1. what is the article hypotheses?

2. what's the past research done past research

3. What are the research methods (the steps taken to conduct the research study -data, population, sampling type, statistical techniques

4. the results on what they found

5. the discussion/conclusions of the article

By HENRY S. RUTH, JE. ABSTRACT: America has never been able to build a sustained attack against organized crime. This inaction has been caused by many interlocking factors. Organized crime chooses crimi- nal activities which are not reported by the compliant "victims." It provides services relied upon by business, labor, and politics. For noncompliant customers of organized crime, the criminals utilize the element of fear to nullify opposition. The public, and many officials, see only parts of organized crime's activities, and thus do not conceive it to be a priority problem. Organized crime has become categorized as a sepa- rate problem, when, in fact, it is closely related to professional crime, street crime, aggravation of ghetto conditions, and low- quality or corrupted criminal-justice personnel. The annual income produced by organized crime is twice that engendered by all other criminal activities combined. Sporadic law-en- forcement effort has been government's only response, and law- enforcement officers receive no encouragement from the com- munity and government officials. The alliance between organ- ized crime and the so-called legitimate power structure in many communities defeats efforts to expose or minimize organized crime's influence. With business, labor, politicians, scholars, the citizenry, and much of law enforcement ignoring the prob- lem, the program recommended by the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (herein- after referred to as the National Crime Commission) to com- bat organized crime will not be implemented without national recognition and concern about this phenomenon. Henry S. Ruth, Jr., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania. He was Deputy Director of the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice. He also has served in the Office of Criminal Justice and as Special Attorney in the Organised Crime and Racketeering Section, In the United States Department of Justice. He is a member of the Governor's Commission on Crime in the State of Pennsylvania and serves as a consultant to the Philadelphia Law Enforcement Planning Council and the Philadelphia Police Department. 113122 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY the felon subsequently became the Organized crime's interaction with the nominee for district attorney in his world of respectability on a day-to-day county. Another United States con- basis is, no doubt, one of the principal gressman defended the nominee's char- means in which potential opposition to acter testimony." the criminal cartels is neutralized. But One really cannot say what this rally- the many forms that this interaction ing of the respectables to the defense assumes, the organizational linkages, of the conivcted man means. He cer- the fluidity or stability thereof, the de- tainly must have been heartened when gree of exploitation of innocence therein, all branches of government and both the strength and power it represents- political parties rallied to his support, all these questions have never been and the judge reduced his prison sen- answered. And seldom have they really tence on two occasions. On the other been asked. hand, some law-enforcement officers were profoundly disturbed and disillu- CONCLUSION sioned. But without more facts, this manifestation of unity between politi- When viewed together, the multifold cians and a crime figure defies definite forces that serve to deter a comprehens analysis, The public officials who testi- sive attack by society upon organized fied in court on behalf of the felon crime affect all the potential counter- must have known that they were risking forces that should participate in that censure at the hands of the public and attack, The National Crime Commis- the press. An explanation of political sion presented an integrated series of expediency raises interesting questions proposals involving action by law en- considering this possible loss of support forcement, public officials, business, from outraged voters. An explanation scholars, the press, labor, the citizenry, of mutual friendship also introduces regulatory agencies, and private organi- factors worthy of analysis. An expla zations." No one can predict whether nation that the convicted man's reputa- or not society will commence moving in tion was of the highest would connote that direction. Present efforts are in- possible conclusions about values in our sufficient to justify any statement that society. One can also speculate about we are even beginning to cope with the what organizational links, if any, inter- power and influence of organized crime twined to produce the situation. on a nationwide basis. The incidents are