that kind of a guy. Everyone loves him. -No one would embarrass him. - -We have sworn testimony before us which shows the operations of Ford’s -jail-thwarting apparatus. It usually works this way: The prisoner, who -may be a numbers peddler, a bookmaker’s runner, or a street-walker, -is booked at the police station. He or she puts in a phone call to -a certain designated unofficial party. Thereupon one of a half-dozen -bail-bond brokers gets a call, and within minutes a runner for the -bondsman appears at the police station and puts up surety for the -prisoner. - -Among bailers-out utilized by the organization are James H. Conroy, -Isaac P. Jones, William P. Ryan, and Leonard, Louis, Max and Meyer -Weinstein. - -The legal fee for a $500 bail bond in the District is $75. The -foregoing bondsmen charge the combine only $37.50, half-price, for -springing a protected person. The rules regarding their surety are -sketchy. They may register a $25,000 piece of property, then lay a -hundred or a thousand $25,000 bonds against it. - -On release, the defendant may visit the law offices of Ford, on 5th -Street, where he is interviewed by Ford or his associate, Clifford -Allder since the resignation of James K. Hughes. But sometimes the -defendant does not speak to his counsel until the case is actually -called in court, when his lawyer--Ford or an associate--whom he has -never seen before, stands up for him at arraignment. If the defendant -has no previous convictions, Ford’s office often pleads him guilty; -whereupon the judge imposes a fine of usually not more than $25. We -have proof that the fines for many of these defendants are paid on the -spot from the lawyer’s pocket. - -The system is keenly organized. Not one in a hundred people arrested -pays his own bail-bond fee or knows who contacted the bondsman or -paid him. Records of the bondsmen are kept so cryptically that in the -rare instances when they are queried under oath they can say all they -remember is they got a call from someone who only gave his first name, -to put up bail, and they have no record to show who paid them. The -rules are being changed. They must obtain a full name--but not for -public record. And they won’t ask for birth certificates, either. - -The Ford office has been able to pass the buck between its members. -They cannot remember who retained them, who paid the retainer, or who -put up the money to pay the fines, if “they actually did it,” which -they “doubt.” - -Ford successfully defied a Congressional committee which tried to -make him divulge the names of his clients, though he admitted Emmitt -Warring was one. The others, he said, were known to the public only as -respectable businessmen. They were “more powerful” than Warring or even -the late Jimmy La Fontaine, who were only peanut-peddlers compared to -them, he said. - -When pressed, Ford remembered a man by the name of Bettis whom he -represented; and Earl MacDonald and Attilio Acalotti. He said he -thought he had represented another defendant, named “Washington--I -think it was George Washington, and that’s all I can remember now.” - -Ford’s business is not confined to the gambling and hustling -fraternity. You see his name bob up in court on almost every kind of -criminal case. One of his recent ones was the arrest of two men on -charges of violating the alcohol tax laws. - -“Did you have a warrant?” Ford thundered at the ATU agent. When he -conceded he had not, Ford asked, “How did you know this is alcohol? -Don’t you know it is illegal to arrest people without a warrant?” -“I smelled the alcohol,” declared Agent Sweeney. “I’ve been in -this business for 17 years and I’ve developed a keen sense of -smell--especially for alcohol.” - -Ford’s clients were accused of unloading a truck with 127 gallons of -moonshine whiskey. - -Ford’s office has practically a monopoly on the setting up of and -organizing after-hour bottle-clubs. He is generally given credit by the -local legal fraternity for being the genius who figured out the way to -sidestep the 2 o’clock closing ordinance. His associate is defending -the confessed killer in the recent Hideaway shooting; Ford himself -secured the Hideaway’s after-hours charter. - -Ford’s operations are not confined to the District, but lap over into -nearby Maryland, where, as trustee for the multi-million-dollar estate -of gambler La Fontaine, he finds plenty of activity. Many of the -gamblers and other shady citizens whom he represents operate across -state lines. The boundaries often come to the aid of his clients. For -many offenses, especially most of those before the District Municipal -Court, there is no method whereby authorities can extradite defendants -from Maryland or Virginia, and vice versa. It is very much as if a -law-breaker could take refuge in Brooklyn when wanted in Manhattan, -both boroughs of New York City. There is no more physical difference -between Prince Georges, Maryland, and the District than that. - -This all-service Ford is chairman of the Criminal Law Committee of the -District Bar Association. - -Another lawyer who frequently appears in court for arrested hustlers is -Ed Buckley. - -Fifth Street, between Indiana and D, is called “The Fifth Street -Lawyers’ Association,” because so many bondsmen, shysters and good -lawyers have offices there. - -We asked a friend to name the real sure shot mouthpiece who could -spring you if you were arrested for murder and knew you were guilty. - -He said William Leahy was the best trial lawyer in town and one of the -most respected. James Laughlin, who himself was once arrested but not -prosecuted after a reversal, is another successful practitioner. - -Others who do considerable criminal defense work are Denny Hughes, Sol -Littenberg and Milton Ehrlich. - -Another interesting criminal lawyer is Robert I. Miller, who shot and -killed a St. Elizabeth’s Hospital psychiatrist whom he suspected of -playing with Mrs. Miller. The shooting took place at about noon one -day, in the heart of the shopping section at 11th and G Streets. He -was represented by H. Mason Welch, who sob-storied the jury into an -acquittal on the “unwritten law.” - -Miller is not the smartest lawyer in town, but he does a tremendous -business defending Negroes and other superstitious criminals who engage -him sometimes just to sit at the trial table for good luck, because -he beat his own case. Miller, an ostentatious person, often wipes his -glasses with a $100 bill while addressing a jury. He claimed close -friendship to Roosevelt and Garner and decorates his office with photos -of them. He ran a Republicans-for-Roosevelt club. - -Some lawyers win their cases through merit, others through a fix. Still -others, who weren’t envied by their colleagues, had to do it the hard -way when a certain former bachelor-lady judge, who shall be nameless, -rendered her verdicts in favor of clients of the mouthpieces whose -persuasion grew between covers not on law books. She was an awful -tomato, and many attorneys preferred to lose their cases. - -Judge Hitz, the humorist of the local bench, got off a dilly when he -discovered the plaintiff in a matrimonial action was still living with -her husband, the whole divorce proceedings being a sham to swindle -creditors. Said the judge, in dismissing the action, “You can’t -litigate by day and fornicate by night.” - - - - -31. THE BOSSES - - -The last orthodox political boss of Washington was Alexander Robey -Shepherd. When he finished with the city treasury, Congress voted to -end home rule and took back the government. - -From the time of its incorporation as a city, in 1802, Washington was -run by elected mayors and aldermen. In 1871, in President Grant’s -administration, it was turned into a territory, similar to Alaska or -Hawaii, with delegates in Congress and a large measure of home rule. -Shepherd was a pal of General Grant, who had numerous smelly friends. - -Shepherd’s stewardship was modern in every respect. He went in for a -New Deal on a big scale. The town was torn up while Shepherd paved -streets, installed sewers--sometimes two sets to one avenue--went -in for slum clearance, built squares, parks, circles, gas-mains and -sidewalks. Shepherd began life as a plumber, and showed partiality for -anything with pipes. - -Shepherd had built up a small Tammany to keep his boys in power. Votes -were bartered, crimes were fixed, laws were perverted. When the end -came, Shepherd skipped and hid out until the statute of limitations ran -out. When he returned they greeted him with a brass band, like New York -did Jimmy Walker, and built him a statue. - -The Congress was more interested in the welfare of the District of -Columbia 75 years ago than it is now. Unable to stomach the stench, it -decided to exercise its Constitutional right to govern the District, -and substituted the present commission-form of government in place of -home rule and local suffrage. - -Under the present setup, the executive is a three-man commission, -appointed by the President for a three-year term. One must be from the -Corps of Engineers of the Army. On the law books, these commissioners -have no more power than a New York City Borough President They can -do practically nothing without approval from Congress. But by virtue -of the apathy that prevails in Washington, these men have become -little czars. Congress, by statute, has empowered the commissioners -to make building and plumbing regulations and to create and enforce -all reasonable police and other city rules. But they do not levy taxes -or make appropriations. That is done by Congress. And that’s the -District’s chief squawk. - -Every buck collected in Washington goes into the general funds of the -U.S. Treasury; not earmarked for the District. All payments come out -of the same general fund. The result is that, while Congress pays up -to ten percent of the cost of local government, the citizens bear the -other 90 percent. But 52 percent of all the property is tax-exempt. The -government owns more than 40 percent, the rest belongs to embassies, -tax-free organizations like the Red Cross, etc. So the residents -complain that the rich U.S. government is riding along on a free pass, -leaving local property to bear the cost of supporting the huge Federal -establishment. - -The present commissioners are John Russell Young, president of the -Board; Guy Mason, and Brigadier General Gordon R. Young, the engineer -commissioner. Mason’s term expired in February, 1951, but he is -permitted to serve until another is appointed or he be reappointed. - -Under them, the commissioners have a large staff of special assistants, -private secretaries, administrative assistants and others who have -access to their offices. We are just telling you this in case you are -thinking of making a fix, for one of these persons is the guy to see. - -One of the three commissioners is noted for his ability to bollix -everything up after a big, bad night--which is almost every night. -Even his enemies consider inebriation a valid excuse for his befuddled -condition. A Congressman investigating the Commission said, “After all, -the poor guy always has a hangover. You can’t blame him for what he -does when he feels awful.” - -Under the commissioners are such usual municipal executive officers -as assessors, auditors, tax collectors, license commissioners and -bureaus of public welfare, recreation, traffic, police, fire, health, -corrections; and--oh, yes--the corporation counsel. - -The observer who takes a gander at the judicial branch of the District -government sometimes wonders if he followed Lewis Carroll’s Alice down -into the rabbit hole. - -The judicial powers are exercised by the District courts, which sit not -only for federal cases, but for felonious breaches of the local law, -too; and by municipal courts, judges of which are appointed for six -years. They have jurisdiction over minor suits and unimportant law and -ordinance violations. - -Members of the federal judiciary for the District of Columbia need not -be local residents. They may be appointed from anywhere in the country. -Usually these plums go to deserving Democrats from elsewhere. At this -writing there are 12 District judges and 10 municipal court judges, -in addition to justices of the United States Court of Appeals for the -District of Columbia, the Municipal Court of Appeals, and the Juvenile -Court. - -The District courts serve a two-fold function. They act both as federal -courts and as superior state courts, handling civil and criminal -matters. No judges of either court are elected by the local citizens or -by their representatives. They have no interest in the community. They -do not partake of a legacy of local common law and custom. - -If any courts should be impartial, those of the District might be. But -they are not. Some of the judges are venal, inefficient party hacks or -militant propagandists for left-wing philosophies. - -The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has the most overworked -office in the land. He not only functions as a local district attorney -and as United States attorney, but triples in brass with a job -corresponding to a state attorney general. But his budget and the -number of assistants allotted him are on a per capita population basis, -as though he had to prosecute only federal cases in any city the size -of Washington. - -In the prosecution of some minor cases in municipal court alone has -he any assistance. The city Corporation Counsel’s office handles -those. To demonstrate again what can happen when a bureaucracy turns -dictator--the criminal division of his office has no law library. It -does not have a secretary. - -If he or his assistants want to check a law or a decision they have to -buy their own books. He is given no fund to keep records, so no records -are kept. It is almost impossible for him to find out the disposition -of cases. He has only five low-paid assistants assigned to municipal -criminal courts, and these are so overworked, sometimes they have -to prosecute cases on an average of one every three minutes. Under -District law, defendants are permitted jury trials in all cases where -the penalty is in excess of ninety days or a $300 fine. It is no wonder -the Corporation Counsel is usually willing to take a plea of disorderly -conduct, instead. The maximum penalty for that is $25, no jail. - -Persons accused of serious crimes under federal law must be booked -immediately before a United States Commissioner, as all crimes in the -District, even those like assault, robbery, drunken driving, gambling, -homicide, and rape, which elsewhere belong exclusively to the state, -are federal matters here. - -We gave you a rough idea of the volume of such criminal activities -in the District. If those defendants had been arrested for the same -offenses in states, they would be booked before a magistrate, a police -court or a justice of the peace. There are none such in Washington -other than the judges. The chief committing magistrate is the United -States Commissioner, and he has no assistants. He not only performs the -federal duties that U.S. Commissioners in other towns assume, but he -also acts as a committing magistrate on all local felony charges in the -District. - -A U.S. Commissioner is not a judge. He is chosen by the local Federal -bench. He serves without salary on a fee basis, but is limited by -statute to a maximum of $9,400 a year, out of which he is required -to pay office rent and stenographic expenses. The law permits a -U.S. Commissioner to practice law on the side, and many in other -jurisdictions do, but, because the D.C. office is the busiest in the -country, he has no time to handle outside cases. The Commissioner is -on duty 24 hours a day. There is no night court. He is it. Police -awaken him at any hour of the night when they make important arrests -or require warrants, and he is busy at hearings, setting bail, and -presiding at arraignments all day. - -When you get into the U.S. Attorney’s office you really see how things -are loused up here. The rich Federal government apparently has dough to -toss away everywhere else, but not in its own home. Of course, there -are no faithful voters to be placated here. District Attorney Fay has -only 34 men on his staff; his office is required to do more work than -the entire Second Judicial Circuit, which includes the entire states of -Vermont, Connecticut and the four districts of New York. His budget is -so limited, most of his assistants receive only about $4,000 a year, -and so the turnover is terrific; young men just out of law school go -to work for him for a couple of years, then go out to make a living. - -His office is so understaffed, there are not enough employes around to -handle all complaints. It is possible to walk in and rifle the files -at will. Many shyster lawyers often do that, killing the cases against -their clients. - -With such a small, unseasoned staff, it is no wonder the complaint -desk in the U.S. Attorney’s office has been compared to “a bargain -grocery counter.” It looks very much like one. It’s a long wooden -shelf behind which a deputy district attorney stands and does business -with plaintiffs, defendants, cops and lawyers across it. We noted that -police may not enter their own complaints. They must bring them to the -complaint bureau of the U.S. Attorney, before the hearing in court. It -is then up to the U.S. Attorney’s office alone to determine whether the -complaint will be made. - -What happens is that, every day, thousands of people mill around in -this complaint room. An onlooker can’t tell who are cops, lawyers or -prisoners. When the arresting officer speaks to the deputy D.A., he -does so in this cut-rate counter atmosphere, before the defendant and -his lawyer. There is no privacy. The cop has to spill his case to the -opposition. The defense lawyer then sets up an argument for dropping -the case or reducing the charge. The officials are so harassed, they -try to dispense with as much work as possible, which accounts for a -hefty proportion of pinches that never get past this bureau. - -Sometimes a youngster just out of law school is the “grocery clerk.” -He makes such grave rulings as deciding not to prosecute a homicide -charge. These law clerks arrogate to themselves the rights and -prerogatives of the courts. When the D.A. decides to go before the -grand jury, he usually asks for an indictment for only one offense, -even if the accused has been charged with twenty. Elsewhere the custom -is to indict on each count and try on one or two, leaving the others -hanging over the defendant. That does not happen in Washington. After a -prisoner is discharged and commits a crime in some other jurisdiction -there is no record for probation officers there of other outstanding -charges against him. That’s another reason why the professionals like -to practice their trades in Washington. - -There’s another booby-trap for the law. The prosecuting and corrective -branches of the government don’t take the cops into their confidence -when a prisoner is paroled. Elsewhere the police are notified when -a parolee is back on the streets, so they can keep an eye on him. -In Washington this is considered an invasion of the convict’s -Constitutional rights. - -If the defendant cannot make a deal before the complaint bureau, his -lawyer is entitled on demand to get possession of the file on his case. -The place is so understaffed, with not enough stenographers, that the -only notes in these files are brief pencilled memoranda jotted down -by the Deputy District Attorney. There is never a complete record. -It is simple for defense lawyers to sneak some of the notes out of a -file; they’ll never be missed, because no carbon copies are made. The -overworked deputies can seldom remember what they wrote. - -When the trial is scheduled, the deputy prosecutor seldom has an -opportunity to read the files, even if there were complete data. -Felony cases are often ground out in District Court at the rate of one -an hour, including time out for picking juries. When a U.S. Attorney -finishes with one case, the clerk hands him a folder on the next. -That is the first time he ever saw it. Add to this the fact that the -prosecutors do not work with the police in preparing a case, and you -can see what “confusion twice confounded” means. - -One of the most unusual features in the setup of the District -government is the office of the Coroner. Until recently, this -functionary, who need not be a physician, had no laboratory. What -he has now is incomplete. He has no medical examiner and only a few -low-paid researchers. - -But he has a swell job, with a ten-year tenure and a courtroom better -than the U.S. Commissioner’s. The present Coroner has virtually set -himself up as a judge, with no authority in law, and is said by his -critics to work with a gavel instead of a scalpel. He is one of the -town’s most powerful functionaries. - -Among the many strange quirks of local law is one which requires the -Coroner at times to serve as a constable and to make levies. When -the Coroner acts as a coroner, he holds court like a judge. And he -thinks he is one, too. He has frequently discharged from custody -persons accused of homicide, who had been held without bail by a U.S. -Commissioner. He often sets bail and discharges defendants on bail, -though there are no statutes authorizing such procedure, and he has so -admitted under oath. - -There have been instances when the Coroner has ruled a death was -justifiable homicide and released the prisoner. Though this is no bar -to subsequent indictment, prisoners often flee the jurisdiction before -the prosecuting attorney knows what has happened. The law does not -permit the coroner to discharge any person. - -Coroner’s juries are impaneled by that official to meet his own -preconceived ideas and prejudices. There is no requirement that a -coroner’s juror must even be able to read or write. The salary is $7 a -day, and the Coroner has his favorites. Some men served as many as 31 -times last year. - -The Coroner frequently discharges the accused prisoners on grounds of -justifiable homicide, despite evidence that they had committed other -crimes at the same time, such as carrying concealed weapons or selling -narcotics. The coroner then shrugs his shoulders and says those things -are none of his business. - -There have been known instances of jury fixing. Through the proper -channels, a charge of a death caused by reckless driving has been -reduced to an innocuous misdemeanor or dismissed completely. One of -the coroner’s deputies was a notorious abortionist who performed the -autopsies on his own victims. - -Too bad Boss Shepherd isn’t around today. He could appreciate what the -backroom boys have done to the District government. - - - - -32. MONARCHS OF THE METROPOLIS - - -Since wood-cuts added to the native press the element of pictorial -illustration, cartoonists have caricatured the American alderman. -His heavy foot is on the bottom rung of the legislative ladder. The -“gray wolves” of Chicago were known around the globe for venality, -degradation and cold-blooded chicanery. The Tammany members of the -board, the San Francisco, Kansas City, Philadelphia, New Orleans, -Boston, Albany and St. Louis “city fathers” were in their most -nefarious days gangsters, brothel-keepers and police court shysters, -overlaid with a refined sprinkling of saloon-keepers. - -That mixture does not reflect the complexion of our Congress. But -when, twice a month, they sit as the Board of Aldermen of the city of -Washington, they are about as dignified and statesmanlike as the city -council of Peoria. - -The Constitution says, “The Congress shall have power to exercise -exclusive legislation over such District.” - -The actual detail of city government is delegated on the committee -system and for all practical purposes the rulers of everything within -the Columbia confines are 13 Senators and 25 Representatives on the -District committees. In an extremity they can be overruled by their -chambers and the President could veto any of their acts, but no one -remembers when such a thing happened. - -There is a certain local prestige about being a D.C. committeeman. He -probably could with impunity drive through a red light or spit on the -sidewalk, or even jaywalk, which no unprivileged person this side of -an ambassador may dare without at least a stiff bawling out. But the -members of Congress assigned to weighty national and world problems -shun the task of managing the municipality. - -Of the 38 who are completely responsible for every law, appropriation -and tax measure in this city of almost a million, only two in the -81st Congress came from communities as large as or larger. They were -Congressmen Arthur G. Klein, of New York City, and John F. Kennedy, -of Boston. Only three others in the last Congress came from cities -with a population in excess of 100,000--Senator Estes Kefauver, of -Chattanooga, Tenn., 130,000; Senator Harry Darby, of Kansas City, -Kans., 130,000; and Congressman John J. Allan, of Oakland, Calif., -380,000. Darby is not in the 82nd Congress. - -In other words, 33 of the 38 Senators and Representatives who ruled -this metropolis in the 81st Congress were from farms, villages, and -rural towns, that include Fairmont, W. Va.; Lander, Wyo.; Bristol, -R.I.; Middleboro, Del.; Madison, S.D.; Skowhegan, Maine; Burley, Ida.; -Florence, S.C.; Okolona, Miss.; College Station, Tex.; Scottsboro, -Ala.; Stone Mountain, Ga.; Cedar