¢¢¢ HOW THE VAGRANTS BROKE MURDER Inc.¢ by JERRY GINSBERG¢¢ (The following article is an¢interesting bit of NEW YORK CITY¢history by a member of THE OL'¢HACKERS. Editor)¢¢ When the brand new District¢Attorney of Kings County BROOKLYN took¢over as Brooklyn's top prosecutor¢early in 1940, he was faced with a¢most perplexing problem- some two¢hundred bodies dumped in and around¢the "City of Churches." D.A. William¢O'Dwyer, had left the secure tenure of¢a County Court Judge to assume the¢mantle of the borough's top¢crimebuster. The notoriety in¢uncovering what Harry Feeney, a¢reporter with the New York¢World-Telegram, coined as "Murder¢Inc." would years later propel him¢into the mayoralty of the City of New¢York.¢¢ His Chief Assistant Burton Turkus¢with author Sid Feder would write in¢their popular book "Murder Inc." that¢of particular interest to the lawmen¢was the heavy concentration of¢cadavers dumped in the eastern part of¢the County called Brownsville - East¢New York. Turkus estimated that in ten¢years over twenty four corpses were¢unceremoniously deposited in a certain¢two mile stretch of that section.¢¢ It was no secret that notorious¢gangs ruled not only some major¢industries but also some complete¢sections of the City especially those¢with a large number of recently¢arrived European immigrants. Most of¢these gangs were carryovers from the¢days of prohibition which sought the¢easy profits in bookmaking,¢prostitution, narcotics and labor¢"negotiation" that they had once¢realized from bootlegging. Names of¢mob overlords Louis Lepke, Charley¢(Lucky) Luciano, Albert Anastasia and¢Benny (Buggsy) Siegel were well known¢to law enforcement but the extent of¢their combined efforts was not yet¢realized. The "Syndicate",¢"Combination", "Mafia" or "Cosa¢Nostra" were not yet found in every¢man's vocabulary.¢¢ Decisions of the United States¢Supreme Court that afforded the¢criminal defendant greater privileges¢had not yet been decided and would not¢for another decade. O'Dwyer,¢therefore, could and did take measures¢that present day prosecutors can only¢wonder at. Many of the tactics used by¢the Brooklyn District Attorney's¢office to break "Murder Inc." have now¢been declared in violation of an¢individual's constitutional rights. It¢was not as popular then as it is today¢to debate the balance of the right of¢society to secure a law abiding¢populace and the right of every person¢to live an unmolested existence in the¢shadow of his government.¢¢ D.A. O'Dwyer reasoned that if he¢could get these tough guys off the¢streets and begin to separate them,¢not only from their natural habitat¢but also from each other maybe he¢could begin to get some answers.¢Cornering a gang member to gain¢information was generally a waste of¢time because each feared instant¢reprisal from the mob. Even if it¢could be done, most of them were¢streetwise with extensive criminal¢records and would not easily be¢broken. Arresting these hardened¢criminals on transparent charges would¢not fly; their lawyers would have them¢on the streets faster than the¢fingerprint ink could dry.¢¢ D.A. O'Dwyer had a tool available¢to him then that Mayor Koch did not¢have when, almost fifty years later,¢he fought a losing battle in trying to¢remove a homeless lady from the¢sidewalks of the City of New York.¢Digging deep into the Code of Criminal¢Procedure, he found what he needed in¢order to do some housekeeping in the¢Brownsville and East New York sections¢- the VAGRANCY STATUTE. --¢¢ While it was true that these well¢dressed tough guys had sharp clothes,¢had wads of cash that might have made¢the policemen arresting them jealous,¢that they appeared to be well fed and¢had the companionship of women whom¢they often usually supported in style,¢in short, all the accoutrements to¢give the appearance of being a¢successful hood. What they didn't have¢was what the STATUTE called for - a¢JOB!¢¢ Section 887 of the Code defined¢vagrant" as "A person who not having¢visible means to maintain himself,¢lives without employment." Of course,¢those who were picked up could not¢offer the explanation that the reason¢they maintained themselves so well was¢because they worked for the¢"Syndicate" and earned two hundred¢dollars a week collecting loanshark¢debts, strongarming a few people who¢were slow in paying protection and¢driving an occasional getaway or¢"crash" car in a robbery or "rubout".¢Needless to say, few of them filed¢Income Tax returns. A "vagrant" was¢not synonymous with the term "tramp"¢which was defined as person that is¢not a resident of the county in which¢he was picked up. Regardless of the¢name imposed, it was certainly an ego¢deflator for some of these high¢rolling thugs to be arrested on this¢charge.¢¢ Clearly, the law was willing to¢concede that these gangsters were¢residents of the County and O'Dwyer¢was surely thinking of them when he¢announced to the press, "We are¢planning to clean out the whole¢racketeering mess out there." He went¢on to explain that while things were¢getting worse in Brownsville - East¢New York ,"...this is not a reflection¢on the people as a whole of that or¢any other area. We are going to help¢the people there who have been crying¢for assistance a long time." ¢¢ If, unfortunately, some of those¢who were "crying" for assistance were¢inadvertantly swept up in the roundup,¢they would be released as soon they¢could give a credible explanation of¢themselves. This would include¢demonstrating the ability to maintain¢himself such as having a job; that he¢was not an "habitual drunkard,¢abandons, neglects, or refuses to aid¢in the support of his family;" that he¢has not "contracted an infectious or¢other disease, in the practice of¢drunkenness or debauchery, requiring¢charitable aid to restore him to¢health..."etc. In general, that he¢has not committed any of the ten¢unwholesome acts that defined the¢offense of "vagrancy" in the Code.¢¢ Amongst the "Score of Brooklyn¢underworld [that had] been arrested on¢vagrancy charges in a drive to keep¢them off the streets" that the New¢York Times reported in an interview¢with District Attorney O'Dwyer on¢February 4, 1940, was the leader of¢the Brownsville mob, Abe (Kid Twist)¢Reles; the boss of the Oceanhill gang,¢Harry (Happy) Maione; Julie Catalano,¢a wheelman, who's corroborative¢testimony eventually sent Maione,¢Harry (Pittsburgh Phil) Strauss and¢Frank (Dasher) Abbandando to the¢electric chair and Seymour (Blue Jaw)¢Magoon who stole autos to use as¢hearses for mob victims. Later on in¢the investigation no less than Charlie¢(The Bug) Workman, the assassin of¢Dutch Schultz and Allie Tannenbaum,¢Lepke's trusted lieutenant, would be¢picked up on vagrancy charges.¢¢(continued in next NEWSLETTER)¢ ¢