summarized in the # U.S., President's Commission on Law Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, July 9, 1947, Enforcement and Administration of Justice, p. 6a, col. 6. General Report, op cit., pp. 200-209.THE extraordinary thing about or- requiring no public accountability. ganized crime is that America has These politicians become mayors, dis- tolerated it for so long."1 So concluded trict attorneys, judges, and legislators. the National Crime Commission, and so Businessmen may need labor peace; do the facts reveal. An America that they may need loans; they may need becomes outraged by symbolic gestures, "successful fires" from which insurance such as flag-burnings or draft-card de- proceeds rescue a faltering enterprise; struction on the part of a few, cannot they may need a "fixer" who can smooth seem to mount widespread oratory or the path through the possible govern- action against systematic looting of so- mental stumbling blocks of zoning, li- ciety by corporations of criminality. censing, and compliance with myriad One street rape can produce more sus- regulations. Organized crime provides tained outcries than does the day-to-day all these services. Successful labor illegal profiteering of organized crime. organization requires discipline, unity, This uncanny ability to neutralize and a rapport with business or, at least, potential opposition is a tribute to the the ability to frustrate that business skill, sophistication, and power of or- completely. Organized crime is available ganized criminal groups. It has been for these purposes also. In cities, sub- seldom analyzed, seldom articulated. urbs, and rural areas scattered through- and too little understood in its full out almost all sectors of the nation, weight. The following offers some of organized crime stands ready to satisfy the reasons why our society fails to act any reasonable desire, any reasonable against organized crime. ambition, of anyone willing to co-op- PERFORMANCE OF SERVICES erate with it. It will render less exten- sive, but yet very helpful, services to One way to get people on your side anyone already possessing social, eco- is to do something for them. Organized nomic, or political power. The price is crime does this for all potential opposi- immunity from action against organized tion. Much of the public wants to crime. Potential opposition is neutral- gamble in small, daily amounts, and or- ized. ganized crime complies. Customers for The National Crime Commission narcotics and quick, cash loans receive stated: instant, curb-side service. The police- man seeking extra income can easily Consider the former way of life of Frank acquire a handsome weekly stipend for Costello, a man who has repeatedly been overlooking those criminal violations called a leader of organized crime. He lived that the compliant "victims" do not in an expensive apartment on the corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West in want prosecuted anyhow. The aspiring New York. He was often seen dining in politician needs financing, and organ- well-known restaurants in the company of ized crime offers large amounts of cash judges, public officials, and prominent busi- 1 U.S, President's Commission on Law En- nessmen. Every morning he was shaved in forcement and Administration of Justice, The the barbershop of the Waldorf Astoria Challenge of Crime in a Free Society, herein- Hotel. On many weekends he played golf after referred to as General Report (Wash- at a country club on the fashionable North ington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, Shore of Long Island. In short, though his 1967), p. 209. Although only about 2 per cent of the moneys available to the Commis- reputation was common knowledge, he sion was spent on the organized-crime study, moved around New York conspicuously and extensive material and analysis were made unashamedly, perhaps ostracized by some available by federal, state, and local law- people but more often accepted, greeted enforcement agencies. by journalists, recognized by children,accorded all the freedoms of a prosperous public, and even those directly con- and successful man. On a society that cerned with combating organized crime, treats such a man in such a manner, see only bits and pieces of what the organized crime has had an impact." groups are, what they do, and what FEAR effect they have upon society. One may Fear has many forms and serves see an article on gambling and organized many purposes of organized crime. One crime or read about legislative hearings can fear for one's own physical well- on narcotics and organized crime. A being or that of family and other loved reporter may publish a story about ones. One can fear that the business to organized crime's infiltration of legiti- which a lifetime has been devoted will mate business or a federal agency may be destroyed. One can fear that a past spend years unraveling bankruptcy moral dereliction may rise to the surface fraud schemes perpetrated by organized