City, Utah; Hammond, La.; Kennett, -Mo.; Carrollton, Ill.; Frostburg, Md.; Glencoe, Minn.; Decorah, Ia.; -Rosemont, Pa.; and Farrell, Pa. Even those who were sincere did not and -could not understand the problems of a giant city. - -In the current Congress there are a few more city slickers on the -committee: Senators Butler, of Baltimore; Bennet of Salt Lake, and -Pastore of Providence. - -From time to time, about once every ten years, Congress gets appalled -at its own reflection and decides to investigate its own municipal -creation. After such probes a few anemic recommendations are submitted -to the Congress, a few minor corrective bills are passed. Then the -speakeasies and gambling houses reopen, the dope peddlers and murderers -come out again, and once more life goes on, as Washington life goes. - -The last time Congress got in a mood of righteous selfexamination -was in 1950, when a sub-committee of five was appointed by the House -District of Columbia Committee to investigate crime and law-enforcement -in the capital. The sub-committee chairman was James C. Davis, of -Georgia, a sober and sincere lawyer with a distinguished record as a -crusading superior court judge and member of Congress. The Congress -originally voted the handsome sum of $10,000 to this committee, with -which it was expected to dig up the dirt on a billion-dollar-a-year -vice establishment. - -Davis determined not to get a political hack as counsel. If he had -not chosen a dynamic attorney, this committee would have been as -innocuous as most others. As it was, it uncovered plenty that should -have rocked the nation and shocked the Congress. It was no fault of -Davis or Hyman I. Fischbach, committee counsel, that it did not. But -Congress, as expected, ignored the report and skipped the record. -Davis and Fischbach came up with suggestions--some far-reaching--for -a reorganization of the District police, court system and method of -prosecution. But to guarantee that nothing would be done about it -the Democratic leadership put road-blocks in the Committee’s path. -Nevertheless it is now before the Congress. It will go the same route -others have, or establish a precedent. - -Fischbach, with many years’ experience conducting such investigations -for other Congressional committees, turned out what a committee counsel -should be--in happy contrast to the sad picture of the Kefauver group -which was operating at the same time. No one could see him getting -far with his beggarly budget. It hardly allowed for an office staff, -let alone investigators. But Fischbach hired John Woog, a 27-year-old -war veteran and member of the New York bar, as chief investigator -and practically the whole staff. Working 18 to 20 hours a day they -uncovered enough rottenness, funny business and stupidity to fill more -than 1200 closely printed pages of terrifying testimony. - -When Fischbach started stepping on some sacred toes the ceiling fell -in. Rumors were whispered around the House Office Building that -Fischbach would be canned. Plenty of Congressmen were a-tremble; -Fischbach was getting too hot. One who tried to throw a barrier in -his way was Representative Wayne L. Hays, a Democrat from Ohio, whose -Congressional district includes tributary territory dominated by the -Akron and Youngstown mob which is ruled by Frank and Tony Milano, -cited before the Kefauver Committee as organizers of the infamous -Mayfield Road gang, Ohio branch of the Mafia. Hays tried to hold up -money for the committee unless Fischbach were fired. He was joined by -Mrs. Mary Norton, who retired at the end of the 81st Congress, and who -represented Hudson County, New Jersey, and was sent to Washington by -the notorious Boss Hague. She did not stand for re-election after Hague -was run out of Jersey politics. - -Another who opposed Fischbach was Edna Flannery Kelly, of Brooklyn, -who was chosen by the Democratic leadership to spearhead the campaign. -Mrs. Kelly, who serves by grace of Irwin Steingut, minority leader of -the New York State Assembly, has been an errand girl for the Brooklyn -bosses ever since her election to Congress. - -Mrs. Kelly’s reluctance to expose crime in the District may be -understandable to New Yorkers who know that among her constituents are -some of the most evil gangsters who ever slit a throat or lived off the -proceeds of a prostitute. - -These three button-holed other Democratic Congressmen and said they -were opposed to Fischbach because, as a New Yorker, he should have -been cleared through the New York County Democratic Committee. That -Committee’s other name is Tammany Hall. To Davis the mere mention of -Tammany Hall is like defaming the Stars and Bars. Lack of Tammany -endorsement was the highest recommendation. On such little things is -history made. - -It still remains for the Congress to follow the Davis recommendations. -Meanwhile, all the law-breakers who hid while he was probing slid back -into business as soon as the “probe” was over. - -Few solons really want home rule, not even Northern New Deal -Congressmen who scream for it because the Negro press does. - -Most of the members shirk the committee meetings, because while -membership gives them great prestige locally, it means nothing -nationally or to their constituents. The District Committee is -a “minor” one, and membership on it does not count against the -legislator’s allowed minimum of committee appointments. - -Few remain on it for long, and assignment to it is, in a manner, in the -way of punishment. First-timers, especially in the Senate, are hazed -that way. - -A typical majority member of the House District Committee is -Representative Arthur G. Klein, of New York City’s 19th district. We -give him to you not because he is the most active or prominent, but -because he is closest to our home. His district begins a block away. - -Klein, an exasperating and annoying pleader for left-wing causes, has -been on the public payroll for 16 of his 46 years, the first six spent -on the legal staff of the S.E.C. He has been in Congress since 1941. - -Klein’s district, which runs between the Bowery and the East River, -below 40th St., contains not only the worst slums in New York, but -some of the newest and finest housing developments, as well as large -hunks of the city’s financial district. He promoted the former for his -constituents at the expense of the latter. - -Also in it is Manhattan’s downtown Mafia stronghold--parts of Little -Italy--whose voters sent him to Congress and demand favors in return. - -Operating in his district is New York’s most evil and notorious -fairy-haunt, the disgusting 181 Club, at that address on Second Ave., -where every cabaret law and ordinance on the books is fractured -nightly. This profitable venture is overseen by Alan Bono, a cousin of -Joe Adonis, and a contributor to Klein’s campaign funds. - -Former Congresswoman Norton served 10 of her 26 years in Washington on -the District Committee. At this writing she has strong backing for the -about-to-be vacant post of District Commissioner and may so be named -before this reaches print. - -Even when not a member of the committee, Mrs. Norton always had a -soft spot in her heart for it, and frequently interested herself in -District affairs, being given a respectful hearing because of “the -woman’s angle.” - -But Mrs. Norton was and is and always has been a creature of Boss -Hague, one of the most corrupt and thievingest municipal overlords -in the world. At this moment the Hudson County grand jury is working -overtime grinding out indictments against ex-officials appointed by him. - -Many Hague specialties were exported to Washington during her tenure as -mayor ex officio, among them a high tax-rate, municipal corruption and -official protection for gamblers. - -Mrs. Norton’s home town, Jersey City, was, until last year, the -national clearing house for the laying off of horse bets from all over -the country. - -While she was in Congress, Hague was the absentee chief magistrate of -Washington. - - - - -33. WIRETAPPERS, SNOOPS AND SPIES - - -After you’ve exchanged conversation with a number of Washingtonians, -you wonder what made them decidedly different from others. Then it -dawns on you. They are whisperers. - -They all seem consciously afraid that they may be overheard. That marks -them even in casual conversations, and when they utter secrets they -are theatrically overcautious. These are acquired habits, not without -foundation. All mankind has a common weakness for spreading gossip. -Most people can retail only minutiae. But in Washington, matters that -may rock the world are entrusted, or pass through the hands of, those -who otherwise would have little to tell beyond back-fence piddle. -Furthermore, for one to say his wires are tapped is a mark of self -importance. - -The capital is overrun by snoops and spies, not only using every -cloak-and-dagger device for foreign transmission, but assigned and -trained to catch and report inter-bureau information, rumors included. - -An observation at a dinner table by a member of Congress or an -executive may cause an uproar in Moscow, London or Calcutta. Or it may -bring a midnight huddle in a cabinet department or the President’s -sound-proofed den. - -You meet almost no one of any importance who converses at ease. The -thinnest statement or flattest opinion can be amplified and multiplied. -If it escapes an official listening post, it may reach a columnist, -which is worse. - -There has been considerable furor on the subject of Washington -wiretapping. - -That is a topic which every seasoned editor has learned to recognize as -having extraordinary human interest appeal. The phone is such a common, -yet tricky instrument, that kitchenmaids who have affairs with delivery -boys shiver with horrible fears that their big secrets are being -tapped. And this is not confined to small people. In Washington such -suspicions are justified. - -Many mentally connect wiretapping with the F.B.I. The two have been -joined in recurrent publicity. Deliberate left-wing propaganda has -exaggerated and exploited the notion. The F.B.I. uses this method, -as does any other efficient police force. But emphasis thereon is -disproportionate. The practice is widespread with only a modicum of -use in criminal investigation. The F.B.I. itself makes a daily check -against cut-ins on its own wires, including J. Edgar Hoover’s own -private lines. He and his bureau are Enemy No. 1 to the Reds and all -their sycophants and sympathizers, the only man in the country who -called the shots on the Communist situation since the beginning. And -as the eyes and ears of the Department of Justice, the G-men handle -dynamite affecting interests from car thieves to disloyal U.S. employes -to chairmen of the boards of trusts. - -Tapping F.B.I. wires is not a profitable career. The bureau knows -all the tricks. New electronic developments now make it possible to -intrude on some communications without physical contact with the wire. -No instruments can detect such espionage. This is a hazard beyond -mechanical defense. - -We said everyone in Washington lives in constant fear and dread of -being overheard, even if the subject matter is of importance to no -one. It becomes habit. Congressmen and officials are cagey when they -talk on the phone, though after a few minutes of cryptic conversation -they forget and loosen up. When you visit the average office holder -in his sanctum he steers you away from the walls, then speaks in an -undertone. In your hotel room his eyes wander around the walls, -searching for “bugs” which can pick up and record every sound. - -Wiretapping is a merry indoor sport in Washington, engaged in by dozens -of agencies--public and private. - -When the White House wants to know what’s going on it employs Secret -Service experts. They ferret out information about the President’s -political enemies, inside and outside the government. It is filed -away for future reference to be used for retaliation or guidance. -Some Democratic Senators and Congressmen use Congressional committee -wiretappers. Investigators get the dope on political enemies in -Washington and back home. Administration leaders tried desperately to -“get” Senator McCarthy and no method was beneath them. Minority party -members, deprived of the services of official wiretappers, hire private -detective agencies. Kefauver complained his committee’s wires were -being tapped. - -Many cabinet officers and other high officials usually have their own -intelligence services for spying on associates, the opposition, Hoover, -and even on the President himself. - -Foremost among these administrative intelligence sections are those of -the Department of State, Treasury, Defense, and the Post Office, with -its sureshot inspectors. - -Oscar Chapman, Secretary of the Interior, has a fine intelligence, -headed by Mike Reilly, former chief of the White House Secret Service. - -The political cross currents are such that at any time five or six -sets of wiretappers, each unaware of what the other is doing, may be -listening in on a subject’s wires; while the subject may have his own -dicks listening in on the principals whose agents are cutting in on his -conversation. - -Like lobbying, wiretapping is an insidious system used by everyone, -acknowledged by no one, so Congress shrinks from delving deeply into it. - -Communists recently forced the issue into the open, as they did with -lobbying, both of which they use extravagantly. The Senate came up with -a weak-kneed investigation of wiretapping. Senator Claude “Red” Pepper, -of Florida, already a lame duck, was appointed to head the committee. -Pepper tried to slant the hearings to make it appear the only -wiretappers in Washington were Republican leaders. He named Senator -Owen Brewster of Maine as the goat. About all the investigation -brought out was that the Metropolitan Police Force is a chief offender. - -Police Lieutenant Joseph W. Shimon, the cops’ expert, admitted he -did some outside work on these lines for private clients and for -Congressional committees. Senator Brewster said he paid Shimon’s -expenses to investigate a man who, Brewster thought, was “shadowing” -him. It turned out also that Shimon was paid to tap Howard Hughes’ -wires when that eccentric nabob was probed in connection with his -wartime airplane contracts. - -After the Senate committee spent a lot of time and money investigating -wiretapping, its counsel, Gerhard Van Arkel, who also wants to be -District Commissioner, made a brilliant discovery. He said the group -already had proved its chief point, namely, “There is a good deal of -wiretapping going on in Washington and it is difficult to act against -the practice under present law.” - -Foreign government operatives compile volumes on the words of our -officials, as well as from embassies and snoopers of other foreign -countries. Wiretappers do not expect to garner much direct information, -but they winnow a thousand talks for one bit that will compromise the -object of the tap and make him vulnerable to power pressure. - -Lobbyists and labor unions get the goods on people they need. And -government wiretappers often listen in on them. - -Add to all this private intrigue, suspicious husbands and wives, and -you have an industry. - -Because Washington is federal property, its telephone setup is governed -by the Federal Communications Commission. FCC rules forbid unauthorized -listening in on phone calls. U.S. law makes it a crime to divulge such -information. Evidence secured by wiretapping may not be used in federal -courts. Supreme Court Justice Holmes decreed it “a dirty business.” The -strict rules hamper legitimate law enforcement officers, but do not -hinder those snooping secrets for blackmail or political pressure. - -In many other states, New York especially, any evidence, obtained -legally or illegally, is admissible in court, though the detective -who breaks the law to land it may be prosecuted, but never is. He’s -decorated, instead. - -New York law is liberal in extending the right to local peace officers -to tap wires by judicial sanction, ex parte, for specific inquiries, -never refused. Federal agents working on cases in New York and other -such states usually tie up with local cops and prosecute in local -courts, because the Feds are restrained in their own. In the District -there is no local law, so the authorities are handcuffed. - -Wiretapping is rarely used to procure actual evidence. Judges and -juries don’t like it. But eavesdropping alerts officers and then -they go after collateral evidence and don’t reveal where the tipoff -originated. - -Instead of developing more stringent legislation which is what the -Communists, who break every law, want, the radical-sponsored Pepper -investigation failed so miserably that many Congressmen agreed the -government should have more power to protect itself by means of -wiretapping. The Department of Justice is sponsoring a bill to permit, -under some circumstances, the use of evidence in court so obtained; -to be accepted after a Federal Judge issues an order on application -of government intelligence agencies, and to sanction such agencies to -engage in wiretapping directly, not for court evidence, subject to -approval by the Attorney General. - -Many sober observers feel that to forbid the F.B.I. any reasonable -means for counteracting treason and espionage is childish prudery, and -that its bitter opponents are not in good faith. - -You hear a lot from pinks and phony progressives that the nation’s -capital is a police state where no man is free to utter his thoughts. -But most of the spying is done not for legitimate government sources, -but is privately sponsored by politicians, office-holders or subversive -and inimical interests. Washington is no OGPU camp. Most of the -work done in the headquarters of federal investigative agencies is -administrative. They decentralize their field work. The Washington -offices of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, the Alcoholic Tax Unit and -several others are branches of the Baltimore division and report to the -superintendent there. - -The Washington field office of the F.B.I. is as remote and as -independent from the director as, for instance, the ones in New York, -Chicago and Los Angeles, and like them is run by an agent-in-charge, -through regular channels like out-of-town offices, via Clyde A. Tolson, -the skillful associate director, and brainy assistant directors Mickey -Ladd, Hugh Clegg, Lou Nichols, Dick Glavin, Rolf Harbo, Al Rosen and -Stan Tracy before Hoover handles any matter. - -The agent-in-charge of the Washington field office has as much -authority and autonomy and is as locally independent as Ed Scheidt and -his assistant, Bill Whelan, in New York; George McSwain in Chicago, and -Dick Hood in L.A., all solid and seasoned chiefs of ability, integrity -and patriotism. - -The same lefties who are moaning about Washington being a police state -recently tried to slip a fast one over, to make it so, and at the -expense of embarrassing and possibly destroying the F.B.I. - -When the House Committee Investigating Crime and Law Enforcement in -the District was drawing up its report, certain sources tried to -sneak a sleeper into it, recommending that the F.B.I. be given final -responsibility for policing the city of Washington. - -We have determined that the suggestion was made to sub-committee -Chairman Davis by District Attorney Fay who said he concurred in it -with Peyton Ford, an Assistant Attorney General, with a long record of -sympathy for “progressive” causes. Informed observers wonder if Ford, -who helped whitewash Amerasia, was acting for higher-ups out to “get” -J. Edgar Hoover. - -The plan was to slip this through into legislation. That would mean the -end of the F.B.I. as we know it. It would then become a city police -force. Its organization would be disrupted, as was the Treasury during -Prohibition. It would have to take on thousands of new agents, waste -time with drunks, whores, policy-slip peddlers and punks, and meanwhile -it would have to take the odium for the conditions portrayed in this -book, which go deeper than mere failure of police. - -In recent years it has become the fashion in the movie industry to -produce whodunit pictures about detective agencies of the Federal -government. The Hollywood geniuses think they have covered all but they -missed plenty. - -(Note: In all cases their duties are regulated and catalogued by -statute. None, including the F.B.I., is a genuine and general secret -police force--such as Scotland Yard. - -Generally speaking, their powers and duties are in one of four -categories. - -The Federal Bureau of Investigation “investigates.” - -The Postal Inspectors “inspect.” - -The Treasury Agents “enforce.” - -The Secret Service “protects”--the President and the currency.) - -The Narcotics Bureau is covered elsewhere in some detail; but this -is as good a place as any to assure you that Federal cops are human -beings, not machines assembled to turn out convictions. A principal -function of the Narcotics Bureau is to combat the dope evil, not to -imprison its victims. This was demonstrated when a famed Hollywood -movie star went on the junk. The Bureau, in checking prescriptions, -found she was in the hands of a quack who was ruining her life. -Commissioner Anslinger made a trip to Hollywood to plead with the head -of her studio to give her a year off, so she could go to a sanitarium -for a cure. She had two pictures in the works and the studio factotum -demurred. He mentioned her contract, said the company had millions -invested in the films. He “couldn’t possibly see my way clear.” - -Anslinger warned him she would collapse and the company would lose an -asset worth even more. The young woman was being kept alive during the -day on benzedrine. Afternoons the doctor tapered her off on secanol. -After work she was dosed with morphine. The inevitable eventuated. She -blew up completely, tried suicide, was hospitalized and suspended. -Then the government stepped in and gave her the cure. Now she is -dehabituated and rehabilitated. - -The Intelligence Unit uncovered the huge tax fraud that sent Henry -Lustig, former owner of New York’s Longchamps Restaurant chain, to the -pen. Many stories are told on how the prosecution began, including the -apocryphal one that Henry Morgenthau, then Secretary of the Treasury, -was forced to stand in line and wait for a table in a Miami cafe when -Lustig was ushered in ahead of him; Morgenthau asked who the man was, -exploded and ordered the Feds to get him. - -But the real story is this: The New York hideaway office of the unit -is at 253 Broadway. There’s a Longchamps Restaurant in the basement. -Federal agents don’t earn enough to afford its fancy prices. They -usually lunch in a counter-joint around the corner. But one day it -rained. Some agents were tied up on a big case, didn’t have time to -wait, so they ducked down in the elevator. - -Many Wall Street financiers lunch there regularly, have tables reserved -and waiting. The only empty one had a “reserved” sign, but the -Intelligence boys grabbed it over the protest of the hostess. When the -millionaires arrived they had to wait. They fumed. Lustig was there. He -shouted, “Why did you let those bums take that table?” - -Service to the “bums” was cut off. They wondered whether the -imperious Lustig’s returns were clean, whether he wasn’t the sort -of individualist who would probably steal. They checked. He had -sequestered $5,000,000 in unreported hatcheck money. - -When the Intelligence Unit, nicknamed “The U-Boats,” sent Atlantic City -boss Nocky Johnson to the can, they got him by counting the towels sent -to the laundry by the local cat-houses. This established the intake of -the madames, and their kickbacks upstairs. - -The Intelligence Unit has been working on the hidden holdings of the -Mafia for years. When evidence in hand is collated, 30 of the most -important hoodlums will trade in their tailor-mades for prison denim. -There’s terrific pressure from higher-ups to stop the forthcoming -prosecution. Only orders from the President or Attorney General will do -it. - -Sometimes Intelligence runs into amusing situations like the case of -the rich Chinese and the blonde model. He was a wealthy importer, -named Hsieh, in America on a diplomatic passport as the representative -of the Bank of China. Nationalist Hsieh fell for Marion Saunders, a -sensational slick chick with platinum hair, from Indiana. It became a -terrific romance. Cafe socialites kidded that he bought her a new mink -coat every day. - -The Treasury heard about the dough he was lavishing on her. They -looked him up, discovered that as a nonresident alien he was exempt -from American income taxes. But Mr. Hsieh had forgotten gift taxes. -Under the law the donor, not the recipient, is liable for payment--25 -percent. The Feds tracked down gifts aggregating $1,000,000--the -untraced value was far higher. Mr. Hsieh was soaked $540,000--tax plus -fines. He was allowed to pay in three installments. He pulled out a -roll of bills and peeled off 180 G-notes for the down payment. - -Some months later, Hsieh and Marion were married. Ginmill habitués said -he married her to get his dough back. That couldn’t be so, because -one day, last year, the _Queen Mary_ came in with $2,000,000 in gold -consigned to him. It was landed under guard of six armed Chinese, toted -off in steel-lined limousines. - -Which reminds us of the story never told before, too good to keep. - -One of the benches in Lafayette Square, gathering place of the faggots, -across from the White House, is wired up. You ought to hear some of the -gay conversations. We did. Then we squirted penicillin in our ears. - - - - -PART THREE - -THE ESCAPE - -(_Confidential!