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raoREPORT ON COSA NOSTRAFund Lack Curbs WarftPni!linIWASHINGTON lt;AP) - Officials say a Justice Department campaign against organizedcrime, begun in 1961, is succeeding. But they assert congressional tightening of purse strings is hampering the fight against the Syndicate.“We’re stretching and straining all the while,” said Assistant A tty, Gen. Fred M. Vinson Jr., of the department’s Criminal Division, “but the fact is we're having to rob Peter to pay Paul to keep our people in the field.”Vinson and Henry Peterson, head of the division’s organized crime section, report highly mobile task forces of federal crime fighters are making inroads Into ba Cosa Nostra, but that more money Is needed for additional men.recent efforts against organizedjdisclqsed, are “on the drawing ning to pay off is the “obvious;-unwillingness of the second (Mafia) echelon to assume pow-crimc, work with other federal agents in selected cities to pressure organized hood turn elements.board” for early next year.But Vinson and Peterson complain they’ve been left by Congress with inadequate funds toIn Detroit, for example, they carry on the war.The task forces, spearhead of the Justice Department’s mostrJM*? .......... Movie funClassified ...... 5-7R Oir ........... SrComfc* .FUN Sntl* ......... 1-4BCtoitword fUN Tern ..... »\Tv ASiew:*™:?report 65 indictments—12 of them last Thursday.The task groups have infiltrated five areas so far, and are described by Justice Department officials as the biggest boon to organized crime-busting sinceElliot Ness.Like guerrilla warfare, it’s difficult, Vinson said in an interview, to pinpoint gains against the underworld. But he thinks that since 1061, when Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy began the present campaign, “the graph has levelled off and maybe has gone down a bit.”Some officials estimate it may take 10 years of vigorous effort to bring organized crime to heel,“What you have to do,” Vinson says, “is establish priorities . hit them where it hurts.” This Is the job of the taskVinson says the department asked for 100 additional assistant U.S. attorneys and got 65. He wanted 40 more lawyers for the criminal division—a hatlery of five is used in each task force —and didn’t get any. A demand for funds to provide 200 more narcotics agents was halved.But the heats on, and there are reports of discomfort and movement in the underworld. England, where gambling has flourished in recent years, is considered ripe for sophisticated American racketeers.“They’ll go where the action is,” Peterson said, recalling that the Mafia sought other places when Fidel Castro took over Cuba and the Havana casinos closed.There is evidence the Syndicate is currently releasing some of its bold on Las Vegas interests since billionaire Howarder.forces, and two more group..:Hughes began buying up the |leave the department for secret!major gambling spots.I destinations within the next Vinson said an indication lhat I months. Another two, Peterson 11 tic task force scheme is begin-Ife says a series of “fief-doms” has begun emerging, particularly in the past two years.But officials say there still are nine to 12 “generals” who run La Cosa Nostra with an iron hand. Depending on who tells it, the organized criminal elementnumbers from 2,000 to 5,000mobsters who gross between $20 billion and $50 billion annually in illegal gambling alone.But Ally. Gen. Ramsey Clarkmaintains 1908 has been “the most effective year in the history of federal law enforcement’s efforts lo eliminate organized crime.”The crime busters themselves don’t talk about “elimination,” rather about “reduction and control.”Clark has produced statisticswhich appear to support hisclaim that great inroads are being made against organized crime, though some department officials aren’t quite as optimistic as their boss.In fiscal 1968, Clark says, (See WAR, Page CA)IJooIeffa56VV
Newspaper Details
Victoria Advocate
Victoria, Texas, US
Sun, Nov 17, 1968
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Madison H.
NA, 25 May 2023
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