CHICAGO BATTLEFRONT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 217, 13 September 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

CHICAGO BATTLEFRONT.

THE POLICE AND THEIR DILEMMA,

FEATURES OF THE WAR BEING WAGED AGAINST GANGLANDLIQUOR SALE THE CAUSE OF UNDERWORLD BATTLES —LET RACKETEERS KILL THEMSELVES OFF—CURE FOR CHICAGO'S

FESTERING SORE,

(By EDWIN BALMEK.)

This is the second of a series of articles In which Mr. Balmer, famous, novelist, ehort story writer, reporter and editor of •Red Book," is describing the crisis confronting Chicago and perhaps the nation In the gang warfare, which has reached a elimax in the- killing of Alfred. Llngle, newspaper reporter. Mr. Balmer is a native Chicagoan.—Specially written for the "Star." Copyright, 1930, by tho N.A.N.A,

To gain any sort of picture of the crime conditions in Chicago, meet the police. Certainly they know more about these conditions than anybody else. They occupy the most difficult and dangerous posts in civilisation to-day. I spoke in my preceding article of the rows of stars which represented policemen slain in the line of duty—mostly against the gangs. Now consider the difficulty of their general situation. Everybody sees policemen on duty, and nearly everybody exchanges a word with a traffic officer now and then, but not one person in a thousand appreciates what the police are up against in a gang-ridden city like Chicago.

"Six million dollars a week," rings the cry, "goes to the racketeers!"

"We believe," says the Citizens' Association of Chicago in formal resolution, "that this murder (the killing of Liuglc) and the hundred other gang murders that have preceded it in Chicago within a period of but little more than a year, can he attributed to immunity obtained by the corrupt use of the vast revenue that is known to be derived mainly from. uninterrupted beer-running operations." It corrupts, says the printed charge, politicians, prohibition agents and the police. Are Police Corrupt? I have sjjent some time very attentively with the police, including the just-resigned Commissioner Russell. I do not believe he was corrupt, nor have I found one responsible citizen who says so., I think he was in a very hard spot. The whole police force has been in a hard spot since prohibition began. The most puzzling job in the world to-day is a police, post under prohibition. All over the city people in all ranks of life openly flout the law—the best people as proudly as the worst. A policeman in Chicago would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to believe the city really wants complete enforcement. It is not the liquor business in itself, therefore, that causes the cry for reform; it is the violence wEich booze-running has fostered, yet there are two ways of looking at this violence, these gang murders and massacres.

One of th'e most influential and estimable men in Chicago is Silas ,Hv,:Strawn, an attorney and'financier,, who'was appointed chairman ; bf the Citizens' Committee which recently took over the financing of the city in the desperate -emergency when taxes were uncollectable and the city was "broke." Mr. Strawn, more than any other man, saved the situation, kept Chicago a going concern, and averted the chaos of bankruptcy. Recently he spoke e.t the opening of the new Chicago B° ai "d of Trade Building, and in remarks about the gang situation he said: "Unfortunately for our reputation the gangsters / have frequent wars, generally over the division of territory for the distribution of liquor. The casualties among these gangs are greater than those from any other cause. It is too bad that these gang battles are not even more sanguinary, so that all or these criminals could exterminate each other."