_) - - - - -34. THE TUESDAY-TO-THURSDAY SET - - -The most itching urge in Washington is to get away from it. Few have -the conventional home ties there which bind the average American to -the hearth, or the radiator. Weekends are dismally dull and shop shuts -up from Friday night until Monday morning, with few exceptions. Civil -servants rate thirty-day vacations. The winters are sleazy and frosty. -The summers are insufferable in that swampy, flat region which enjoys -no ocean breezes. - -Where to go? Anywhere. Those who can afford it scram to New York -or Atlantic City. The next layer hightails it for Baltimore or -Philadelphia. Some fly to far points. Eastern Congressmen and officials -rarely bring their wives and families to Washington, an arrangement of -mutual consent after the rookies have tried domestic life there for a -few months of high anticipation and depressing disillusionment. Most -Congressmen from east of the Ohio River don’t wait for Friday. They -are known as the “Tuesday-to-Thursday” set, because that’s the point -of departure and return. Frank Roosevelt, Jr. is its most consistent -member. - -The great hegira starts Thursday, when the Congressional Limited -leaves, at 4 P.M. For the rest of the day and throughout the night -every outgoing train and plane is packed and the stragglers fill them -up on Fridays, too. For these trips and returns, hundreds of regular -reservations stand during sessions. - -Weekenders who have no fences to mend or wives to mollify or private -practices to superintend hie to resorts in Virginia and the Carolinas. -But the pet dreamland of escape for the hiatus is Atlantic City. During -spring and summer the Pennsylvania Railroad runs a through Pullman car -daily to and from there, via the Delaware River bridge. This is hooked -onto or off the New York-Washington train at North Philadelphia, where -there is a rush for the club car. The drawing-rooms house either poker -games or shut-in shebas who long to smell the sea. Teetotal-voting, -Bible-Belt solons stagger up and down the boardwalk with potted -patooties on the arms that beat the righteous breasts in the hallowed -chambers. - -The politicians favor the Claridge in Atlantic City, but the Brighton, -across the street, is rapidly becoming the gay spot, much patronized by -those who go up for laughs. Those who want seclusion usually stay at -the Ritz-Carlton, at the end of the boardwalk and off the beaten track. -The Ritz was once owned by Enoch “Nocky” Johnson, former Atlantic City -political boss, recently discharged from federal prison. Nocky is on -parole now and not supposed to drink or go to public places or engage -in politics, but he does and is still a power in the town and is called -on by visiting Washington G.O.P. dignitaries. - -Nocky was one of the few leaders with underworld tie-ups prosecuted -during the Roosevelt administration. Of course, Johnson was a -Republican, not a Democrat, and the orders went out from Boss Hague in -Jersey City to get him. - -Many Washingtonians seeking fun go to Philadelphia, of all places! -Philly is a natural for married men who want to do a little cheating, -because who would ever think of looking for them there? “Sleepy” old -Philadelphia is not so sleepy. It is one of the hottest towns in the -country, loaded with after-hour spots which offer fast floor shows and -run later than anything in New York. - -Philadelphia is Mafia-controlled, run by the same branch of the mob -which owns South Jersey and its domestic wine industry, and Atlantic -City. Many Philadelphia spots break the law brazenly and openly, -protected by the Mafia. - -But Philadelphia has one of the finest restaurants in the world, -operated by one of America’s best-known hosts. This is Jack Lynch’s -Zodiac Room in the Warburton Hotel. Lynch has more friends in show -business and high politics than any other man alive. Many top actors -break their trips from Washington or Baltimore to New York to stop -overnight for an evening with Lynch. - -Philadelphia is two hours from Washington on fast trains. Many -show-starved Washingtonians, who don’t have the time to get to Broadway -to visit the legitimate theatre, find they can ride to Philadelphia, -catch a show--there are usually four or five big-time productions -playing--have a drink, and get back to Washington in time for bed. -Washington wolves go to Philly to howl. Mention New York or Atlantic -City and a bimbo knows that’s a weekend and all that goes with it. But -invite her to Philadelphia for an evening, then a few drinks after the -show--and the last train has left. A lady can’t sleep standing up. - -Of course, New York remains the chief target for weekenders. Those -on small budgets stay at one of the popular-priced West Side hotels, -visit the usual tourist traps, occasionally see a Broadway show, and -have a hell of a time without spending too much. Government clerks -come away to New York for a weekend, a man and a woman, going Dutch. -Groups of government girls save up for a trip to the big city. They -go sight-seeing and gawking, send home colored postal cards and eat -box-lunches in Grant’s Tomb. - -Most good New York cafes will not serve unescorted women. So the best -the typists and filers can do is wander around, oohing at the bright -lights and dreaming up lies to tell when they get back. - -The guys in the bigger jobs have a hell of a time when in New York. -Embassy people come up regularly and are provided with introductions -to top models by the State Department. Key Congressmen and high -officials are brought up on junkets by lobbyists, entertained in the -swank joints, and if they don’t have their wives with them they can -have the best. If wives are along, they are invited by the lobbyists to -go shopping at places like Saks-Fifth Avenue, Bonwit Teller, Bergdorf -Goodman and Hattie Carnegie, and charge anything they want on the -lobbyist’s accounts. - -The favorite hangout of the New Deal set in New York is the Stork Club. -The attorneys for the Stork Club are Goldwater and Flynn. The Flynn -is Ed Flynn, New Deal Democratic boss, campaign manager of the late -President Roosevelt. The Stork became a hangout for the left-wing and -do-gooder crowd during the 1930’s, when the late Supreme Court Justice -Frank Murphy used to cut up on the dance-floor with cuties. Harry -Hopkins, the ex-Mills Hotel Hopper, who addressed envelopes at a cent -each, favored its rich menu--on the cuff. - -Many of the important bleeding hearts, labor union leaders and -spokesmen for the have-nots spent and still spend their time in -New York in the Stork Club, where the have-nots they bleed for are -rigorously barred by silken ropes. - -Here such union bosses as the musicians’ Petrillo, a pal of Truman’s, -and the truckmen’s Tobin, a Roosevelt favorite, are served by a -nonunion restaurant staff. Sherman Billingsley, the Stork’s owner, -had to cough up more than $100,000 for back salaries and unfair labor -practices. But while he was fighting organized labor the chief union -bosses, all the Roosevelt sons and half the cabinet frequented his -place. They still do, though the restaurant unions still consider the -Stork unfair. But Sherman’s friends see the place is never picketed any -more. - -The diplomatic set, visiting nobility and royal guests of the State -Department, and the older Washington dignitaries visit John Perona’s El -Morocco, the swankiest in New York. One may meet ambassadors, princes, -a dispossessed king and some South American presidents in Morocco at -one time. On these occasions there is more law scattered around the -room than there are customers in most other clubs. A visiting potentate -like a sultan or maharajah, in addition to rating a couple of Secret -Service men, gets four New York detectives. - -When the boys come up from Washington with nothing good on their minds -they head for the Sun Up Club, in a private house in West 68th Street, -right off Central Park West. This place is run by a couple of sisters -who used to operate the Hour Glass Club. One, Helen O’Brien, is close -to Joe Nunan, former Commissioner of Internal Revenue and intimate -friend of Boss Ed Flynn. This place gets away with anything and has for -years. It freely sells liquor at any hour without a license and without -regard to closing ordinances. - -Helen O’Brien knows a lot of amiable dishes who hang around there. If -there should happen to be none when a visiting padrone comes in, they -soon get there. This spot is practically unknown to New Yorkers, few of -whom, including newspapermen, ever heard of it. It is patronized almost -solely by august Democrats from Washington. - -Visiting New Dealers pour also into Toots Shor’s restaurant, where -they are almost as welcome as baseball players and prize fighters. The -late Bob Hannegan, postmaster and Democratic Committee Chairman, was -a regular. Sometimes he brought an unknown Senator from his home state -with him, Harry Truman, who liked the conviviality of the place and -bent an elbow with the boys. When the Senator was Vice President, he -stopped in and played the piano in the private room. Toots, a genial -giant, fat and wide and tall, had lunch at the White House with the -late President Roosevelt and made him laugh. Sometimes at dinner -there’s more Washington brass at Toots’ than there is in Washington. -Toots also runs all non-union. But he can call a cabineteer a -crumb-bum, and is then set down as a character and a wit. - - - - -35. BALTIMORE, CONFIDENTIAL - - (_Authors’ note_: This is a chapter, not the going-over that a - Lait-Mortimer excavating job on our sixth biggest city, our second - port in tonnage, truly rates. It is a by-product of this work, - because aristocratic, historic Baltimore is the slumming-ground for - thousands of escaping Washingtonians, only 36 miles away over fast - rails and modern autobahns.) - - -Stir up your memory and try to think when and where you have read an -“exposé” or any other study of Baltimore. You can recall pieces, kindly -or vicious, about San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, New -Orleans, Philadelphia, New York, and discussions of the peculiarities -of Boston. But Baltimore, a main-line metropolis, with atmosphere and -tradition and volume and character, is by-passed. - -We were almost complete strangers there on field-work, though our -tortuous delvings into the continental Mafia-managed Syndicate long ago -fixed for us its place in the national network. - -Baltimore is perhaps the perfect example of a Mafia-controlled city in -action. For practical purposes it is a contraction of Chicago and an -expansion of Galveston, extreme gangster-throttled cities with the same -core of Sicilian manipulators who push the buttons and pull the levers. - -Italians constitute one of the largest foreign elements in Baltimore -and can always be depended on to vote in a bloc. Little Italy is -centered around Albemarle and Fawn Sts., where much of the deviltry -is hatched over “dago red” wine. Add to this the huge colored vote, -which also is pretty solidly Democratic, and you have the makings of a -perfect boss-run burg. - -Our investigations into other American municipalities have shown where -the Mafia dominates there is a disintegration of public morality and -private conscience. - -To this major seaport huge numbers of Italian and Sicilian immigrants -have always been drawn. They formed the base for its underworld colony, -made it a star on the Mafia map. It is a concentration point for -illegally-entered Sicilians, stowed away on the freight steamers that -ply between the Mediterranean and Chesapeake Bay, by a smuggling-ring. -As these aliens become Americanized, grow rich and powerful in the -rackets, they import new waves of Sicilians for the underworld’s menial -tasks. - -Baltimore is a favorite hide-out for Mafistas on the lam from -other towns, especially New York, and is used interchangeably with -Providence, R.I., for that. When one of your authors was assaulted -by Sicilian hoodlums in the pay of Mafia tycoons last spring at -Bill Miller’s Riviera in New Jersey, New York police investigating -the crime were tipped off that the sluggers were being sheltered in -Baltimore’s Little Italy, where they were feted as honored guests at -a two-week wedding blowout for the daughter of one of the richest and -most powerful Sicilians there. More recently, Tony Rotondo, a Brooklyn -ex-convict wanted on suspicion of being the torpedo who slew Bill -Drury, was found in Baltimore. - -In recent years Baltimore has had an infiltration of Puerto Ricans. -It is in handy sea communication with the Caribbean. It has also -considerable air traffic with that area and at a cheaper rate than New -York’s. The affinity between the Mafia underworld and the new Puerto -Rican migrants quickly developed, as it did in East Harlem. Young -Puerto Ricans are employed as dope-peddlers, pimps, and torpedoes. -Their colony is not large as yet. What it lacks in size is made up for -with Latin enthusiasm. - -Baltimore’s Negro population is around 300,000. On the whole, the -colored folk there are more orderly than their neighbors in the -District of Columbia. Maryland is still a Southern state and its -whites will stand for just so much. But Maryland’s Negroes have the -right to vote and they have been taken in hand by the professional -do-gooders, the New Dealers and other such ilk, who often work hand in -hand with the underworld. The result is that the Negro, the Italian and -the Puerto Rican votes are often enough to tip the balance in local -elections and perpetuate the criminal rule. - -This is expressed on all levels with “fixes” necessary and available -for everything from a special license number which will exempt you from -arrest to the go-ahead for a bagnio. (When you see a Maryland license -ending in three zeros, you know the car is an untouchable.) - -The town’s gambling czars are some Comi brothers, some Corbi brothers, -all Italians, and George Goldberg, big in numbers. - -Tom Shaw, original owner of the swank Club Charles, also was important -in the gambling firmament until the Sicilians muscled in, taking a -part of his night club as well. Nick Campofreda, a local radio sports -announcer, was put in as permanent M.C.--not good either. - -The Century Athletic Club on Baltimore St., was in the fight promoting -business, as well as the central clearing house for bets. The Mafia had -tried long and hard to declare itself in, always without success. - -The deal was consummated three years ago, after a couple of swarthy -boys from Brooklyn “stuck” it up. Every newspaper printed the story, -but the cops denied it happened. - -The Club has surrendered its fight charter, and is now simply a -gambling place. Five leaders of the Sicilian colony are James Caranna, -Frank Gattuso, Tom Lafata, John Maurice, and Joe Palozzolo. They -control the potent minority votes--through threats and payoffs--and -dictate to Baltimore’s political leaders. - -The town’s top Democratic politicians are Bill “Boss” Curran, a lawyer, -and Jack Pollack, former bootlegger, now in insurance. He runs the 4th -District. Pollack was once arrested for murder but never indicted. - -They split recently over patronage. Curran nominated his man for -Governor, but Pollack threw his weight to the G.O.P. candidate, thus -putting a Republican in the State House for the third time since 1864. -He is expected to remember his political debt to Pollack. - -The new Governor, Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin, was the last Republican -mayor of Baltimore. He had Pollack’s nod then, too. - -The Governor can be a nuisance in Baltimore if he wants to, but never -does. City police heads are appointed by him, not by the mayor. Beverly -Ober, the incumbent commissioner, is “social,” and acceptable. Anyway -Maryland law provides a set term for the top cop. McKeldin is expected -to keep his snoot out of Baltimore--he needs it for re-election; and -its Democratic legislators--who control the legislature--to pass his -measures. - -A powerful Democrat is Senator Herbert R. O’Conor. The R is for -Romulus. O’Conor is a member of the Kefauver committee. Locally he -works with whatever faction is in power. - -George Muller, 4th ward boss and State Racing Commission Inspector is a -local czar. - -Juke-boxes, vending-devices, slot-machines and other Frank Costello -monopolies are handled locally by Joseph Corbi, of the brothers, out on -bail at this writing after being arrested by the F.B.I. as one of the -chief operators of an international lottery ring. - -Senator O’Conor is the sponsor of a new plan to bring in 36,000 Italian -immigrants forthwith, mostly from Sicily. The Baltimore underworld -hopes to route most of these to Maryland. But New York’s Republican -Senator Ives has boosted the ante to 130,000. There are more Italian -voters to appease in the Empire State. - -The importation of Sicilians, legally and illegally, under the padrone -system, is again growing. Huge numbers of aliens have been brought -into the country and settled in certain key spots dominated by the -Mafia, where they work off their fare and keep, usually by acting as -dope-peddlers, numbers-runners or sluggers, or selling their daughters -into white slavery. - -Now let’s catch up with our mythical refugee from Washington, who comes -to Baltimore for only one purpose--and that’s no good. You can be sure -he finds what he wants in Baltimore. It’s got everything that’s no good. - -The visitor’s first impression is of a dirty old town, with ancient, -smoke-grimed structures and narrow, rambling streets, one-third of -which are still illuminated by gas-lights--with Welsbach globes! - -Baltimore is overrun by rubes. And the dress, manners and customs of -most residents appear provincial. Washington is a city of hicks, too, -but it is a yokel cosmopolis, with farmers drawn from all sections of -the country, leavened with some civilized folk and foreigners. - -Baltimore is the market for more chicken-farmers than any other of our -cities. It is the place, therefore, where they come to raise the kind -of hell a chicken-farmer would. - -Washington women on the average seem smart and well-dressed compared -to those in Baltimore. Yet Baltimore has some famous high-fashioned -women’s shops which bring customers up from Washington. But the street -types don’t patronize them, for they walk around in cheap house-dresses -and shapeless coats of cloth, plush and phony fur. - -This is the more surprising because Baltimoreans are the most finicky -shoppers in the world. As we write this, the local department stores -insert a pleading full-page ad in the papers: - -“Gentle Reader.... Over 11,000 purchases daily are sent back to -Baltimore stores. NO OTHER CITY EVEN COMES CLOSE to our percentage of -returns.... Think how thousands of sales people lose productive time -making over 3,000,000 sales a year that come back.” - -Baltimore has a Skid Row that turns your stomach even in Baltimore, -where so much of the burg looks like one Skid Row. Next door to and -around the corner from some of the best hotels, cafes and department -stores, you will find nude strippers, B-girls, hostesses and whores. -Guttered drunks and street-walkers may be the badge of the Bowery -elsewhere; here they are a common sight on every street. - -The visitor heads for one of a half-dozen hotels, all but one of -which are almost as ancient as the city itself. The newest, the Lord -Baltimore, is almost a quarter-of-a-century old. - -The hotels are cozy, but musty. The elderly Belvedere, once the class -joint, is now part of the nation-wide Sheraton chain. Its cocktail -lounge is the only social hangout left. The Emerson and the Southern -are doddering old ladies. There is an air of laissez faire in Baltimore -which extends to the inns. If you are quiet and gentlemanly about it, -they probably won’t throw that broad out of your room. For it is a -friendly town, as you will have many occasions to find out. Everyone -talks to you, half the girls you meet want to go to bed with you. The -name of its new airport is Friendship International. - -When Judy Coplon worked for the Department of Justice she was -considered the most amenable gal there, which made her the most -popular. Harold Shapiro, a good-looking assistant attorney general, -dated her frequently. It was testified at her first trial that they -went together to Baltimore, where they spent a night in a room in the -Southern Hotel. - -Judy admitted that, but claimed she did not undress. Shapiro was an -unhappy witness against her, because many thought he had acted for the -government to lure her--kissed and told. - -He moaned to friends in Baltimore, “It happens to lots of guys. But not -everyone has a G-Man under the bed.” - -The first item on the tourist’s agenda after he gets out of the hay is -East Baltimore Street, part of the main commercial thoroughfare. From -Gilford Avenue to Fallsway it is Hobo Heaven. You know when you are -getting to what you want to find when you see a Salvation Army meeting -on a street-corner, in front of a barker for a burlesque house. Other -towns have honky-tonk lanes, too, but this is the only one where it is -the main attraction. - -Skid Row starts as soon as you walk past the Emerson and Southern -hotels. You are right in the middle of it--a good half mile of avenue -lined on both sides with burlesque theatres, cheap bars, low-class -night clubs, novelty stores, shooting galleries, penny arcades, -flop-houses and second-hand clothing stores. All burlesques and some -saloons have hawkers who will pull you in by main force if you hesitate -or stop to look at the pictures. - -The most famous dump in town is a basement dive called the Oasis -Club. Years ago, when we first visited it, it specialized in a rowdy -floor-show, with a chorus of elderly relics, their drooping bosoms -unencumbered by brassieres. It is now a strip-joint selling a parade -of nudes, some “refined” with bubbles or fans, pretending to “tease.” -Many peelers make $1,000 a week. But not these in Baltimore. The Oasis -is non-union. The maximum salary is $35. They earn the rest of their -living sitting out with male customers. We had seen crummy shows -before, but nothing quite like the Oasis. Yet, when we stepped around, -we found it tame for the course. - -In Chicago, where nudes run wild, they never work at floor level. They -are lewd on raised stages or on platforms behind bars. At the Oasis and -a good many others in Baltimore, they work on the floor. If you are -sitting at the ringside, you can reach out your hand and tap the babe -on her bare behind. And she’ll love it. - -One or two Oasis girls strip completely, without G-strings, plaster -or anything on. The m.c. mouths continuous patter of dirty talk in -which he encourages the customers to tickle the girls--anywhere. The -girls talk back to the patrons, jump on their laps, stick their bare -backsides in their faces, in the spirit of good clean fun. - -Max Cohen sold the Oasis to Sam Levin. He agreed to get out of the -strip business. But he immediately opened another room, around the -corner, called the Miami. Levin sued for breach of contract and -collected $50,000. The competition between these two sewers opened the -town up wider than it had been in decades. Each tried to outdo the -other in nudity. But a girl can’t take off more than all. Meanwhile, -other strip dives found themselves outstripped and had to meet the new -mode. - -The Miami is around the corner from city hall and police headquarters. -The mayor can turn at his desk and look into the Miami, and many other -dives. This is one of the most vicious and lawless areas in the world. -The mayor of Baltimore, whose present term expires in May, 1951, is -Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., a Democrat. He was chosen Permanent President -of the U.S. Attorney-General’s Continuing Conference on Crime and -Corruption last winter. - -Mayor D’Alesandro was, before his election as the city’s chief -executive, the “Mayor of Little Italy.” His rise to the seats of the -mighty, did not turn his head. He refused to move from the slums where -he had always lived, at 245 Fawn St. Instead he rebuilt his home into a -modernistic mansion, a show place surrounded by hovels. - -Next door, and connected, is a new commercial building in which the -Mayor operates his insurance business and his wife her home-beauty -treatment supply company. - -If the Mayor returns late from a banquet, political meeting or night -session of the City Council, he will not be forced to travel through -dark and deserted streets. For the immediate vicinity of his home -is the bright light section of Little Italy, where neon-lighted -restaurants run all night, and serve liquor in tea-cups, and some -openly in orthodox set-ups. - -Kid Julian runs one such place nearby, a mob hangout. - -It is interesting how Baltimore’s Mayor was chosen to head the -Conference on Crime over mob-fighting Mayors Bowron, of Los Angeles, -and Morrison, of New Orleans. We know the inside. We covered the -inaugural meeting in Washington at which all problems were solved in -two hours, after President Truman opened it with a pep talk in which -he said there’d be no crime if everyone read