PLACED ON DEFENSIVE

Taranaki Daily News, 5 January 1935, Page 2

PLACED ON DEFENSIVE

AMERICAN KIDNAP GANGS WORK OF THE LINDBERGH LAW. THE URSCHEL CASE REVIEWED.

In the past month or so the American public has been almost as kidnap-con-scious as in those tense days, two and a half years ago, .when President Hoover issued his pledge that the Department of Justice would never rest or relax until the Lindbergh kidnapper stood behind prison bars, writes Ralph Renaud in the New York Times. But, while there have been abductions engineered by individuals, the United States, as a matter of fact, is emerging from a wave of kidnapping. The backbone of organised “snatching'* by professional gangs, which rose to an evil eminence under Prohibition, is broken. There are several reasons for this, some linked with the development of th- crime itself and others involving social and political changes in the nation. Prohibition and the repeal of Prohibition, for example, have had a profound effect on organised kidnapping It was Prohibition that spawned The Snatch. It may not be quite safe to say that repeal, even if there were no other forces at work, would end it, but the tendency is that way. Prohibition built up a vast criminal organisation/ all over the country. It was, in { a sense and within its scope, a super-government. The liquor racket quite naturally brought hi-jacking. The Snatch, as it developed in the underworld and for a time remained there, was a form of hi-jacking, being directed against tainted pocketbooks whose owners would not squeal. The bolder kidnap gangs, largely parish bands forced out of the illicit liquor trade, began to practice their art against the lawabiding. Then came the threat of repeal. It looked as if a great many murder-train-ed racketeers were going to be out of luck—out of business, in fact. Having observed the success of the pioneers, they turned confidently to the easy pickings of The Snatch. The rewards were dazzling the labour was slight, and the hazard was small. Just before and immediately after repeal there was a wave of kidnapping.

STILL ILLICIT. But repeal proved unexpectedly benign toward the bootlegger and his criminal organisation. It is estimated that of the hard liquor which the United States drinks to-day 60 per cent, is still illicit. That leaves plenty of opportunity and a tidy margin of profit for the underworld. Moreover, bootlegging has become safer, if somewhat more humdrum. Liquor is harder to trace when its possession and consumption violate no law. And meanwhile, kidnapping has developed into just about the most hazardous occupation in America.

The Lindbergh case, badly bungled from the professional kidnapper’s point of view, was responsible. The tragedy of the circumstances and the renown of its victims made up the public mind. Kidnapping must stop. The Lindbergh Law was approved on June 22, 1932, and amended in May, 1934. to include the death penalty. Broadly, it gives the United States Government authority to investigate and prosecute kidnapping cases through invoking its powers over inter-State commerce. It is simple, direct and thorough, and is supported by considerable subsequent legislation. Since its passage thirty-one of the thirty-two snatch cases in which the United States has intervened have been solved. Seventy-four persons have been convicted and fifteen are in custody awaiting trial. The term sentences imposed aggregate 1237 years. There have been two death sentences and sixteen life sentences. In the round-up of kidnappers there have been three suicides, two murders, and two lynchings. Not much encouragement in that record for kidnappers. The men of the Department of Justice Bureau of Investigation, under J. Edgar Hoover, have every reason to feel proud, both because of their record and because their method is a miracle of organisation, scientific training equipment and morale.

A HYPOTHETICAL CASE. Suppose you live in Pelham. Your daughter failed to return from school in Connecticut. About dinner-time the door-bell rang and there on the sill 'lay a printed ransom note. What would you do? This is what you Should do: Call long distance and ask for National 7117. That is the kidnap number. Within one minute you would be talking with Edgar Hoover or one of his chief assistants in Washington. Within five minutes F. H. Fay, head of the Bureau of Investigation in New York City, would have been notified and a car with operatives would have started for your home from the Department of Justice offices on Lexington Avenue. Within half an hour the entire machinery of the United States Government would be enlisted. You would find 1176 picked Government operatives, highly trained in detection and skilled at shooting, immediately at your service. To-day it is better than a thirty-to-one bet that within a reasonable period your daughter would be returned and her kidnappers viewing the passing scene through a steel-barred door. There is no doubt that the snatch racket is disheartened. Most of the old gangs have dispersed, with a good percentage of their members enjoying prison leisure. Indeed, it has become a delicate matter for a lawyer to defend a kidnapper; the Government scrutinises the connection pretty closely and is likely to remember. Bondsmen and moneychangers, too, have become wary.

