CRIME: Lesson

• Share

In the witness chair in Manhattan's Federal Court sat bland, wily Willie Bioff (pronounced Buy-off), blackmailer, pander, labor leader, and now star Government witness against eight ex-pals, who are charged with shaking down $1 million from the movie industry (TIME, Oct. 18). From wily Willie's reminiscences U.S. citizens learned much.

Question: Was it true that Bioff once had a five-year plan for taking over 20% of Hollywood's profits—and eventually a 50% interest in the studios themselves?

Bioff (wistfully): "If we'd lasted that long, we would have."

Question: Did you ever say you were boss of Hollywood and could make producers do whatever you wanted?

Bioff: "Yes—and I could make them dance to my music."

Question: Was it really necessary to have two union operators in every movie projection booth?

Bioff: "To be honest with you, I never was inside a booth. I wouldn't know."

Question: How would Blackmailer Bioff describe his "business" methods?

Bioff: "I was utterly ruthless."

Question: What about Blackmailer Bioff's own 1941 trial for extortion?

Bioff: "I remember lying to Judge Knox and the jury, and it was a lie in its entirety. . . . I lied and lied and lied. . . ."

Question: What did Labor Statesman Willie Bioff, representative of the stage workers' union, think of the Wagner Labor Act?

Bioff: "We didn't care about that. All we were interested in was the dough."

Thus, after two thoughtful years in jail, wily Willie last week recalled with regret the old easy-come blackmail days. The defense attorney for Willie's eight ex-pals attempted to show that Hollywood's czars were as unprincipled about paying out the big money as Willie and the "boys from Chicago" were about taking it. Did Willie know that bribery, as well as extortion, was a criminal offense? Did he know that in New York a person who pays money to a shakedown expert might be liable under the bribery laws? Shakedown Expert Bioff considered the idea for a moment.

Bioff: "I didn't know about that. I wish I had. I could have used that."

Attorney: "For what purpose?"

Bioff: "Why, to get more money."