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b [ — elumsy pistols. Under Old John Townsend (who gained that name because he policed London Town from end to end) ‘the Robbin’ Red Breasts fattened, as did Old John himself, on & system of blood-money collections. They veached the zenith eof their power and_ pros- perity in about 1801. ‘Their system of racketeering was the essence of simplicity. When stolen properfy was re- ported to Bow street office the runners took it upon themselves, as guinea-a-day attaches of the court, to recover the loot for the owner. Thus, for recovering a set of stolen harness they assessed the victim a fairly high sum, and from the thief they extorted his furniture and money and arms and horses, when he had them. Loitering about the old court, they over- heard complaints of theft made by victims to the magistrates, and then, just outside the court room, quietly made their offer of recov- ery. They were eminently successful in recov- ering the loot when the fee was attractive, horribly inefficient when the fee was not forth- 3 catching was at a low time in the 90s—probably quite early —the modern racket, unknown, of course, that term, was introduced to America. The introduction came about through the wide use families of the artichoke, kin of upper Fast Side of Harlem. In the late "90s another hefty gentleman set his homemade Neapolitan brogans on Man- haitan’s shores. He was a man with a soft- sounding name. Giosue Galluci. He brought with him his wife, an infant son, Luca, and a younger brother, Genro. The two brothers could bake to perfection that coarse-grained but exceedingly palatable Neapolitan bread which makes an excellent companion for a steaming cup of morning coffee. The brothers opened a little bakeshop in James street, in the center of Little Italy. They made money and Giosue made dreams. abundant evidence of wealth. above 6 feet, and in his blue flannel work shirt, open at the neck and skin-tight about his massive shoulders, he bulked large and dom- Inant. He spoke occasionally to Strapone. They talked together for long periods, and mostly about the thing that was then being widely dis- cussed all over America—trusts. The Italian newspapers spoke of the trusts. Great battles were being waged in Congress over the new glant in industry. On every one’s lips were tales of bow the giants crushed little business men. JOSUE also was & member of the Mano Neri. He had about him a small group of workers who were called Bakers—Joe Baker, ‘Tony Baker, Nick Baker. He grew to know the district political leaders and the police. They wauld come into his bakeshop and talk things over. Among this group were the brothers Lomonte, Tom and Charles, who ran an ice, bay and grain business, and the three brothers, Vincent, Nicolo and Ciro Terranova, and their half brothers, Giuseppi and Ignazio Morello, the latter called Lupo the Wolf. The Terranova and Giuseppi Morello also ran an ice and grain business, while Lupo the Wolf imported fake United States bills and sold a few artichokes which he managed to smuggle past “King” Btrapone's watchful vassals. To these countrymen Galluci told his dreams. With the talk of trusts in the air, why, he asked, couldn’t the baking, ice peddling and coal and grain business be organized under onc chief—namely, himself? He suggested also that since many of his countrymen were arriving in America seeking work at good wages in the new “Giélcorida, his ‘trust might also inlade control of their labor. They were strangeé 13 the coun- THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 12, 1930. “M’sieur, I assure you that after joining you will suffer no more.” try; work would be found for them by exper- jenced hands, and in return for that service they could pay the trust a part of their earn- ings. To insure this control Giosue pointed to the terroristic methods of the Mano Neri and the Rapitori, a secret kidnaping organization from whose activities eame the crime slang expres- sion “rap,” which means to pick up, arrest, take away. He pointed from one man to another in the growp which met in his bakeshop, and told them that they, working with their hands, knives, guns and bombs, could enforce any edict the trust might promulgate. He did not pay much attention to a small, round-faced Sicilian boy who ecalled himself Alphonse Capone. The lad was a junior member of a gang known as the James Street Boys. The business of this gand was mostly mischief, thieving from small merchants and gang fighting. ‘The only obstacle in the way of the trust was the formidable “King” Strapone. He ran things. Men who did not obey him were found dead, with their tongues slit and stiletto wounds in their breasts. There was a parade one Spring morning ia 1910, and the obstacle was removed. King Jo, towering among his countrymen, was watching the parade. He was cut down by a pistol bullet and died on the spot. Within a few weeks an answer came. Genaro Galluci, the younger brother, was shot in the back and died. Then Caranovallo was slain, and Giosue Galluci stepped forward as the despot of Little Italy and chief of the big trust. The Terranova brothers took over the arti- choke business, while the Lomonte brothers en- Campaign Cuts Forest Fire Loss. YEARS of ceaseless eampaigning, of battles with Congress for appropriations, of educa- tional work among careless visitors, have at last borne fruit in the national forests of the country, and as a result during the first nine months of 1930 the loss from fires has been 81 per cent below the total of 1929. Of course, there remained three months of the year yet to run when the figures were totaled, but the fire season had been largely passed by that time. These figures are particularly encouraging in the light of the drought conditions and greater fire hazard. As many fires had broken out in the national forests this year up to September 11 as occurred during the whole of last year, but the 7,450 fires reported to September 11 burned over only 181,889 acres, as against 978,107 acres burned over by 7,449 fires in the 12 months of 1929, according to a summary of official regional re- ports