Gangsters Kill Themselves. This merely puts in polite words what thousands of other good citizens have said: "Let the gang wars go on so long as they kill only each other." But suddenly, when a newspaper reporter is shot for a reason still unknown, all the inter-gang casualties are counted up and included m a resolution as intolerable outrages which must immediately be stopped. Yes, it surely must be puzzling to be a policeman in Chicago to-day. I spent a morning in the police court at Detective Bureau headquarters where the pick-ups from the present police drive are brought in, and I had the distinction of looking upon two of the 2b branded by the Chicago Crime Commission as "public enemies." The two are Jim Belcastro and Rocco Fanelh, respectively eeventh and eighth upon that list on wh ch Al Gapone's name leads all the rest With them was Pete Genna. He does not appear upon the list of the 28 proscribed men. Jdon't know why. I have heard a. lot about Genna. Anyway, he had been "picked up by the police on good old city .ordinance Ho. 2655-disorderly conduct the routine charge when you want to hold a man witii put anything on him. " A few days ago they and some hundreds o£ others were picked up, «?li.argedwitn No. 2655, and their cases were ■ contmued till the morning of .my visit to. the court. Then they were continued again, to give the police or citizens' committee or tne "Secret Six," or anybody else who want, to volunteer, time to get something on them. It will not be got. Genna smiUngly shielded his face from the lens of a camera as a flashlight flared at him; other T T made no objection to nor comment upon the proceedings. He is patient ™ police; he knows they have to do some thing in the crisis. There is a hunt on here for a man to war on the gangs, as there was a hunt on in New York after Rothstem wasi mur dered. Mr. Whalen was the answer in New York, and, as has been said, made theatre-going more enjoyable, c»«i several splendid one-way streets, and ,alto gether bettered manners in Manhattan. He -counted the speakeasies, but closed very few, aud those not for long, and the gangs go on as ever. I do not mean that soni,e J thing more effective may not be done bow in New York and in Chicago, but toe mere naming of another man police com missioner will not do it.

Carrying War into the Gangs. What kind of war would you earrjrg the gangs? And how and you carry it? I have been asking seie well-informed persons who got ™ff™™ on nation far away from public indlignatwn meetings. Exciting situations seldom a of higher importance, but the "i sls Chicago is both, and all the nation knojj it. For Chicago is up against the <?ai & Every big city has gangs, .and a WJJ. problem in each of them is h^,. t ° £ f ac t the gangs "under." As a matter ot gangs everywhere are growm D i" ' or and insolence; they are and even into hitherto peaceful toTxne villages. Thr savage three men and a woman at it ox *£ f at. a summer resort; that three men-the woman by mere Vaa only wounded-was «P or *?Jributors method chosen by local I"?','"* Sect *a of that pleasant countryside to odj the "muscling-in" on their W Chicago gangsters, . t A party of Chicago people was' d m nl m | er . a hotel in Fox Lake, you way A car drove up", and the »«,, started. This happened m from Chicago, and may have chec^ vit i eß Porarily the spread of city gang activities

"What," I asked, "ie the objective? What is it you want to gain before you will be satisfied? It is not merely the finding and convicting of the murderer of Alfred Lingle, the reporter?" "Certainly not. Of course we want that, but whether we get it or not we are going right on." "To what?" "To clean up Chicago." "Exactly what situation must be established before you will consider the city clean?" "In this case, when we've driven out the gangs." "The gangs, you mean especially, which distribute liquor?" "Exactly. They are the support of the whole gang situation." "You mean, then, that you must make the city bone dry?" "No; that can't be done any more than it can be done in New York or in any other big city." "Then some people must remain in the business of distributing and selling liquor?" "I suppose so." "Who will these people be, and in what way will they be allowed to operate when the city is cleaned up V Liquor the Seat of Trouble. ~ At this point I must record a bit of embarrassment. It is not pleasant to put to a likeable and prominent man a question to which you know, and he knows that you know, he has no answer that can be printed. So we drop into informal discussion as a man of much experience to a man of some observation. And the matter soon boils down to this: "City people in America want liquor —either an actual majoritr of them or a big and emphatic minority. Not only the "Literary Digest" poll shows this, but also the merest observation. Indeed, the very figures which are used against the gangsters—the stupendous total of their daily take from the liquor traffic—are proof beyond dispute of the hold of tbeir trade upon the public.

"Against the law or not an enormous actual number of American citizens are going to supply themselves with liquor; and most of them are going to continue to buy it from dealers and distributors of some sort. Everybody not blfnded by ■passion agrees on that. Now granting this, there cannot be a complete clean up.This is granted. So, already the objective of the war on the gangs is modified.

