◆ SpookStack

THE “X" WEN oS" q able to buy-alivance information of sin tuik, they tld themselves, "Tt was raids, ‘Their ‘connections, én some tin- this willingness to ‘become the wictin mn Stamees, reached right into -dfficixl order to stop public clamor that :pee- Washington. “Fhese warnings enabled -ventetl him ‘from eompleting “this deal thein to.ran to cover before ‘the J .for a sentence Of itwo “years, they ar Bot wow itis different." ‘The deaths of -!Preity “Boy ‘Floyd, {Gut sof 2 clear sky, on March fif- ‘Dillinger, Baby Fave ‘Nelsorr; the con- . teenth of this year, the ‘G-men stftek. -viction ‘of the ivarious “mobs of ‘cid- “Atbouwt ‘three thousand ‘ig-shots, napets; ‘the nmning down -of ‘the as- ‘counterfeiters, gangsters, ‘natice tic “sassins ‘df the Kansas. City ‘massacre, i peddlers, punks and hangers-on weve ‘eft the underworld edkl. These orimi- “fanded in the-net, : nals were outside the pale, anyway. ‘To This raid caught them eli flatfooted the «underworld this qwas ‘all stage-play. in the midst of their activities. “There “to endble the Kedersl authorities 40 * was no friendly warning ¢his'time. No ¥orce:a Jarger:appropiiation from Gon- tip-off to get into clear. “There was press: Mier wag “just a sudden, demoralizing ‘how that “Zt was just-a Federal racket,” they thas given the underworld its worst jolt -assiied “themedlyes, Today, ‘these vin years. : - “same' orimindls—tthose of ‘them «who It taught them that their ‘boasted were jucky senough to-escape the drag- 2 protection isa fallacy. Ethasdeft them -net—are-cursing themselves ffor their , desperate, groping for:a way to-combat | Short-sightedness. “Cringing with fear, this new enemy. What are they going ‘hiding in “their -rat-hdles, they are to do? . afraid the ‘beavy ‘hand of ‘the Federal Reverbefr~ 25 it’been possible for Government is zeaching for them. #i.- Feaeral Government’ to muster They now ‘realize that the recent hurtireds of dts ‘agents fer a concerted ‘threats against them -were ‘not idle drive against-the underworld without ‘boasts for the benefit of ‘the public Hut “ *Sore one of their connections petting ~ stern realities... >. : z wie to ii and flashing the'tip-off'toget The ‘newspapers carrying “the -ae- ‘Out of the way. This ‘time, how- ‘counts of the March fifteenth:raid have ever, not an inkling of what was.com- “both aided and hurtin this-wat ‘against ing reached ‘the leaders. the underworld. . Their accounts of the _, What is the underworld going to widespread arrests helped. But their do? -o ‘stories ebout ‘the men working in the underworld hurt. These -stories :te- _ MUG im their fancied security, lated how thé G-men worked their way fortified by ‘their ‘millions of 4{l- into the inner .councils of -gangdom; gotten gains, backed by their ma- ‘how these sarhe Federal men ‘won the chine-gun squads, they thought them- confidence and friendship of ‘the dig- selves greater ‘than ‘the United States ‘shots; ‘how “they shared -gangdom's <tGovernment. They failed to read ‘the “wine, women:and song until they were Signs when their ‘lord and master, Al I set to strike. pa ; { Capone, was ‘sent ‘away for eleven “* What kind of a.man is‘he who has \ years, : the -guts ‘to join ws? To dupe os,'ant { At was merely an unfortunate bredk ‘then turn around and put the finger ‘on: