Introduction
Anthony “Babe” Paradise
Anthony “Babe” Paradise was born Anthony Paradiso in Pennsylvania on June 15 of 1893 or 1894 to John and Mary Paradiso. The family, which included brothers James V. Paradise and Paul Paradise, had moved to Camden by the summer of 1900. The family then lived at 916 South 3rd Street. By 1906 the Paradiso family had moved to 326 Spruce Street in Camden. By 1910 they had moved next door, to 324 Spruce Street. “Babe” Paradise married Margaret “Maggie” Fiedler shortly after the 1910 Census was enumerated. A daughter, Mary, was born on August 19, 1913, and another daughter, Rose, came in 1916.
When “Babe” Paradise registered for the draft on June 5, 1917 he and his wife and children were living with his parents at 324 Spruce Street, not far from where he worked, as a bartender, for Vito LaMaina, at 824 South 3rd Street, at South 3rd and Division Streets. Also at home was his younger brother, Paul. John Paradise was working as a laborer for the City of Camden. His sons listed their occupations as construction laborers when the census was enumerated.
Anthony Paradise’s brother James V. Paradise was politically active and was appointed to the Camden police department in 1918. In March of 1918, with members of the Camden Fire Department leaving to take higher paying jobs in Camden’s shipyards, Anthony Paradise was appointed to the Camden Fire Department. He left in May of 1918, firefighting was not going to be his career. He may have already started using drugs, if he had not he was not long afterwards.
Nicknamed “Babe,” Anthony Paradise soon had another occupation, and that was dealing narcotics. He was arrested in 1922 for selling narcotics, and was sentenced to a year in prison.
By December of 1926 Anthony Paradise had separated from his wife and children. He was arrested for non-support in December of 1926. He was then living at 607 South 4th Street. A divorce had been granted by 1931.
Anthony Paradise was again arrested in January of 1928. Both times he was identified as heading major drug rings in Camden and South Jersey. In 1928 he was sentenced to four years imprisonment at Trenton State Prison in Trenton NJ, but was released in 1931. Paradise was arrested on number charges in Camden in 1932. In October of 1934 he was arrested on burglary charges and was convicted on multiple counts of receiving stolen goods the following year. He received a 10 to 14 years sentence.
Anthony Paradise applied for parole in August of 1940. By April of 1942 he had been released. He appears to still have been living at 607 South 4th Street, when the 1947 Camden City Directory was published, and was still at that address as late as 1949. He passed sometime after the death of his brother James in 1957.
Taking a route entirely different from his brother, James V. Paradise spent most of his working years as a member of the Camden Police Department, serving from 1918 to 1943.
World War I Draft Card
WWI Draft Registration Card
Shipyards Call Policeman and Three Firemen
Camden Post-Telegram —
The call of the shipyards has again appealed to South Camden public servants, a policeman and three firemen forsaking their positions in the city departments to take up their new duties as shipbuilders.
Appointed last April, Policeman Clarence Wescott, of the Fourth ward, has tendered his resignation to Mayor Ellis. Wescott is going to work at the New York Shipyard.
Frank De Haven, a fireman connected with Engine Company No. 8, has resigned to work at the same yard.
Julius Hubert, appointed seven weeks ago to No. 3 Engine Company, resigned this morning and his place at that house has been filled by the appointment of Anthony Paradise, of 658 South Second street. Hubert also goes to the New York Ship Corporation.
George Pursglove, of No. 7 Engine Company, also resigned this morning. His place has been filled temporarily by the transfer of Harry Chambers, from No. 2 Truck Company. Pursglove will also tackle shipbuilding.
Shipyard Wages Lure to Firemen
Camden Post-Telegram —
Chief Presents Six Resignations at Meeting of Council Commission.
MERTZ IS CAPTAIN IN WHITSELL’S PLACE
Camden’s Fire Department has been hard hit by the call of the shipyards and death. The report of Fire Chief Peter B. Carter presented last night at the meeting of the Fire Committee of City Council showed six resignations, two deaths and one vacancy from the draft.
The resignations follows [sic]: Louis Neuman, No. 3 Truck Company; George H. Pursglove, No. 7 Engine Company; Roy De Haven, Julius Hubert and Harry W. Stone, No. 3 Truck Company, and Lieutenant Joseph Sparks, No. 7 Engine Company.
