The Kefauver Committee and Organized Crime

[Music] americans became familiar with the violence of organized crime during the bootlegger and prohibition era but most americans had no idea the true extent of mob crime until well after the second world war in 1950 a freshman u.s senator estes kiever took on organized crime at the head of a special committee the so-called key father hearings were held in major cities across the country and the ones that were televised live became a sensation and the first place that many americans came face to face with the mob it is history that deserves to be remembered organized crime began in large american cities like new york often in marginalized ethnic neighborhoods many of them began as locally focused street gangs that expanded to organizations that acted city-wide and later even nationwide of course it's well known that prohibition provided fertile ground for what became the largest crime syndicates who used bootlegging in illegal bars to make fortunes some powerful gangs formed within sicilian communities and integrated members of the italian mafia fleeing mussolini's italy violence became endemic as the games fought over territory and supplies bringing rise to famous mobsters like al capone in new york the fighting culminated in charles lucky luciano creating the commission to lead govern and protect the interests of sanctioned crime families when prohibition ended the families moved into new industries including criminal enterprises like gambling labor racketeering extortion and drug trafficking they supported gambling as a legal enterprise in nevada and las vegas and used huge sums of money to quietly bribe and evade local police departments and judges which had neither the knowledge nor the resources schematic well-organized cross-state criminal enterprises in 1949 stories about organized crime started to appear prominently in american newspapers crime commissions in cities like chicago reported that there was corruption among local officials the american municipal association which represented some ten thousand cities and towns petitioned the government to do something about organized crime well democrat estes kefauver was only in his first term as a senator representing tennessee he had been in the house of representatives since 1939 and had conspicuously supported president franklin roosevelt's new deal key fobber had run against the democratic machine in tennessee run by e.h crump he answered the growing call for action by drafting a resolution to allow the senate judiciary committee to investigate organized crimes activities in relation to interstate commerce this caused a problem because the senate committee on interstate and foreign commerce claimed jurisdiction eventually a compromise resolution was introduced that would create a special committee of five senators that drew from both committees still some senators opposed the committee as it was against the spirit of the legislative reorganization act of 1946 which had nearly eliminated special committees altogether opposition was so strong that the vote was tied and vice president alvin barkley cast the tie-breaking vote to establish the committee the special committee to investigate organized crime in interstate commerce was tasked with investigating whether organized crime utilizes the facilities of interstate commerce or otherwise operates in interstate commerce and if so who or what kind of organization was responsible kiefer was made the committee chairman which led to the committee being popularly called the key father committee berkeley also chose the remaining members herbert o'connor maryland lester hunt of wyoming alexander wiley wisconsin and charles toby of new hampshire key fobber directed the committee to focus its efforts on what he called the lifeblood of organized crime interstate gambling keefer promised to lead a no stone unturned no holds barred right down the middle of the road let the chips fall where they may investigation no matter the political fallout the first hearing was held in miami on may 28 1950 almost immediately they found gambling everywhere openly and notoriously and apparently with the full knowledge of the entire community in the committee's report they reported that law enforcement incredibly claimed they didn't know anything about gambling activity known gangsters from states as far away as new york pennsylvania and michigan had headquarters at hotels in miami kiefer concluded that the sheriff of dade county had done nothing to enforce the florida laws and several members of his staff testified to corruption within the office the sheriff of broward kennedy got most of his income from a business which ran gambling activities many gangsters and witnesses refused to appear at all which the report said is strongly indicative of an admission of guilt perhaps most shockingly the investigation traced connections between gambling businesses and contributions made to florida governor fuller warren affirming his commitment to a no holds barred investigation key favor reported the information even though warren was in his party warren said key fobber was an ambition-crazed caesar who was trying desperately and futilely to become president the governor refused to appear before the committee citing states rights but his political career was over the hearings went on for 15 months when the committee was set to expire in february 1951 public outcry led to it being extended until september hearings were held in 14 cities from new york to chicago to los angeles and everywhere the committee went they found evidence of mob activity uncooperative witnesses and official corruption key favor described kansas city as a place that was struggling out from under the rule of law in the jungle the investigation in missouri uncovered mob support for governor forrest smith mobster charlie benazio had helped to elect the governor hoping to open up the state one of the most important resources for many gangs was control of race wires originally envisioned by john payne a former telegraph operator for western union they were telegraphed services that specifically sent coded reports of horse racing and other kinds of betting these wires were controlled completely by the mob the committee learned that in miami the wires were controlled by the capone gang while benjamin bugsy siegel controlled them in las vegas siegel was murdered while the case remains unsolved it may have been something to do with his control of the race wires these wire services charged establishments in bookies to receive the results or cut off access to the results the chicago investigation implicated many public officials in mob schemes and corrupt practices which helped to sink chicago representative and house majority leader scott lucas's campaign resulting in defeat in november at the time fellow senators were dismissive of the committee one senator metaphorically rolled his eyes when keyfavor's absence was noted he isn't here he's out chasing them crap shooters a washington post columnist said it's like investigating sin in the common cold perennial evils which through the centuries have proven fairly invulnerable to law but key favor had faith in one of the things that will become one of the committee's greatest strengths television he wrote television gives the public a third dimension that helps to interpret what is actually going on and his faith was well placed when the committee started airing live in january of 1951 no complaint by the witnesses about their privacy could stop the hearings from becoming a juggernaut of public attention when missouri betting commissioner james carroll refused to testify saying i do not expect to be made an object of ridicule keffer answered that he would not permit the arrangements of this hearing to be dictated by a witness television was still a fairly