Wednesday, May 15, 1968
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
17
Senate amends slow crime bill
WASHINGTON — (UPI) — The Senate amended the slow-moving crime bill Tuesday to permit federal funds to be used to create "youth brigades" in ghetto and require Senate confirmation of a new FBI director.
Approval of the two measures came after Senate leaders from both parties told their colleagues to hurry up and submit their proposed amendments or they would call up the bill for a vote without them.
By a 40-38 vote, the Senate approved federal grants for the formation of youth brigades to bridge the gap between police and ghetto dwellers. Sen. Charles H. Percy, R-Ill., sponsor of the amendment, said youths could serve "as the eye and ears of the police."
By a 72-0 vote, it approved an
amendment by Sen. George Murphy, R-Calif., to require Senate confirmation of the successor of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who was lavishly praised before the vote.
The President appoints the FBI director—Hoover is the first and only one in the agency's 44-year history—without the Senate's approval. The Senate has voted twice in the past to require its confirmation of an FBI director's nomination, but the proposal died each time in the House.
Senators also learned Tuesday that organized crime was using loanshark operations to take over legitimate business.
So far, four amendments have been voted on—all approved—but there were 66 remaining at last count.
A witness said cities and states ignore it rather than fight it.
Henry S. Ruth Jr., deputy director of the President's Commission on Law Enforcement, testified that the Cosa Nostra earned billions annually from loaning money at interest rates ranging from 100 to 1,000 per cent.
Ruth said Cosa Nostra has 6,000 members and said income from illegal loans, some exceeding $100,000 was second only to the take from gambling operations.
Ruth and Ralph F. Salerno of the National Council on Crime told the Senate Small Business Committee that many businessmen who borrowed from loan-sharks often wound up losing their establishments.
"The original owner, unable to
pay his debt, finds himself operating a front for racket operations at a nominal salary." Ruth said.
"Loansharks have taken over businesses ranging from optical stores to nightclubs to brick companies. Sometimes, the new owner loots the business and files a bankruptcy petition.
"Organized crime uses loan-sharking in tandem with gambling and other operations. The debtor-victim becomes a pawn in furthering other criminal activity and broadening the legitimate business base of organized crime's holdings."
Ruth, who teaches law at the University of Pennsylvania, said most cities and states are failing to attack lending rackets or other organized crime activities.
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