CHICAGO'S GANGSTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 46, 23 February 1929, Page 11

CHICAGO'S GANGSTERS.

THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME.

UNDERWORLD'S SHACKLES,

CORRUPT POLITICIANS

(By CLEM LANE.)

Chii'.i?o is determined to ?et rid of its Mngsfers and racketeers, and is fight in? the evil with characteristic eiierpy. The underworld has lonfr been a viciously dominating factor in that city. so_ long that it has been able to pain control of the police power, place its allies anions the corrupt politicians oil the Bench itself and treat the law-abiding citizens as inhabitants of a conquered province.

The following article is the first of a series written exclusively for the "Auckland Star" and the North American Newspaper Alliance. In them are shown the reasons for the uprising of the Inw-abidinjr citizens and the measures adopted to drive the gangsters and racketeers from Chicago:—

CHICAGO, December S.

Chicago's citizens to-day are winning in an uphill fight against crime. The city's underworld for the first time in many months is under—some think permanently—and the decent citizenry on top. The fight is not yet won, but two major offensives are, and the indications are that decent Chicago is organised to prevent a return of the gangsters and the racketeers to power. The first battle was won at the primary last April when the people rose and defeated the most powerful—or certainly the most corrupt—machine the city and State had ever seen. That uprising, coming at a time when the man in the street seemed indifferent to the cause of dean government, gave heart to a handful of honest and courageous men, and the fight was on against crime and those politicians who protected it. The Second Offensive. Tho second offensive was won at the November election when the people defeated a half dozen machine candidates who had escaped the primary deluge, and elected officials pledged to a return of law and order. This was the situation in Chicago in April, 1928. William Hale Thompson, elected in 1027, was Mayor. In 1023, Thompson, after eight years in that ofiicc, gave it up, not facing the people at the polls in his unpopularity. Thompson's successor in that year was William E. Dever, honest and capable, but, as a politician, shortsighted. He tried to stop beer war murders by closing the breweries. Drinking Chicago, deprived of its beer, vowed vengeance. Dever sought a solution of the traction question, a political football for nearly forty' years. The demagogues gathered, Thompson among them, and the shout went up that the people were being sold into bondage. Mayor Dover's traction plan was defeated in a referendum. Dever curtailed municipal expenditures, trying to bring order into finances demoralised during Thompson's eight years. There was a squeal from those who were feeding at the public trough. Thompson, modestly describing himself as "Big Bill the Builder," popped back into the picture. He promised the people boulevards, "building" and beer. Policemen would chase criminals, he said, and would not molest home brewers. Mistakes of his eight years were forgotten in the hue and cry. of a mock battle he staged agai/st King George, in which the king failed to participate, over public school text books. These books, Thompson shrieked, were tainted with British propaganda. "Down with King" George and Dever, his supporter," was Thompson's cry. So Thompson was electcd, to the amazement of the more thoughtful citizens; not so, however, against the will of the man who wanted his beer, who didn't like policemen, or who bore a racial grudge against the, English. With Thompson's election came the wide open town. Speakeasies appeared by the thousand; gambling dives grew so numerous, competition so keen, that solicitors were sent forth on the highways looking for the gullible; vice dens blossomed throughout the city. The gangsters and the racketeers grew insolent with power. Yes, Thompson was Mayor. Machine-gun Gangsters. Robert E. Crowe was State's attorney. During his eight years in that office, though hundreds had died before the guns of gangland, no gang murderer was ever convicted. Not even when William H. McSwiggin, an assistant State's attorney, met a leaden death at the hands of machine gun gangsters. Charles E. Graydon was sheriff, appointed through Crowe on the death of the sheriff-elect. Leu Small was governor of the State. Small, when State Treasurer, entered into ail arrangement with Chicago packers, lending them State funds through what lias been called "a vest pocket bank." Criminal action brought against him proved' unsuccessful—two men went to gaol later for tampering with the jury—but civil action forced Small to return COO,OOO dollars to the State. The disbursement of pardons and paroles during the Small administration had been fiercely criticised. A complacent legislature, hearkening to the crack of the whip in the hands of Thompson, Small and Crowe, had passed a law increasing by $100,000,000 Chicago's bonding power. More swag for professional politicians was the view of the newspapers and.the citizens who fought it. The same legislature had obediently passed a law forbidding the appointment of special State's attorneys, even in instances where the regularly-elected State's attorney had a disqualifying interest in the grand jury inquiry or the criminal action. The law was pushed through in behalf of Crowe. A Decisive Beating. Crowe, Small and Graydon were again seeking office. Running with them was Frank L. Smith. Smith, for the second time, was asking the seat in the United States' Senate refused him by that body when it was charged that most of Smith's campaign fund came from public utilities over which Smith had control as chairman of Governor Small's StateCommerce Commission. These and their cohorts, under the banner of "America First," went into the Republican primary. At their head marched Thompson, asking approval of d $41,000,000 municipal bond issue, nearly half of the recently increased bonding power. For sinews of war the faction had the State patronage, the city patronage and most of the patronage from Cook county, in which Chicago is situated,

