“DRY” DETECTIVES

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 October 1928, Page 10

“DRY” DETECTIVES

£15,000 IN FIVE MONTHS. As a result of the campaign to secure the enforcement of the dry law in New York, 150 persons were indicted on August 2 by the Grand Jury. To secure evidence it was necessary to import four “’dry” detectives from Washington, - who had spent between £12,000 and £15,000 in New York night clubs from February 16 to July 23. They bought Moselle at four guineas a bottle, champagne at £B, cocktails at 10s each. For a three-penny ginger ale they paid ss. They rode in taxicabs galore’a nd lived in expensive hotels. The expenses were allowed as “necessary in the circumstances.” Before the Presidential election in November Prohibition officials claim that 'they will wipe out every night club in the city and every “speakeasy,” the latter now being more numerous than public houses previous to the Volstead Act. ' Mr. Tyson, the head Washington detedtive of the Prohibition force, swore that he and brother agents posed as butter and egg merchants at night clubs visited in New York, and were

received joyously by the “highly-paid hostesses.” He described chain store organisation of the “booze” clubs and the ease with which a member of the one was passed along to the next. The hostesses were on a commission basis, and drank freely with the patrons. Whisky was the chief drink, at £2 a pint, and was sold to young and old alike. Sometimes the detectives brought their wives along in the quest of evidence, and all had a good time together.