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Oi*ganizingRv VICTOR R IRS ELWASHINGTON — It’s a good day for the anti-Mafia mafia. So encouraging is it that even those Cosa Nostra chiefs, now being wired for sound, whose names have not been in the public prints for years are now deeply concerned citizens of rarelv exposed corners of theunderworld.new thinking in the Justice Department. It’s been passed on to President Nixon by aspecial task force directed by Henry(Pete) Peterson, head of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the Criminal Division.The full thrust of the new philosophy is to “institutionalize” the war on the 24 criminal syndicates and theirfellow' travelers.sn-carrymgpoint is to permanentize as well as organize, says one highJustice Department policy maker.The theory is to make the fight on the Mafia an “institution” and thus separate it from “the man upstairs” — meaning the attorney general — regardless of who he is or what president he serves.“Permanentizing” the assault on the big city crime captains would remove it from the whims of future attorneys general. Some have been for wiretapping — such as the late Rob Kennedy. Some have not, such as Ramsev Clark. Some have burn-ed their insides as well as the mid-noriranizedrnight lights setting up special task forces to crack the politically influential, campaign financing, ubiquitous mob. Some have treated the Cosa Nostra as though it could be turned off like some James Cagney late, late movie.mSmagencies. Or, reverse it, the local crime fightersBut the new thinking is toupgrade the Organized Crime Section. Turn it into a full divisionare wicoordinating their strategy and “information” with the “Feds.”'Phis supercouncil if it works, will envelop the special Justice Department anti-organized crime strikenow operating in at cities.This first council is set for the Southern District of New York. Itsof the Justice Department. Give it headquarters will be in New Yorkits own assistant attorney general. City. If it works in the megalopolis coopeSecretary of the Treasury. The council will be linked to the Labor Department compliance section by Mr. Peterson, who has been working closely with Assistant Secretary of Labor Willie Usery.For a starter the staff will have40 FBI agents, presumablycoordinated by the bureau’s inspector.What is vital here is the expectedSet up permanent regional offices,with their own staffs, intelligenceand manpower charts —- just like the antitrust division, which has a regional headquarters under a chief and assistant chief in many cities. Like the antitrust office, the an-tiracketeering headquarters wouldspecialize while the regional U.S. attorney was ranging all over the criminal lot.For weeks now, the new assistant attorney general, Will R. Wilson, Criminal Division chief, has quietly been taking the first small steps which could lead to an experiment in regional confrontation with theCasa Nostra.Mr. Wilson has put together the first “coordinated council” as a prototype for the new fight. For the first time since the mob began putting concrete shoes on its buttoncenter for five tough Cosa Nostra To jockey for position is human,families, including the enormously And no one in Atty. Gen. Mitchell’swealthy Carlo Gambino combine — “upstairs” office expects the newit will be the prototype for other thinking to dehumanize or rip thesupercouncils. “ ambition from the regional.But it might at1 he New York area w7as chosen, the intelligence, end the bid for witnesses, cool the feud over informers and for the first time organize the unorganized fight against organized crime.If it works in the big city, the supercouncil idea will be cautiouslyspread across country towhere the chiefs of police are of the caliber of Howard Leary and the regional attorneys can matchBurt Robertsaccording to Justice Department insiders, because they trust the local authorities — Police Commissioner Howard Leary, the legendary Manhattan Dist. Atty. Frank Hogan, the fiery new “man-eating” young Bronx D.A. Burton Roberts, the U.S. Attorney Robert, who has racked upe Mafia kills than any otherregional office, and the veteran State Atty. Gen. Louis Lefkowitz.in all, there will be nine men on the council. The council will be directedmen and even captains destined formidnight swims, the Justice Department has plugged the federal effort into the local law enWashington for awiiile — channeling through Henry Peterson and Will Wilson, who will be council members. There’ll alsobe aninspector, to representJ. Edgar Hoover and an Assistanta young Burr Kooerts ana the veteran Frank Hogan.Much of this depends on whether or not Congress will create a newAssistant Attorney General by making the antiracketeering section apermanent priority of the up-perworld to battle the underworld'ssecond government.
Newspaper Details
Amarillo Globe Times
Amarillo, Texas, US
Wed, Apr 23, 1969
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Madison H.
NA, 25 May 2023
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