new technology and fewer than half of american homes had a television many of those who didn't have one watched the hearings in bars restaurants and businesses and they even played in some movie theaters in march 20 to 30 million people watched the new york hearings in 1950 there wasn't enough programming to fill the schedules of even a handful of channels prime time had good coverage but there was often nothing at all on during the day the key fobber hearings provided some riveting content time magazine helped sponsor the hearings in new york and washington dc promoting magazine subscriptions the hearings were a hit as life magazine noted looking at millions of frosty screens people sat as if charmed never before had the attention of the nation been riveted so completely on a single matter the us adjusted itself to key fobber's schedule dishes stood in sinks babies went unfed business sagged and department stores emptied when the hearings were on said time magazine in the middle of it all was senator kefauver warning of a sinister criminal organization at work in america cities possibly the biggest draw of the televised hearings was the cast of characters committee interrogated criminals as suave and well-mannered as their investigators the mobsters looked like they had stepped right out of a crime movie well dressed and belligerent while corrupt officials were rattled by the questioning an l.a against your mickey cohen when after he had surrounded himself with acts of violence responded i have not murdered anybody all the shooting has been done at me in new orleans when sheriff admitted on television that he is safe in his bedroom with 10 or 15 thousand dollars look here all this is going to go over the radio in this television you're just inviting burglars the sheriff worried there's quite a few burglars around here the committee council agreed others seemed to develop amnesia or plead the fifth their constitutional right not to incriminate themselves in their own testimony when they arrived in las vegas many of the high-profile casino owners had simply skipped town in st louis bars are said to have done better business than they did during the world series in los angeles and san francisco the hearings uncovered illegal payouts and mob activity into some of the largest audiences then recorded for daytime television the committee questioned a number of important mob figures like tony acardo joe adonis gangsters with nicknames like the waiter little new york and greasy thumb guzik by far the greatest drum of the hearing came during the eight days the committee spent in new york city in march 1951. frank costello said to be a key mob figure in gambling syndicates drew enormous attention his carefully coifed hair and tailored suits would help to define the image of the italian-american mobster costello refused at first to testify because microphones were prevented from confirming privately with his lawyer but a compromise was made that the live broadcast would focus only on costello's hands which twisted and clinched revealing inner fears and confusion costello quickly bowed to the pressure of the questions refusing to answer and becoming belligerent and even mumbling incoherently in one appearance he abruptly announced he was sick and walked out of the courtroom he was cited for contempt and he served prison time for it though the committee hadn't proven many of the allegations against him they want to ring the endorsement from the public who saw costello as a kind of living embodiment of the mob another highlight was the testimony of virginia hill hauser once a girlfriend of bugsy siegel she came to the testimony dressed in a mink cape suede gloves and a huge hat she arrived laid and described in a whiny voice how she had met some fellas at the chicago world's fair in 1933 where she had been slinging hash she said she was given gifts by some of the fellows but that she knew nothing about any illegal activity she backtalked the committee and added considerable color to the show explaining she had had a fight with siegel because she hid a girl at the hotel and he told me i wasn't a lady when she left she belted one reporter and kicked another reporting words to the press were i hope the atom bomb falls on every one of you not long after she fled the country to avoid a tax evasion charge from the irs the hearings continued throughout the summer but kefava resigned his position possibly out of exhaustion but maybe because he sensed he was testing the patients of the truman white house the committee produced an 11 000 page report drew back the curtain on organized crime for the first time for many americans the term capo del capi the boss of bosses or godfather was first introduced to the public memory at these hearings they revealed extensive evidence of organized crime's influence on business and politics although they also found that most of the organization was focused locally or regionally and less nationally although the report recommended a number of avenues for legislation almost all the legislative recommendations of the final report went unanswered and the fbi led by j edgar hoover remained more focused on communism than on organized crime for some time until in 1957 when the bust of dozens of mafia bosses at the appalachian summit forced hoover to deal with the threat seriously however it did inspire further investigations the defeat of several gambling referendums across the country and more than 70 crime commissions were established to deal with a problem at the state and local level the hearings made estes key favor a national celebrity appeared on television shows in december he was voted one of the 10 most admired men putting him right up there with albert einstein pope pius xii and douglas macarthur he leveraged that fame into two presidential runs in 1952 and 1956 and in 1960 was adly stevenson's running mate against the republicans dwight eisenhower and richard nixon one of the more negative effects of the committee hearings was it gave americans the impression that mob activity in america was the result primarily of the italian-american mafia which is still kind of part of the public perception of a mobster but in reality many ethnic groups and other groups were involved in organized crime the committee's connection to television is also important it reinforced the value of television news and the power of a visual medium like television over media like print and radio it inspired crime exposes and a wave of fiction from hollywood and esther's kiefer even appeared bookending a mob film worn against the dangers of organized crime more than perhaps any other event the key fobber committee brought organized crime into the american consciousness mob history like this and many other stories and artifacts are stored in las vegas in the historic former u.s post office and courthouse now the mob museum the very building where the key fiber committee held its hearings in the city the courtroom has been restored you can see where the committee questioned mob associates such as mo sedway wilbur clark and nevada lieutenant governor cliff jones every year the mob museum celebrates november 15th as key fobber day you can learn more at the mob museum org i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets have forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section i will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on facebook instagram twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes on forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe you

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 77,654

Rating: 4.9825048 out of 5

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, estes kefauver, mafia, frank costello, us history, mob

Id: -RtrOQ_fS4A

Length: 14min 35sec (875 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 02 2020