POLICE GRAFT IN NEW YORK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 6 November 1912, Page 5

POLICE GRAFT IN NEW YORK

THE BECKER CASE. ' ; " f , ■ . '-.■'■■-; ■■:''' A cable a few days ago stated thai' Police Lieuienant • Becker* who. "was convicted in connection With the r Rosenthal murder, was to be electrocuted; in- De■eennber.. '. • ■ ■'.;■■■■■"■"■.■ ■■'■'' The details of the Becker case are 'so sensational that 'they axe well' \vtfiitii 'recording;'. Herman- Rosenthal waaf - ; . the keeper of a ganiblirig house'which, somei three months ago, Was raided' by tfcp : |»- lice. Rc-senthaX, who had; hitherto joyed complete- immunity frbiii'such terfereiice, resented this intrusion, and proceeded to'lay ; cprirplaink \ hefors the District Attorney'.-' 'Mr';Wniimaji geems to have made the best - of-Ms ,<6p--porfcunity, and induced Rosenthal-'to tell him the truth about the '/gambling "graft." A case .was worked- ujp <-fot, the grand jury; and the evening before tho dourt opened Rosenthal waslnvitect.■■■'fey 'some friends 'to supper at the' Hstfel';Me-t-rdpole. "When became but of tlie htotel, four men who had arrived* in, a, motor "cat were waiting for him, and,- they shot him down in the full glare''"";bf the "Great White Way." Arnid the cbrifuf sion the men. in the-motor car "got clear away .But it came outjin' evidence, thM there were seven policemen, near aj. hand and none „f them could,'or Vvyould', . any information that -would. identify 'the its occupants; that several other policemen misdirected 'the pursuers wherii the chase for'the'murderers ib'egah ;/-'andthat one of' the spectators'' who," -Vgayti what prove'd to be "the, correct nunihterof the car was promptly arrested' arid; lodged in a cell, .and the wrong number/was entered on the police records. Howe'yerv the District Attorney was not'to be haulke,d. lie found the- man who-, had been arrested, gbt the r.ighthumber' of the car, captured'*, the chauffeur,;..' &)id from him got sufficient evideii.ee-'to inculpate several well-known, ''crooks" '■_• arid gamblers who—.to use an. ximericanism— -r "squealed," and told Mr Whithian.; : all that he needed to "know. Rosenthal had quarrelled with .Becker, »"lieutenant s: of police, who thereupon arranged, to raid his premises. .. Rosenthal, in revenge> "squealed",- Becker,; to complete', •the cycle of Nemesis, hired four men to murder him,- partly to avenge himself:,.(■ partly to prevent 'Rosenthal from telling- his tale' in full to the grand jury. Beeker ■was then arrested, rind it was pvbved that he had-paid the four men in the motor car 100 dollars for the/'job." But the identification of the criminals ' and the conviction- of Becker were, after all, small matters compared with the revelations that came out incidentally at the trial. Rose, in his evidence, stated that from what 'Becker had ,told hinv, and from his own knowledge, he estimated' the annual tribute paid to the New York police by proprietors of gaming-houses, ■brothels, and drinking saloons at 2,400,000 dollars—roughly, half a mallion sterling. This "graft," it seems, was dividecTinto four warts, of .which one share at least went to a distinguished public man, "a State Senator of powerful influence in politics, in this city.V Becker 600,'C00 dollars a year for distribution ; and of this a great deal sWck-to jus own fingers. Rose collected 180.000 dollars for .him from 15 houses ; and. iri nine months, on a nominaj salary of 2500 dollars a year, Becker-had thus accumulated n large fortune. The full evidence would' cover far nidre-epa'ch than we c an de-vote to them ; but enough has been said to show that the Rosenthal murder, quite apart from the peculiarly callous and deliberate nature of the crime, has revealed to the people -of America -depths of official iniqtiity and civic corruption which are. in Dr Lyman Abbott's words, "a challenge to civilisation."