GANGSTER RICHES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 226, 20 June 1936, Page 22

GANGSTER RICHES

The Blackmail Racket

Hauptmanu's execution drove the last nail into the kidnappers’ coffin. . .. Bootlegging is a dead trade. . . . Bank “stick-ups” l dwindled after the fate of Dillinger.' . . . But the racketeer brigade have found a new gold-mine . . . in Hollywood. Gangsters who were big noises in other rackets now live in luxury by extorting money from famous film stars. The film colony, they know, dread

the idea of “bad” publicity, and in nine

cases out o£ ten would pay almost any 1 money rather than figure in a court case that would put them wrong with tlieir •‘fans.’’ Scores of stars have been victims of the now familiar “accident” racket.

A hard-eyed, square-jowled gentleman in an antiquated boneshaker car crashes into a star’s limousine and ' stages the “accident” so well that whole armies of witnesses will testify that it is all the fault of the roadhogging star. This racket started when Tom Mix began running around in his giant super-car, a palace on wheels. He was “socked” so often for hush money to keep actions out of court that the thugs must have made a fortune out of him. Already there is talk of the stars forming their own protection league, to fight this menace of the blackmailer. Male film stars who have the reputation of being bad-tempered when roused are good targets. Some seedy creature will walk up to a well-known actor in a public restaurant or bar and insult him, hoping his victim will strike out. When the trick works, the seedy one’s pals crowd round and protest loudly that their sick friend has been brutally assaulted. In the end they compromise for a fat roll of bills. There are film heroes, however, who will not stand for any of the rackets. One of these is the

Englishman Victor AlcLaglen. "Sue and be hanged!” is Victor’s slogan. He has never allowed himself to.be bludgeoned into paying a cent’s worth of hush money—and lie he never will.

George Haft has many times fallen foul of the hush money gentry. George used to have a habit ot flaring up if anybody made a nasty crack about him. Now he just grins or walks off when there is a hint of a frame-up. Pretty women, agents of the gangs, have also found their way into the private apartments of screen chiefs ami refused to budge until they received hush money. One such harpy sat herself in the sitting room of a film director's apartment and, producing a revolver, declared that she would shoot herself unless she was paid £lOOO. The director suggested they should talk it oven while they had a drink, but on his way to fetch the drinks he whispered an order to a servant to call for help. v

A few minutes later two policemen and the director’s lawyer walked in “Good morning, gentlemen,” said the director. Then, returning to the woman he said: “Shoot away. I’m not paying.” The girl put the gun back.into her handbag. Actresses have been warned against the danger of being too free with inscriptions on photographs. Some of them have found that the words “with love” or “with heartfelt gratitude” have been used to compromise them and to extort money. Famous women stars, too, have been blackmailed, after being shown faked photographs in which pictures of their own heads have been superimposed on photographs of nudes.

Small wonder that the screen stars heave sighs of relief when they embark for Europe on vacation.