the Bible and stopped for -traffic lights. - -“Look at me,” he said. “I am the most important man in the world. Yet I -instruct my chauffeur to stop at all red lights.” - -That night the President’s car went through 17 en route to a banquet at -the Statler. - -Mayor D’Alesandro’s honor came after he read an intelligent paper to -the delegates. It came as a surprise that D’Alesandro had such a fine -grasp on the subject. It came to him that way, too. - -You see, when he read it, it was the first time he had seen it. It was -written for him by a Baltimore newspaperman. - -The location of the deadfalls in Baltimore reminds us of Galveston, -where the gambling and red-light districts, controlled by -Syndicate-allied bosses Sam and Rosario Maceo, are also contiguous to -the offices of the law enforcement authorities. - -The Miami Club is on the main floor of a building which advertises -“Rooms Upstairs.” It has some of the most disgusting acts we have ever -seen. Girls in the show will sit out with you on request. Every time -you pay for your round of drinks--they require you to pay after each -round--the sitter asks you for a dollar tip. The girls who work in the -show get no commission on these drinks. But if they don’t have a drink -in front of them all the time they risk being fired. Their base pay, -as “entertainers” runs from $20 to $35 a week. The rest they make from -the tips and from deals arranged for after work. Some of the girls in -the show aren’t bad lookers. We spoke to one young Puerto Rican, named -Aida, who could have gone places in New York if she had any spunk or -talent. Here all she did was walk around the floor without a stitch on. -Off her it looked good. - -The m.c. at the Miami, when we got nauseated there, was a fairy. Some -of the older dames in the show are lesbians. Many fags frequent the -place. The girls told us all that freely, though not free. - -The rest of the customers are servicemen, riffraff, sight-seers and -drunks. One seldom brings his wife or girl friend to this place. One -of the nights we were there we saw two policemen and a lieutenant in -uniform, sitting at a table drinking, surrounded by girls. At the -next table was a wizened little old fellow tossing dough away on the -broads. We figured him for a chump. But he turned out to be a retired -Baltimore police captain who quit so rich that he can afford to spend -$500 a night, that way. - -Many of the lower-paid employes of the British and French embassies in -Washington hang out at the Miami. Occasionally some of these girls are -brought to Washington when low down high-jinks are wanted. The Miami -advertises regularly in the Washington dailies. - -The waitresses at the Miami seem to be independent contractors. Tables -are not assigned. Customers are continuously solicited for orders by -dozens of different ones. Each carries a purse and you settle with -her after every round. She pays cash at the bar for it. It seems any -girl who wants to can come in and hustle drinks this way without being -hired. Some wear slacks, others street clothes, and a few sport cheap -evening gowns. They will sit with you with no coaxing. One of our -waitresses sat down and said, “My tables always buy me a drink.” - -At the Miami Club we often saw men seated with girls from the show or -waitresses and making obscene passes--not in booths, right out on the -open floor. - -But the ultimate in lowdown shows goes to Kay’s, on Frederick and -Baltimore Sts., across from the Oasis. There is nothing like Kay’s -anywhere, and we’ve seen them all. The dance-floor is about 15 feet -square, all tables on the floor. Practically every girl in the show -works naked and does raw routines within reaching distance of those at -ringside. The women, with words and motions that wouldn’t be allowed in -Fultah Fisher’s boarding-house, solicit men from the floor. One of the -most startling dirty acts we’ve ever seen was done by a woman billed as -Moana. She introduced it as her “Whore Dance.” - -Here are some of the sights of East Baltimore Street: - -At Number 116, a couple of doors from the Emerson Hotel, is an -amusement arcade where the kid pick-ups come. Those who like them so -can walk off with 13-year-olds. - -The first thing you notice is the profusion of stores and shops and -stands selling “sanitary rubber goods” and other immediate accessories. -In the lobby of the Globe Burlesque Theatre is a sign reading, -“SALAMI--RUBBER GOODS.” - -A sign in the window of 424 East Baltimore reads “TRY OUR -HAMBURGER--SANITARY RUBBER GOODS--SHOOTING GALLERY IN REAR.” - -Most of these novelty stores and newsstands also sell dirty pictures, -including series of snaps showing strips. In one we recognized a New -York chorine we know. On sale are playing-cards with naked females on -the faces. - -In the window of the Maryland Gift Shop, in addition to a lavish -display of “rubber goods” and salacious pictures, are switchblade -knives. The newsstand at Gay and Baltimore Streets has “rubber goods” -on display beside newspapers and the usual pictures. Gordon’s Novelty -Shop, at 428 East Baltimore Street, hands out a business card with a -drawing on the reverse side showing a short-skirted cutie standing next -to a young soldier in a rainstorm, with the caption: “Don’t forget your -rubbers.” - -Though we saw “rubber goods” displayed in at least 40 store windows, -not only on Baltimore Street, but in other parts of town, we can’t -remember seeing so many pregnant women anywhere else. In New York one -seldom sees such displays, even on the streets. - -Many Baltimore Street joints are pointedly pick-up bars. One is the -408. Another is the Midway Bar, where the local hoodlum hot-shots hang -out. Harry’s Bar has strippers and pick-ups. Katherine’s Bar goes in -for a couple of cheap teasers and a lot of cheap whores working the -tables. Next door to Katherine’s Bar is a sign, “Rooms one dollar a -night.” - -Down a couple of blocks in the Victoria Hotel, a tawdry assignation -joint, is a dive called Bettye Mills Night Club. It was once known as -the Stork Club, but Sherman Billingsley brought suit. It has a couple -of long bars where soiled strippers work on platforms, above the -bartenders. While you sit on the stools, dames come over and ask you to -buy them drinks. This doesn’t surprise anyone, because they do it in -every low joint in town. Such places have female bartenders, and many -lean over and kiss customers. If not too busy, they come out and sit -with the trade. - -One bartender at Bettye Mills is a character known as Mitzie, a plump -little broad, a retired stripper. She has a running line of patter. If -you give her a dollar tip she will pull up her skirt, pull down her -panties and stash the bill in full sight of the customer. - -In the men’s room is an ad which reads: “Sanitubes for defense, protect -our Army and Navy.” - -Bettye is the town’s chief call girl madame, operating through the -hotel switchboard. - -The Village Bar, 12 Harrison Street, around the corner from Baltimore, -is a pick-up dump with B girls, hustlers and barmaids who go through -the customers, and we mean just that. Three of us saw a guy get rolled. -He was a good-looking, well-dressed young fellow, obviously plastered. -A whore in an evening gown sat next to him and pawed him with both her -hands. Then she got up, went to the women’s room for a minute, then -took a seat by herself at the far end of the bar. When the cluck woke -up, he frisked his pockets for his poke. It was gone. Still in a daze, -he wandered around the room looking for the dame. She didn’t give him a -glance. He wandered off, befuddled. - -Even the better places have circular bars. We figured that out--they -are better for pick-ups. You can look at the girls from front, then -motion them. But in most places you don’t have to motion. They -practically attack you. Not even in Chicago are they so voracious. They -don’t ask you to buy a drink. They move right in and order. - -Few Baltimore B girls work on commission. Most of them live on their -tips, which they solicit after they’ve bilked you for drinks. The -procedure is for a girl to move in next to you, order without asking, -then get ready to blow if not propositioned and demand a dollar tip for -her “company.” - -Some saloons which specialize in better-looking ones give them $5 a -night and they keep their tips and anything they can make after hours. -Entertainers must cadge drinks to keep their jobs. No commissions. - -Baltimore has a 2 A.M. closing, which except in Little Italy is -generally observed--one of the few laws that is. These easy hours give -the girls plenty of time to pick up money after work. A strange sight -is East Baltimore Street a few minutes before 2 A.M. It is lined with -walls of men waiting for the frails to come out of the bars, strip -dives and burlesque houses. These are not pimps or dates, but men on -the hunt who saved drink-money and put a ceiling on the commodity. -Hundreds of pick-ups are made this way every night, openly in front of -the few cops there on patrol. - -Streetwalkers pace in front of the filling-station at Baltimore and -Fallsway. They are very low-grade stuff. Asking prices start at five -bucks and waver to what they can get. - -Parlor-houses have about disappeared from Baltimore, as from most -cities, but there is a line of them in the 600 block, on West North -Avenue. There’s one in the 1000 block of N. Charles, also one next door -to the Blue Mirror. - -Most of the dives are on Baltimore St. and in the vicinity, but there -is no monopoly there. A store next to May’s department store, in the -retail shopping district, has a window display of “sanitary rubber -goods” and switch-blade knives. Ditto is a shop known as Blizzards, -on Eutaw Street, which advertises a bargain, “Three dozen latex, one -dollar.” - -There’s a strip-dive, the Picadilly, around the corner from the Lord -Baltimore Hotel, in the midst of the financial and retail district. It -has pretty lowdown floor-shows and swarms with hustlers who work the -bars. We saw one cute bartender there, calling herself Val, about 18, -from some mountain town in Tennessee. For a dollar tip she’d let you -play around and never slap your hands. - -The joints on East Baltimore are bad--but on the outskirts of town, on -the Pulaski Highway at Fayette Street, you find places not patronized -by tourists, bums or sailors, but by local kids. You see nude -floor-shows at the Ambassador, on Fayette, and at De Carlos, on the -Highway, that would make Baltimore Street bums blush. - -The Big Mob operates or protects the dives. It owns many of the good -places, too. Every dump and purveyor of filthy pictures now has a sign -in the window: “Re-elect D’Alesandro.” - -The better region is along Charles Street, where the more expensive -specialty and antique shops and the few better-class night clubs and -lounges are. Among them is the Club Charles, part of the circuit which -includes the Copacabana in New York, the Chez Paree in Chicago, and -clubs in Saratoga, Miami, Las Vegas and New Orleans, which play such -acts as Sophie Tucker and Joe E. Lewis. When the heat isn’t on, a game -runs in the back room of the Charles. - -Less elaborate is the Chanticleer, but far above deadfalls in the other -part of town. It boasts good floor shows and “name strippers.” Among -the good cocktail lounges in this district are the Coronet and the -Blue Mirror. These are places where men take their own girls or their -business associates. They provide no entertainment, but usually have a -musical trio behind the bar. - -As the 2 o’clock closing ordinance is generally obeyed, a problem in -Baltimore after hours is to find a place to drink on the premises. -But liquor package stores sell until 2 A.M., and most licensees are -permitted to sell for off-premise consumption, too--a procedure -practically unknown in other parts of the country. So, if you still -want a drink at 2, you buy a bottle and take it with you. - -Ask a cab-driver where you can get a drink after hours and he will know -only of two spots--outside of Little Italy--Sue’s and Hector’s. Sue’s -is a lowdown dump. Unless you are known, all you can buy there after -the deadline is beer, which is also illegal. If they know you, they -will sell you rotgut liquor. - -Hector’s is not quite so bad, but it closes Saturdays. - -The night after we were given a courtesy card to the Press Club, 100 -West Fayette Street, it was raided for selling liquor at 3:30 A.M. to -non-members. - -There are many cheating private flats and remodeled homes, especially -on Charles St., where chumps are steered from the Club Charles and the -Chanticleer, for girls, booze and stud poker. - -Bell-boys and hackies can steer you to anything. Baltimore cab-drivers -have to scrabble for a living. The legal rates are about the lowest in -the country. You can go almost anywhere in town for a quarter and tips -are meagre. - -Gambling is plentiful and easy of access. There are horserooms on Eutaw -Street, across from the Public Market. Most of the rooms, however, are -in the outlying sections of South Baltimore and Northeast Baltimore. We -found three running in the 1900 block of Greenmount Avenue and others -in the 2400 block, the 2500, 2700, 2800, and 3300 blocks of Greenmount -Ave. There was wide open gambling in the 1800 block, the 2000, 4300, -and 5500 blocks of Hartford Road, as well as the 5200 block of Bel Air -Road. - -Casinos and horserooms run openly across the County line in Anne -Arundel, and a regular scheduled limousine service is maintained to -transport suckers. - -The cars leave at frequent intervals from Redwood and South Sts., and -the Biltmore Hotel, Fayette and Paca. - -Some of these suburban gaming hells are guarded by armed men stationed -in pill boxes commanding the gates. - -There are thousands of one-armed bandits and gambling devices in the -city, where they are illegal even by local option. At this writing, the -city itself was in the gambling business with a game room in the new -Friendship International Airport, eight miles south of the city, in -Anne Arundel County, where slot-machines are tolerated by illegal local -option. But the airport is owned by the City of Baltimore, which is -officially on record against slot-machines. - -Into the game-room of the airport came something new in the way of -trying your luck. It is a combination cigaret-vender and slot-machine. -You can buy cigarets at the usual price, 20 cents. But if you want -“action” you put in a nickel instead of the 20 cents, and hope to -get up to 20 packages of your favorite brand--or nothing. The Frank -Costello enterprises are giving the machine its first tryout under this -blessing of legality. - -The gambling payoff in Baltimore is made through the police. North Side -cops get $10 a week for their services, those on the South Side only -$7.50. - -Sergeants rate $25 and lieutenants $50, with higher officers greased -accordingly. - -The cops collect the take from the numbers men and bookmakers and -deliver it to their higher-ups, who then transmit the “documents” to -the gang collector. - -One reason for this complicated business is a shrewd point of law -to get around the income tax laws. The government will not allow a -deduction for graft to public officials but if the payoff is taken off -the top before the mobsters get theirs, then all they need to pay on is -what they receive, the net. - -Baltimore is a way-station on the international underground railroad -that transports narcotics. Considerable foreign stuff comes in through -the port. It is also brought down from New York in quantity and stored -in the Italian and Negro sections, awaiting transportation in smaller -packages to the District of Columbia. - -Local street sales of narcotics are concentrated on Pennsylvania Avenue -in the Negro district, where individual caps of heroin, morphine and -reefers are available cheap. Puerto Rican and Italian peddlers work -the white dives in East Baltimore Street, where they sell to whores, -strippers and B girls, many of whom use it and others sell it. - -Baltimore’s Little Harlem--Pennsylvania Avenue--is more peaceful than -the Negro section of any other large town we ever gandered. - -The cops don’t let the colored places get away with anywhere near what -they act blind to in the white spots on East Baltimore. Some of the -cleanest and best night clubs in town are the black-and-tan resorts -in the Pennsylvania Avenue district. Though whites are welcome, they -seldom visit them. - -Gamby’s is an orderly colored night club with fine Negro entertainment -and a small but excellent line of tan chorines. There was no stripping -here, though one pretty wench, billed as an exotic dancer, shook -swiveled hips but took off nothing. It occurred to us that we had -never seen a Negro stripper anywhere. The girls of that race refuse to -vulgarize themselves in public to the extent that many white girls do. -Not only was Gamby’s show clean and entertaining, but the customers, -all colored, behaved well and were better dressed than the social -sewage we saw in most of the white dives. - -We saw no soliciting here. But there was a one-armed bandit in the bar. -Willie Adams is the numbers boss of Darktown. - -The Negro joints close on the dot, and then the streets fill up with -thousands of laughing, shouting, usually sober merrymakers. White -policemen patrol the streets in pairs, but at ease. We saw one buck -pull a razor on his sugar in front of Gamby’s. Two white cops in a -squad car drove off. - -Baltimore has a large homosexual population, which is swelled by -visiting fairies from Washington. On mild nights you can find them in -Mt. Vernon Place, under the Washington monument, where they pick each -other up and make liaisons. A favorite gathering place is the Plaza -Bar, formerly Longfellows, at Madison and Charles. They also patronize -Ball’s and the Harem, the latter a corny night club with two entrances, -one leading to a stag bar with a sign on the door, “For Men Only,” and -a place on Mulberry near Howard. The lesbians hang out at the Earl Club. - -Baltimore follows the trend of most large cities, other than New York, -in that its best people never go to cafes in town. When they feel the -need of night life they come to New York. When they want to drink and -dance in Baltimore, they do it at house parties or at country clubs. -So most of the patrons of Baltimore liquor dispensaries are the lowest -classes. The few better rooms, like the Club Charles, cater to the -sporty set, big spenders, gamblers, buyers and salesmen and trippers -up for the night from Washington. - -When the Charles has a first-rate attraction it advertises in the -Washington papers. For a couple of years the ancient Ford’s Theatre -in Baltimore was the only house within 150 miles of the District -offering legitimate shows. Ford’s gets top road companies and attracts -show-lovers from Washington, who drive up for a sea-food dinner, for -which Baltimore is famous, an evening at the theatre, then take in the -cabaret at the Club Charles. - -Baltimore’s big night life season begins when the races at Maryland’s -famed tracks bring in loose money from all over the country. Then -the town is brilliant, gambling is rampant and the whores cash in on -bonanza. - -The city is the center of the so-called “Minor League” racing circuit. -There are five half-mile tracks in Maryland, which run almost all -year, with unknown plugs and has-beens, raced by “Gypsy” horsemen. -These are a unique breed. They own one or maybe two nags, which they -may have picked up for dog-meat money. They train them themselves and -often are their own jockeys. It is not uncommon for them to live in the -stables with their horses and even travel from track to track on the -horses’ backs. The entry fees at these tracks are as low as $10 and a -$100 purse is something to shoot at. The shenanigans at these tracks, -controlled by the gamblers in Baltimore, are atrocious. - -This smudgy picture of the Baltimore that embraces the visitor brings -up the question: How Come? - -This city of H. L. Mencken has long prided itself upon rebellion -against what most of its citizens believe to be an invasion of their -private rights. Prudery was never profitable in Baltimore. The -Prohibition Amendment was deported as an undesirable alien. - -One old-timer said, “You think this is something? You should have been -here 50 years ago!” - -Baltimore, the mid-Continent seaport, is one of the most provincial -of Eastern cities. In some of its set ways it is a backwash to the -colonial days and the cavaliers. - -Yet Baltimore is the “big city” to thousands of hillbillies from the -nearby mountains of Western Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, and -the poor white trash of Maryland’s Eastern shore counties on the -seaboard, and Delaware. They are the folk who trade and settle in -Baltimore. - -It took us some time to figure out why there were so many pretty young -girls whoring in Baltimore. If they left home to sell it, why didn’t -they go on to New York? Research showed they came from the nearby hills -and farms; even those with roots deeper in the South or in the reaches -of West Virginia came to Baltimore because that was as far as their -small savings or imagination could get them. Some planned to make the -major league when they saved up a roll, but they were the exceptions. - -One girl put it up to us frankly. All she had to offer was all she had. -New York, the word has spread, is closed to hustling hucksters. New -York’s market trades through switchboards for smartly turned-out call -gals, models, chorines, pent-house patooties. A rosy-cheeked milkmaid -in gingham dress, with no capital, would be pinched and jugged if she -winked to a Sand Street sailor. - -The hungry harlots on Baltimore’s streets and in its stinking saloons -come there because the whisper back home is that it’s the place to go -to. Often procurers have brought them and started them, or they are -beckoned by bims who are there. “Bread of infamy” has more raisins than -home-baked loaves. - -After soliciting at the bars a while, some get ambition. They see -strippers don’t even know how to walk across a stage, a requisite in -even repellent Chicago. They need only take off clothes, and all gals -know how to do that. - -Few, if any strippers, except at a couple of places that import -semi-names, were ever in show business before. Pretty soon they’re -local celebrities, with a special following. These nude numbers are -heart-breaking to Broadway-wise guys who’ve known the best. Few have -looks, none have wit, and at $35 a week most of these stag-show -strumpets are overpaid. - -Like New York, New Orleans and San Francisco have flavor, Baltimore -exceeds both as a ship port, yet it has little appeal for travelers. - -Seafaring folk whose vessels bring them into Baltimore’s fine harbor -are an unromantic lot. No important passenger ships call. Those that do -carry steerage. Its freighters are cattle-ships and oil-tankers. - -In the thousands of uniform flat-front red brick homes with the -balustradeless white stoops, unique to Baltimore, live good, solid -people, white and Negro. - -The department of political skulduggery, though, in the Free State -metropolis, is a streamlined model, oiled up and with all the gadgets. - -Baltimore is exceeded in population only by New York, Chicago, -Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Detroit. It has passed Boston, St. Louis -and Cleveland, and is growing. It is a combination of an anachronism -and a boom town. Labor is flocking in to work its mushrooming airplane -factories, huge wholesale trading houses, needle-trade shops and ship -works. These are mostly people without roots. - -But Baltimore is getting the gravy that overflows from crowded -Washington, the hot money out for the kind of fun not tolerated in -the District. Baltimore is somewhat in the state of development -Chicago knew four decades ago. That city’s political morality is -still primitive. The same trend is manifest in Baltimore. Yet crimes -of violence and serious felonies are not as pronounced as in either -Washington or Chicago. - -Most citizens are openly on the side of the law-breakers, too; the -concepts of liberty and non-interference play into the hands of the -hoodlums and the harpies. - -At this writing, any and all forms of vice are tolerated and protected. -There is a price for everything, and it’s not much. In fact, it costs -only $500 to jump to the top of the police promotion list. - - - - -PART FOUR - -THE LOWDOWN - -(_Confidential!