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OFFICIALS SAYDeci0**ions HamperLaw EnforcementRv STEPHEN M. AEGWAssociated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP - Federal law enforcement officials say Supreme Court decisions restricting application of federal gambling and weapons laws will hamper crime-fighting and possibly endanger current prosecutions.“What can you sav when aW i'man has his right arm cut off?** commented Henrv K Petersen, chief of the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section. when asked about Monday's high court gambling decision.Officials of both the Justice and Treasury departments predicted the decisions would hamper state and local law enforcement as well.Senators pushing for a gun-control bill said meanwhile they%•feel the court's decision raised no barrier to its passage.In the two decisions, the court:—Ruled 7 to 1 that the laws forcing gamblers to register and pay special taxes require them to provide evidence that could lead to their conviction, thus violating the Fifth Amendment guarantee against self-incrimination.—Used identical reasoning in an 8-1 vote barring prosecution of persons who refuse to register such weapons as sawed-off shotguns and machine-guns. The court also ruled out prosecution for possession of such weapons.Petersen said the laws requiring gamblers to register, buv a $50 gambling stamp and pay a 10 per cent excise tax on wagers It'd to identification of gamblers and thus helped local law enforcement Police departments could easily firid out who in-rtends to gamble in areas whereit is illegal.“Generally, many govern-! rnent-organized crime caseshave been predicted on the failure to pay the tax,’’ added Petersen In many instances theHrexistence of the wagering tax law--arfd failure of some gam-j biers to pay the tax—has en-; abled the government to breakup sizable gambling operations.An Internal Revenue Service official said that of 2.015 tax fraud cases the government brought last year, 941 were attributable directly to the gambling tax or registration requirement There were 665 such indictments, and 408 personspleaded guilty or no contest.The government issued 5.917 gambling stamps and collected $572,000 for them It also collected more than $5.6 million in gambling excise taxes.An official of the Treasury De-Vpartment s Alcohol and TobaccoTax Unit, which administers firearms registration, said the purpose of the weapons law is “to maintain some control on gangster-type weapons.”
Newspaper Details
Brownwood Bulletin
Brownwood, Texas, US
Tue, Jan 30, 1968
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Madison H.
NA, 25 May 2023
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