and destroy a promising political career crime. With this fragmentation, very or advanced employment status. Or- few persons are raising the question as ganized criminal groups utilize these to what social, political, economic, and and other forms of fear for continuing criminal effects are produced by the systems of extortion, usurious loans, fact that Cosa Nostra groups in prac- maintenance of unity within the crim- tically all sectors of the nation are doing inal organization, discouragement of in- all these things all the time. formants and witnesses, and the secur- Fragmentation also builds up stereo- ing of favorable action and inaction types in public conception of even or- from public officials. ganized crime's individual activities. Selective fulfillment of threats gives For example, the idea that organized the appearance of an ability to make crime still controls and derives much any threat an actuality. Thus, only income from prostitution has been per- occasional violence is needed by organ- petuated despite several years of indi- Ized crime to exploit in full the oppor- cation to the contrary. Wholly irrele- tunities that the threat of violence vant remedies, such as legalizing prosti- affords. The economic and other re- tution, are thus still being proposed as wards secured by threats are maximized a partial counterthrust against organ- without the public outrage and law- ized crime. enforcement activity that would be en- Fragmentation of the problem also gendered by continuous actual violence. serves to hinder possible preventive ef- As in any field of activity, the aura of forts. Concentration upon gambling overwhelming power has great residual and loan-sharking alone deters analysis benefit and induces respect and com- and planning based upon the broader pliance beyond what actual power could and more correct conception that or- or even would want to enforce. Fear ganized crime desires to, and does, par- is therefore useful to discourage oppo- ticipate in any criminal activity that sition from any potential source, public offers high profit at low risk of detec- or private. Individual fears also deter tion. the initiation of collective opposition. Fragmentation also means that the public, being aware of only part of the FRAGMENTING THE PROBLEM problem, develops much less concern Lack of knowledge about organized than if the total picture were available criminal groups has meant that the to them. Scholars, too, unable to per- ceive from existing public data that 2 Idem at p. 158. here, indeed, is a national problem de-serving priority, have practically ne- mouths of those committing these activi- glected organized crime as an area of ties, there can be no challenge to verac- study. ity. One can only imagine what a sys- Revelations from recent litigation tematic analysis of, say, two years of about electronic surveillance have pro- the group's day-to-day operations would vided an example of the way in which reveal as to organized crime's influence complete descriptions of an organized- and economic power in our society. crime group's total operations would Professor Gardiner's description of or- help to overcome the fragmentation ganized crime's complete control over problem. Federal Bureau of Investiga- vice and local government in "Win- tion summaries of about two weeks of canton" also offers the kind of total conversations on the part of organized- picture which must be continuously crime leaders in Rhode Island touched brought before the American public in upon their day-to-day activities in mur- order to overcome inertia and lack of der, kidnapping, extortion, fraud, brib- concern," ery, perjury, loan-sharking, and official corruption. The conversations also re- FAILURES OF PERSPECTIVE flected measures of control over legal Popular representations of the scope gambling, labor unions, race tracks, of organized crime too often convey to vending-machine operations, and liquor the uninitiated the impression that these sales.' Proceeding as it does from the criminal groups operate in a separate world of crime that victimizes prin- * See testimony of Professor G. Robert cipally the greedy and the amoral, the Blakey before Senate Subcommittee on Crim- inal Laws and Procedure of the Committee seekers of a "fast buck," the persons on the Judiciary, July 11, 1957. who deserve what they get. Organized 4/bid. Curiously enough, Attorney General crime is therefore bracketed in a sep- Ramsey Clark (son of former attorney general arate compartment as a phenomenon and supreme court justice Tom Clark) believes that certainly deserves attention some- that electronic surveillance is "neither effective nor highly productive" in organized crime time, but need not occupy a position of matters,-New York Thuer, May 19, 1967, priority and significance, considering the p. 23, col, 1. Even more curiously, the Attor- wealth of other social and criminal prob- ney General finds such surveillance to be effect lems. Indeed, the present Attorney tive