_) - - - - -36. INSIDE STUFF - - -The sharpie who got tired of selling the Brooklyn Bridge moved into the -District and now sells the Washington Monument. - -Suckers aren’t born at the rate of one a minute, Washington never does -anything on time; but the Union Station and the airfield pour them out -day and night. And God made them marks. For they are either simpletons -with cow-dung on their boots or they are the conman’s dream, the lunk -with larceny in his heart. Those who don’t come to Washington to -gawk come to get. And the little chiseler is a setup for the bigger -chiseler. The characters in “The Gilded Age,” by Mark Twain and Charles -Dudley Warner have shaved off their beards, but otherwise are still -with us. Men with grandiloquent schemes, who think a Congressman -from their county can land them a $10,000,000 contract for the quick -conversion of a barn, are ready-made for the polished pros who can wrap -that up for them and who set themselves forth as “expediters.” - -They confide, sotto voce, that they have connections which they can’t -even breathe about; they hint with delicacy that certain people must -be reached, and for that purpose advance funds must be placed in hand, -after which the expediter will gladly accept a small commission on the -completed deal--as, if, and never. - -That is only one, but the main one, of the lines. Nowhere else are -there so many men and women who live in luxury and are guilty of -vagrancy. In a community of nonproducers, where there is a minimum of -tangible exchange, the nature of man breeds agents and agents’ agents, -because the liveliest industry is “getting to” people who can or could -deliver golcondas. - -Those who are not big-time enough to know people can know people who -know people, and do nicely on the far fringes. They case a “prospect” -and work him on whatever he is after. His principal occupation will be -waiting--waiting; thus he will have the time as well as the temperament -to be plucked. In that atmosphere the crudest con-games flourish. Never -trust a stranger in Washington. Gyp-and-clip carney operators who are -run off the lot because they can’t shill a rustic to a ten-cent wheel -of fortune, come here and take executive vice-presidents. - - -_A. Swindlers with Swank_ - -Beware of smooth-gabbing guys who drive around in big black limousines -with chauffeurs and live in costly apartments staffed with butlers, -housekeepers and valets. Some may be on the up-and-up. But, what with -taxes and cost of living, few square shooters can afford such luxury. - -A few we know: - -One has an “in” in the reservation departments of the big hotels. He is -tipped off to the prospective arrival of a wealthy chump. This is how -he worked one case: When Mr. Money arrived at the airport, the grifter -had him paged, then introduced himself with a bunk story, such as being -a friend of the hotel manager, who had asked him to pick up the boob. -The lamb lamps the limo and is sure the glib gypster who is giving him -a lift is okay. The wire has been properly briefed on the stranger’s -habits. He knows he’d go for a little life, so he suggests they go to -his suite for a slug. In a little while, a couple of babes happen in. -Soon everyone is drunk and undressed. That’s when the pictures are -ground out. One metal-manufacturer went for $35,000, left town next day. - -Another sold the famous Muscle Shoals Dam to a former Congressman from -Nebraska for $50,000. He used Henry Ford’s name as a reference and -flashed a phony letter from him authorizing the sale. - -Some years ago, in another administration, this same tip-and-tosser -tried to sell forged documents to the President and Vice-President and -other high officials. He said they were found in the clothes of a dead -man on the street. The papers, if genuine, were so hot they would have -blown up the government. - -If someone tells you he can let you in on the inside of a hot oil deal, -and then introduces you to a couple of “prospectors” who just arrived -from Kentucky, call the cops, especially if one is an Indian with long -plaited hair and the other is dressed like a vaudeville comedian’s -idea of a Southern Colonel. These fast workers make a splendid living -peddling queer securities from an office on the sidewalk in front of -the Ambassador Hotel, at 14th and K. They have a fabulous well in -Kentucky, and they guarantee it is producing. It is. One barrel a day. - -They mooch strictly person-to-person. They do no business through the -mails, so they are clear of the Post Office and the SEC. Many of their -meat are middle-aged and elderly women, widows with a small amount of -insurance or a modest business like a rooming-house preferred. But they -will tackle tough touches, approached originally by dames. - -Watch out for anyone you meet in a hotel who offers to get you a dame. -Odds are you will end up in a barrel, running second in a badger-game. -The boys tried it on a Washington newspaperman recently, but for once -they saw the back of the eight-ball. Not only didn’t the reporter -have any money, but he knew the right cops. He ended up borrowing a -century-note from them. - - -_B. Fortune-tellers_ - -Reading the future is big business and strictly sanctioned by law, at -an annual fee of $250. - -Wives of high officials, members of Congress, and society dames are -pushovers for this kind of flimflam, and fork over sums to astrologers, -palmists, psychics, clairvoyants, and other such miracle-mongers. Many -government officials furtively consult fortune-fakers. (Look at the -state the country is in now.) - -These thimble-riggers advertise openly. Most of them state “Licensed by -the District of Columbia,” which convinces the morons they have been -investigated and certified by government authorities. - -One dame, Madame Harrison Astor, states “... prides herself on the fact -of being the only palmist in the world who during her stay in England -has been officially summoned to the St. James’ Palace to read for his -late Majesty King Edward VII.” - -Martha Mar Vell, who advertises herself as a palmist, clairvoyante, -medium, spiritualist and practitioner of spirit ember and Egyptian sand -divinations, haughtily warns, “Please observe hours.” - -Many fortune-tellers are on the con, hoodwink the superstitious into -investing in shady enterprises; they often do not even go that far, but -relieve them directly of money to cure the evil eye and the hex. - -Some legislators and high officials make no moves without consulting -their favorite psychics. That is why they are licensed here, whereas in -other cities, when they get by, it is sub rosa. - -Some oracles who boast august personages or their wives in their -clientele are in the pay of foreign governments, Communists, lobbyists -or fingermen for thieves. Lawmakers or law enforcers come to the -mediums or diviners to seek advice from the spirits or the stars and -get what the swindlers have been paid to tell them. - -Gypsies never had it better. Most of them don’t bother to buy licenses. -As this was being written, a gypsy fortune-teller was under indictment -charged with using such props as torn diapers, a red candle and a -department store ladies’ room, to skin three Washington housewives -of $450. Police said Julia Nichols would show up at a woman’s home, -announce she was a church-worker, then tell the housewife she was -hexed. She would ask for money, a handkerchief or diaper. She would -tear the cloth in half, fold the money in it and depart to have it -“blessed.” And blessed if she would return! - -Rituals were involved, the police said. In one case Miss Nichols -allegedly placed a silver dollar in a glass of water and told her -victim to park the tumbler in a bureau drawer. In another, she -allegedly enclosed the money in a diaper, with flour, salt, and a -length of the housewife’s hair. In a third case, police said, the -gypsy led a victim from her home to a department store rest-room -before taking her money. In another, she allegedly left a housewife’s -apartment with the currency after giving her a red candle to light and -telling her to recite the Lord’s Prayer. - - -_C. Free Loaders_ - -A shrewdie can live here forever on the cuff. A gate-crasher, if -well-dressed, can be choosy about eating and drinking gratis. Every day -there’s a profusion of breakfasts, lunches, cocktail parties, dinners -and late suppers thrown by lobbyists, corporations, officials, pressure -groups, embassies and social climbers. - -Admission is by invitation, but bids are sent out broadside. -Organizations and lobbyists exchange mailing lists, even take names out -of directories. Almost anyone who cares to get on such a roster can. -Once on, his name makes all others. If he isn’t entered, it is simple -to mooch an invitation from someone who has one, because few use them. -Few large affairs are well guarded. It takes little ingenuity to walk -in nonchalantly and act like a belonger. - -The gate-crashers turn up in the unlikeliest places, maybe breakfasting -at a press conference given by ladies of the W.C.T.U., lunching at a -radio salesmen’s convention and dining, in tails and white tie, at a -debutante’s ball. - -Beds, and what goes with them--gals--can be stiffed, too. Those who -make the lobbyists’ lists are invited to the wild parties in the hotels -and mansions, where all that is on the house. - -A friend of ours, a Congressman, told us this story. He was walking -down Connecticut Avenue, past the Mayflower Hotel, on his way to dine -at Harvey’s. He bumped into an acquaintance, a press agent from New -York, who insisted the Congressman eat with him. “I’m going up to a -swell private party at the Mayflower,” he said. The Congressman went -along, had a wonderful meal, with wine and cigars, and soon pretty -blondes began to mix. The satisfied legislator turned to his friend and -said, “Gee, this is a swell party. I’d like to thank the host. Who is -he?” The press agent said, “Damned if I know. I’ve been trying to find -out all night.” - - -_D. The Introducers_ - -Nowhere else on earth, including New York, are there as many guys who -make their livings introducing people. These articles thrive because -they are personality-plus ghees with guts, who know right people, -and if they don’t they go through the motions. If you want to meet -someone--cabinet officer, army brass, congressman, fixer, or social -hostess--these birds will introduce you--no hoke. They can get you -into the White House to meet the President. They play poker with -General Vaughan. - -These fellows are functional. They are the catalysts who bring various -elements together. When they assume a contract from an industrialist to -introduce him to a bureau chief, they serve for the bureau chief, too, -by introducing him to the industrialist from whom he will get favors in -return for favors. - -Some of the introducers work for straight fees. Others, smoother, are -taken care of in politer but more lucrative ways, such as getting on -the inside for a hunk of stock or a chance to buy government surplus -for peanuts or other charming get-rich-quick methods. - -You can be introduced to charming ladies, too. Polished procuring is a -polite profession. No lush-rolling or extortion involved. It is honest -pimping. Yet, little Rollo, there are still some honest gentlemen in -Washington. - - - - -37. TIPS ON THE TOWNS - - -_Booze_ - -Washington consumes four times as much hootch as the entire state of -Maryland, including Baltimore, which alone has 200,000 more population. -The most popular kind of liquor is bourbon, suh, with rye next. Only -fairies, English diplomats, New Yorkers and spats-wearers drink Scotch. - -The legal liquor closing for on-premises consumption in the District -is 2 a.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends. Only beer and light -wine may be sold on Sundays. Baltimore sells until 2 a.m., seven -nights a week, though some saloons which do not serve food and which -pay a lower license fee must close their bars at one. (But you can sit -there until 2 to finish anything you bought earlier.) Only beer and -light wine may be sold for on-premises consumption in Virginia. The -closing hour is midnight. Prince Georges, Md., has a law similar to -Washington’s--seldom observed. - -Legal boozing age in the three jurisdictions is 21, though minors over -18 may drink beer in Maryland and D.C. - -But there’s something about the climate--everyone looks older than he -is. - - -_Cabaret Info_ - -Most District area night clubs do three shows nightly, at 8, 10:30 and -12:30, and two on Saturdays and Sundays, at 8:30 and 12. The hotel -grills do two, at 8:30 and 12. - -The burlesque joints in Baltimore grind continuously until 2. - -Few Washington night clubs impose a cover charge. All have minimums, -usually a dollar or $1.50. The hotel cafes, when presenting expensive -attractions, usually put on a couvert up to $2. - -It’s agin the law and the rules of the American Guild of Variety -Artists to permit female entertainers to sit at tables with male -guests. The hotels and the better Washington night clubs enforce -this. The others wink at it. There is no attempt at observance in the -Maryland suburbs or in Baltimore. - - -_Checks and Chicks_ - -When the cutie in the checkroom hands you back your hat, don’t think -for a moment she keeps the tip you slip her. She works on a straight -per diem for a concessionaire, who pays the restaurant or hotel by the -year. But if she doesn’t turn in a tip for every hat, she loses her -job on grounds she swiped the money or she is so stupid or icky that -she gets stiffed. For many years, the minimum hat check in New York by -habit has been two bits, but the hoosiers who come to Washington get -lavish with a dime or sneak off ignoring the plate with the decoy coins -entirely. The concessionaire figures 18 cents as the average tip and on -that basis he checks his employes. The gals learn how to pinch part of -the loot from liberal tippers, though their uniforms are made without -pockets. Photo concession girls may keep their tips, but cigaret girls -have to turn theirs in. - - -_Clip Joints_ - -Beware of the invitation from the stranger you meet at the bar, who -suggests you go to a friend’s place after hours for liquor and gals. -There are at least 300 clip joints running in Washington, most of them -in the colored neighborhoods, in private houses and flats, where you -can get booze of a sort after-hours; but it may be spiked with knockout -drops and you will wake up rolled and robbed--if you wake up at all. -Baltimore clip-dives operate more closely to the orthodox custom. As -soon as you sit down in a hideaway, a couple of bimbos rush to your -table and order drinks. When you are ready to go, you get a bill that -includes the month’s rent. If you don’t come across, you’ll be lucky to -get out with a broken nose. - - -_Dancing_ - -If your specialty is the rumba or samba, don’t expect to find a partner -in Washington or Baltimore, They’ll do a shaky fox trot to that music. -The codgers still do the old conservative dances. The youngsters are -jive maniacs. - -At this writing, there are no public dance halls in Washington where -you can meet partners, but, though table hopping is supposed to be de -trop, you won’t have any trouble getting dames on the loose to dance -with you. As in Baltimore, they will solicit you for dances, even if -that’s all they’re after. - -All night clubs, but few hotels, present dancing on Sundays in -Washington and Maryland. - -For matinee and cocktail dancing consult the appendix or the daily -papers. - - -_Dates_ - -If you still can’t get yourself a girl after having read this book, we -don’t think you’re trying. But here are some easy ways: - -Ask the bell captain. - -Refer to appendix for a list of dance studios. - -Call Clara Lane, Friendship Center, Republic 3504 (Washington), for -personal interview. - -Get a manicure. - -Read the newspaper ads for dances run by the State Societies. - -Join a church or the Y. - -In the summer, go to any beach or take a ride on a Potomac steamer. - -Strike up a “Haven’t I met you somewhere” with any girl you see in a -cocktail lounge or a hotel lobby. For that matter, your chances are -good with almost any girl you see anywhere in Washington. She may say -no. We bet you five to three she won’t. - - -_Dining_ - -We will recommend no restaurants here. A list of best-known places in -Washington and Baltimore will be found in the appendix. We guarantee -none. But Baltimore goes in for good food in the good places, while -Washington doesn’t know what fine cuisine is. Meals are cheaper in -Washington than in New York. Baltimore, with some of the finest -restaurants in the country, charges even less. - -Most people dine early in both towns. Some of the best restaurants -close for the night at 8 or 9. This is the Keokuk touch. - -Washington politicians hang out at Harvey’s and the Occidental. They -don’t mind the insults. Some of the better food is at Olmsted’s. The -tax-payers foot the losses of the dining-rooms in the Senate and House -of Representatives. - -Baltimore politicians dine in the back room of the Emerson; the ward -heelers eat at Bickford’s, called “No. 10 Downing Street.” - -There are no swank dining places of the grade of El Morocco, the Colony -or 21 in Washington or Baltimore. The elite in government service eat -lunch in their own private dining-rooms and dinner at their clubs. - - -_Divorce_ - -The divorce rate in the District, as well as in Maryland and Virginia, -is considerably below the national average, though the grounds are not -particularly oppressive. At this writing there are 4,000 divorced males -in the District of Columbia and 8,000 divorced females. - -All three jurisdictions require one year’s residence before beginning a -divorce action, which eliminates them from competition with Nevada or -Florida. If the grounds are out-of-state, it’s two years in D.C. You -have to wait six months after a District decree before remarriage. - -Grounds for divorce in the District are adultery, desertion for two -years, conviction for felony, and living apart five years. Maryland -adds impotence and insanity. Virginia also grants divorce for -impotence, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage and wife’s unchastity, -as well as all causes specified in the District. - -Some smart lawyers know how to beat the residence provisions, but if -you can afford that kind of a lawyer you’re much better off going to -states that specialize in hot-cake divorces. - - -_Guns_ - -You require a license to carry a concealed weapon, but no one enforces -the law if you keep a dozen machine-guns in your house. The courts -have ruled you are not carrying a concealed weapon if you have a gun -in the glove compartment of your car or if you have an unloaded one in -your pocket, even if you have cartridges on you. Cops can’t pinch you -without a search warrant. - -The Federal Small Arms Act, enforced by the Alcoholic Tax Unit of the -U.S. Treasury, imposes a $300 tax on transfer of certain firearms -and forbids any felon to carry a pistol. But this is practically -unenforceable in the District, because of the niggardly appropriations -of Congress and the disinclination of federal judges to sentence anyone -for anything. - - -_Hotels_ - -In most towns we warn first-time visitors to beware of cab drivers who -steer them to hotels they don’t want to go to. But Washington hotels -are usually so crowded, you’re lucky to be steered. We have seen people -sit in lobbies from early in the morning until midnight, while the -clerks phoned all other hotels, trying to take care of the overflow. - -Do not come to Washington unless you have made a reservation in -advance. Be sure the reservation is confirmed. A few hotels are part -of nationwide chains, among them the Mayflower (Hilton), the Hay-Adams -(Manger) and the Statler. You can probably make your reservations and -have them confirmed in your own home town. - -Hotel rates are high. The cheapest single room in the first-class -hotels is $8, and that faces the garbage cans. Modest suites are $20 a -day, and you pay at least $25 for anything decent. - -But Washington abounds with cheap assignation hotels, where you can -take a broad for the night for three bucks, no baggage required. In -Baltimore you can find this kind for as little as one dollar a night. - -Few good Washington hotels have any qualms about your morals. If you -are raided because that gal isn’t your wife, it is because the house -dick and bell captain have their own stable of fillies and they get -no cut-in from outside competition. The “security officer” (refined -designation for a house dick) of one of the oldest and most famous -hotels in Washington, near the White House, was recently fired because -he ran a shakedown racket, putting the bite on guests who brought dames -in. - -(_Inside stuff_: Smart guys start charge accounts in hotels and have -their bills mailed to their offices. That way, if they suddenly make -a date, they can call and have a room prepared for them. Hotels do -not like to cash checks for strangers, but will for those with charge -accounts. It is a specific crime to defraud an inn-keeper.) - -Washington and Baltimore hotels, unlike those in northern cities, are -not required to serve or admit Negroes. - -(Unless you are expecting a guest, do not open your door if someone -raps on it. Many people have been robbed, raped or assaulted that -way. When the girl with the nice voice phones and announces she’s -from Harris & Ewing, the photographers, and read you were in town and -wanted to take your picture, don’t think you are a celebrity. This firm -goes through all registrations, plays for the chumps. After you pose -for their photos, a glib salesman sells you a dozen. We wouldn’t have -minded, but they phoned us at three in the afternoon, and we never get -up until four.) - -(_Tips_: And that’s the only way you’ll get along in any hotel--with -tips, big ones. If you can’t get a room, slip the room clerk a sawbuck. -Liberal handouts to the bellhops, doormen and elevator boys will help -you get service, also pave the way for the things that hotels aren’t -supposed to supply, but always do.) - - -_Limousines_ - -We told you about the smooth con-men who travel in shiny -chauffeur-driven limousines. The cars are easy to obtain. All smart -travelers rent them wherever they go. They cost $5 an hour, which is -usually cheaper than cabs for any considerable use. They are available -at any hour. The chauffeurs are well-trained and in uniform. The -cars are brand new Cadillacs or Packards, indistinguishable from a -millionaire’s private car, except that the D.C. license plate begins -with the letter “L.” Look in the phone book or ask the hotel porter to -get you a car or phone Haines, HObart 8460, ask for James Conley, the -best driver in town. Minimum tip one dollar an hour, unless you’re a -skunk. In Baltimore, phone Belvedere, LE 8888. - - -_Marriage_ - -It’s much cheaper and easier without rice and old shoes here, but you -will always find a few old-fashioned people who like it the hard way. -If you are one who has to be respectable, we will give you the lowdown -on how to go about it in the area. - -(_Note_: Common law marriages are valid in the District. They are not -in Maryland and Virginia, though the former state, while prohibiting -such marriages for its own residents, will recognize as binding any -such entered into in the District.) - -The marriageable ages in the three jurisdictions are 16 for girls and -18 for boys, with parents’ consent; 18 and 21 in D.C. and Maryland, -without consent, and 21 and 21 in Virginia. Marriages between first -cousins are permitted in all three. - -Maryland and Virginia forbid marriages between whites and Negroes or -Orientals. Virginia also proscribes American Indians. There are no -racial restrictions in the District. - -Maryland and Virginia require medical certificates before marriage, -but Washington doesn’t. So, if you flunk your Wassermann, come to the -District. The waiting time between issuance of license and ceremony -is two days in Maryland, four in the District, and none in Virginia. -Maryland requires that all marriages be solemnized by a clergyman, -which is pretty prissy for that state, where you can get so much -without marrying at all. - -Both the District and Maryland permit one party of a proposed marriage -to take out a license without the consent or knowledge of the other. -Sometimes overly-eager ones take out these licenses (which are -published) as a means of bringing final pressure on the other person. -Recently a 21-year-old Marine shot himself to death after a minister -refused to marry him and an unwilling maiden who had not been aware a -license was issued. - -Washington men are the choosiest in the country when it comes to -picking wives. The marriage rate is falling yearly. In 1950, 10,729 -licenses were taken out compared to 10,885 the year before and 12,156 -in 1948. Meanwhile other cities are reporting increases. These figures -are even worse than they read. Many transients come to wed in the -District, to avoid blood tests elsewhere or to boast they were hitched -in the nation’s capital. - - -_Medical_ - -Osteopaths, chiropractors, naturopaths and other such unorthodox -healers are permitted both in the District and Maryland and are allowed -to precede their names with the honorific “Dr.” Many Washington -residents from Los Angeles, the Southwest and the moronic regions where -faith healers, layer-oners-of-hands, herb doctors and other such quacks -are common, are now living in Washington and provide a boom market for -the irregular curers. - -One of Washington’s biggest medical problems is V.D., because of -the shifting, transient nature of the population and the unusual -Negro percentage. Last year, more than 16,000 cases of gonorrhea -were reported, and 507 new cases of syphilis. Fifteen people died of -unchecked syphilis. - - -_Midday Manners_ - -Both as a world capital and as an Eastern city, Washington’s manners -and modes, on paper at least, could be supposed to resemble those -of New York. But it is in a warmer belt and much of its resident -population originated in other sections of the country, where habits -are different, so some compromise of customs is common. - -Washington women generally follow the New York style of not wearing -hats. But the men wear lids all year around, even on the hottest days. - -The women wear suits for daytime in