National Affairs: Leopard Hunt

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Last week with much fanfare Mr. Cahill began presenting to a secret Federal Grand Jury indictment evidence from a 500,000-page "encyclopedia of crime" compiled by the F. B. I. over the past two years. Some illuminating chapters in this opus were supplied by porky, paretic "Scarface Al" Capone, who gets out of the Federal Correctional Institution on Terminal Island (Los Angeles) next November. Mr. Cahill's tactics, under orders from Mr. Murphy, were to go after all relatives, friends and business acquaintances, past & present, of Lepke, the Leopard, to make the U. S. too hot to harbor him. Against the high-geared Federal machinery, Tom Dewey pitted gangland's greed. He offered protection and immunity to anyone who would come forward and collect his $25,000. Stories flew last week that: 1) Lepke was dead, murdered by pals who considered his fame undesirable publicity; 2) Lepke was bargaining between Messrs. Dewey & Cahill, offering to surrender to the one who offered him the most lenient terms; 3) Lepke was right up Tom Dewey's sleeve, to be popped out at a strategic moment.

This week, Mr. Cahill's jury indicted five persons charged with harboring Lepke and Mr. Dewey's men brought in Joe ("Strawberry") Amoruso, head strong-arm man for Lepke.

Meantime the F. B. I., which usually considers it undesirable to dignify Public Enemies by listing them, issued a list of ten most wanted, most dangerous criminals. Tom Dewey's Leopard, whom he had built up as No. 1, appeared only as No. 4. Ahead of him came Irving Charles Chapman, Texas bank robber, Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe* bank robbers, who escaped from Alcatraz two years ago. No. 5 was Paul Cretzer, 29, another bank robber.

Callers on District Attorney Dewey last week were J. Richard ("Dixie") Davis, underworld lawyer whose "squealing" testimony won the Hines case for Dewey, and Hope Dare, the redheaded showgirl, long his mistress, whom he married last fortnight. After posing protrusively for newscameras, Davis, whom Dewey detectives still guard night & day, denied helping Dewey try to find Lepke, complained: "Everybody is looking for Lepke and finding me! I want to go away with Hope to some small town and write fiction."