CONTENTS The New York area waterfront.. Claremont Terminal: a case study. Federal agencies at Claremont.. WATERFRONT INVESTIGATION: NEW YORK-NEW JERSEY JULY 27, 1953.-Ordered to be printed Mr. CAPEHART, from the Committee on Interstate Commerce, submitted the following INTERIM REPORT [Pursuant to S. Res. 41] I. INTRODUCTION Almost 2 years have passed since the Special Committee to Inrestigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce submitted its inal report to the Senate and went out of existence. The need for effective action against the Nation's bigtime criminals was widely cknowledged at that time. Public opinion was mobilized behind proposals for improving law enforcement at all levels. In 15 months' intensive study the Crime Committee had documented some startling conclusions: criminal "syndicates", regrouped ince the violent Prohibition Era, had pushed into new fields where hey were prospering as never before; the power of money, largelv rom illegal gambling and the narcotics traffic, had become the underorld's devastating new weapon; revenues from national-scale rime empires were so great that a new type of criminal had emerged the community. The committee found that crime was paying, and lavishly. This new public enemy carries a large bankroll instead of more bviously deadly armaments. He is as often flanked by expensive wyers and tax consultants as by gunman bodyguards. Eschewing iolence where he can prevail by corruption, he has forced his way leep into legitimate business enterprises and even into the political nstitutions on which our integrity as a Nation ultimately depends. These findings stirred up an indignant clamor for measures to remedy the situation, and some improvements resulted. A little ground as been gained and held; notorious criminal empires have been broken p; &number of hitherto immune overlords of crime have gone to prison-for perjury, contempt, or income-tax infractions—or are embroiled in deportation proceedings. The national race-wire service went into a temporary eclipse. In many regions it is still hard to find a bookmaker, and illegal narcotics are priced higher than they used to be. But many of the most important suggestions for improvement have been slow to materialize. The 82d Congress had a score of new laws, aimed at organized crime, before it. Only one was enacted, and that was the mandatory-minimum narcotics law which is still the subject. of heated controversy. Administrative measures like the Treasury racket squad suffered from neglect in the critical matter of adequate appropriations. The underworld is patient. The public's memory is short. Ever now, within 2 years, the national crime rate has returned to its tra ditional upward curve, and there are evidences on every hand tha the professional hoodlum is cautiously expanding his domain again. In short, the Crime Committee's investigative objectives and legis lative program were by no means all accomplished at the time of it demise. Significant lines of inquiry, indicated in its hearings an reports, had been in some cases only lightly touched upon. The com mittee itself pointed to the need for ceaseless vigilance, and stresse that underworld activities would long outlast the momentary furori was stirring up. Nonetheless in September 1951 its staff was di banded and its voluminous files were locked away. It seems axiomatic that responsibility for dealing with crimin activities in interstate commerce rests squarely upon the Feder Government. The very phrase "interstate commerce" rules out th jurisdiction of the States and local communities. In the last hal century Congress has been called upon repeatedly to enact Feder legislation to curb criminal activities that have overflowed State line gangsters who contrive to project their activities into the channels interstate commerce have always been able to defy local law-enforc ment agencies-until Congress brings the Federal power into pla This is still the situation with respect to criminal syndicate operatio in fields such as gambling. This is an interim report. The Investigating Subcommittee of t Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce has been acti only 4 months. But it has already built an extensive record on o phase of a full-scale investigation where it is coming face to face wi crime and corruption astride the channels of commerce. The work reports herein, and the program outlined hereafter, are directed at t single purpose, which is the chief raison d'etre of all congressional vestigations: to serve as a guide for prompt, proper, and effecti action by the Congress itself. II. THE SUBCOMMITTEE The Investigating Subcommittee was created pursuant to Sen Resolution 41, introduced in the 83d Congress by Senator Tob chairman of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, January 20, 1953, and agreed to on January 30, 1953. Senate Re lution 41 provides as follows: Resolved, That the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, or duly authorized subcommittee thereof, is authorized and directed to make s and complete study and investigation of any and all matters within its jurisdic as set forth in section (1) (j) of rule XXV of the Standing Rules of the Sen and especially all matters pertaining to (1) communication by telephone, telegraph, radio, and television; (3) domestic surface transportation; (4) maritime matters generally, and particularly port security and conditions at harbors, ports, and other waterfront facilities which may affect the national health, safety, and interest; and (5) the duties and responsibilities of the Department of Commerce in the field of foreign commerce and international trade, including a reappraisal of the effectiveness of measures and efforts instituted by Government agencies to control the shipment or transshipment of exported materials to foreign countries. SEC. 2. For the purposes of this resolution the committee, or any duly authorized subcommittee thereof, is authorized, until January 31, 1954, (1) to make uch expenditures as it deems advisable; (2) to employ upon a temporary basis such technical, clerical, and other assistants as it deems advisable; and (3) with the consent of the head of the department or agency concerned, to utilize the reimbursable services, information, facilities, and personnel of any of the departments or agencies of the Government. SEC. 3. The expenses of the committee under this resolution, which shall not exceed $75,000, shall be paid from the contingent fund of the Senate upon vouchers approved by the chairman of the committee. It is noteworthy that Senate Resolution 41 follows a recommendation made in 1952, after careful study, by the Commission on Organzed Crime of the American Bar Association. This commission was created, under the chairmanship of the late Judge Robert Patterson, to cooperate on behalf of the bar with the work of the Senate Crime Committee. Its distinguished membership followed every step of the crime investigation closely, and made lasting contributions. In ts report to the Bar Association house of delegates, the commission noted: There are still many areas of crime utilizing channels of interstate commerce r interstate communications, which can profitably be explored by a Federal nvestigative agency. The narcotics traffic requires the same thoroughgoing vestigation which the Senate committee made of gambling. Only the surface f waterfront crime, which is endemic in many communities, has been scratched. Racketeer infiltration and control of individual labor unions and racketeer filtration into specific areas of legitimate business, must also someday be horoughly explored. The Senate committee's data on the Mafia raises more gestions than it answers. These are but a few of the many inquiries which in investigating agency could profitably make. In addition an investigating gency could explore the many serious problems of cooperation between Federal,. tate, and local law-enforcement agencies and the problem of the coordination factivities in dealing with organized crime. In the opinion of this commission, the necessary investigations into organized rime in interstate commerce should continue to be carried out by a committee the Senate as heretofore, a permanent subcommittee of one of the Senate tanding committees such as the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, by a joint committee of the Senate and the House. A legislative committee as the indispensable subpena power. It carries with it the prestige of Congress. Being an arm of the Legislature, which has control of the purse strings, it is ecorded considerable respect by executive agencies of the Government. Promptly after the approval of Senate Resolution 41 the subcommittee was appointed and a staff was organized under its direction. Downey Rice, former counsel to the Crime Committee, was named hief counsel. The files were reactivated, and a survey of the present status of organized criminal activities, in their relation to interstate Commerce, was undertaken. Almost at once the subcommittee ound ample indications that various underworld strongholds, in reas such as illegal gambling, the narcotics traffic, and quasi-legitimate Enterprises, have not been fully liquidated. These areas are marked for urther study. |