winter and print dresses in summer. -Men wear dark suits in winter, but, because of the deadly heat, don -such tropical outfits as Palm Beach, seersucker, crash and linen -in summer. Like most yokels, a sharp crease in the sleeve means a -well-pressed suit. - -A Washington woman never wears slacks on the street. When you see any -dame so attired, you know she arrived by bus on a sight-seeing jaunt. - - -_Midnight Manners_ - -Few women wear hats at night. Those who do are visitors. Most men -wear dark suits but compromise good taste with god-awful loud ties. -Customers of the classier rooms, i.e., the hotel grills, are apt to -overdress. You see more people wearing evening clothes than in New -York, where such frummery is now worn only on occasions when required, -like a formal ball or the opening of the opera. - -All restaurants and night clubs, regardless of season, require men to -wear coats, though some of the more popular-priced ones do not demand -ties in the summer. - - -_Protocol_ - -If you are a climber, or the wife of a government official, social -precedence and correct social forms are more important in your life -than the Sermon on the Mount. When in doubt about whether the governor -of Nevada sits ahead of or in back of the minister of Costa Rica, you -should consult Mrs. Carolyn Hagner Shaw, Wisconsin 3030. - - -_Taxi Talk_ - -The first thing that amazes the visitor is the terrific number of cabs -on the streets. There is no limitation by law and, at this writing, -there are 9,000. Cabs do not have meters, but operate on a zone system, -the first charge 30 cents anywhere within the zone, or 20 cents a head -for two or more passengers. They are asking for an extra dime a zone. -The out-of-towner is always puzzled figuring out how the owner of the -cab gets a fair shake from the driver, with no meter to check up on -him. It was Congressman Tom Blanton who slipped riders into all bills -to ban meters in the District. - -What happens is that every hackman is an independent contractor. -He rents his cab by the day, for which he pays $6, which includes -insurance, tires and advertising. He buys his own gas and oil, which -comes to another $3.50 a day. He keeps everything above that outlay. -When business is bad, he swallows the loss himself. He can keep the cab -24 hours a day, and he usually drives it home at night and starts out -in the morning in it. Some older cabs are rented for less, as low as -$3.50 a day. These are used by men who hack in their spare time, such -as policemen, chauffeurs, and government employes, who act as cabbies -for four or five hours a day. - -Washington law not only permits cabbies to double up passengers, but -requires them to do so. Your taxi will not leave Union Station until -it has a full load going in your direction. When Washington cabs go to -the airport in Virginia or the suburbs of Maryland, they make a flat -rate. They are not permitted to pick up return passengers outside the -District. Maryland and Virginia cabs which come into Washington must -return home empty. - -Despite the huge number of cabs, it is almost impossible to get one -at around five, when the government offices empty, or whenever it -rains. The rates are so cheap, many Washingtonians find it costs -them only a nickel more to go to their destination by cab than by -bus or street-car. Few locals ever tip. Cab drivers fall all over -out-of-towners. - -If you are having trouble hailing a cab, the best place to get one is -outside a hotel or a popular restaurant or night spot, for they will be -driving up to these places with passengers. If you are caught at the -Capitol and can’t get a cab, go over to the Congressional Hotel, across -from the House Office Building, where the doorman can usually snag one -for you. Don’t forget a tip. Our favorite cabbie is Harold Ramsburg, EM -2438, and you can hire him by the hour. - - -_Tipping_ - -While on that subject, don’t act like a rube, a Southern cracker -or a dope. Most hotel, restaurant and transportation employes are -practically dependent for their livings on gratuities. Ten percent is -no longer enough. Your waiter should get 20 percent, even more in a -high class place where each waiter has only a few tables. Don’t forget -the captains and headwaiters, especially if you want a good table. - - -_Traffic Tickets_ - -We always got our parking and speeding tickets killed by Congressmen’s -secretaries. That is one thing they are good for. Congressmen are -the rulers of the District; when their secretaries call the District -Commissioners or the Chief of Police, they get a respectful hearing. - -Congressmen, themselves, are immune from arrest when Congress is in -session. They are provided with special plates over their own license -tags reading “Member, 82nd Congress.” Smart Congressmen seldom use the -special plates. They say that when they do, traffic cops always bother -them, then suddenly pretend they noticed the plates for the first time, -after which they let the Congressman go, making it appear they are -doing him a great favor. The next day they show up in his office asking -for a favor--a promotion, probably. - - -_Transportation_ - -You can get to Washington by train, plane, bus, auto, bike, or merely -hitch-hiking. Train service, while frequent and fast, is generally -lousy. From New York on the Pennsylvania there is only one first-class -train, the Congressional Limited, which makes the 226 miles in 215 -minutes, but it’s a shell of its old self, when it was all Pullman -and extra fare. The Congressional is one of the few day trains in the -country which runs complete cars of drawing rooms. These are always -full, with lobbyists, officials and their dames, and other heavy -drinking parties, spending the three and a half hours as pleasantly as -possible. (_Note_: No liquor is served on trains in Pennsylvania on -Sundays.) - -The two best trains from the West are the B & O’s Capital Limited -and the Pennsy’s Liberty Limited from Chicago. The Capital is an -all-Pullman streamliner and carries a through car to Los Angeles, which -connects with the Santa Fe’s Chief in Chicago. - -Railroad and plane tickets to and from Washington are difficult to -get, especially on key days of the week. Traffic moves to Washington -on Sunday nights and Monday and away on weekends, beginning Thursday. -At those times a little judicious tipping of hotel porters is advised. -Railroad and plane employes are forbidden by law to take gratuities, -but who’s going to do anything about it if they find a $10 bill neatly -folded in their breast pockets? - -The Washington Airport, though in Virginia, is only 15 minutes from the -center of town. Baggage is unloaded considerably faster than in other -airports. But the Union Station is a madhouse. Sometimes it takes a -half-hour for your bags to get out to the taxi stand, if you can get a -red cap at all. Then there is another wait for a cab going your way to -fill up. (_Note_: The railroad exacts a 25-cent charge for each parcel -carried by the red cap. He doesn’t keep that. You are expected to tip -him on top.) - -(_Inside Stuff_: There are special airplane and railroad ticket offices -for members of Congress in the Capitol Building.) - - - - -38. CONFIDENTIAL GUIDE TO WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE - - - _Alcoholism Treated_: The per capita consumption of hootch here - is the highest in the world. If you raise it still more call: - (Washington) Greenhill Institute, CO 4754. (Baltimore) Baltimore - Clinic, LA 1200. - - _Amusement Parks_: Where lonely people meet. The rides are fun, - too. (Washington) Glen Echo Park and Marshall Hall Park. - (Baltimore) Bay Shore Park, Gwynn Oak Park and Carlins. - - _Art Instruction_: Learn to paint nudes in the nude. (Washington) - de Burgos, ME 1039; Kane, ST 7917. - - _Astrologers_: If you’re wondering what Congress is going to do - next. (Washington) Mabel Bowles, HO 5017. They’re outlawed in - Baltimore. - - _Baby Sitters_: Some people still bring their brats with them. If - you’re that dumb after reading this book, call: (Washington) Part - Time Mothers, DI 2300; or Courtesy, EX 5050. (Baltimore) Samuels, - HO 4303; or Villa, CL 1931. - - _Bail Bonds_: The fee is $75 for each $500. If you work for the - Big Mob, the price is just half. Call: (Washington) Weinstein, - ME 9292; Jones, ME 8123; Ryan, RE 7661 and O’Conor, ME 5500. - (Virginia) Weinstein, WO 6700. (Baltimore) Statewide, BR 8200 and - Walker, SA 6333. - - _Barber Shops, All Night and Sunday_: If you failed to make a - date before midnight, why do you want to get shaved so late? - (Washington) Robinson’s, 829 14th St. (Baltimore) East Baltimore - St. - - _Baseball_: The Washington Senators never get anywhere, but they - always make money. That’s because Washingtonians come from every - part of the country and liberally patronize Griffith Stadium - when their old home teams are in town. All week-day games are at - night. Baltimore is larger than half a dozen major league cities, - yet it only has a minor league team, the famous Orioles. Night - games, too. - - _Blacksmiths_: Left-Wingers insist conservative Congressmen are - still in the horse-and-buggy stage. This proves it. If you’re - looking for a smithy, try (Washington) Capital, 4706 Rhode Island - Ave.; Del Grosso, 424 New Jersey Ave. (Baltimore) Adams, 2628 - Boston; or Phillips, 645 East 25. - - _Boating_: (Washington) Potomac Boat Club, foot of 36th St.; - Dempsey’s Boat House, 3600 K St. (Baltimore) Atlas, foot of - Broadway; Ward Brothers, Deal, Maryland. And don’t forget the - excursion and night boats on the Potomac and the Chesapeake. - - _Bookmakers_: Must you ask? - - _Bridge Games Found_: The experts claim the game is all skill, but - with us it’s purely luck--bad. (Washington) RE 9886. - - _Burlesque_: For what New York can’t have--see page 263. - - _Carnival Suppliers_: Maybe you’ve always wanted to own a paddle - wheel, a bingo layout or a Jap rolling ball game. Merry-go-rounds - and ferris wheels, too. (Baltimore) Superior, ED 3737 and United, - LE 6239. - - _Cats Boarded_: In case your pussy is shy, this place has a lady - attendant. (Washington) Williams, SH 6923. - - _Chaperones_: Most unattached ladies are so ugly they don’t need - this. But if you don’t trust your cutie call (Washington) DI 2300 - or EX 8596. If no answer, call us. - - _Chinese Cooking; How to Learn_: Personally we don’t know why you - want to, but if you got a yen for moo goo gai pan and don’t like - the way it’s prepared in the marts of trade, try Washington - School, EX 0265. - - _Cleaners, One Day_: When the Fair Dealers finish spending your - dough, you probably will have gone to the cleaners. But if you - have a suit and you’ve got to get it back the same day, try your - hotel valet or (Washington) Central, 1405 H or Century, 633 F, - cleaning done while you wait. (Baltimore) Premier, Monroe and - Windsor, same day. - - _Colonic Irrigation_: Just in case. (Washington) Warcoff, RE 0872; - Riggs, ME 2388; Washington, BI 7701. (Baltimore) Keller, LE 6862. - - _Comfort Stations and Rest Rooms_: When you gotta go, you gotta go. - (Washington) Pennsylvania Ave. between 13th and 14th; Library - Park; La Fayette Square; the Capitol and all public buildings. - (Baltimore) Lexington Market. - - _Detective Agency, Colored_: That’s not where we got our info. - (Washington) Keystone, RE 8913. - - _Detective Agency, Confidential_: They can find anything except - what’s happening to the tax-payers’ money. (Washington) - Bradford, NA 4610; Burns, NA 7681. (Baltimore) Pinkerton, MU 2770. - - _Drags, Costumes For, Also Wigs_: (Washington) Jack Mullane, 714 - 11th St. - - _Drug Addiction Treated_: Uncle Sam will do it free if he catches - you first. Otherwise (Baltimore) Relay Sanitarium, phone Elkridge - 40, or Pinel, phone Ellicotte City 362. - - _Drug Stores, All Night_: If you run out of lipstick at 3 a.m. - (Washington) Peoples, Thomas Circle, HO 1234. (Baltimore) Morgan - & Millard, Baltimore and South Sts., SA 4233. For 24-hour - prescription service, phone Arbutus 2019. - - _Emergency Information_: (Washington) Birth Control Clinic, 715 E - St., SW, NA 4780. (Baltimore) Planned Parenthood Association, - 1028 North Broadway, DR 1681. - - _Escort Services_: To accompany the lonely. (Washington) DE 8000. - - _Fashion Shows_: Some guys surprise their wives and ask to come - along. See the pretty models Thursdays at six in the Willard - lounge; Fridays at six, Mayflower lounge (Washington). In - Baltimore--Wednesday luncheon at the Belvedere. - - _Friends, to Meet New Ones_: How lonesome can you get? Call - (Washington) The Just For Fun Club, DE 2500 or Clara Lane, RE - 3504 (Baltimore). Visit the Baltimore Friendship Club, Charles - Street. - - _Frustrated, are you?_ (Washington) Curt Miller, 1406 G St. - - _Gambling_: See page 207. - - _Ghost Writers_: Some Congressmen write their own. (Washington) - Henderson, NA 4576. - - _Guns and Firearms_: After reading this book, you may want to - defend yourself. (Washington) Lorch, 1010 Vermont; Temblers, 913 - D. (Baltimore) Baltimore Gun Smith, 218 So. Broadway. - - _Handwriting Expert_: In case she forged the embarrassing love - letters call (Washington) Dr. Newton J. Baker, DI 7070. If you - really wrote them don’t bother. - - _Limousines_: So you want to put on the swank. (Washington) Haines, - HO 8460, ask for James Conley. (Baltimore) Associated, HA 5494; - Belvedere, LE 8888. - - _Manicurists_: No matter how easy it is to get others, most - traveling men still prefer the finger-nail mechanics. They’re on - duty in every hotel and large barber shop. Some will come to your - room. - - _Manure_: This has absolutely nothing to do with the subject, - unless it’s what you think about when you hear your Congressman’s - speech. We said Washington is a small town and we mean it. You - can get it by the shovelful or the truckload from American, GE - 2440. (Baltimore) Town and Country, HO 0906. - - _Maps_: We don’t know what this has to do with this book, because - none of the cartographs they sell are confidential. On the other - hand, a lot of phony foreign spies buy them over the counter and - send them home as the genuine article filched from the files. See - classified phone directory. - - _Marital and Sex Problems_: This book is guaranteed to cure them - for some, cause them for others. (Washington) Lurie, CO 1331; - Psychological Service, OL 1980. - - _Masseurs_: If you read what we wrote about the Hopkins Institute - you will know why we don’t want to get mixed up with the F.B.I. - on this one. However, if you still insist on getting a massage, - refer to the classified phone book. Most are legit. - - _Models’ Agencies_: All girls like to pose. Some get paid for - it. If you want to be a model or hire a model see (Washington) - Phyllis Bell, ST 2353; Fashion Show, NA 6590; Models Bureau, DU - 1000; Ralston, RE 0069. (Baltimore) Academy Models, PL 4454; - Model Agency, PL 4019. (_Inside Stuff_: Some model agencies try - to sell you lessons, photos and make-up instead of securing work - for you. Have nothing to do with them.) - - _Out-of-town Newspapers_: The news is bad all over. (Washington) - 14th and New York. (Baltimore) Calvert and Fayette. - - _Palmists_: In Washington, when she says, “Give a little girl a - great big hand,” she ain’t the ghost of Texas Guinan. If you want - to have your palm read, try Astor, ST 0698; De Long, ME 5234; - Gentry, EX 3075. Illegal in Baltimore. - - _Personal Services_: We mean such things as running errands, - answering your phone and doing your dirty work. (Washington) - Buddie’s, MI 9034. - - _Personality Developed_: They laughed when he walked into the - drawing-room. After he took lessons, they wouldn’t let him in the - drawing-room. But if you’ve got a personality like a dead fish, - try (Washington) Colt, OV 4531 or Parker, ME 2299. - - _Post Office, All Night_: Just in case you want to write home for - dough. (Washington) General Post Office. (Baltimore) Calvert and - Fayette. - - _Pregnancy Tests_: If your luck is dubious. (Washington) - Professional, NO 2944. - - _Psychics and Mediums_: Guaranteed to put you in touch with your - great aunt (Washington) Wright, AD 4249; Mar Vell, HO 5017. No - lost souls admitted in Baltimore. - - _Psychologists_: Some people were born goofy, others went crazy - reading this book. No matter how you got that way, call - (Washington) MacBaugh, OL 1980 or Dupont, HU 7979. (Baltimore) - Kaufman, BE 5640 or Schor, LE 5445. - - _Punch Boards_: If you would like to set up a little gambling - racket back in your home town, you can buy the paraphernalia in - Baltimore from A & A, 715 Ensor or Royal, 618 East Baltimore. - - _Secretarial_: Some people call them because they want to dictate - in their hotel rooms. Others have hopes. We do our own typing. - Look in the classified phone directories under “Stenographic.” - - _Shooting Galleries_: Some Washingtonians practice their - marksmanship on the streets. If you want to do yours indoors go - to (Washington) 9th St. between Pennsylvania and G or (Baltimore) - East Baltimore St. - - _Shopping Service_: Some guys don’t do anything they shouldn’t when - they’re away from home. Others bring their wives beautiful gifts. - (Washington) Embassy, EX 7158; Ideas Unlimited, ST 0082. Phyllis - Bell, ST 2353 will help women who have no confidence in their - own taste to buy their clothes. (Baltimore) E.Z., SA 0295. All - department stores maintain such services. - - _Slot-Machines_: Some people buy them for their game rooms. - Personally, we’d like to own a two-bit one-armed bandit in the - Times Square subway station. Whatever purpose you want one - for, you can buy them in (Washington) at the Game Room, 1538 - Connecticut Ave.; Atlas, 1360 H St. NE or Silent Sales, 1771 - Columbia Road. (Baltimore) A & A, 715 Ensor; Premier, 214 South - Howard. It’s illegal to transport across state lines. - - _Spiritualists_: They talk to the departed. (Washington) Brewer, - EX 3075; Worsley, LI 3-3557. (Baltimore) If they call themselves - fortune tellers they’re taboo. But Madame Matthew, ED 1260, is a - “spiritual advisor.” So is Madame Collins, SA 4745. - - _Stags_: Why anyone should have to go to one to see naked dames is - beside us. However, if you want to hire such babes to perform in - the District or in Baltimore, phone (Baltimore) Sponsler, MU 0271. - - _Sucker Lists_: Have you anything to sell by mail? (Washington) - Intelligence Bureau, 1311 G, has “wealthy” list of government - executives, home-owners, teachers, graduates, businessmen and - women, etc. for D.C. and suburbs. (Baltimore) call Webb LE 5671. - - _Tattoo Artists_: If your girl friend likes pretty pictures, try - (Washington) 8th St. SE or (Baltimore) East Baltimore St. - - _Telegraph Office, All Night_: Washington 708 14th NW, phone NA - 7100--Baltimore, 108 E. Baltimore, LE 6300. - - _Theatre Tickets for New York and Philadelphia Shows_: When the - road won’t come to you, you’ve got to go find it. Always reserve - your seats in advance, because if the show’s any good you - can’t get ’em, and if you can you won’t want to see the show. - (Washington) New York Service, NA 5575; Stabler, RE 7307; Willard - Hotel Agency, NA 5575. (Baltimore) New York Service, SA 2100. - - _Toupees and Wigs_: When you blow your top. (Washington) Emil, 1221 - Connecticut Ave.; Hepner’s, 612 13th St. (Baltimore) National, - 334 North Howard. - - _Worrier, Professional_: Before you lose your hair, consult - (Washington) Thelma Hunt, RE 4600 or Clifton, AD 4550. They’re - willing to get bald, for a fee. - -And now turn to - - - - -PART FIVE - -THE APPENDIX - -(_Confidential!_) - - -A. HEADWAITERS - -_This and a sawbuck gets you an insult._ - - AMBASSADOR HOTEL (NA-8510) Hi-Hat: Joe Brito - CARLTON HOTEL (ME-2626) Congo Room: Stephen - COLONY RESTAURANT (ST-8165): Orlando Connio - MAYFLOWER HOTEL (DI-3000) Lounge: Alfred Leggett - OLD NEW ORLEANS (RE-7284): Ivanhoe Wills - OLMSTED RESTAURANT (ME-8055): Gus Kooles - SHOREHAM HOTEL (AD-0700) Palladian Room: George and Alfred. - Blue Room: Paul - STATLER HOTEL (EX-1000) Embassy Room: Nick - WARDMAN PARK HOTEL (CO-2000) Caribar Room: Leslie Matke - - -BALTIMORE - - CLUB CHARLES (VE-8020): Tommy McGee - EMERSON HOTEL (MU-4400): Walter Katzli - LORD BALTIMORE HOTEL (LE-8400) Oak Room: Mr. Cavalier - SHERATON BELVEDERE HOTEL (MU-1000): Antone - SOUTHERN HOTEL (SA-1600): Nick Brown - - -B. GUSTATORY GUIDE - -_Listed, but not necessarily guaranteed._ - -FOR COCKTAILS: - - Anchor Room, 12th & H, NA-9220 (servicemen and pick-ups) - Cafe Caprice, Roger Smith Hotel, NA-2740 (government workers’ hangout) - Chelsea Room, Hotel Carlyle, N. Capitol & E, EX-7670 (gathering place - for Southerners) - Hay-Adams Lounge and English Tap Room, 800 16th St., NW, ME-2260 - (respectable) - Hi-Hat, Ambassador Hotel, NA-8510 (pretty babes) - King Cole Room, 820 Conn. Ave., ME-3935 (flashy crowd) - Mayflower Lounge, Conn. Ave. & De Sales, DI-3000 (political) - Statler Hotel, 16th & K, EX-1000 (cosmopolitan) - Washington Roof, 15th & Penn., ME-5900 (summer) - Willard Hotel, Penn. & 14th, NA-4420 (pretty babes) - -FOR DINING: - - Alfonso’s, 1403 L St., ME-7803 (excellent New York cuisine) - Allies Inn, 1703 New York, NA-0523 (famous cafeteria, high prices, - elderly ladies favorite) - Allison’s Little Tea House, Arlington, Va., OT-7900 (popular suburban - luncheon spot; government workers) - Arbaugh’s, 2606 Conn., AD-8980 (spare ribs) - Cannon’s Steak House, 1270 5th NE, LI-3-8685 (in the market place but - high class) - Ceres Grill, 1307 E, NA-9427 (government clerks like its good food at - low prices) - Colony, 1737 De Sales St., ST-8165 (elegant) - Collingwood, On the Potomac, OV-1521 (suburbanites’ delight) - Duke Zeibert’s, 1730 L, ST-1730 (new and popular steak house) - Hall’s, 1000 7th St., SW, ME-8580 (sea food on the waterfront) - Fan & Bill’s, 1132 Conn., RE-9856 (New York style) - Harvey’s, 1107 Conn., NA-2860 (sometimes the best. Famous for sea food - and celebrities) - Hogate’s, 9th & Maine, SW, RE-3013 (tourists’ paradise) - Hot Shoppes, all over (Washington’s most famous drive-ins) - Louis, Ted, 2655 Conn., HO-3222 (local stand-by) - Michel’s, 1020 Vermont, RE-1356 (Bohemian atmosphere) - Mrs. K’s Toll House, Silver Spring, SH-3500 (bucolic atmosphere) - Naylor’s, 951 Maine SW, NA-9659 (sea food where the boats come in) - Normandy Farm, Potomac, Md, WI-9421 (delightful suburban atmosphere) - Occidental, 1411 Penn., DI-6467 (hangout of five percenters and upper - bracket officials. Too crowded for service) - O’Donnell’s, 1207 E, RE-2102 (almost everyone comes for the sea food - including Charlie Ford) - Olmsted’s, 1336 G, DI-8235 (with that wonderful Luchow cuisine from - New York) - Pierre, Conn. & Q, DU-0666 (the ladies like this) - States, 516 N. Capitol, FR-9443 (for tourists) - Tally Ho, 810 17th St., ME-3218 (popular for luncheon) - Water Gate Inn, On the Potomac, BI-9256 (government girls consider - this a treat) - -FOR DINING & DANCING: - - Caribar Bar, Wardman Park Hotel, Conn. Ave. & Woodley Rd., CO-2000 - Casino Royal, 14th & H, NW, NA-7700 - Congo Room, Carlton Hotel, 16th & K, ME-2626 - Lotus, 727 14th St., NW, NA-4766 - Lounge Riviera, Hotel 2400, 2400 16th NW, CO-7200 - Madrillon, 15th & New York, DI-4561 - Mayflower Lounge, Conn. & De Sales, DI-3000 - Old New Orleans, 1214 Conn. Ave., RE-7284 - Pall Mall Room, Raleigh Hotel, NA-3810 - Palladian Room, Shoreham Hotel, AD-0700 - Rainbow Room, Hamilton Hotel, DI-2580 - Shoreham Hotel Terrace, Conn. & Calvert, AD-0700 - Statler Hotel, 16th & K, EX-1000 - -FOR DINING IN BALTIMORE: - - Asia, 710 N. Howard, VE-8193 (Chinese) - Baum’s, 320 W. Saratoga, SA-7196 (steak and sea food) - Belvedere Hotel, MU-1000 (better hotel) - Candle Light Lodge, Frederick & N. Rolling, CA-9754 (country dining) - Cathay, 110 W. Saratoga, LE-7985 (Chinese) - Chesapeake, 1707 N. Charles, VE-7711 (steaks) - Dubner’s, 6427 Harfd Rd, CL-6459 (sea food) - Emerson Hotel, MU-4400 (politicos’ hangout) - Gannon’s, 3150 Frederick, GI-6147 (sea food) - Haussner’s, Eastern & Clinton, EA-8365 (unique German with an art - gallery) - Hollander’s, 10 W. Oliver, LE-9869 (steaks) - Marconi’s, 106 W. Saratoga, PL-9286 (French-Italian) - Marling House, 20 E. Fayette, SA-4460 (steaks) - Maria, 300 Albemarle, SA-9366 (Little Italy) - Marty Welsh, 17 E. Fayette, SA-3639 (steaks) - Miller Brothers, 119 W. Fayette, LE-2826 (the town’s biggest) - Nate’s & Leon’s, 850 W. North Ave., MA-2400 (this is Baltimore’s - Lindy’s. Hangout of show folk) - Park Plaza, Charles & Madison, BE-4000 (hotel dining room) - Pierre’s, 704 N. Howard, LE-3506 (high class French) - Pizza’s, 300 S. High, MU-1327 (Little Italy) - Roma, 900 Fawn, LE-8065 (Little Italy) - Rossiter’s, 1001 S. Hanover, LE-9196 (sea food) - Shellhase’s, 412 N. Howard, MU-6783 (H. L. Mencken’s favorite) - Sussman and Lev, 923 E. Baltimore, MU-6321 (kosher) - Walker-Hasslinger, 1701 N. Charles, VE-9410 (steaks, sea food) - White Rice Inn, 320 Park Ave., MU-6790 (Chinese) - - -C. DINING AROUND THE WORLD IN WASHINGTON - -CHINESE: - - Cathay, 624 H, RE-3330 - Chinese Lantern, 14 F, LI-9534 - Dragon, 1329 G, ME-3218 - Good Earth, 1609 K, NA-0441 - Gung Ho, 1406 G, ST-6339 - Orient, 1715 Wisconsin, AD-4700 - Ruby Foo’s Den, 728 13th St., NA-3565 - Peking, 5522 Conn., WO-8079 - Yet Ho Restaurant, 714 11th St., NA-9379 - -ENGLISH: Old English Tap Room & Lounge, Hay-Adams House, 16th & H, - ME-2260 - -FRENCH: - - Aux Trois Mousquetaires, 820 Conn., RE-2619 - Bonat’s Cafe, 1022 Vermont, RE-3373 - La