The Chicago star., July 17, 1948, Star Edition, Page 2, Image 2

About The Chicago star. (Chicago, Ill.) 1946-1948

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
2
Guzik takes over
Latimer's gangland ties
bared in slaying of vet
By CARL HIRSCH
Chicago’s gangland re
portedly disorganized by the
Kennelly moral uplift pro
gram—shot down a young
vet this week in the style to
which Chicago has long been
accustomed.
I this P f i ce for
| having jostled a
i L, woman on
h i 1 e he was
Latimer e f* y m ° rning
of June 15.
The woman was Mr*. Inez
Nucrio, wife of gangland over
lord Dominick Nuccio. who made
his way to mob leadership over
the bodies of slain gangsters.
Nuccio was known to be North
Side lieutenant for the Guzik -
Ric c a- Capone syndicate with
headquarters at the Club Innuen
do. 1220 N. Clark st.
* * *
YOUNG Falcon, a waiter,
bumped into Mrs. Nuccio while
she was out walking her dog
in Lincoln Park. She fell to the
ground and the young vet, who
has a wife and two children,
sprawled over her.
Mrs. Nuccio called the police
and had the intoxicated Falcon
arrested for attempted rape.
When Falcon’s wife, Nela, 21,
later went to Mrs. Nuccio to
plead for her husband, the gang
ster’s wife agreed to drop the
case.
* * *
HOWEVER, Mrs. Nuccio said
later that the state’s attorney’s
office would not let her with
draw the charges.
Last Saturday. Falcon was shot
down on the steps of his home
at 1837 Lincoln by two men.
At the inquest Monday, Mrs.
Falcon testified that Mrs. Nuccio
had warned that her husband
would be killed. At the time
Falcon was arrested, the gang
ster’s wife told him:
“I know you didn’t hurt me,
but I hope you go to jail, be
cause if you beat this case my
husband will kill you. He is
the toughest man in the country.”
* * *
NUCCIO served a sentence for
burglary in 1919. But he has
since been suspected in dozens
of major crimes and was ques
tioned by police in six murder
cases but not convicted.
Tangled into the web of this
gruesome story is the case of
THE CHICAGO STAR. JULY 17. 1948
The Chicago
fe C Telco uiu DUDnsned WEEKLY
by The Chicago Star Publishing
Co., Inc., 166 West Washington
Street. Chicago 2. 11L Phone
RANdolph 0580.
Cable address: Chistar
Frank M. Davis Executive Editor
Carl Hirsch Managing Editor
William Sennelt General Manager
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
(Except Canada
and foreign) 1 Year $2.00.
Entered as second class matter
June 25, 1946 at the post office at
Chicago, 111., under the Act of
March J. 1879.
Postal regulations require that
all new subscriptions for military
personnel stationed overseas must
be accompanied by a written
request from the person to whom
the subscription is directed.
■»
Ira Latimer, secretary of the Chi
cago Civil Liberties Committee.
This organization—once under
progressive auspices—has in re
cent years become tied up with
the Guzik-Ricca-Capone mob.
* * *
IT WAS to Latimer that.the
distraught wife of Falcon oame
to seek assistance for her ac
cused husband—not knowing of
Latimer’s connections with the
mob.
Latimer turned her over to a
lawyer—Michael Brodkin, of the
firm of Beiber and Brodkin,
mouthpieces for Guzik. Shortly
afterwards, young Falcon, a
Navy vet with four years sub
marine service, was dead.
This week, the Chicago Herald-
American, sensing a red-baiting
angle in the Falcon story, played
it to hilt, with lurid references
to ‘‘the tie-up between pro-
Communist elements and the
underworld.”
* * *
ACTUALLY, Latimer is a vio
lent anti-Communist who has
o\er the past two years syste
matically broken the Chicago
Civil Liberties away from its
previous progressive auspices.
Gilbert Green, head of the
Communist Party of Illinois,
branded as a ‘‘bare-faced lie” the
reports that either Latimer or
his committee have any connec
tion with the Communist move
ment.
"Having deserted the progres
sive camp some time ago.
Latimer established connections
with underworld elements."
Green stated. "He and his com
mittee have been publicly de
nounced by the Communist
Party, and this latest incident is
further proof of the fact that
he deserves no support from
progressives in his attempt to
use the mask of ‘defender of
civil liberties' in order to pursue
his unsavory personal ambi
tions."
* * *
LATIMER'S connections with
the Guzik - Ricca - Capone crowd
first came to light some months
ago when the committee rushed
to defense of Jake Guzik and
some 20 other gangsters who
were wanted by the police.
It was reported at that time
that Latimer’s committee had
received funds from Beiber.
Afer a number of leading pro
gressive lawyers and other citi
zens resigned in disgust from the
committee two years ago. Wil
liam Scott Stewart became head
of the organization.
Stewart, a lawyer.. is the at
torney for Paul Ricca. alias
DeLucia, one of the three Ca
pone mobstelrs who were recent
ly paroled under shady circum
stances.
* » *
RICCA was considered Ca
pone’s successor as chief of the
syndicate’s rackets before he
went to prison on a 10-year rap
in connection with a $1 million
movie shakedown. Curiously,
Ricca was known as “The
Waiter.”
At the time Stewart became
head of the Chicago Civil Lib
erties Committee, it was reported
that he had contributed SI,OOO
to the organization.
On June 15, Stewart appeared
in court with a writ df habeas
corpus for the release of Ricca
who was arrested for violating
his parole.
