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Payoff Charge HurledWASHINGTON (AP) - Federal officials have charged thatgamblers in Columbus, Ohio, have “had almost every member of the city’s vice squad on their payrollAsst. Atty. Gen. Will R Wilson in testimony Tuesday before the Senate subcommittee oncriminal laws and procedures spoke only of a “major mid-western city” when he said that “low-level officers were reported receiving $250 per month and their superiors as much as $500“ from local numbers operators.But other federal officials later confirmed Wilson had beentalking about Columbus. And the Nashville Tennessean quoted Wilson as identifying the midwestem city as the Ohio capital,Wilson told the subcommittee, headed by Sen John L Mc-(lellan, D-Ark., that the Justice Department had “uncovered evidence that local numbers operators had almost every member of the city’s vice squad on their payroll.”He also said “the involvement of the police went so far as toI N T E R ^S^XOM POUNDED DAILY on savings ONLY atFirst Bank k Trust. —Adv.include pressure by the chief ofthe squad put on a dissident gambler to bring him in line with his fellow numbers operators.”Wilson appeared belore the subcommittee on behalf of President Nixon’s proposal to make it a federal crime to conspire to obstruct enforcement of local and state criminal laws in order to promote an illegal gamblingbusiness.He said there is a need for such a statute on grounds of widespread police corruption in several major urban areasSpecifically, he named a “major southern city’’—the Nashville Tennessean quoted him as referring to Nashville—that has had “an open history of oobce corruption over the past 18years.”Police there were being paid off by lottery operators and bookmakers. W’ilson charged, “and in !%4 it was learned that two city detectives were actually operating a lottery.In Columbus, Capt. Robert Taylor, vice squad chief, denied any connection with crime figures.“1 am absolutely not taking any money from anyone. 1 do not want to dignify their charges. 1 cannot speakfor anyone else But if an officer is taking he will be prosecuted.”Mayor Maynard E. Sensen-brenner called for a full report from Columbus Safety Director Fred Simon and Police Chief Robert H. Baus.“I’ve got confidence in my police department and my safetydirector,” Sensenbrenner said.“If I find any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of thepolice, we’ll get rid of them.”In Nashville, the Tennessean quoted Henry Petersen, head of the organized crime section, as saving Wilson’s testimony referred to the situation in the past and did not reflect on current Nashville officials.Gilbert S. Memtt Jr., who resigned recently as U.S. attorney for the Middle Tennessee district, told the newspaper that “there Is no question” that “theold Nashville City Police Department in the early 1960s was corrupt.”BRV*N BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION-Your SAVINGS Center since 1919, Adv.
Newspaper Details
Bryan Daily Eagle
Bryan, Texas, US
Wed, Jun 04, 1969
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Madison H.
NA, 25 May 2023
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