Word: states
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...State law provides for the removal from public office of officials who refuse to testify before grand juries looking into governmental affairs. But it allows them to take the Fifth Amendment when questioned on criminal matters- as did Addonizio. Nor do the state's laws require the removal of officials who are under indictment...
Organized crime secured its first firm beachhead in New Jersey during Prohibition days, when Abner ("Longie") Zwillman used the state as the base for 40% of the nation's bootlegging operations. Aside from Newark and Jersey City, much of the state retained a rural character until the opening of the George Washington Bridge in 1931. New Jersey suited the underworld's needs perfectly. The Hudson River separated its members from the tough law enforcement of New York racketbusters like Fiorello La Guardia, Thomas Dewey and, more recently, Frank Hogan. Neither police forces nor local government had caught...
...state's attempts to clean up its own house have been few and far between. Immediately after World War II, a gambling crackdown in Bergen County netted only a 15-year-old boy for taking telephone bets. But following the late Senator Estes Kefauver's disclosures of widespread gambling in the county, Special Prosecutor Nelson Stamler launched a probe that resulted in indictments against 77 people, including two police chiefs. To nobody's surprise, Stamler soon was replaced. One reason the reform efforts failed may well be that local political bosses, many of them thoroughly venal, enjoy...
Close to 300,000 New Jersey residents leave the state every day to work in New York City, and nearly 50,000 more commute to Philadelphia. Many of them regard the state as a bedroom and take no interest in state or local government. Among those who are active in local affairs, many are only too willing to coexist with La Cosa Nostra. Mafiosi who can assure peace with labor unions are often respected members of the community. Many otherwise solid citizens seek them out as friends; they either refuse to believe that the Mafia exists or find it exciting...
That attitude infuriates Mafia Expert Ralph Salerno. "The Silent Majority consented to all this for 30 years," he fumes. "The bad guys worked at taking over the state while the good guys sat on their asses and watched television." Unfortunately, that failing may be characteristic of good guys elsewhere. Federal strike forces are at work in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York and Florida. If they are anywhere near as successful as they have been in New Jersey, 1970 may prove a boom year for grand juries...