* * *
STEWART also presented writs
for the three other Guzik mob
sters —D’Andrea, Gioe, Campag
na—who were also involved in
the parole deal. He said he had
information that they were to be
arrested that day.
Ricca was arrested for failing
to report to the parole board on
the expenditure of some $20,000
for a lush wedding reception for
his daughter at the Blacksione
Hotel.
Stewart told the court that
there was no irregularity in the
affair for which the food and
drink bill alone was $12,000. “It’s
an old Italian custom,” he told
the judge.
* * *
H. B. RITMAN, head of the
Chicago Civil Liberties Commit
tee at a time when the organi
zation had a record as an out
standing champion of distressed
people, expressed no surprise at
Latimer’s implication in the sor
did Falcon killing.
"When an organization permits
itself to accept money from
sources closely tied up with the
underworld represented by the
notorious Guzik. the pay-off can
be taken for granted." said Hit
man.
r^IETTEH^I
Civil rights'
FOR all practical purposes,
the Democrats could just
as easily have listed the entire
roster of proposed civil rights
laws or eliminated all mention
of the subject in their platform
instead pf staging that side
show at Philadelphia.
For the plain truth is that no
matter what the party says, it
has no intention of living up to
its campaign promises on civil
rights.
The Republicans with mono
tonous regularity make some
sort of civil rights promise
every four years. The Demo
crats make a far milder gesture.
But neither acts, and that’s
what counts. The trail of unkept
promises is what has led more
and more voters away from
both to the new Wallace party.
Greek torch
ALMOST a year and a half
ago, Truman asked con
gress for several hundred mil
lion dollars to rid Greece of the
guerillas “within a few months
time.”
But a story this week from
Athens reveals that plans to
light the Olympic torch at
Olympia, site of the ancient
games, and relay it four days
and four nights on the Greek
mainland before sending it to
London, have had to be
changed.
Instead, the four days and
nights have been cut to four
hours because the Greek army 1
can’t guarantee its security for
a longer period.
They’ll light and take it
directly to the tiny seaport town
of Katakolo, 20 miles away.
That’s as long as the Greek
army can promise safety from
the guerilla forces who by now
should be crushed from the
sheer weight of American dol
lars poured in, if not from bul
lets.
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SECOND BOOM of desperate Democrats flopped when Supreme
Court Justice William O. Douglas said "No" to pleas that he try
to salvage bankrupt party as Presidential candidate. Douglas went
fishing instead.
Guildsman to
aid Wallace
NEW YORK—John F. Ryan,
former executive vice president
of the Newspaper Guild of New
Back in 1946 a little man was
reelected governor of New York
for a 4-year term. And the little
man said he would serve the
entire term and did not aspire
to higher office. There are sev
eral million Americans who
want to help him keep that
pledge.
Safety first
IT’S about time the auto
manufacturers paid less
attention to the new look in
automobiles and began to worry
more about making them safe
to ride in.
Dr. C. L. Straith of Haper
Hospital in Detroit is a plastic
surgeon who sees many of the
results of auto accidents, and
spends a great deal of time re
pairing the damage. In a recent
article he pointed out that in
this as in many other aspects
of medicine, an ounce of pre
vention is worth a pound of
cure.
Dr. Straith believes that driv
ers occupy the safest seat in
the car. He believes the pas
senger in the front seat next to
the driver is in the most dan
gerous spot because of the lack
of protection in case of sudden
stops.
To protect the passenger in
the front seat. Dr. Straith favors
the removal of all knobs, cranks,
drop down ash trays and sharp
ledges from the dashboard. He
also urges the use of rubber
crash padding over the dash
board in front of the passenger.
Passengers in the back seat,
who are frequently thrown for
ward in auto accidents, can be
protected by eliminating sharp
ash trays and heavy robe rails
from the back of the front seat
and by providing padding for
the back edge of the front seat.
Auto manufacturers would
do well to follow these sugges
tions. New models should be
designed for safety as well as
appearance.
York (CIO), has been appointed
co-director, with Paul Trilling,
of the New York State Wallace
for President Committee, accord
ing to an announcement by O.
John Rogge, state committee
chairman.
Employment
ACCORDING to the U. S.
Census Bureau, there
were 61,296,000 civilians em
ployed in June, or exactly
1,241,000 more than a year ago.'
So we have what is called full
employment with administra
tion sources fearing a man
power shortage soon.
But we also have fantastic
prices, a disgraceful housing
shortage and the danger of war.
They all seem to go together.
Can’t we have full employment
without the evils that trail,
along? Or is it merely that the
bi-partisan coalition running the
government can’t produce one
without calling forth the others?
Catastrophe
THOMAS E. DEWEY, GOP
Presidential candidate, is
“a catastrophe looking for a
place to happen.” That’s what
another Republican Presidential
candidate Wendell Willkie
said about him eight years ago.
Fundamental
THE Hatch Act limits presi
dential election expendi
tures to $3,000,000. So GOP
Treasurer James S. Kemper
6aid 1944 campaign collections
were exactly $2,999,999.48 —just
53 cents short of illegality.
Republican Senator Styles
Bridges (who used to be plain
Harry Bridges until his anti
labor sentiments compelled him
to change his name) was a little
franker.
“In 1944,” he said, “commit
tees supporting the Republican
national ticket reported expen
ditures in excess of $12,000,000.”
Inflation being what it is in
this year of 1948, it will cost
even more to inflate the Tom
Dewey candidacy.