Six Police Paid to Make Whoopee

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 44, 22 February 1938, Page 9

Six Police Paid to Make Whoopee

TOP-HAT MASQUERADE TO KILL LONDON VICE RING. Three taxis drove down Piccadilly and drew up outside Vine street Police Station. Six men wearing white ties and top-hats jumped in. To the passer-by they were just playboys off to enjoy London’s night life. ... but to Vine street they are the Silent Six—well spoken, polished, handpicked for their job. They are the Vice Squad setting off on their rounds of night clubs and gambling houses. Brains behind the Vice Squad is short, slight Sub-Divisional Inspector Elliott, who knows more about Mayfair night life than anyone else in London. In a room at the police station, overlooking a fish shop, he has London’s night life at his finger tips. A map of the West End with flags dotted here and there shows where clubß and bottle parties operate, and he has a “black list” of the men and women who run them, their pictures, ages and records. Elliott’s right-hand man is Detective Inspector Gavin. Between them they organise every raid on shady night resorts from information brought by the “Silent Six.” Beneath them are two sergeants and then the Silent Six. A man seldom stays with the Vice Squad longer than a few months, so that their faces will not be too familiar at night haunts. Their evening clothes are bought in Savile-row; their shirts and hose come from exclusive West End makers. Their pay is only £4 to £5, but their clothes are bought for them, and they five-pound notes before they leave are given as much as £2O or £3O in

Vine street. They mix with film stars, millionaires, crooks .. • smoke cigars, drink champagne, tip lavishly. But they never discuss their work; none know they are being paid to dine, to dance, to make whoopee-