Deaths reported were Captain Samuel Whitzell, of No. 1 Engine Company, and William Elberson, of Headquarters. William Schucher, of No. 4, was drafted into the Army.
To take the place of Captain Whitzell, Lieutenant Walter Mertz, of the same company, was appointed captain, and Horace Kerns was made lieutenant. The following appointments were made by the Fire Committee: Robert L. Knox, 822 Division street, to fill place of Julius Hunbert [sic]; Allen Palmer, 120 North Eleventh street, for vacancy of Louis Neuman; Clarence Pursglove, 751 Mt. Vernon street, taking place of his brother George; Anthony Paradise, 658 South Second street, filling place of Roy De Haven; Harry B. Maxwell, 422 North Sixth street, for vacancy of Harry W. Stone; Robert Welsh, 512 Borton street, vacancy of William Schucher, and William Vile, 570 Carman street, to fill place of Captain Whitzell.
The American La France Company was awarder [sic] the contract to furnish a new two-in-one motor apparatus for $10,000.
A petition from members of the Firemen’s Pension Fund asked that the rule of ten years’ apprenticeship be abolished in view of the wages paid men employed in other industries. The petition requests that all men in the department be placed on full salary at once. The petition will be presented to City Council.
Six Camden Firemen Quit for Better Jobs
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Higher Wages Lure Members of the Force to the Local Shipyard
High wages paid at shipyards is proving a big lure to the members of the Camden Fire Department, resignations of six laddies being presented to the Fire Committee of City Council yesterday by Chief Carter. The men quitting to become shipbuilders are Louis Neuman, George H. Pursglove, Roy De Haven, Julius Hubert, Harry W. Stone and Joseph Sparks. Their places were filled by the appointment of Robert Knox, Allen Palmer, Clarence Pursglove, Anthony Paradise, Harry B. Maxwell and Robert Welsh. Lieutenant Walter Mertz was made a captain to succeed Samuel Whitzell, deceased, and Horace Kerns was made a lieutenant. A contract was awarded to the American-La France Engine Company for a new motor engine. The price is $10,000.
Fireman Paradise Resigns
Camden Post-Telegram —
Anthony Paradise, after about three months’ service in the Fire Department, at No. 3 Engine house, has presented his resignation to the Fire Committee to take effect May 15.
Firemen Appointed
Camden Post-Telegram —
Walter W. Selby, of the Third ward, who has been employed in the electrical department at the Carney’s Point Powder Works, has been appointed to the position made vacant in No. 3 Engine Company by the resignation of Anthony Paradise. He will go on duty to-morrow.
John Shaw, 286 Mt. Vernon street, a former member of No. 1 Engine Company, who resigned to go into the blacksmithing and horse-shoeing business at Front and Kaighn avenue, will again become a fireman, having been appointed to the vacancy in No. 7 Company caused by the resignation of Harry Day.
Three Other Policemen Are Accused By Bleakly In Probe Of Grafting
Camden Daily Courier —
THREE OTHER POLICEMEN ARE ACCUSED BY BLEAKLY IN PROBE OF GRAFTING
Draper, Latorre and Hall, of First District Named by Council Solicitor to Council Committee—Murry is Alleged to Have Taken More Than $6000 From Woman of Underworld at Rate of $15 a Week—First Payment Made When Girl Was Fourteen Years Old, is Allegation—Hearing on January 11.
Charges that City Detective George Murry accepted money from prostitutes and dope vendors for protection were laid before the police committee of Council today by City Solicitor Bleakly.
Serious charges against three other members of the police department in connection with the investigation of vice conditions in the Third and Fifth Wards also were preferred by Mr. Bleakly, in the accusations presented to the councilmanic committee.
Hearings on the charges, which were declared by the city solicitor to be the most degrading and serious ever preferred against Camden policemen, will be conducted by the members of the police committee on the evening of January 11 at City Hall.
Investigation into accusations brought by Federal agents that Murry and other members of the police department were guilty of using their positions to protect denizens of the underworld was made by Mr. Bleakly with the assistance of Prosecutor Wolverton and Chief of Police Gravenor.
Murry is attached to headquarters. The other men included in the charges are Policemen William Draper, Latorre and Ira Hall, all assigned to the First Police District, Fifth street near Arch.