and productive in national security mat- ters, although investigative methods and prob- General of the United States, Ramsey lems in the two kinds of matters are substan- Clark, sees organized crime as a "tiny tally similar. In a proposed "right-of-pri- part" of the entire crime picture, though vacy" act that bans electronic surveillance to the an important one." Improving life in full extent of federal jurisdiction applicable thereto, Mr. Ramsey Clark advocated a blan- John A. Gardiner, "Wincanton: The Poli- ket exception for national security matters tics of Corruption," in U.S. President's Com- with complete discretion in the executive to mission on Law Enforcement and Administra- define, on an ad hoc basis, what constitutes tion of Justice, Task Force Report: Organized a threat to that security, with no right to Crime (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government post-fact notice or hearing for those under Printing Office, 1967), Appendix B, pp. 61-79. such surveillance, with no provision for a This paper describes the pervasive influence court order, and with absolute discretion in of organized crime at different periods of time the executive to define the type and extent upon vice conditions and local government of the utility of such electronic surveillance. action in a city of between 75,000 and 200,00 See U.S., Congress, House, 90th Cong. Ist population. For purposes of the study, the Seas., 1967, H. R. 5386; and Testimony of city was given a mythical name, "Wincanton." Attorney General Clark before Subcommittee " New York Times, May 19, 1967, p. 23, No. 5 of the House Judiciary Committee, col. 1. The Attorney General does believe, March 16, 1967. however, that enforcement against organizedWHY ORGANIZED CRIME THRIVES 117 the ghettos, saving youth from lives of Organized crime is known as a spon- crime, upgrading law enforcement and sor of burglaries, hijacking, and bank criminal justice-these are all seen as robberies. The National Crime Com- problems separate and apart from or- mission pointed out that trucking, con- ganized crime. struction, and waterfront shipping com- This narrow and shallow perspective panies, in return for assurance that does not survive an examination of the business operations will not be inter- facts. From the standpoint of economic rupted by labor discord, countenance cost, the National Crime Commission pilferage sponsored by organized crime stated that organized crime acquires on company property." about twice as much income from its A Commission Task Force also con- illegal operations as criminals derive sidered the problem of professional from all other kinds of criminal activity crime, individuals working in ad hoc combined.' And that is based upon con- teams who spend the majority of their servative estimates of organized crime's time in illegal activities and derive the net income from activities such as gam- major source of their income there- bling, narcotics, and loan-sharking; it from." Organized crime was treated also excludes the millions of dollars that separately from professional crime, and organized-crime groups acquire from in- the latter was found to include mostly filtration of legitimate business. theft and theft-related offenses, such as There is a clear connection between receiving stolen goods, auto theft, bur- so-called ordinary crimes and organized glary, forgery, and various kinds of crime. Former Attorney General Kat- fraud." Professional crime was found zenbach noted in 1965 that: to be responsible for a large proportion It is racketeers' involvement in narcotics of all property crimes committed and an which causes substantial theft and robbery, even larger proportion of total property committed by addicts to support their loss through such crimes." The Task hunger. Force concluded: It is the racketeer's method of dealing with those who stand in his way which [I]t is apparent that a variety of working establishes examples of violence for others. arrangements exist between professional criminals and organized crime, which are crime is a major part of federal law-enforce- of substantial significance for both cate- ment responsibilities. The manpower and ap- gories of crime. There is some evidence, propriations available to the Organized Crime for example, that the fences and loan and Racketeering Section of the Department sharks with whom professional criminals of Justice have been increased in the past deal are frequently part of the organized year. U.S., President's Commission on Law En- burglaries in the entire nation.