Of course, it is no function of the Department of Justice to indulge in prophecy, or to predict that this or that won’t happen. The operatives smile pleasantly and present their record of 93.8 per cent, convictions in total cases handled in a year. Privately, however, they offer a mild opinion that the professional kidnap gang is—well, you might say, checked.

THE URSCHEL CASE. The case in which Charles F. Urschel was abducted from a bridge table in Oklahoma City is looked upon as the classic example of kidnapping. It was the initial case prosecuted under the Lindbergh Law—and successfully prosecuted. It covered sixteen States. Its network included the two so-called “crime cities” of the Middle West, Kansas City and St. Paul. The ransom paid, 200,000 dollars, was the highest ever exacted up to that time and only equalled in one later' case. It was the first case in which the highly-organised kidnap gang came fully into clash with the even more highly-organised Department of Justice. Fifteen principals and accomplices were convicted, six of whom drew life sentences The Urschel mob illustrated every aspect of the typical snatch gang. The original inspiration for a kidnap is the “peddler,” the man cr woman who discovers a likely prospect and turns over the information to the mobsmen. Then the “finger” man is put to work. R is his duty to observe the prospect and

report every detail of his daily habits. The actual kidnapping is committed to the “muscle men.” The leader,- or brains, of a kidnap gang is almost invariably the “voice ” He establishes contact with the family, arranges for an intermediary, and negotiates all the ransom arrangements. If he is successful the intermediary makes the “pay-off” to him. The “cool-off” is the period the “voice” fixes before the “dump”—that is, the return of the victim. Then comes the “scatter,” each with his division of the spoils. In the Urschel case the “peddler” and the “finger” were never known, though it is believed that Katherine Kelly, now behind the bars for life, did some of the fingering. The “muscle men” were George (Machine Gun) Kelly and George Bates. The “voice” was Harvey Bailey, a principal in both the St. ‘Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago and the Kansas City massacre at the Union Station. All three are sojourning at Alcatraz. The hideaway was at Paradise, Texas, on the old farm of Boss Shannon and his wife, Ora Shannon, mother of Katherine Kelly.

GIVES A CLUE. It was the Shannon farm at Paradise which supplied the fambus clue which untangled this whole black skein of crime. Though handcuffed and shackled to the floor of the Shannon cabin, Urschel retained presence of mind enough to note the passage of aeroplanes twice daily overhead. He was able to fix the hour of the aeroplane flights. On the last Sunday he was imprisoned it rained hard and there was no aeroplane flight. Later, on being released, he gave this information to Federal Agent Gus Jones. A check-up on aeroplane routes and weather reports led the Government men direct to Paradise, Bailey, and the two Shannons. Before the Lindbergh Law, the kidnappers were in little danger unless they confined their crime to a single State. The police were confused by the maze of State lines beyond which they could not go. Moreover, every snatch gang of any importance regularly bought protection from certain politicians and country police officials to shield their hide-outs.

Now all that is changed. No bluS, no threat, no bribe means a tiring to the Department of Justice. Its operators can travel as fast and as far as the kidnappers. Their motto is “No fooling.” Their cases are perfectly prepared. And a trial in the Federal Court will afford any kidnapper very little amusement. It was testified at the trial of Katherine and Machine Gun Kelly that the redoubtable machine-gunner had paced the floor in a one-night hide-out, sobbing: “I would not have this Federal heal on me for a million dollars. I was making fifty grand a year knocking over tin-can banks, with no heat on me, and now look at me! Nowhere to turn without hearing one of' those damned Federal agents!” He turned into the muzzle of a Federal agent’s gun at Memphis. There may be more gang kidnappings, but not many more. It is possible that The Snatch may return to the underworld life from whence it sprang. There is still plenty of underworld left, but it is unlikely that kidnapping will thrive within it. There is now a public opinion aganst permitting it to fester even there. The Department of Justice, under the latest legislation, is empowered to act in any extortion cases. It stands ready to plunge into the depths and is equipped by law to do go.