The Illinois standard. [volume], October 30, 1948, Page 2, Image 2

About The Illinois standard. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1948-1949

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Exposes gangster
and gets indicted
in C. O. P. action
PEORIA—The indictment of a newspaper reporter who
had uncovered a criminal alliance between gangsters and
public officials here gave a bizarre twist to the case this
week.
Theodore C. Link, 43-year-old ex-Marine combat cor
respondent, who was decorated by the Navy for bravery
on Guam, was charged by a
grand jury with kidnapping,
intimidation, and conspiracy.
In an obvious effort to dis
credit I.ink and his newspaper,
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a
special assistant to Attorney
General George F. Barrett se
cured indictments against three
gangsters at the same time.
Barrett. Governor Green’s
right-hand man, was concerned
because Link's investigation had
established that Peoria gangsters
paid graft money into the cof
fers of the Illinois Republican
machine—in fact, to a man on
Barrett's own payroll.
Link's investigat ion was
prompted by the murder of Ber
nie Shelton, who with his broth
ers had long been a gang leader
in central Illinois.
After Shelton's death, the
Post - Dispatch made public a
phonograph recording which he
had ordered sent to it. On the
record was a conversation in
which Shelton was asked to pay
a $25,000 bribe in order to se
cure immunity from prosecution.
As a result of Link’s painstak
ing probe, another grand jury
recently indicted Sheriff Earl E.
Spainhower. State’s Attorney
Roy P. Hull, and one of Hull's
assistants, Charley Somogvi.
The Post - Dispatch, which is
backing Link, said in an editor
ial that the indictment of him
is an irresponsible act inspired
*■ by desperate men.” It is part of
an attempt "to obstruct justice,”
it added.
In his amazing series of copy
righted articles in the Post-Dis
patch, Link<made these — and
other—disclosures:
• "State, county and city offi
cials” had for years collected
‘‘about $5,000” each month in
“payoff money” from gangsters,
the smallest payment to an indi
vidual being $200.
• “About half” of Peoria’s 20
aldermen took bribes from gang
sters prior to 1945, and "at least
four aldermen operated slot ma
chines” as part of the racket.
• The gangsters “paid more
than *100,000 into the Peoria
city treasury in a period of 15
months for permission to operate
their illegal machines in defi
ance of the state gambling laws,”
paying the city $20 on each slot
machine.
• George Chiames, who was on
Attorney General Barrett’s state
payroll “until Aug. 15 at about
$400 a month,” was “collector of
Til ILLINOII
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slot machine graft for the state.”
• A respected civic leader,
Harry J, Tyrrell, head of the
Harry J. Tyrrell Motor Co., a
Studebaker agency here, and
owner of the Northern Steel &
Stoker Corp. and Tyrrell’s Tiny
Tots Inc., was “the mysterious
silent partner of the late Carl
Shelton,” Bernie Shelton’s gang
ster brother, who was slain a'
year ago.
• U.S. Marshall Robert Grant
told Jack Ashby, a Shelton lieu
tenant, that he’d “guarantee”
Ashby could “live and make
plenty of money in Peoria’’ if he
would “lay off the investigation’’
into Bernie Shelton’s murder
and see to it that there was “no
more talking.’’
The Peoria Association of
Commerce, in a recent letter to
Governor Green, expressed the
fear that the investigation would
result in a whitewash. Follow
ing this week's indictment of
Link, many Peorians expressed
the opinion that the corrupt poli
ticians had resorted—not to a
whitewash—but to a frame-up.
BUND VETERAN Simon Girbush appears in court with his Seeing
Eye dog, Rusty, to press his suit against a New York restaurant
which turned him away because it objected to the dog. Behind
him is another blind veteran who reported a similar experience.
Political parades pay off
The denizens of Skid Row
are beginning to enjoy
politics.
A reporter met a number
of them on an east-bound
Washington st. bus this
Monday. Several were
tipsy.
They said that the Demo
crats had hired “about
1,000“ of them from the
flophouses of W. Madison st.
to march in a parade which
President Truman was to
lead to a rally in the Sta
dium.
“We’re getting paid for
this,” they cheerfully ad
mitted.
Are they partial to Tru
man? Oh, no, they said
hastily.
“Tomorrow night we do
it again,” they explained.
“The Republicans are pay
ing us to turn out for
Dewey then.”
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B & K theaters
draw union anger
The “Cold Strike” against the major motion picture
companies — Paramount, Columbia, RKO, Fox, Loews and
Republic Pictures — and the movie houses owned by them
picked up momentum in Chicago this week.
Balaban & Katz theaters — owned by Paramount Pic
tures—are the main targets here
of Screen Office & Professional
Employees' Guild and the Screen
Publicists’ Guild, UOPWA-CIO,
representing 3,500 white collar
workers in the motion picture
home offices.
After six years of peaceful
bargaining, the millionaire mov
ie magnates have refused to ne
gotiate a new contract with the
union unless its officers file Taft
Hartley “non-Communist” affi
davits. This, despite the fact that
the union membership voted in
a referendum ballot—six to one
—against affidavit compliance.
Organized since 1942, the
Screen white collar workers
have doubled and trebled their
wages through their union.
Minimum wage levels still re
main, however, at $23.00 a week
—explaining, perhaps, how a
movie producer gets to be a
multimillionaire.
‘ Destruction of our union is
the aim of the motion picture
companies,” Ann Drucker, now
in Chicago to organize the Bal
aban & Katz campaign, told The
Standard.
“The movie producers are at
tempting to bring back the days j
of company dominated unions,:
under the thumb of racketeers
like Brown and Bioff. . . . They
hope to bring back the days of
$12.00 a week for skilled office
workers, mass layoffs and job
insecurity. . . .”
Illinois law prevents the un
ion from calling for a boycott in
this state, but it is expected that
pro-labor Chicagoans neverthe
less will refuse to patronize the
aters which show the major film
companies’ movies. In N.Y., box
office receipts in all theaters
picketed have dropped 50 per
cent to 70 per cent below nor
mal.
Picket lines, demonstrations,
delegations to theater managers
and B & K heads are scheduled
for this week. 20,000 postcards
have been distributed through
out the city.
On Friday, Oct. 22, two pick
ets walked the pavement in front
of B & K’s United Artists the
ater, 45 W. Randolph, where
“Gone With the Wind” was play
ing. They wore costumes por
traying Scarlett O’Hara and
Rhett Butler, with picket signs
which read: “Union busting days
are gone with the wind!’’
Progressives
join tenants
on evictions
A delegation of Progressive
leaders and representatives of
tenants from all 10 Chicago
Housing Authority “low-rent”
projects now facing eviction
were scheduled to meet Tuesday
evening w i t h CHA executive
secretary, Elizabeth Wood.
The meeting was part of the
plan of action decided on by
the tenants’ newly formed
organization, the Co-ordinating
Council of Public Housing,
along with Progressive leaders,
Zalmon Garfield and Sidney
Ordower.
Facing eviction are 40% of
the CHA’s tenant families,
whose incomes now exceed
maximum project levels.
Progressives point out, how
ever, that while many tenants’
incomes have increased slightly
—this increase has been eaten
up by rising living costs.
PROGRESS
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