Salle du Bois, 1800 M, RE-1124 - Maxime’s, 1731 Conn., AD-9811 - Napoleon’s, 2649 Conn., CO-8955 - -GERMAN: - - Hammel’s, 416 10th St., ST-9301 (one of Washington’s best) - Old Europe, 2434 Wisconsin, OR-7650 - -GREEK: - - New Athens Restaurant, 1741 K, DI-4081 - Old Athens, 804 9th St., ME-9582 - -ITALIAN: - - Aldo Cafe, 1143 New Hampshire, RE-9510 - Alfredo’s, 1724 Conn., HO-9729 - A-V, 607 New York, RE-0550 - Ciro’s, 1705 De Sales, ME-1434 - Gusti’s, 1837 M, RE-0895 - Roma, 3419 Conn., WO-9833 (dining under the stars) - Villa Nova, 5 F, TR-8978 - -MEXICAN & LATIN AMERICAN: - - Copacabana, 1711 Eye St., RE-9668 - El Mexico, 2603 Conn., HO-4550 - -NEAR EAST: The Sheik, 2317 Calvert, HU-4343 - -ROUMANIAN: Roumanian Inn, 8151 13th St., RE-6434 - -TURKISH: Dardanelles, Falls Church, Va., FA-2171 - -SCANDINAVIAN: New Smorgasbord, 2641 Conn., AD-9659 - -VIENNESE: Little Vienna, 2122 Penn., RE-9316 - -YIDDISH: - - Holfberg’s, 7822 Eastern Ave., GE-5878 - Jones Delicatessen, 1123 S, CO-3786, NO-9862 - Pomerantz, 1782 Columbia Rd., CO-4413, CO-8738 - Randy’s, 1113 15th St., RE-0661 (the Rueben’s of Washington) - S & L Kosher Delicatessen, 1205 7th St., NO-4633 - Uptown, 3500 Conn., OR-1040 - - -D. BARE BABES - -_Where to find ’em. Or where to keep away from ’em, which is harder._ - - -WASHINGTON - - Kavakos, 8th & H - The Players, 5th & K - - -MARYLAND SUBURBS - - Chesapeake, 3804 Bladensburg Rd. - Club La Conga, 9412 Baltimore Blvd. - Crossroads, Bladensburg at Peace Cross - Hilltop, 5211 Marlboro Pike - Senate Inn, 5704 Marlboro Pike, SE - Waldrops, 4318 Rhode Island Ave., NE - - -BALTIMORE - - Ambassador, Fayette & Washington (low) - Bettye Mills, 704 E. Baltimore - Chanticleer, Charles & Eager (high class) - Copa, 21 W. Baltimore (ditto) - Kathleen’s, 612 E. Baltimore - Kay’s, Baltimore & Frederick - Miami, Fayette & Frederick (low) - Oasis, Baltimore & Frederick - - -E. LUPO’S LOG BOOK - -_Being some notes to file away where your wife won’t look._ - - Backstage Phone No.: The Capitol Theatre, RE-7193. Star’s dressing - room call RE-1000 and ask for extension 305 - Boy Meets Girl Dance: Every Saturday, Victor Roosevelt. - District Age of Consent: 16. - Lipstick Stains Removed (No Odor): Texas, phone MI-9301. - Lonesome Gals: Friday and Saturday nights at the Officers’ Service - Club, 1624 21st St. - Florist, All Night: Charles Chisley, 603 4th St., ME-8709. - Tourist Courts: On the Baltimore Highway. - - -F. THE INNER CIRCLE - -These are extracts from a master list of 800 names submitted to the -Kefauver Committee of the U.S. Senate by Narcotics Commissioner Harry -J. Anslinger in June 1950. - -Since this list was compiled by Commissioner Anslinger some of the -subjects on it changed their addresses--some to a much warmer climate. - - -NEW YORK - - SAVERIO, Frank, Alias Frank COSTELLO: (International List 310) - This subject holds the No. 1 position among major criminals in - the United States today. He is a member of the Grand Council of - the International Mafia and ranks among the “top ten” of the - organization. Costello, as he is usually known, controls the - gambling interests in New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Florida - and California, collaterally with interests in Colorado and other - western states. His gigantic coin machine operations which extend - through many sections of the country have gained him the title - “The Slot Machine King.” The subject is reputed to be interested - in all the major criminal activities conducted by the Mafia and - other organized criminals throughout the United States. He is - regularly seen in close association with wealthy and influential - persons and powerful political figures on both state and national - levels. The political success of candidates sponsored by Costello - in New York and Louisiana, which have included some of the - highest officials of both states, are attested facts. - - DOTO, Joseph A., alias Joe ADONIS: (International List 79) This - subject is one of the most important figures of the Mafia - organization in New York City, a member of the Grand Council - of the International and a powerful leader in the national - underworld. For several years Doto has controlled gambling - and other rackets in New York, New Jersey and collaterally in - the west and Pacific Coast. He is a national figure in the - organization, beyond question. In addition to his gambling - interests, Doto long has been known as an important smuggler and - distributor of narcotics. He maintains a home at 1020 Dearborn - Road, Palisade Park, Fort Lee, N. J. He travels extensively. He - is of Italian descent and was born at Passaic, N. J., in 1902. - - MANGANO, Vincent or Vicente: (International List 211) Subject is - an important member of the Grand Council of the International as - well as of the national organization within the United States. He - is reputed to derive a sizeable commission on all gambling and - other rackets in which the organization is engaged. He professes - inability to speak English. Mangano also controls the labor - unions on the Brooklyn docks and has connections with underworld - operations along the waterfront engaged in smuggling and - distribution of narcotics throughout the United States. Subject - is closely associated with top members of both the international - and national Mafia organizations. He is of Sicilian descent and - so far as records reflect was born in New York in 1887. His - address is 254 President Street, Brooklyn. - - MANGANO, Philip: (International List 208) Although of less - importance than his brother, Vincent (above), subject is a highly - influential member of the Mafia in New York City. He is closely - associated with leading members of the organization there and - throughout the United States. He was born in Italy in 1900 and - became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1925. He - lives at 1126 Eighty-fourth Street, Brooklyn. - - PROFACI, Joseph: (International List 274) Subject is a member - of the Grand Council of the International. Although there is - much indirect evidence that subject’s criminal activities have - included smuggling, counterfeiting, extortion, narcotics traffic - and murder, he has no record of convictions. - - GENOVESE, Vito: (International List 130) Subject is an important - member of the Grand Council of the International and is powerful - in the underworld of New York City and the national tie-up. He is - associated with virtually all the influential Mafia members in - New York and with key individuals of the organization throughout - the United States. He is a notorious gunman and at one time - was linked with one of the most extensive narcotics operations - in the country. In 1939 Genovese fled to Italy while sought by - Kings County, N. Y., authorities in connection with Murder, Inc. - He was returned to the United States in 1945 and subsequently - was acquitted of a murder charge by a New York jury. Subject’s - criminal activities include murder, smuggling, extortion, - theft and gambling. He lives in an expensive home in Atlantic - Highlands, N. J. - - CARFANO Anthony, aka Augie Pisano: (International List 031) - Subject is a highly important member of the national Mafia and - is a powerful leader of the underworld in its transcontinental - connections, as springboarded from Brooklyn and Miami. He has - been linked actively in the conduct of major drug smuggling - operations, with horse booking, the race wire and other gambling. - He was a former partner of Charles (Lucky) Luciano and was a - close associate of the late Al Capone. Carfano has accumulated - considerable wealth and lives lavishly. In recent years he has - been associated closely with Vincent (Jimmy Blue Eyes) Also in - operation of exclusive gambling establishments in the Miami area. - These resorts are known to be hangouts for major underworld - figures of the nation when they are in Florida. His summer home - is 85 Clayton Avenue, Long Beach, N. Y., but usually he lives in - various swank hotels in New York and Florida. - - MORETTI, Quarico, aka Willie MORETTI: (International List 235) - Subject is an influential member of the Grand Council as well as - the national organisation and is one of the chief lieutenants to - Costello. He is the recognized leader of the New Jersey operation - and is associated with all the heavy rackets. He is considered - to be a man of substantial wealth. He is of Italian descent but - probably was born in this country. (Note: Subject is paretic - and highly unstable, hence his position today is known to be - precarious because of various ill-advised decisions which have - been costly to the organization recently.) - - ANASTASIA, Albert, 842 Ocean Pkwy, Bklyn - - BARRA, Morris--aka Mickey Mouse--Lorillard Place, Bronx - - BONANNO, Joe--aka Joe Bananas--114 Jefferson, Bklyn (See Colo.) - - BONASIRA, Anthony--aka The Chief--1117 83rd, Bklyn (SE202) - - COPPOLA, Mike, NYC (Int. List 052) - - LANZA, Joseph, NYC (SE193) - - LASCARI, Michael, 1111 Park Ave., New York City - - LI MANDRI, Michael--aka Mimi, Marco--325 E. 58th St., NYC (Int. - List 187) (NYS 2719) and Calif. - - LIVORSI, Frank--aka Chuck--NYC (Int. List 193) (NYMV 123 B) (NYS - 4997) - - LUCHESE, Thomas--aka Three-fingered Tommy Brown--106 Parsons Blvd., - Melba, L. I. - - MAGARDINO, Stefano, 1809 Whitney Ave., Niagara Falls - - RAO, Vincent, 19 E. 80th, NYC - - STROLLO, Anthony--aka Tony Benda & Tony Bender--NYC (Nat List 392) - - -TEXAS - - MACEO, Sam: This person is a very important member of the Mafia in - Texas and an extremely powerful and nationally known figure in - the underworld. He is associated with leading Mafia members and - other major racketeers throughout the United States. Maceo was - born in Italy in 1894 and came to the United States at an early - age. Prior to 1920, he worked as a barber in Galveston, Texas; - however, during the Prohibition era, he became the leader of - a group of liquor and narcotic smugglers who operated in that - vicinity. Following the repeal of prohibition, Sam Maceo and - his brother, Rosario, continued their drug smuggling activities - and at the same time “muscled in” on the gambling racket at - Galveston. Within a reasonable length of time, the Maceos were in - control of the gambling racket in that area, and as a result of - their diversified activities they became very wealthy and also - influential in politics. In 1937, Sam Maceo was reported with 87 - other defendants in our Case File SE-131, involving an extensive - narcotic smuggling enterprise. However, Maceo was acquitted by a - jury on this charge. At the present time, the Maceo organization - has control of all gambling rackets in Galveston which consists - of dice, roulette, handbooks, policy, bingo, corno games and slot - machines. They also own several night clubs and bars and two - hotels in Galveston. Sam Maceo is a naturalized citizen of the - United States. - - ANGELICA, Binaggio: This individual is an important member of the - Mafia Society of Houston, Texas, and is closely associated with - influential members of the organization throughout Texas, and - in the states of Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, New York and - Florida. He has long been an important narcotic smuggler and - distributor and on October 20, 1938, was sentenced to ten years - in prison for violation of the narcotic laws in connection with - our Case Files Texas-9349 and SE-131. Angelica was formerly - identified with Mafia activities in Pennsylvania and was arrested - in Philadelphia in 1932 for “blackhand” extortion. The subject - was born in Italy and is a naturalized citizen of the U. S. He - resides at 1906 State Street, Houston, Texas. - - ATTARDI, Alfonso: This man is an important member of the Mafia - Society in Houston, Texas. He was a former associate of Nicolo - Gentile, the former national arbitrator of the organization - and was associated with other members throughout Texas and in - the states of Louisiana, New York and Missouri. Attardi was - co-defendant in our Case File SE-131, NYS-5198 and Texas-9225 and - on January 10, 1940 was sentenced to 8 years in Federal prison in - the latter case. - - -MISSOURI - - DI GIOVANNI, Joseph: This man is the head of the Mafia society for - the state of Missouri, and without question is the most feared - and influential man in the Kansas City underworld. Di Giovanni, - who is now one of the wealthiest Italians in Kansas City, came to - the United States as a poor Sicilian immigrant in 1912. He began - his career as the leader of a small group of extortionists and - within a short time was the leader of the Mafia element in Kansas - City. During the Prohibition era, Di Giovanni and his associates - controlled the manufacture and distribution of all contraband - liquor in this area as well as the raw material used therein, and - in the early thirties, his group organized the narcotic syndicate - which operated in Kansas City until 1942. At the present time, Di - Giovanni owns and operates a wholesale liquor business known as - the Midwest Distributing Co. at 1109 Cherry St., and also owns a - chain of retail stores known as the Happy Hollow Liquor Stores, - Inc. He resides at 410 Gladstone Blvd. - - BALESTRERE, James: This individual is the head of the Mafia Society - at Kansas City, Mo., and is second in command in the state. - Balestrere is often referred to as the “Mystery Man” of local - politics by the _Kansas City Star_ and has been known to exert - considerable influence in both state and national circles. For - a number of years, Balestrere was the leader of the North Side - Democratic club which controlled the entire Italian district as - well as the greater portion of the northeast section of the city. - In 1943, Balestrere went into so-called retirement and installed - an associate, Charles Binaggio, as the club head. On April 5, - 1950, Binaggio was assassinated. During the interim, Balestrere - and his superior, Joseph Di Giovanni, have directed all matters, - political and otherwise, from the background. - - DI GIOVANNI, Peter: This individual occupies a position of great - importance in the Mafia society at Kansas City, Mo., due to - the influence of his brother, Joseph, who is state head of - the organisation. He resides at 502 Campbell St. and was a - stockholder in the former “Kansas City Narcotics Syndicate.” - - DE LUCA, Joseph: (Nat. List 102) This man is a very influential - member of the Mafia Society at Kansas City, and one of the most - vicious characters in the underworld of that city. He was the - head of the former “Kansas City Narcotics Syndicate” and during - the Prohibition era was one of the largest bootleggers in the - state of Missouri. De Luca resides at 2840 Forest St. - - GIZZO, Anthony Robert: This subject, usually known as Tony, is - an influential member of the Mafia and long has been regarded - as Balestrere’s first lieutenant. He personally looks after - Balestrere’s business enterprises and is said to have a small - interest in each. In addition, Gizzo is the owner of one of the - largest horse books in Kansas City. He is a close associate of - the Fischetti brothers in Chicago, Joseph Profaci of Brooklyn, - and Carlos Marcello of New Orleans. He is frequently a liaison - man for the Kansas City Mafia between these points. - - IMPOSTATO, Micolo: (Nat. List 189) This subject is a very - influential member of the Mafia at Kansas City and reputedly - holds a high seat on the International Council. He is a known - professional “killer” and is known to have been brought to Kansas - City originally from Springfield, Ill., as an enforcer for the - local Mafia. Impostato was the general manager of the former - “Kansas City Narcotics Syndicate” and on April 13, 1943, was - sentenced to two years in Federal Prison for violation of the - Narcotics Laws. He lives at 32 Warner Plaza, Kansas City. - - -COLORADO - - DIONISIO, Robert Victor: This subject is an important and - influential member of the Mafia at Trinidad. He is a son - of the late Rosario Dionisio, who formerly was head of the - society in Southern Colorado. The name Dionisio is well known - throughout Southern Colorado in that the family long has been - notorious as so-called “black-handers.” The Dionisios have been - investigated by numerous law enforcement agencies in connection - with bootlegging, bombing, gang killings, etc., but for the most - part have no criminal records. Robert Dionisio was indicted and - convicted in 1938 at Trinidad on fraud charges growing out of - misuse of public funds. He was one of 12 so convicted. Subject - was born in Lucca, Sicula, Sicily, and came to the United States - when he was 17. He operates a grocery at 1002 Arizona St., and - also has an interest in a tavern. He resides at the Arizona St. - address. - - BONANNO, Joseph, Trinidad, Colo., and Brooklyn, N. Y. (Bonanno also - has a home at Tucson, Ariz.) - - MISTRETTA, Anthony, Denver (NY-E 105) - - -CALIFORNIA - - RIZZOTTI, Antonio (Alias Jack Dragna): This subject, usually known - as Jack Dragna, is a member of the Mafia in Los Angeles. He is a - powerful figure in the underworld and has the reputation of being - a big time gambler and racketeer. He is a member of the notorious - Rizzotti or Dragna family. Dragna’s home is 3521 Beechwood - Avenue, Los Angeles. - - LI MANDRI, Michael (Alias Mimi Li-Mandri): This subject is a very - important member of the Mafia and an influential figure in - the California and New York underworld. He is associated with - leading members of the Mafia throughout the United States and for - many years has been a major trafficker in narcotics. Li Mandri - is known to have been a leader of a gang which was engaged in - smuggling of narcotics from Mexico to the United States and - processing it into heroin. He maintains a home at 335 E. 58th - Street, NYC. - - MAUGERI, Salvatore: This man is an important member of the Mafia in - the San Francisco area and is closely associated with influential - members of the organization throughout California, New York and - New Jersey. He has been an important trafficker in narcotics many - years and formerly was a partner with Charles La Gaipa in an - extensive narcotic smuggling enterprise on the Coast. Maugeri was - sentenced to 10 years in prison, Nov. 30, 1944, for narcotic law - violation (SE 204 and Cal 3368). Other important associates of - Maugeri in this case, in addition to La Gaipa were Joseph Tocco, - Charles Alberto and Joseph Dentico. Maugeri also has a record of - counterfeiting, with one conviction in 1935, for which he was - sentenced to two years in prison. He was born in Italy, Sept 13, - 1892, and is a naturalized citizen of the United States. His - legal address is 378 23rd Ave., San Francisco. - - TOCCO, Joseph: This individual is an important member of the Mafia - in California and New York. Prior to his imprisonment he divided - his time between the two states. He was a member of an extensive - narcotics ring operating in New York and on the Coast. On Aug. - 16, 1944, Tocco was arrested in possession of 630 ounces of - opium and 8 ounces of morphine at Chicago while en route from - California to New York. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment - the following Nov. 30 (see Case Files Calif. 3368 and SE 204). - His legal residence is 315 E. 114th St, NYC. - - MILANO, Tony, 9451 Sunset, Hollywood - - NANI, Sebastiano, San Mateo - - ROSELLI, Johnnie, LA - - SICA, Joseph, 627 N. Griffith Park Drive, Burbank (ditto above) - - -FLORIDA - - TRAFFICANTE, Santos: This subject was head of the Mafia at Tampa - for many years and still holds an influential position in the - organization there. In 1946, Trafficante was replaced as head - of the local organization by Salvatore Scaglione through the - intervention of the Diecidue family, who have long opposed - the subject. During the period from 1929 to 1942, Trafficante - and other members of the Mafia in Tampa, New Orleans, New - York, St Louis and Kansas City were involved in an extensive - narcotics racket. This enterprise was broken up by the arrest - and conviction of eleven defendants, two of whom were members of - the Tampa organization. (See Case File 202). His address is 3010 - North Blvd., Tampa. - - DIECIDUE, Apphonso: This individual is the father of Antonio, - Thomas and Frank Diecidue and is an important figure in the - Mafia at Tampa. However, in view of the fact he now is 78, a - large portion of his influence has been delegated to his eldest - son, Antonio. The latter is alleged to dictate all policies of - the Tampa organization. Alphonso is and has been for many years - the head of the Unione Siciliano in Tampa. It has been well - established that this organization is substantially the same as - the Mafia. He has long been closely associated with important - Mafia figures in NYC, New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City and - St. Louis. The subject formerly engaged in extensive narcotic, - alien and liquor smuggling operations and is reputed to receive - dividends from the proceeds of all gambling and bolita in the - Tampa area. His home is at 46th and E Sts., Tampa. - - DIECIDUE, Antonio: This subject is a close personal friend of - Vincent Mangano of Brooklyn and is probably the most influential - member of the Mafia in Tampa. He is closely associated with - important members of the organization in NYC, New Orleans, - Chicago, Kansas City and St. Louis. For a number of years, - Diecidue opposed Santos Trafficante as leader in Tampa and - finally succeeded in deposing him in 1946. Salvatore Scaglione, - or Scagliano, who was sponsored by Diecidue, now heads the - organization there. - - ITALIANO, Salvatore: (Int. List 154) This individual, usually - known as “Red,” is an influential member of the Mafia at Tampa. - During the period from 1929 to 1942, Italiano and other members - of the Tampa Mafia were engaged in an extensive liquor, narcotics - and alien smuggling operation. This was broken up by the arrest - and conviction of eleven persons, two of them relatives of - Italiano. (See Case File SE202). Italiano was convicted in 1929 - of a narcotics charge. