Newspapers / Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.) / Dec. 18, 1951, edition 1 / Page 2
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Two THE ZEBULON RECORD Published Tuesday and Friday of each week at Zebulon, Wake Count, North Carolina Entered as second class matter June 26, 1925, at the post office at Zebulon, North Carolina, under the act of March 3, 1879. Subscription rate: $2.00 a year Advertising rates on request. Ketauver on Crime By Estes Kefauver Before going to Detroit, the com mittee explored in the New York- New Jersey area the tie-up be tween the Ford Motor Co. and the notorious gangster, Joseph Da ta, alias Joe Adonis. Adonis is a principal stockholder of the Auto motive Conveying Co., of New Jersey, which transports automo biles away from the Ford plant at Edgewater, N. J. Because of this, the committee looked into possible relationships between Ford’s plants in the De troit area and other racketeers. We found that the principal haul away operator was the E&L Trans port Co., in which one Anthony D’Anna, ex-convict and former sugar supplier to bootleggers, was a 50 per cent stockholder. D’An na drew a $27,000 salary from E&L but apparently he did noth ing to earn it. Before acquiring his E&L stock, D’Anna, through negotiations with Harry Bennett, labor bos6 for the late Henry Ford, Sr., had obtain ed a 50 per cent share of a profit able Ford agency in Wyandotte, Mich. Private Criminal Army Bennett, new retired, had, as the committee noted, “employed vir tually a private army recruited from ex-convicts and criminals to engage in battles against labor and in other anti-social activities.” Subpeonaed from his California ranch to testify, he was a hostile and difficult witness. When we asked him about the gang factions In Detroit, he snapped: “Do you want me to get my head blown off?” Bennett admitted that, although he was a key man in one of the largest plants in the world, he kept no files, records or memoranda of any kind. “In fairness to Ford,” our re port observed that the' company “is taking vigorous steps to disas sociate itself from these racke teer-held contracts.” It now is at tempting to terminate by some le gal means its deal with Adonis. Also in Detroit, the committee cleared up the mystery of how Cleveland gamblers acquired an important block of stock in a vital industry, the Detroit Steel Corp. Max J. Zivian, president of Detroit Steel, told us that in 1944 Detroit Steel marged with Reliance Steel Corp. of Cleveland. Zivian undertook to purchase the Reliance president’s stock for ap proximately $580,000. He said he was in Cleveland when gambler businessman Morris Dalitz, whom he had known slightly, “bumped into me in the street.” Zivian said he told him that he was attempting to close a big deal but was short SIOO,OOO. Dalitz, without even looking at a balance sheet, ar ranged a bank loan for the neces sary money. So the Cleveland syndicate acquired 10,000 shares of Detroit Steel stock. Zivian subsequently became friendly with the Cleveland gam bler and cnce took a trip on Dal itz’ yacht. Special Flavor to Crime Crime and corruption In Cali fornia had a special flavor exotic, over-ripe and a little sick ening. The rackets, like the state itself, were big and colorful. For years, parts of California literally have been infested with every conceivable kind of gam bling racket. The “take” runs in to the millions. One big gambling racket broken up in Los Angeles after the Cali fornia Crime Commission went into business was the so-called Guarantee Finance Co., which posed as a legitimate loan agency while fronting for a $6,000,000 bookmaking combine. Its records disclosed payments totalling SIOB,- 000 for “juice.” the California gamblers euphemism (in Florida, it’s “ice”) for “protection” money. The Los Angeles city police de partment was headed by a deter mined officer, Chief William H. Parker. Our committee, however, was not impressed by the Los An geles County sheriff’s office. Guarantee Finance Co. shrewd ly had set up its headquarters in a particular political “island” known as “Sunset Strip” inside Los Angeles proper. This was county territory and, accordingly, not subject to the tougher Los An geles police. Down through the Skylight One of Chief Parker’s aggressive officers, Lt. James Fiske, finally became so incensed by the sheriff’s inactivity that he entered Sunset Strip and came down through a skylight into the huge telephone room of the bookmaking opera tion. Out of his jurisdiction, he was unable to make any arrests, but he did tear up all the bookies’ mar kers so they were at a loss as to how to settle their bets for that day. As a result, Lieutenant Fiske said, a stern letter was received from A1 Guasti, then a captain in the sheriff’s office, dem; nding that city police stay out of coun ty territory. * A county grand jury was prob ing payoffs to law enforcement officers by Guarantee Finance. The grand jury foreman and four county officials met in secret to plan the inquiry. The only other persons let in on the plans were two process servers who were to serve subpoenas. The very next day, someone “leaked” the plans to Sammy Rummel, lawyer for gangsters, and reputedly the brains behind the mobster, Mickey Co hen. A series of incredible events fol lowed. First, Rummel arranged a rendezvous with Captain Guasti. Guasti, in turn, arranged for the “mouthpiece” to meet that night with Captain Carl Pearson and Sgt. Lawrence Shaffer, of the sher iff’s vice