"Gimme" or How Politicians Get Rich

The author examines the relationship of politics and crime in Manhattan in the very early 1930s, when Prohibition was still the law and Tammany Hall was still the dominant political force. "I wish to state. that I am just an average newspaperman with no political nor personal axe to grind. The observations about to be related are those I have made in the course of my work. There are hundreds of more damning instances that cannot be printed for lack of proper corroboration. There is just as much graft and corruption in other boroughs as in Manhattan and in many other cities as in New York. The vice inquiry in New York has merely scratched the surface, and the disclosures, at most, will result in a few minor convictions. The Courts, aided by improper presentation of charges, have cleared almost all the judges and cops tried to date. Persons accustomed to the working of the machine, will not challenge the following prediction: After the white-washing, our political leaders will emerge slightly smudged angels, but angels (Tammany ones) nevertheless. Our present judicial system is a humorless farce. The only persons who need fear it are the innocent and the uninitiated. My faith in our government, however, is still unimpaired. Our political machine must indeed be an excellent one to withstand such chauffeurs and mechanics."