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen, born in - Belmonte, Italy, Oct. 19, 1896. His citizenship was revoked but - he regained it in 1947. Italiano is closely associated with top - members of the Mafia in Chicago, New Orleans, Kansas City and St - Louis. He owns a beer firm known as Anthony Distributors, Inc., - 1707 20th St., Tampa, and lives at 2801 Nebraska Ave. - - -LOUISIANA - - MARCELLO, Carlos: (La 1M) (La 15M) This subject is head of the - Mafia in Louisiana and advanced to that position in 1947 when - Francisco Paola Cappola, the former leader, was deported. - Marcello is closely associated with Frank Costello and with - other important figures of the organization in Texas, Missouri, - Illinois, California and Florida. He is associated with Costello - and Kastel in the Neverly Club and reputedly owns the New - Southport. Marcello also owns the largest coin machine company in - Jefferson Parish, known as the Jefferson Music Co. He lives now - at Marrero, La. - - KASTEL, Philip: This individual is a very important member of the - Mafia and an extremely powerful figure in the rackets. He is the - main representative of Frank Costello in Louisiana and is in - charge of the syndicate’s gambling and coin machine enterprises. - Kastel is closely associated with leading members of the Mafia in - Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Florida and Illinois. He owns a - palatial home in Florida but lives for the most part at a suite - in the Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans. - - CARROLLA, Sam or Silvestro (deported in 1947) (now in Tijuana) - - CAPPOLLA, Francisco Paola (deported in 1949) (now in Tijuana) - - -MICHIGAN - - LICAVOLI, Pete: This individual is one of the most prominent - members of the Mafia in Michigan and a very powerful underworld - figure of national reputation. He is a member of the notorious - Licavoli family of Detroit and St. Louis, whose gang was in - competition with the Purple Mob and eventually supplanted and - liquidated that group. The subject is associated with leading - members of the Mafia and other important racketeers throughout - the United States. Although he maintains a legal residence at - 1154 Balfour Ave., Grosse Pointe, he spends a great portion of - his time at the Grace Ranch, Box 521, Route 2, Tucson, Ariz. - - MELI, Angelo: This subject, usually known as Genni Mell, is an - important figure in the Detroit Mafia and is closely associated - with Angelo Polizzi, et al. He is a notorious racketeer and - underworld character, acquiring his reputation when he was - leader of a mob with Jo Barzoli, known as the Meli-Barzoli mob - in the Prohibition era. In recent years be has been engaged in - night club operations, gambling and other rackets in Detroit. - He has a record of 15 arrests, 13 of them for felonies and - two misdemeanors, ranging from murder to being a disorderly - person. These cover the period 1919 to 1944. He has only one - conviction--carrying concealed weapons. He lives in an elaborate - home at 1060 Devonshire Road, Grosse Pointe. - - BOMMARITO, Joe (Scarface), 7340 West Seven-Mile - - LUCIDO, Sam, 1507 Sunningdale, GP - - MASSEI, Joe, Detroit and Miami - - -OHIO - - MILANO, Frank: This subject is a member of the Grand Council of the - International and is head of the organization in Ohio. Although - he maintains legal residence at 375 North Hawkins Ave., Akron, - he spends a great amount of his time in Mexico, where he has - extensive business interests. Among these is a 45,000 hectare - ranch called “La Columbia” located near Vera Cruz, and the - controlling stock of two corporations--the Tehuacan Lumber Co. - and the Columbian Plantation Oil Co. Milano has a long criminal - record dating from 1913, involving two charges of murder and a - number of arrests for counterfeiting. He is a nationally known - figure in the underworld and an associate of Lucky Luciano, Al - Polizzi, Frank Costello and other outstanding Mafia leaders in - the United States, Mexico, Cuba and Italy. Milano was born in - Sicily and is a naturalized citizen of the United States. He - spends the greater part of his time at his apartment at Atenas, - No. 31, Mexico City, D. F. - - POLIZZI, Alfonso: This subject, usually referred to as Al, is an - important and influential member of the Mafia and is believed to - rank second in the organization in the state of Ohio. He was a - former business partner of Frank Milano and is closely associated - with members of the organization throughout Ohio, Michigan and - Florida. Polizzi is a very powerful figure in the underworld and - is greatly feared. - - CAVALLARO, Charles: This individual is a member of the Mafia in - Youngstown. He is associated with members of the organization - throughout the state and in New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania - and to a lesser degree elsewhere. Subject has been arrested - on several occasions on such charges as extortion and liquor - law violation and has been a suspect in other criminal - investigations. He has operated gambling houses in Youngstown and - his last known address was the Pick Ohio Hotel there. He was born - in Italy and entered the United States illegally on May 1, 1921, - at New Orleans, as a stowaway aboard the _SS Cerco_. His FBI - number is 1144812. - - ANGERSOLA, Fred, Cleveland - - ANGERSOLA, John, Cleveland - - -ILLINOIS - - DELUCIA, Paul: This individual, usually known as Paul (The Waiter) - Ricca or Ricci, is an important and influential member of the - Grand Council of the International and a powerful figure in the - underworld. He is a former member of old Capone organization in - Chicago and is one of the defendants in the Brown-Bioff case. - DeLucia received a ten-year sentence in connection with that - case and was paroled in 1949. Subject is closely associated with - the Fischetti brothers in Chicago and with members of the Mafia - throughout the United States. He maintains legal residence at 812 - Latrobe Ave., River Forest, Ill., and has a country estate at - Berrien Springs, Mich. He is associated with Jack Guzik and they - are reputed to be the most influential gangsters in the Chicago - area. - - ACCARDO, Anthony: Subject lives at 1431 Ashland Ave., River Forest. - He is an influential member of the International. He classifies - himself as a betting commissioner and confines his activities - almost exclusively to gambling operations. He is a former member - of the old Capone organization and is presently associated with - the Chicago syndicate--DeLucia, Guzik, the Fischetti brothers, - Murray Humphries and others. In November, 1948, Accardo was tried - on charges of conspiracy to defraud and for concealing material - facts. He was acquitted. - - FISCHETTI, Charles, Rocco and Joe: These brothers are very - important members of the Mafia at Chicago and are members of or - associated closely with the International. They are cousins of - Al Capone. The Fischettis are interested in gambling operations - and various other rackets. Their connections with top Mafia - members extend through Illinois, Missouri, New York, New Jersey, - Michigan, Ohio, California and Florida. They have gambling - casinos in the Chicago area, Indiana and Southern Wisconsin, - Kansas City, East St. Louis and in Florida. - - CAPEZIO, Anthony, alias Tough Tony: This subject is mentioned in - Case Files Ill. 5909 and SE 202, the latter in the investigation - into the death in Chicago of Carl Carramusa. - - DE GRAZIO, Rocco alias Gramps: Subject figured in Ill. 5909 and in - SE 202. He was an important member in the old Capone mob. He has - been convicted of income tax violation and served 18 months. He - currently controls all gambling in Melrose Park. He is closely - associated with the Mafia. - - CAMPAGNA, Louis alias Little New York: Subject is an important - member of the Mafia at Chicago and is said to be a member of - the International. He is a close personal friend of De Lucia - with whom he currently is associated, as well as with Guzik, - Humphreys, D’Andrea and Charles Gioe. Campagna is closely - connected with all influential members of the Mafia in Illinois - and has connections with top-level members in New York, Indiana - and Michigan. He was born in Brooklyn, Sept 23, 1900, and came - to Chicago during the ascendancy of the Capone mob. He began his - criminal career in Chicago and was sentenced in 1919 for bank - robbery. In 1945 Campagna was convicted and sentenced in the - Southern District of New York to 10 years in the Brown-Bioff - case. Later paroled. During the interim he was arrested numerous - times but evaded prosecution. Campagna has two farms on Rural - Route 1, Berrien Springs, Mich., which he has owned since 1932 - and which he rents out to tenants. - - GIOE, Charles alias Cherry Nose: Subject is mentioned in files in - connection with the International. He was a former member of - the old Capone mob and was convicted with several others in the - Brown-Bioff case. Now on parole. - - IMPOSTATO, Nicolo: Subject formerly lived in Springfield, Ill. - He has been identified with various narcotic traffickers since - about 1938, in New York, Kansas City and Tampa. Convicted in - Kansas City for violation of immigration laws as outgrowth of a - narcotics investigation. - - D’ANDREA, Philip: Subject is an influential member of the Mafia. - His uncle, Anthony D’Andrea, was head of the Mafia in the Chicago - area some years ago. Philip formerly a big shot member of the old - Capone mob was convicted in the Southern District of New York in - the Brown-Bioff case and is presently on parole. - - CAPONE, John, alias Mimi, Chicago - - CAPONE, Matthew Nicholas, Chicago - - -WISCONSIN - - CAPONE, Ralph (formerly of Chicago). Now living in Mercer, Wis., - where he operates the Rex Hotel and Billy’s Bar, a gambling - establishment. - - -MASSACHUSETTS - - BUCCOLA, Philip: Subject is the leading Mafia figure of Boston and - of the state, probably for the entire New England area. A native - of Palermo, he migrated to this country about 1920 and became - a prominent sporting events and fight promoter in Boston. He - operates the Goodwin Athletic Club. He is intimately associated - with Lucky Luciano and leading New York and Florida figures of - the Mafia. - - IACONE, Frank, Worcester - - -RHODE ISLAND - - CANDELMO, John, Providence - - PATRIARCA, Raymond, Providence (also Patriaca) - - -N. J. and PENN. - - ACCARDI, Sam, Newark and Bloomfield - - REGINELLI, Marco, Phila. and Camden (SE 226) - - -(Many of the above were similarly mentioned in other testimony before -the Kefauver Committee.) - - - - -INDEX - - - Abortion, 89 - - Acalotti, Attilio, 113, 172, 207, 210, 225, 232 - - Acheson, Dean, 10, 138, 159 - - Acropolis, 127 - - Actor’s Equity Association, 16 - - Adonis, Joe, 175, 186, 198, 202, 203 - - Alcoholic Beverage Control, 42 - - Al Faquih, Sheikh Asad, 150 - - Alleys, 51 - - Ambassador Hotel, 13, 14 - - Ambassadors’ Rows, 20 - - American Federation of Labor, 167 - - Americans for Democratic Action, 159 - - Amvets, 128 - - Anslinger, Harry J., 108, 109, 110, 183, 184, 251 - - Armed Services Police, 71 - - Arnold, Thurman, 158 - - Arvey, Jake, 160, 165 - - Astoria Hotel, 25 - - Atlas Club, 126 - - Autograph collecting, 132 - - - B Girls, 26, 34, 262, 268 - - Bacon, Mrs. Robert Low, 136 - - Bail, 231 - - Bakar, Abdullah Ibraham, 150 - - Balbo, Italo, 147 - - Ballet-dancers, 9 - - Baltimore, 2, 17, 22, 26, 250 ff. - - Band Box, 33 - - Banneker High School, 54 - - Barbiturates, 116 - - Barrett, Robert J., 56, 60, 174, 175, 221 - - Beach, Carmen, 24 - - Beard, Sam, 172, 207 - - Benjamin, Herbert J., 101 - - Bentley, Faye L., 120 - - Berman, Mrs. Louise Branson, 103 - - Bernstein, Izzie, 184 - - Bettye Mills Night Club, 267 - - Big Tit Flossie, 53 - - Billeci, Frank, 225 - - Binaggio, 191 - - Black Belt, 37 - - Black Hand, 180, 181 - - Black Town, 109, 124, 130 - - Block-buster, 43, 44 - - Blue Mirror, 132, 269 - - Boehman, Ambassador Erik, 151 - - Bookmakers, 69 - - Bookmaking, 72, 207, 210, 211 - - Bottlegging, 55, 124, 130, 145 - - Booze, 281 - - Borden, Mrs. Jay, 136 - - Border of D. C., 62 - - Bosses, The, 234 ff. - - Bottle-clubs, 39, 69, 124–129 - - Bowers, Florence, 85 - - Bowery, 30, 32 - - Boyle, William Marshall, 140, 158, 186, 196 - - Bralove, Harry, 15 - - Braverman, Marvin, 163 - - Bridges, Senator Styles, 99 - - Brisco, 40 - - Bronzeville, 37, 41, 45, 119 - - Brooks Brothers, 18 - - Brooks, Mrs. Louis Cromwell, 143 - - Brown, Al, 127 - - Brown, Constantine, 99 - - Brown, Lamarr (Polly), 49 - - Buchalter, Lepke, 191 - - Bureau of Narcotics, 108, 110, 184 - - Bureau of the Census, 41 - - Burlesque, 31, 65 - - Burning Tree Club, 141 - - - C girls, _see_ Company Girls - - Cab drivers, 13, 49 - - Cabarets, 282 - - Cafritz, Gwendolyn, 138, 139 - - Cafritz, Morris, 13, 138, 139, 141 - - Call girls, 83 - - Capital Transit Company, 192 - - Capitol Police, 70 - - Capone, Al, 67, 172, 175 - - Carlton, 13, 14 - - Carter, Diane, 28 - - Carter, Johnny W., 49 - - Casablanca Tavern, 26 - - Casino Royal, 132 - - Census, 34, 58 - - Central Intelligence Agency, 100 - - Century Athletic Club, 260 - - Chanticleer, 269 - - Chapman, Oscar L., 17 - - Charnay, Dave, 164, 165 - - Chevy Chase, 20 - - Chevy Chase Club, 141 - - _Chicago Confidential_, 57, 164, 177, 180, 182, 190, 194, 197, 198, - 221 - - China, 109 - - China Clipper, 26, 56 - - Chinatown, 32, 56 ff., 113 - - Chinese, 112 - - Chinese, smuggling, 58 - - Chinese whores, 59 - - Chitlin industry, 55 - - Chitlin party, 55 - - CIO, 167 - - Clark, Charles Patrick, 157 - - Clark, Tom, 187 - - Clifford, Clark, 163 - - Clip Joints, 282 - - Club Bali, 49 - - Club Charles, 269 - - Club Harlem, 51 - - Cocaine, 108 - - Cockrill, Judge Edith H., 120 - - Comi Brothers, 260 - - Communists, 9, 58, 99 ff., 112 - - Company Girls, 83 ff. - - Conga, 65 - - Connelly, Tom, 203, 204 - - Conners, Harry, 127 - - Cooper, Billie, 27 - - Copacabana, 186, 197 - - Corbi Brothers, 260 - - Corbi, Joseph, 261 - - Corcoran, Tommy the Cork, 11, 158 - - Coronet, 269 - - Corporation Council, 236, 237 - - Costello, Frank, 65, 67, 164, 173, 174, 175, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, - 190, 193, 197, 199, 205, 261, 271 - - Covered Wagon, 26 - - Crap, 211 - - Crime, 7, 213 ff. - - Crossroads, 65 - - Crystal Cavern, 129 - - Culinary Arts, 127 - - Curran, Boss Bill, 260 - - Currie, Laughlin, 158 - - Czechoslovakia, 109 - - - _Daily Worker_, 17 - - D’Alesandro, Jr., Thomas, 264 - - Dancing, 283 - - Darktown, 272 - - Dates, 283 - - David’s Grill, 95 - - Davis, 243 - - Davis, Henry W., 127 - - Davis, James G., 242 - - Dawson, Congressman William, 45 - - Dawson, Donald, 166 - - De Callejon, Don Eduardo Propper, 151 - - De Kauffman, Ambassador Henrick, 149 - - De Luca, Joe, 191 - - De Morgenstierne, Ambassador Wilhelm Munthe, 150 - - Department of Justice, 121 - - Desvernine, Eugene, 98 - - Dialect, 6 - - Diane, 26 - - Dining, 284 - - Diplomats, 144 ff. - - Diplomats, Sexual life of, 145–149 - - District Committee, 241, 244 - - Divorce, 284 - - Dixie Pig, 66 - - Dondero, Congressman, 104, 105 - - Dope, 49, 61, 112, 122 - - Dope peddlers, 51, 53, 60, 110 - - Doris, 27 - - Downtown Club, 127 - - Dragon, 56 - - Drury, Bill, 45, 203, 204 - - Dunbar Hotel, 50 - - Dupont Circle, 20, 93, 135, 207 - - Dupont Plaza, 20 - - Dupont Theatre, 102 - - - Eastern House, 60 - - Economic Cooperation Administration, 170 - - Economic planners, 9 - - Edwards, William J. Foots, 50 - - Eichler, David K., 97 - - Emerson, Faye, 160 - - Emerson Hotel, 266 - - Eng Hon, 61 - - Erickson, Frank, 127, 190, 207 - - Erkin, Feridun Cemal, 151 - - - F.B.I., 28, 29, 104, 106, 169, 173, 184, 202, 203, 213, 246, 249, 250 - - Fair Deal, 11 - - Fairies, 10 - - Fairy Brigade, 71 - - Fairy Shows, 65 - - Fastest Runners, 54 - - Fay, George Morris, 213, 250 - - Fear, 7 - - Federal Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, 58 - - Felonies, 46 - - Ferone, Dominic, 127 - - Fischbach, Hyman I., 114, 124, 125, 216, 242, 243 - - Fischetti, Charlie, 165, 173, 177, 182, 191 - - Flynn, Ed, 36. 188, 189, 197, 200, 214, 256 - - Fong Wah Co., 61 - - Ford, Charles, 24, 67, 125, 127, 175, 176, 230, 231, 232, 233 - - Ford’s Theatre, 15 - - Forest Lawn Cemetery, 2, 3 - - Fortas, Abe, 158 - - Fortune-tellers, 277 - - Forty Thieves, 54 - - Fox, 26 - - Frankfurter, Felix, 10, 100, 104, 105, 166, 197 - - Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Theatre, 17 - - Franklin Park Hotel, 92, 93, 94 - - Franks, Sir Oliver Shewell, 150 - - Free Loaders, 280 - - Freedman’s Hospital, 52 - - Frye, John, 51 - - Fulton, Hugh, 163 - - - G Girls, 75, 77 - - Gabrielson, Guy George, 140 - - Gamblers, 52, 66 - - Gambling, 61, 69, 122, 126, 198, 201, 206 ff., 270, 271, 273 - - Gamby’s, 272 - - Gangs, 121 - - Garfield Hospital, 52 - - Garfinkel, 18 - - Gayety Burlesque, 16, 31 - - Georgetown, 8 ff., 207 - - Georgetown University, 10 - - Gianaris, Pete, 67, 173 - - Gilbert, Dan, 199 - - Gin-flats, 130 - - Ginmill operators, 51 - - Gizzo, Tony, 191 - - Glen Echo, 68 - - Glickfield, Albert, 127 - - Goat Alley, 51 - - Goebels, Tony, _See_ Ricci - - Gold Key, 127 - - Goldberg, George, 260 - - Goodwin, Mrs. Gussie (Gushie), 137, 138 - - Goof balls, 117 - - Grand Council, 182 - - Greek Colony, 33 - - Greenwich Village, 8, 9, 51 - - Gross, Mrs. Laura Curtis, 141 - - Guess Who, 127 - - Guns, 285 - - Guy’s, 33 - - - Hague, Boss, 245 - - Halim, Tawhida, 139 - - Halley, Rudolph, 163, 164, 165, 197, 198, 202, 203, 204 - - Hanlon, Dan, 158 - - Harding, George P., 174 - - Harlem, 37, 45, 119 - - Harrison Narcotics Law, 107 - - Harvard, 8, 104 - - Harvey’s, 18, 19 - - Hastie, William, 45 - - Hecht’s Hotel, 33 - - Hellenic Social Club, 33 - - Henderson, Leon, 159 - - Heroin, 113 - - Hetzel, Mrs. Curt, 141 - - Hideaway Club, 11, 124, 126, 129, 174 - - High Hat Cocktail Lounge, 14 - - Hill, Virginia, 205 - - Hilmer, Lucien, 171 - - Hip Sing, 57, 60, 61, 113 - - Hobo Heaven, 263 - - Holiday, Billie, 132 - - _Holiday_ magazine, 38 - - Homosexual Bureau, 97 - - Homosexuals, 11, 19, 65, 90 ff., 272 - - Hooker, 22 - - Hooker, General Joe, 22 - - Hoover, J. Edgar, 18, 19, 106, 169, 173, 191, 213, 246 - - Hopkins, Harry, 11, 143, 257 - - Hopkins Institute, 28, 29 - - Hotels, assignation, 13, 285 - - Hughes, Maury, 187 - - Hunt, Lester, 201 - - - Illiteracy, 36 - - Impellitteri, Mayor Vincent, 186 - - Intelligence Unit, 251 - - International Syndicate, 49 - - Introducers, 280 - - Italians, 259 - - - Jack’s Grill, 25 - - Jarwood’s, 191 - - Javits, Jacob K., 162 - - Jawitz, Arthur, 192 - - Jeffers, Jesse W. Jr., 111 - - Jewel Box, 93, 94 - - Jimmy’s Place, 176 - - Johnson, Louis D., 159, 160 - - Johnston, William B., 192 - - Jolson, Al, 53 - - Jones, Puddin’ Head, 34, 36, 49 - - Joy Inn, 61 - - Juvenile Court, 119 - - Juvenile delinquency, 118 - - - Karrica, Mary, 146 - - Kavakos’ Grill, 95, 132 - - Kay’s, 266 - - Kefauver, Estes, 64, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 202, 204, - 205, 206 - - Kefauver Committee, 45, 72, 164, 177, 180, 183, 192, 194 ff., 230, - 243, 261 - - Keith, 16 - - Kelleher, Black Jack, 207 - - Kelley, Major Edward, 56 - - Kelly, Ed, 36 - - Kenny, Wilbur, 51 - - Klein, Arthur G., 244 - - Kronheim, Milton, 165 - - - La Fontaine, Jimmy, 67, 173, 175, 176, 230, 232 - - La Guardia, Mayor, 36, 103, 108, 164, 186 - - Lafayette Park, 19 - - Lafayette Square, 91, 92, 93, 110 - - Lano, Sam, 69 - - Lansky, Meyer, 175 - - Latham, Henry, 161, 162 - - Lattimore, Owen, 105, 159 - - Lautrelle, Nathaniel, 147, 148 - - Lawyers Guild, 169 - - Ledroit Park, 51 - - L’Enfant, Major Pierre, 12, 19 - - Lesbians, 94, 95 - - Lewis, John L., 14, 164, 165 - - Lewis, Snags, 66, 67, 173, 175, 210, 225 - - Lichtauer, Nate, 165 - - Limousines, 286 - - Lincoln Barbeque, 50 - - Liquor, 123 ff. - - Liquor, bootleg, 50 - - Liquor laws, 123, 124 - - Liquor, legal closing, 31, 65 - - Lloyd, David Garrison, 159 - - Lobbying, 155 ff. - - Local government, 5 - - Loew’s Capitol, 16 - - Logan Hotel, 40 - - Loose ladies, 14 - - Los Angeles, 3 - - Lotus, 132 - - Lowenthal, Max, 104, 105, 171 - - Lucas, Scott, 160, 196 - - Luchow’s, 18 - - Luciano, Charles Lucky, 24, 108, 182, 184 - - Lully, Julius, 19 - - Lund, Nina, 147 - - Lyre’s Club, 125, 129 - - - MacArthur, General Douglas, 143 - - MacDonald, 232 - - MacLeon, Evelyn Walsh, 135 - - Madden, Owney “The Killer,” 230 - - Madre, Odessa, 49 - - Mafia, 24, 49, 60, 67, 108, 130, 160, 164, 172–176, 177 ff., 195, - 199–201, 205, 243, 244, 251, 255, 259, 260 - - Mafia Grand Council, 205 - - Magnuson, Senator Warren, 87, 143 - - Mai Fong Restaurant, 26, 59 - - “Mamma Liz,” 53 - - Mann Act, 86 - - Maragon, John, 158, 165, 166, 186 - - Marcantonio, Congressman Vito, 36 - - Marijuana, 113 - - Marriage, 287 - - Martin’s Bar, 11 - - Maryland, 6, 20, 26, 62, 63, 64, 65, 207 - - Masseria, The Boss, 182 - - Mayflower Hotel, 13, 15, 18, 132 - - “Mayor” of Chinatown, 61 - - McCreedy, Dorothy A., 188 - - McGrath, J. Howard, 186, 187, 196, 213 - - McGurn, Machine Gun Jack, 184 - - McKeldin, Theodore Roosevelt, 261 - - Medical, 288 - - Mencken, H. L., 22 - - Messall, Victor, 164 - - Meserole, Patsy, 127, 128 - - Mesta, Perle, 137, 138, 139 - - Metropolitan Police, 4, 173, 210, 216, 221, 226 - - Meyer, Johnny, 160 - - Meyerberg, Michael, 17 - - Meyers, Mike, 66, 67, 173, 175 - - Miami Club, 264, 265, 266 - - Mickey’s, 93 - - Midday manners, 288 - - Midnight manners, 288 - - Milligan, Maurice, 190, 191 - - Miscegenation, 39 - - Mission Row, 32 - - Mitchell Grill, 25 - - Model agencies, 81 - - Models, 80, 146 - - Morals violations, 51 - - Morley, Elizabeth, 85 - - Morgan, Sam, 68 - - Movie palaces, 12 - - Moy, George, 61 - - Mugging, 52, 53 - - Murder. Inc, 149. 191 - - Murphy, Tom, 197 - - Murray, Arthur, 82 - - - N.A.A.C.P., 39, 41, 43. 48, 136 - - Nabuco, Ambassador Mauricio, 148 - - Narcotics, 49, 51, 60, 61, 107 ff., 122, 271 - - Narcotics Act, 108 - - Narcotics Bureau, 251 - - Narcotics, Diplomatic sources, 113 - - Nathan, Robert, 159 - - National Airport, 1 - - National Park Police, 226 - - National Syndicate, 172, 173, 177 ff. - - National Theatre, 16 - - Negro after-hours clubs, 42 - - Negro crime, 46, 47, 48, 49 - - Negro population, 4, 35 - - Negroes, 9, 20, 34, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 68, 102, 112, 119, 260 - - Nesline, Joseph, 174 - - New Colonial, 26 - - New Deal, 11 - - New Dealers, 8 - - New Willard, 13 - - Night clubs, 132 - - Niles, David K., 14, 165, 166, 196, 197 - - Nitti, Frank, 184 - - North West, 12 ff. - - Norton, Mrs. Mary, 244 - - Numbers racket, 1, 49, 55, 207, 208 - - Nunan, Joe, 158, 186 - - - O-Girls, 75 - - Oasis Club, 263 - - Occidental, 19 - - O’Connell, Jerry J., 169 - - O’Connell, Richard, 128 - - O’Conor, Senator Herbert, 64, 201, 261 - - Off Beat Club, 51 - - Olmsted’s Restaurant. 18 - - On Leong building, 61 - - On Leong Tong, 57, 60, 61 - - Oscar of the Waldorf, 19 - - - Palm Grill, 128 - - Park Police, 70 - - Parlor-houses, 269 - - Party-Girls, 83 - - Patterson, Eleanor Cissie, 20, 135 - - Patterson, Mrs. Robert, 138 - - Pawnbrokers, 65 - - Pawnbroker’s Row, 31 - - Peacock Alley, 14 - - Pearson, Drew, 199 - - Pecora, Ferdinand, 197 - - Pendergast, Tom, 190 - - Penguin, 33 - - Pentagon, 71, 72, 73 - - Pepper, Claude, 160 - - Per capita income, 4 - - Permanent Central Opium Board, 109 - - Peron, Eva, 148 - - Pershing, General John J., 143 - - Piccadilly, 269 - - Pinball machines, 212 - - Pinchot, Mrs. Gifford, 136 - - Podell, Julie, 186, 187 - - Poland, 109 - - Police, 220 ff. - - Policy-sellers, 69 - - Policy slips, 1, 50, 55, 207 - - Political spies, 247 - - Pollack, Jack, 260 - - Pope, Gene, 186 - - Porter, Paul A., 158 - - Postal Inspectors, 250 - - Potts, William, 110 - - Powell, Congressman Adam Clayton, 45 - - Pressler, Nancy, 24 - - Prince Georges County, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 175, 176, 210, 233 - - Proctor, Peggy, 26 - - Prospect House, 10 - - Prostitutes, 21–26, 34, 59, 66, 274 - - Prostitution, 69, 78, 86 ff. - - Protective Association, 54 - - Protocol, 289 - - Public relief, 43 - - Public Utilities Commission, 13 - - Purcell, Gerry, 181 - - Purity Lunch and Grill, 25 - - Purple Cross Gang, 54 - - - Queen of the Fences, 49 - - Quinn, Gary, 127, 172, 207 - - Quonsett Inn, 56, 67 - - - Race problem, 16 - - Ramos, Ramon, 137, 138 - - Rand, Ben B., 161 - - Red spies, 100 - - Reefers, 49, 50, 55, 121 - - Rent party, 55 - - Restaurants, 12 - - Ricca, 175 - - Ricci, Tony, 174 - - Robert, Evie, 136 - - Roberts, Charles M., 116 - - Roberts, Jim Yellow, 49 - - Robeson, Paul, 103 - - Roosevelt, Eleanor, 9, 10, 16, 38, 40, 41, 43, 102, 104, 134 - - Roosevelt, Elliott, 160 - - Roosevelt, Franklin D., 97, 132, 188 - - Roosevelt, Franklin D., Jr., 162, 164, 254 - - Rosen, Nig, 175, 176 - - Rosenberg, Anna, 167 - - Russian radio, 152 - - - Sailors, 269 - - Sailors’ Row, 33, 34 - - Sand Bar, 93 - - _Saturday Evening Post_, 38 - - Saunders, Kay, 26 - - Scheve, Theodore Little Joe, 174 - - Schools, public, 41 - - Schulman, Robert Ryebread, 174 - - Schultz, Dutch, 45 - - Scott, Hazel, 45 - - Seal, Monk, 67 - - Secret Service, 251 - - Senate Crime Investigating Committee 64, - _See also_ Kefauver Committee - - Seto, Kwon, 61 - - Seventh and T Club, 51 - - Sex movies, 31 - - Shah of Persia, 147 - - Shaw, Carolyn Hagner, 140, 141 - - Shepherd, Alexander Robey, 36, 234 - - Sheriff, Earl, 66 - - Ship’s Cafe, 33 - - Shopping, 18 - - Shoreham, 13, 15 - - Show Boat Bar, 94 - - Sicilians, 180 - - Siegel, Bugsy, 177, 182 - - Silver Spring, Maryland, 63 - - Simpkins, “Whitey,” 49 - - Skid Row, 16, 30, 32, 33, 99, 261, 263 - - Slums, 38, 51, 122 - - Smiley, Alan, 187 - - Smith, Paul T., 166 - - Sniper, The, 56 - - Society, 134 ff. - - Soviet Russia, 107, 109, 151 - - Stage-crafters Club, 126, 127, 128 - - Stanton Park, 93 - - Star Dust Club, 50 - - State Department 97, 108, 146 - - Statler Hotel, 13, 25 - - Steelman, Dr. John 165 - - Strip-joints, 64 - - Suburbs, 63 - - Sulgrave, 141 - - Sunrise, 128 - - Supreme Head of the International Mafia, 182 - - Sussman brothers, 172, 207 - - Swindlers, 277 - - - T Men, 44, 78, 191 - - Tammany Hall, 243 - - Taxi dancers, 82 - - Taxi talk, 289 - - Temperance Court, 51 - - Tenderloin, 21 - - Terminal Police, 70 - - Theatre, 12 - - Theft of government checks, 55 - - Thomas Circle, 19, 113 - - Thors, Minister Thor, 150 - - Tipping, 290 - - Top Side, 127 - - Traffic tickets, 290 - - Transportation, 291 - - Transvestites, 92 - - Treasury Agents, 250 - - Treasury Intelligence, 184 - - Truitt, Max, 157, 162, 163 - - Truman, Bess, 135, 137, 138 - - Truman, Harry, 45, 137, 142, 157, 158, 190, 194, 265 - - Turf-and-Grid, 128 - - 20-11 Club, 51 - - - UN Victory Girls, 88 - - UNRRA, 103, 154 - - U. S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, 236 - - U. S. Bureau of Narcotics, 109, 183 - - Underworld, 171 ff. - - Unione Siciliano, 49, 182 - - United Mine Workers, 164, 167 - - United Nations, 107, 153 - - United Nations secretariat, 103 - - United Nations Social Cub, 129 - - United States Department of Justice, 66 - - United States Treasury Department, 112 - - - Vane, Mary Lou, 85 - - Vaughan, General Harry, 126, 127, 140, 142, 165, 166, 186 - - Velde, Harold, 100 - - Venereal disease, 23 - - Vice, 2, 25 - - Victoria Hotel, 267 - - Virginia, 6, 20, 62, 63, 65, 68, 69, 207 - - Vote, 7, 62 - - - Wagner, Robert F. Jr., 164 - - Wakefield, Alan A., 98 - - Wall, Virginia, 85 - - Wallgren, Mon, 160 - - Walters, Al, 88 - - Ward, Charles, 189 - - Wardman Park, 13 - - Warring, Emmitt, 10, 11, 172, 173, 207, 232 - - Washington Criminal Justice Association, 214, 216 - - Water Barge, 17 - - Webber, Palmer, 168, 169 - - Wechsler, Nathan, 161 - - Weekend Burglars, 121 - - Wheeler, Burton K., 158 - - Wheeler, George Shaw, 171 - - White House Police, 70 - - Whitehead, George Francis, 28 - - Whitelaw, 50 - - Whore Dance, 266 - - Whores, 53, 76, 262 - - Willard Hotel, 13, 43 - - Williams, Johnny, 174 - - Willie Pye arrest, 217 - - Wilson Steamship Line, 87 - - Wiretapping, 245 ff. - - Wolfson, Lou, 192, 193 - - Wong, Sam, 56 - - Wood, Roy H., 99 - - WPA, 9 - - Wyatt, Wilson, 163 - - - “Y,” 51 - - Yee, 61 - - Yoking, 53, 54 - - Yamasee, 127 - - - - -[Illustration: Washington Northwest] - -[Illustration: District of Columbia and Vicinity] - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they -were not changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected. - -The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page -references. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Washington Confidential, by -Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WASHINGTON CONFIDENTIAL *** - -***** This file should be named 63469-0.txt or 63469-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/4/6/63469/ - -Produced by Tim Lindell, Charlie Howard, Emmanuel d'Alzon -Library (Assumption College) and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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