by Henry Wold, branch of operation, For- est Service. This heavy reduction of losses compared with last ycar is also a great improve- ment over the average of the last five years. Pire suppression costs have been cut in half so0 far this year, owing largely to the fact that most fires have been held to small acreages. Man-caused fires decreased by 343, a creditable improvement when the number of tourists and campers in the national forests is taken into consideration. Improved organization for fire fighting, together with a growing public serti- ment for fire prevention, are given much credit for this year’s good showing. What might easily have gone down into his- tory as another “bad fire year” has become a period of comparatively slight losses so far as the national forests are concerned. With the normal fire peril “peak” passed in several re- gions, the cost of fire suppression on the na- tional forests has dropped to approximately one- fourth of the daily expense of a month ago. This year fire fighting costs in the national forests so far have amounted to $1,011,120, a decrease of more than 52 per cent from the comparable period last year. The total expense for the calendar year 1929 exceeded $3,000,000. The Forest Service has found it necessexy to maintain a strong fire guard in many of the 149 national forests. Greater speed has been de- veloped in dealing with fires. A striking result is shown in the decrease in the number of fires which exceeded 10 acres in area burned. The average fire last year covered 131 acres. The average has been held this year to 24.4 acres. Property owners, campers and local fire pre- vention groups have aided greatly in keeping national forest fire losses down, says the Forest Service. Additional highways and trails and motor equipment have helped to speed up the “hour control,” or the time necessary to get to a blaze with adequate men and equipment. Air- planes have been employed in some instances for quicker communication and for scouting over mountain ranges in time of high fire hazard. [Commercial flyers in passing over re- mote fire areas have voluntarily reported to the Forest Service the discovery of several fires. Trinkets. By Elizabeth Dillingham Hart. Trivial Beauty’'s souvenirs are many: A darling, silly tune, an ivory fan; The scent of rain-drenc hed hyacinths, the feel Of their wet petals—and the delicate span Of cobwebs, looping grass to grass at dawn; The challenge of a tap ping scarlet heel; And your laugh like the sound a silver penny Flung against crystal makes—oh, I shall pawn And lose things lovelicr, but these will be Locked in' my heart, forever close to me. joyed unbroken monopoly in the ice, coal, hay and grain business in the seetion. Galluei him- self handled the labor end of the combination, and within a few years extended his control to gambling and vice. He was a generous despot with money. He paid his single gangsters $10 a week. The married men got $15. Without comment or_complaint, these men was sup- posed to sidy or maim whomsoever Galluci pointed out. Galluci became known as Don Giosue. ‘Then, one by one, his lieutenants were killed— the Lomonte brothers and Nocolo and Vineen$ Terranova. The Morellos went to Atlanta prison for long terms for counterfeiting. The Don was tried for murder; the jury disagreed and he boasted that that result cost him a neat $25,000, He had too much power and too much wealth. He was a real, untouchable king. But, like all despotic kings, the slightest affront might wreck him. Swaggering along James street, the man On May 17, 1915, the dethroned Don and his son, were sitting in a coffe house when a volley of bullets ended their careers, and the dynasty of Galluci was completely broken. Be- tween 1910 and 1919, 162 murders, most of thend never solved, wrecked the artichoke, ice, coal, hay, grain, gambling and labor rackets of New York’s Little Italy. SOAMY any atiention was paid to the round-face Alphonse Capone, who had be- i il 8 . The flashlight explosion did s0i like @ pistol shot. It was a cold, sharp day. pone rackets as now organized are too well known and too ramified to be described propriate: With the exception of beer and booze running, there is nothing Capone con- trols that does not follow the Galluei pattern, nor are the principles of his trade and labor rackets different from the little trade protective society M. Vidocg operated. If Capone’s control has weakened—and there is some evidence that T is not certain that Capone introduced the word “racket” to crime. He must have heard the word when he was a small boy in James street, New York, for it was here in those earlier years that the expressions “dollar beer rackets” and “dollar chowder rackets” were in common use. A man bought a ticket for a beer or chowder racket for a dollar and drank and ate all he could carry. Much noise and boisterous merriment of racket (see Webster) ensued. A merchant, knowing the mischief that eould be done by the James Street and other gangs, willingly bought tickets to their banquets or balls, Usually he bought them at the exorbi- tant price of $5 each, but seldom went, for invariably & murder or two topped off the eve- ning festivities, which were called “gang rack- ets.” The money collected from the sale of tickets was supposed to be laid away for Spring and Summer picnics for the gangs. As a mat- ter of fact, it went to furnish bail or fall money and lawyers for gangsters in trouble. Much noise or racket, mostly shooting and beer-mug throwing, was made at these gang affairs, and this doubtless is responsible for the use of the word. The newer meaning of the word—"“a means of extorting money under threat of bodily harm or property destruction” —arises out of the fact that when the threat is not heeded and money is not forthcoming there is a lot of noise, the rattle of machine guns and the explosion of pineapples on the doorsteps of persons who refuse to pay the tribute or who offend ihe racketeer, “What's your racket?” is today's equivalent for “what’s your business?” among persons whe speak the free-and-easy language of the under- world. And a lot of people speak it.