The evidence gathered by the Solicitor accuses Murry of having accepted a total of more than $6,000 from one woman declared to have become a prostitute. He is charged with having taken money from her at the rate of $15 a week over an eight-year period. [Remainder of this paragraph illegible — the scan is smudged at this point on crop -03.]
Murry Called “Protector”
“From the statements which obtained it would seem that he has been exerting himself as a protector instead of a detector of criminals. If the facts are true, Detective Murry, instead of protecting the good names of the city, as he was paid, has been accepting pay from denizens of the underworld to help them in their evil practices.
The first charge in detail is that the detective is he wrongly accepted $42.50 from Richard Marchmon, 620 South Second street, for protection of the disorderly house it was alleged to have been conducted. In the charges of neglect of duty conduct unbecoming an officer, he is accused of failing to arrest Marchmon and then tipping him a warrant was issued for him. This tip is alleged to have given the man to flee from Camden before the warrant could be served.
The most sweeping and all the charges are those of Murry’s association and dealings with a woman known as Minnie Draper, declared to have been known to the detective as the owner or keeper of disorderly houses. Murry stands charged with having accepted money from her since she was 14 years old; she is 22 years of age. The charges are all sworn to and filed in the form of affidavits by Chief of Police Gravenor.
In a preamble to the report of investigation the city solicitor said the investigation was hampered by the fact vital witnesses were kept away from Camden. He explains that all of the charges and rumors in connection with policemen have not been followed out, the evidence produced being considered sufficient for the hearing. Assistant City Solicitor Edward Wolverton will present the city’s case when charges come up for a hearing. It is rumored the accused policemen will not appear to fight the charges, but will resign from the force.
The specifications against Murry are as follows:
COMPLAINT
In the matter of complaint against Police Officer (Detective) George Murry:
To the Police Committee of the City Council of Camden, New Jersey:
The undersigned does hereby make the following complaint based on the charges hereinafter set forth against Police Officer (Detective) George Murry:
(a) Said officer has been guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and member of the Police Department of the City of Camden.
(b) Said officer has violated the rules of said Police Department.
(c) Said officer has neglected his duties from time to time as a member of said department. The facts and particular charges upon which the above complaint is founded are as follows:
That the said George Murry in the month of May, 1918, in, on or about the premises 620 South Second St., Camden, New Jersey, wrongfully took and received from one Richard Marchmon the sum of $42.50, or some other sum of money, which sum was paid to and received by the said Murry as a bribe or reward for him the said Murry to refrain from performing his duty as a police officer of the City of Camden by the said Marchmon, who was then and there conducting in, on or about said premises a disorderly house and speakeasy to the knowledge of the said Murry.
That the said Murry on or about the last date mentioned then and there knowing that the said Richard Marchmon was conducting a disorderly house and speakeasy failed to arrest or cause to be arrested said Marchmon. That later on a warrant was issued for the said Richard Marchmon. That the said Officer Murry knowing that said warrant had been issued or was about to be issued notified the said Richard Marchmon thereof, and thereupon the said Richard Marchmon left the jurisdiction of this city in order to escape being arrested.
At divers times within the past three years the said George Murry demanded, received and took from Minnie Draper, who was then known to the said George Murry as a common prostitute, operating and frequenting houses of prostitution in the Third and Fifth Wards of the City of Camden, certain bribes, rewards or payments not to prosecute or refrain from prosecuting; in other words, to protect from arrest and prosecution the said Minnie Draper, and also to give the said Minnie Draper information procured by the said Murry by reason of his connection with the Police Department as to any intended or proposed prosecution brought or to be brought against her by reason of her criminal conduct and activities as a prostitute and disorderly character.
That the said Murry collected and received moneys as aforesaid wrongfully from the said Minnie Draper from the time she was fourteen years old up until on or about the 3rd day of December, 1921. That during the week prior to December 7, 1921, the said Murry unlawfully took and received for the purposes aforesaid from the said Minnie Draper, the sum of $15.00, said money being paid for the supposed protection of the said Minnie Draper during that week as a prostitute in the City of Camden, which money was paid in the parlor of the said Murry at his home 649 Scott street, Camden, New Jersey, the said Minnie Draper having previous to that time been carrying on and conducting a disorderly house at Pine street, Camden, New Jersey, with the knowledge, approval and supposed consent of the said Murry.