-U.S., Federal forcement and Administration of Justice, Gen- Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United eral Report, op. cit., p. 32. States: Uniform Crime Reports (Washington, " Nicholas dell. Katzenbach, Testimony be- D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, fore the Subcommittee on Administrative 1930- [annually]), 1906, pp. 58, 170. Practices and Procedures, Senate Judiciary "US, President's Commission on Law En- Committee, July 13, 1965. Chicago and New forcement and Administration of Justice, Gen- York City, where the organized-crime problem eral Report, op cit. p. 190 is most severe, contain about $4 per cent of 10 US. President's Commission on Law the nation's population. Yet, in 1966, these Enforcement and Administration of Justice, two cities alone accounted for 10.7 per cent Task Force Report: Crime and Its Impact- of the murders and nonnegligent homicides, An Assessment (Washington, D.C.; U.S. Gov- 11.8 per cent of the forcible rapes, 263 per ernment Printing Office, 1967), pp. 96-101. cent of the robberies, 15 per cent of the 11 /dem at p. 96.crime operation, And there is some indica- me that they saw life in their commu- tion that organized crime exerts signifi- nity as racket figures with public offi- cant power and control over professional cials running the world. Even their crime,18 school teacher, at the behest of a racket Little research and study has been operator, had scolded the boys for hid- attempted concerning organized crime's ing "the action." In their view, norms influence and effect upon life in the and standards had to be developed from ghettos. Certainly, the police corrup- within themselves. The adult world tion that youths observe in the slums provided nothing worthy of emulation. must affect their view of the power Recent controversy in the suburban structure and of the appropriateness of communities of Westchester County, respect for law and its enforcement offi- New York, has focused upon the broader cers. Said Mr. Katzenbach: "Young influences of organized crime. A soci- people in the slums cannot be expected ologist abandoned a seminar of com- to obey and respect laws if the guard- munity leaders because, he stated, or- ians of the law are on the 'take.' " 14 ganized crime had effectively blocked Certainly, organized crime feeds upon progress in urban renewal, housing-code and seeks to perpetuate the depravity enforcement, school integration, and of the slums. Said an underworld fig- narcotics control." The director of an ure: "You make more money out of a antipoverty program in the area stated Harlem than a Scarsdale [the latter that trying to control poverty amidst being a wealthy New York City sub- the prevalence of gambling and nar- urb]."15 Certainly, the heroes of young cotics was "like trying to bail out a persons in the deprived areas are those boat with a dozen holes in it." 13 With possessing all the indicia of power and the high percentage of the residents' influence, that is, the racketeers. limited income being drained away by Said an organized-crime participant: organized crime, the consumer-educa- "Younger inmates [in two Massachu tion unit was said to have encountered setts prisons] would do anything to get particular difficulties," in with these people, figuring that they Concluded the National Crime Com- would become big men." 15 The meas- mission: ure of respect for organized-crime fig- ures among slum youth was recognized In many ways organized crime is the most by the New York City Youth Board sinister kind of crime in America . . . [It ] is not merely a few preying upon a in calling upon three such leaders to few. In a very real sense it is dedicated help settle violence in the East New to subverting not only American institu- York section. if tions, but the very decency and integrity A group of youths in a large city, that are the most cherished attributes of a whose favorite pastime was disrupting free society. As the leaders of Cosa Nostra a numbers operation by stealing and re- and their racketeering allies pursue their locating numbers slips and records conspiracy unmolested, in open and con- secreted by runners at various hiding ". Ibid, June 21, 1967, p. 73M, col. 7. places in the neighborhood, once told 19 Ibid., June 24, 1967, p. 46M, col. 7. " /bid. Efforts by Volunteers in Service 18 Idew at p. 100. to America (VISTA) workers and residents 14 Katzenbach, op. cit. to improve social conditions in East Harlem, 15 New York Times, June 21, 1967, p. 73M, New York City, have been hampered by col. T. threats and violence from local racketeers. 10 /bid., July 10, 1967, p. 21, cols. 7-8. New York Times, July 26, 1967, p. 20, 17 Jbid., October 23, 1966, Magazine, p. 37. col. 6.WHY ORGANIZED CRIME THRIVES 110 tinuous defiance of the law, they preach officials at the next election, the public a sermon that all too many Americans becomes satisfied that the situation has heed: The government is for sale; lawless- been cured. Law enforcement returns ness is the road to wealth; honesty is a to policing unorganized crime, and pub- pitfall and morality a trap for suckers, lic officials proudly proclaim that there Too many Americans heed the advice is no cleaner, finer place to live than that organized crime is a "tiny part" their community. This pattern emerged of the crime problem. The limited per- after the Kefauver hearings, the Apa- spective which most of the public and lachin