"No, we can't have a complete clean up. But we can greatly improve conditions." "How much? And how far can you go?" No two quite agree; one says one distance, one says another. So there is confusion in the general staff of the war college in Chicago, even before the war has started. There cannot be agreement even upon the objective. Nor could there be in any American city at this time. Unless there is complete suppression of the liquor traffic—and I can. find no one who will prophesy it—there will continue to be a distribution of liquor illegally, and vet with some sort of acquiescence by the established authorities. The war which is to'be waged by the. police commissioner will have at best divided backing, while the enemy will be united.

Moral Support for Gangsters. The enemy by the way, has been much cheered and encouraged by the Literary Dteest" poll. Gangsters are not thought of as needing or appreciating "moral support" but the fact is they are human. Al Capone has shown distinct signs of appreciation of an occasional kindly attitude towards him, and a very practical and experienced police officer assures me that the gangs have been much pepped up" hy the strong vote for liquor, for repeal or amendment, as gathered by the "Literary Digest." The war on gangs, however solemnly declared, at the outset foregoes striking with full effectiveness at the foundation of gangdom. The staff cannot even hope to obliterate the liquor trade. They can. hope to improve conditions in.it. Now in this hope they are at one, completely, with th? mSt intelligent of the gangsters Al g p O "e-leading the Chicago Crime Com- ■ ir,rJa list of "public enemies"—is Sbly reported a, being mart anxious nd eager for elimination of the rough stuff in the liquor trade. He is outspoken Id sncere, I believe, as a protagonist for and , j d many another Pftl?e most powerful'are with him. It is reaSy St the liquor business, as such, vih lias turned the. attention of the which- has wxie the {act or r h °e r extent of thfsale of liquor. It is the neculiai'and spectacularly murderous inanle?*°oL tannS $£* be made to in. Massacres must, be barred P i r °nfutely S even , the single murder a Snwance must be drastically cut, eay to allowance imwb taste and dis--O D -e -Ltion in general must be observed, Cni when footing in the. presence of Hits and choosing .the-side of * cathedra 1 , nlace to put a man "on the epot. T A the assassination of- newspaper nrf«» must be foregone, too. % s thTs sound "cynical? It & really carious Had such rules been enforced ve 7fZ same amount of liquor-not one a " d f less-been -sold and consumed m K - in it would have no worse reputavest of th, wld,

in that particular direction north-west; if so, the Chicago gang was turned back by a more murderous gang, and not by the local authorities. I lunched with a wellinformed citizen of a small city about 120 miles south of Chicago, and what he told me made it perfectly plain to me, as it already was to him, that he lived within the zone of gang influence. If the gangsters win the war, or if it winds up in futility, the whole complexion of city life and town life also may be changed.

It is particularly important, therefore, to be accurate and honest about the issues of that war, and to state things as honest and informed men see them. It would be far_ more agreeable to be hopeful and optimistic, but such attitudes do not change outcomes of campaigns based on force. If gangs—real machine-gun armed and bootleg-financed gangs—have been exterminated (except by each other) anywhere in America, I do not know the details. No one here with whom I have talked can point to a place where such a thing has happened. Chicago is undertaking to wage a war without actual precedent or close parallel.

The first point to fix in any sort of war is the objective. What, exactly, are you going to attack, and where and how are you going to attack it? What is the situation you wish to establish, which, when won, will prove your victory? You are warring on the gangs. Well, what exactly are the gangs and where will they meet you in battle? There is a definiteness about the enemy's lines which decreases as you approach them, and those are most confident in forming a plan of attack who are furthest from a chance to try it. If I had not spent several days with the Chicago men—business men,- lawyers, judges, association heads, newspaper men, and police—who have had the closest contacts with the gangs, I might know what to do and how to do it. If I were far enough away and had never seen the city I would probably be absolutely certain. To Clean Up Chicago. . iut the trouble is, I have lived here and in New York nearly all my life; and I have "covered" for newspapers some of the biggest crimes that ever broke iu Chicago. Now in this matter —the first part of the plan of a war, the fixing of the objective—l cannot quote names. It would be entirely unfair to the people interrogated, who are those who speak often "for Chicago."