Fighting them at the primary were the followers of United States Senator Charles S. Deneen, few in number and fewer in jobs. But the April primary came and the "America First" ticket was beaten —beaten decisively—Crowe by "200,000, Small by 440,000. Smith by 244,000, Gravdon by 400U, and the bond issues by 150,000. The Crowe-Thompson county machine salvaged but a-half dozen nominations, and one of these by the death of the Deneen entry. The people had risen. On the night of January 26 bombs rocked the homes of Thompson s southside leaders, City Comptroller Charles Fitzmorris and Dr. William 11. Reiu. Official explanations were vague. _ But from the underworld came" a persistent report that south-side gamblers had paid hard cash for a "favour.' that the "favour" was not granted, nor theii money returned. The city was startled, but more startling events were in store. "Diamond doe" Esposito, a picturesque figure, loved for his charities, was an Italian leader on the allied with Senator Deneen. Joseph I'. Savage, close political and personal friend of Crowe's, was sent into the district to organise it for "America First.' Overtures were made to Esposito, but Esposito refused to leave Deneen. Ihe night of -March 21, three weeks before the primary, Esposito was leaving a meeting | he had called in behalf of Deneen candidates. As he walked to his home an automobile swooped to the kerb, tw-.> sawed-off shotguns thundered, and Esposito ceased to be a political threat to "America First," and became a bullettorn corpse. The Thompson-controlled police decided the killing had something to do with the gang war. A Rumble of Protest. The time had come for I lie release of tax bills. County Treasurer George I'. Harding, whose duty it is to mail the tax bills, is one of' Thompson's closest allies. Various causes, the people were told, were delaying the tax bills. The people grew uneasy, suspicious that failure to mail the tax bills had i(s connection with the approaching primary. 1 lie clamour of newspapers and citizens forced the release of the tax bills, and although not all were delivered before the primary, the taxpayers learned through the Press that taxes would be from 10 to 100 per cent higher than the previous year. And Thompson, they said, was asking for a $41,000,000 bond issue and that meant more taxes. The people had muttered at the bombing of the homes of Reid and Fitzmorris, the Thompson lieutenants; the muttering swelled at the killing of "Diamond Joe." With the release of the tax figures the muttering became a hoarse rumble of protest. And then on the night of March 2(5, hard on the heels of the Esposito killing and the news of skyrocketing taxes, came the hurling of two bombs. One bomb missed by second-' Judge John A. Swanson, Crowe's opponent for State's attorney. It crashed into his home, showering his grandson with debris. The second damaged the home of Senator Deneen, imperilling the lives of members of his household. Plots to Steal Votes. The rumbling of tlie people now became a roar, and a savage yelp was added when State's Attorney Crowe and others issued statements asserting the bombs were hurled by Deneen followers to arouse sentiment for their candidates. And then a few days before the primary reporters for the Chicago "Daily News'' found indications of a plot to steal 100,000 votes in "America First" strongholds. Fictitious registrations by Uie thousand were uncovered. Details of arrangements for the use of armed hoodlums and "floaters" were also revealed. Thousands of citizens .went before County Judge Edmund K. J a reck i, an honest official in charge of elections, to volunteer their aid as watchers in safeguarding the polls. Primary day dawned and Chicago, in a white-heat of anger, inarched to the polls, pushing aside as it marched thousands of public payrolls = soliciting votes for "America First" candidates. By midnight Chicago knew that Small, Crowe, Smith, Graydon and the majority of the "America First" candidates had gone down to defeat, as had Thompson s bond issues. And the city learned, at the same time, that Octavius C. Granady, Deneen opponent of City Collector Morris Eller, Thompson boss of. the "Bloody 20th" ward, had been shot to death after a savage chase through the streets of the ward whose committeeman's post Granady had sought in opposition to Eller.

The murder of Granady, the slugging and kidnapping of a score of polls watchers and workers opposing the "America First" ticket, the watchers' reports of countless hallot thieveries, brought a demand for action. A newState's attorney would be elected in November, but the public, was in no mood to wait for November. Immediate action must be had. With the voicing of that demand up rose Frank J. Loesch, 70-year-old head of the Chicago Crime Commission, a valiant fighter in behalf of a decent Chicago, his home since before the great fire of IR7I. And action was forthcoming.