National Affairs: Three Schlemiels

Last August, with the hot breaths of Tom Dewey and J. Edgar Hoover both on his neck, Gangster Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, a fugitive for two years, chose as the lesser of two evils to give himself up to the FBI chief. Month ago he slouched into Federal court. Graduate of the Connecticut Reformatory, Sing Sing, ex-loft burglar, racketeer, gorilla chief, suspected of many a murder, Lepke was there to stand trial on the first of ten indictments for smuggling dope.

A raffish crew of old pals marched up to the witness chair, testified, marched down again while Lepke sat in silence with no sign of expression on his lumpish face. Prison-pale were some of the witnesses. Ten of the 23 for the Government were felons, including: paunchy Yasha Katzenberg, described by the League of Nations as an "international menace," organizer of a $10,000,000 dope ring into which, he said Lepke muscled; Benny Schisoff, Coney Island frozen-custard man, implicated in the racket but free on a suspended sentence; John McAdams, Customs sergeant who accepted bribes to let trunkloads of drugs from transatlantic liners pass through Customs gates. Odorous was the tale they told of a narcotics organization which coiled around the U. S., China, Europe, a story of underworld big business, dark deeds. Most of them pointed to Lepke: the big shot.

The defense simply contended that while familiar with the ring, Lepke and his two co-defendants—Max Schmukler and David Kardonick—were not implicated in its crimes. Defense Counsel Abraham Solomon explained: "This is just a trial of one big schlemiel* and two little schlemiels," and launched into a summation which included references to John ("Muggsy") McGraw, bridge, mah jong, and "Hark, hark! the lark."

"Get down to brass tacks," interrupted Juror Owen P. Hollis, retired naval lieutenant. Hollis himself got down to brass tacks last week with the other jurors and retired to ponder the case. Lepke and Schmukler they found guilty—not guilty Little Schlemiel Kardonick, who wept.

It was the end of the career of one of the underworld's biggest and slimiest. The verdict made Lepke subject only to a two-year term, $10,000 fine, but opened wide the door to his conviction on the other counts, which involved 162 more years, $170,000 more in fines.