"SOLID" MEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 259, 2 November 1933, Page 22

"SOLID" MEN.

GANGLAND'S SECRETS.

TWO RECENT N.S.W. MURDERS

REWARDS WOT CLAIMED

(Prom Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 26. The mystery of the murder of Keane, the bookmaker who was found shot through the head one morning at Mascot lately, has not yet been solved. The police have been pursuing their investigations vigorously, but they have come up against that "impenetrable wall ofsilence" which so often baffles the activities of justice here. A reward of £200 has been offered for any information that will lead to the conviction of the killer in Keane's case; and at the same time a reward of £100 has been offered for evidence in regard to the death of Jules Bocey, an Italian officer who, running out in pursuit; of a thief one evening, was struck down and sustained injuries from which he died. In this case the widow of the murdered man saw his assailant, and is sure than elie could recognise him again. , But in Keane's case the difficulty is to trace the murdered man's movements from 2.30 p.m. till late the following night, when the fatal shot was fired. The police are convinced that many men and women in our "underworld" know all about Keane's death and could identify his assailants. There is one; well-known gunman who has been absent of late from his accustomed haunts and whom the detectives of the C.1.8. are "trailing." But it is the so-called "solid" men—the men who, having been blackm- iled or robbed Dy gangsters, refuse to give information about their losses or the criminals responsible for them—who are chiefly responsible for the mystery in this and other cases.

Of course, the offer of £200 and a free pardon to any accomplice who will "squeal," may bring results. But people here familiar with gangland and its ways think the reward absurdly inadequate and do not expect any material result. "In the underworld," writes a wellinformed Sydney journalist, "you can make £200 out of an ounce or two of cocaine." Keane'e murder was clearly premeditated and cold-blooded, for though he was a good boxer and never hesitated to defend himself, there 'vas no mark or sign of struggle upon his fac or "body. No gangster is likely to bo induced by the paltry regard now offered to run the risk of tho gunman's deadly vengeance bj "squealing." This is not meant to imply that our police or our detectives are incapable. At the annual dinner of the C.1.8. the other night he chief secretary, Mr. Chaffy, pointed out that during the year 93 per cent of tho crimes reported had been cleared up, and he asserted that there is no country in the world that can boast a more efficient force than ours. There is a great deal of evidence to support this statement, but the fact remains that within the past month two murders have been perpetrated here, and the killers are still at large.