meeting, and in ad hoc local its governmental servants possess about situations throughout the nation. The organized crime is perhaps the severest study of "Wincanton" by the National detriment to the construction of a strong Crime Commission is only an example. countereffort. In the Westchester County situation, only four years previously a State Crimi- nal Investigations Committee had found HIT-AND-HUN LAW ENFORCEMENT extensive gambling in many sections of Failure to mobilize the community the county and corruption in many of and other government institutions has its thirty-nine police departments." isolated law-enforcement officers as so- But in 1967, the New York Times ciety's sole counterthrust against organ- reported: ized crime. They are poorly equipped Some of the suspected police officers have for the task. The National Crime Com- since been promoted, some repudiated poli- mission pointed out that only "a hand- ticians have since been returned to office, ful of jurisdictions" have developed in- gambling is as wide open as before, and stitutionalized units for enforcement inroads have been made [by organized and intelligence activities by police and crime] in other areas of criminal activity." prosecutor." The difficulty and ex- After the new charges in 1967, a flurry pense of securing evidence against the of enforcement activity can be expected; criminal cartels is well documented in predictable statements of disbelief will the Commission's report." be made by public officials; abortive One result of this lack of built-in local grand juries will be convened; and investigative and prosecutive units can the community will soon turn its atten- be termed "hit-and-run" law enforce- tion to other matters that is, unless ment. Whenever the influence and ef- the climate is changing- fect of organized crime bursts above the Corruption, of course, is one of the principal obstacles to public control of surface, local governments are forced organized crime. But the problem runs to act. But after a few gambling raids, much deeper than that. Delegation of perhaps a public corruption case or control solely to law enforcement places two, and the defeat of some public even an honest police force and its 2 US., President's Commission on Law leaders in a most uncomfortable and Enforcement and Administration of Justice, adverse position. The pressures from General Report, op, cit., p. 209. the business world, from political fig- 2 Idem at p. 198. ures, and from the public usually dictate $4 Idea at pp. 198-199; G. Robert Blakey, a course of inaction to all but the most "Aspects of the Evidence-Gathering Process in Organized Crime Cases: A Preliminary 24 New York Times, July 13, 1967, p. 22, Analysis," in Task Force Report: Organized cols. 3-4.120 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY courageous police chief. Chief Justice istration. Similarly, a climate of pro- Earl Warren recently stated: fessional, nonpartisan law enforcement, Anyone who has been in the law enforce- such as that of District Attorney Ho- ment business for a long period of time has gan's office in New York County, can seen such influences brought to bear on produce a program against organized men who would much rather be honest and crime with which political interference straightforward and unrelenting in their is deemed impossible, and, therefore, is enforcement of the law only to have their not even attempted." One incident spirit broken by the power and the con- symbolizes what a permanent, rooted tinuous influence of anti-social forces. " law-enforcement program can mean. When a mayor orders the transfer to In a federal gambling raid a few years an outlying district of a police officer ago, one of the criminal leaders walked who has raided one of organized crime's nonchalantly towards the exit and be- gambling establishments, the climate of gan to press a twenty-dollar bill into nonenforcement is created. The police the hands of a federal officer. The chief and all his officers, in effect, "get officer identified himself as a federal the message." When a police officer agent; the criminal apologized pro- senses that the political figures do not fusely, explained that he had thought desire a program against organized the officer was from the local police crime (despite their public statements department, and walked just as non- to the contrary), police officials realize chalantly back into the room to join correctly that they cannot accomplish his cohorts against the wall. the task alone; and they are not going A law-enforcement program that over- to risk their careers in an attempt to comes the initial political and other prove otherwise. Law-enforcement offi- pressures soon finds that its own cers and others concerned about organ- strength decreases the pressures and ized crime, when left standing alone, are their concomitant effects, tangible and soon branded as hysterical fictionalists, intangible, upon the operations of the flailing away at a mythical enemy, law