squad. At this meeting, Guasti said, Sergeant Shaffer act ually exhibited to Rummel the sheriff’s confidential files dealing with the Guarantee case. Next morning Rummel was found dead killed in his yard by a close range shotgun blast. Dealt in Prostitution Police Chief Parker, who has made life miserable for Mickey Cohen in recent years, told us that he does not go along with the rumor that the little ex-pug is now a second-rater. Mickey, gambler and bookmak er, extortionist and all-round rac keteer, is still decidedly import ant. His “business interests” in vade many spheres, including prostitution, Chief Parker said. Cohen, a Simian-like figure, with thinning hair and spreading paunch, appeared before us in a suitcoat of exaggerated length, ex cessively shoulder-padded, and a hat with a ludicrously broad brim. Apart from police embarrassment, Mickey’s troubles at least five attempts to assassinate him have been due to his falling out with the Sicilian-controlled Mafia element on the West Coast. “I have never been a strong-arm man for nobody,” Mickey howled at us, almost hysterically. “I have never bulldozed anybody in my life.” His testimony contradicted this. There was the time that one Max Shaman entered Mick ey’s “Paint Shop” (Mickey always The Zebulon Record seemed to have either a paint shop, a jewelry store or a haber dashery; some investigators are un kind enough to believe that he used them as fronts for bookmak ing.) Mickey had had a fist fight with Shaman’s brother, and Sha man “came in with his gun.” Mickey pulled his own out of the desk, killed Shaman first and was acquited on his plea of self de fense. There was at least one other ar rest on suspicion of murder, and an assortment of beatings which Co hen admitted he had administered to various characters. $286 in Pocket Mickey painted us a lugubrious picture of his financial condition. All the money he had in the world was in his pocket, he said. Checking his roll, Mickey sadly told us it came to only $286. How ever, in four years, Cohen had “borrowed” approximately $300,- 000, he said, from various sources. Most remarkable of all his loans was the $35,000 he said he had borrowed from the president (no longer there) of a Hollywood bank, without giving a note or paying any interest. “What do you do for them,” I inquired, “that makes them so gen erous with you?” Cohen replied: “I can’t answer that; they must just like me.” Interesting Facts Our Committee had uncovered j some interesting facts on Mickey’s method of reporting income to the government. These interested the Internal Revenue Bureau, too, and after our final hearings, Co hen and his blonde wife, Lavonne, were indicted for alleged income tax evasion over a period of three years. Instead of paying taxes on approximately $318,500 income, they reported and paid on only , $87,500, the government contends. (Cohen was found guilty and to 5 years in prison). The piece de resistance of our , West coast investigation was the i appearance of Arthur H. Samish, the portly million-dollar beer lob ! byist. Californians have had ■ snatches of his squalid story be : fore, but never in quite such de- AVOID THE CHRISTMAS RUSH ON LONG DISTANCE Make Your Calls Early! “ j LONG DISTANCE telephone lines will be crowded on TLf T3T>T>V * Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in spite of the many JYLCKKI | new cu-cuitg we’ve added. Many soldiers will be calling CHRISTMAS home. We’ll be on the job doing our best to put all . .. f . I through but there will be delays. You’ll get faster service ana beat tetanea for the I J if you make your calls before Christmas Eve or after §Nctc Year | Christmas Day. Whenever you call, you save time when I you call by number. TELEPHONE POLKS I Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company "JOE BEAVER" ■ I f Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture "No, I'm not being wasteful —I figure what we don’t eat, we’ll float downstream to the pulp mill!” tail direct from the lips of the master string puller himself. Samish stands over 6 feet, 2 inches and must weigh better than 300 pounds. He is bald with a monk’s tonsure of grey fringe, and a face of bland innocence. He ges ticulates freely in the grand style, stabbing the air with his horn rimmed glasses or fondling with his watch chain, a heavy affair of white gold or platinum, made up of large links which form and re peat his initials A. H. S. He speaks r.iagniloquently. “I am here to cooperate,” he would boom at us. We kept hearing of connections involving him and Mickey Cohen, and Samish admitted he regular ly took the baths at Hot Springs, Ark., a gangster-favored resort. There on his last trip, he met the Tuesday, December East coast gangster, Joe Adonis, and put in a long distance call to Gambler Dandy Phil Kastel, who looks after Frank Costello’s inter ests in New Orleans. “Public Relations” Fees From his 1949 tax return, we knew Samish’s gross reported in come had been $143,697. Os this income, $90,999.94 represented fees from his “public relations” cli ents. The principal contributor was the California State Brewers’ institute, which provided a modest $30,000 in salary and expenses, plus control of a $153,000-a-year slush fund. A 1938 report from Howard R. Philbrick, investigator for a Cali fornia legislative committee, had charged: “The principal source of (Continued on Page 3)
Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.)
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