enforcement officers. But the ini- whose existence public officials and tial phases of any organized-crime drive other parts of the community deny. result in a backlash of opposition that Indeed, it is difficult for the public to only higher public officials can over- believe what their elected officials will come. In most areas, the backlash has not permit them to see. prevailed and law enforcement hits- The extraordinary political courage and runs. of Senator Robert Kennedy, when he was Attorney General, represents the ALLIANCE WITH THE RESPECTABLES kind of story that will never be known Much of what already has been said in all its ramifications. However, a points to the genius of organized crime combination of active law enforcement in pursuing goals common to the re- and a political government that pos- spectable sectors in the community. sesses sincere interest in combating or- 27 Mr. Hogan's program, however, can serve ganized crime can produce an institu- only as a partial answer to the organized- tionalized law enforcement program that crime problem in New York County, because will survive changes in political admin- he has limited manpower and resources to devote to an organized-crime program, and 20 Earl Warren, Address to the First Na- also because the organized-crime problem in tional Conference on Crime Control, Wash- his jurisdiction is probably the most severe ington, D.C., March 29, 1967. in the nation.WHY ORGANIZED CRIME THRIVES 121 When these goals clash, organized crime ular acclaim but who, in organized can exhibit a remarkable, intuitive sense criminals' eyes, grovel in the same dirt of the need for restraint. But the great with them. unknown is the day-to-day organization When a federal judge in 1963 rend- and operations of this secret, subtle ered mere thirty-day jail sentences to a alignment. It is not necessarily, or mayor and an organized-crime figure even probably, as crude a phenomenon convicted of working together in secur- as monetary pay-offs. It may only be ing illegal pay-offs from parking meter an alliance between mutual possessors companies in connection with city con- of power who know that they need one tracts, he may have been reflecting a another. Each knows that it can be public ambivalence about the question hurt by the other. Therefore, the alli- of who exploits whom. The business- ance may be an uneasy one wherein men who serve as government witnesses the participants exhibit a mutual hate, walk out of court free men, acclaimed but a grudging realization that they as having done their public duty of must work together. Such factors work testifying against the criminal element. in any power system. A similar phe- But many persons wonder if there is a nomenon is the shifting alignments victim in such cases, aside from the which reflect the strange bedfellows of general public, and rebel at punishing politics. only one of the parties. Al Capone was said to have been The alliance between the respectables infuriated when a newspaper publisher and organized crime is peculiarly frus- privately offered him thousands of dol- trating because it presently eludes lars to use his influence in settling a public documentation, analysis, and con- labor dispute among employees of the clusions. The few, possible manifesta- newspaper; the daily paper had been tions which sprout into public view can branding Capone continuously as Public connote innocent as well as corrupt ex- Enemy Number One. In Mount Vernon, planations. For example, in federal New York, the city committee of a court in Philadelphia, the operator of political party turned to gambling fig- a commercial interstate dice game, ures for campaign funds "because we wherein the annual employee payroll were poor and couldn't get the money exceeded $350,000, had been convicted from anywhere else."" Sometimes, one of interstate gambling violations and cannot tell which is the chicken and had petitioned for reduction of sen- which is the egg. The drive towards tence. The convicted man had been success in the legitimate world produces arrested fourteen times, seven times for immeasurable pressures towards illegitim violent crimes; but before the federal mate means, Does organized crime gambling conviction, he had served only exploit a pre-existing ethic? Is it merely thirty days in jail on five convictions that ethic stripped of its handsome in the past forty or so years. The theoretical gloss and practiced in a government attorney told the court that somewhat cruder form? One can al- the felon was in the top echelon of most sympathize with organized-crime organized crime and had had no legiti- figures who look with utter contempt, mate employment since 1926. Officials disdain, and hatred upon their respect- from both political parties, including a able allies who are showered with pop- United States congressman, publicly tes- 28 New York Times, June 23, 1967, p. 24, tified as to the convicted person's good col. 5. character. A lawyer who testified for