That the sum of $15.00 a week, or some other sum of money was paid for protection as aforesaid to the said Murry by the said Minnie Draper each and every week from the time the said Minnie Draper was fourteen years old until on or about the 3rd day of December, 1921, the said Minnie Draper now being about twenty-two years old, which said weekly sums were generally paid on Saturday night by the said Minnie Draper or by Richard Marchmon, or by some other person for or on her behalf, all of which said sums were paid to said Murry for police protection which he promised to her should be given and which was given as far as he was able to give the same during the times aforesaid.
That on or about the 8th of January 1921, the said George Murry wrongfully and illegally warned the said Minnie Draper while she was temporarily living at Palmyra, New Jersey that there was a warrant out for her in the hands of Police Officer Fisher; and the said Minnie Draper, acting upon information given her by the said Officer Murry stayed away from the jurisdiction of the City of Camden, since the said George Murry knowing that the said Minnie Draper had a short time previously left the City of Camden. The said Minnie Draper had previously been concerned in a robbery on or about the 2nd day of January, 1921, from the person of a man named Ernest Brown of the sum of $250.00, and because of her participation in this affair had left the City of Camden.
That the said Murry has been dealing with dealers in cocaine, heroin or other drugs commonly known as dope, contrary to law, and particularly on or about the first week of December, 1921, and has been affording alleged police protection to buyers and sellers of such dope, receiving information received by him by reason of his connection with the Police Department to dope peddlers and buyers contrary to law.
That in this connection one Joe Pollack, early in December or the latter part of November, 1921, had been engaged in the business of dope or selling coke at 210 Pine street, Camden, New Jersey; that the next morning after raids the said Murry sent for Joe Pollack’s girl, Maude Jordan, and told her to get the stuff, meaning the dope or coke, out of Pollack’s house. That the direction to the said Jordan girl to take said dope away from the Pollack house was given by the said Murry to her in the parlor of his own home in the Third Ward, Camden, New Jersey.
8.—The said Murry in the months of October, November and December, 1921, in the parlor of his own home was paid hush money or bribe money, or police protection money by the said Minnie Draper and other prostitutes or street-walkers, said sums being paid in the parlor of his own home, generally on or about midnight of each Saturday night.
9.—Among other street walkers or prostitutes who paid tribute, hush money, or police protection money unlawfully to the said Murry was Deana Howard. In the summer of 1921, when the said Deana Howard was threatened with arrest for having taken $52.00 from the person of some male person at 706 Sycamore street, Camden, New Jersey, the said Murry knowing of this fact, and that the said Deana Howard was liable to arrest, instead of arresting her told her that he would fix it up for her for $25.00; that thereupon out of said $52.00 so illegally taken by the said Deana Howard the said Murry was paid and received the sum of $25.00 for the purpose of keeping the said Deana Howard from being locked up on a charge of larceny from the person. That accordingly the said Deana Howard was not locked up on said charge and was not prosecuted therefore.
10.—That on the 29th of August, 1921, there was a man robbed of the sum of $250 in an alley near a pool room at Ann and Baxter streets, Camden, N. J. Said man was robbed by Ethel Murray and Deana Howard, two colored prostitutes; that the said Murry learned of the robbery, but instead of prosecuting those prostitutes or causing their arrest, he refrained from so doing and received a bribe or protection money therefore. That knowing of said robbery and having started to investigate the same supposedly on the direction of the Police Department, the said Murry got some of the parties at his house about the last of August or the first of September, 1921, and while there the said Murry telephoned to the City Hall and asked if the Police Department had any clue as to who robbed this man of the $250, and the answer came back that they thought it was one of the Murray girls, whereupon he replied, “No, it isn’t either of the Murray girls, I have got a better clue than that,” when the fact was it was one of the Murray girls and the said Deana Howard who took this money, both of whom were then in the parlor of the said Murry at his home in the Third ward, together with the father of the said Ethel Murray who has since died. That thereupon the said Officer Murry hung up the ’phone, told these girls what he had done, and took $25 from them for the supposed purpose of hushing up this robbery. They handed him the money, he put it in his pocket, and they were not prosecuted.
11.—That in the summer of 1921, the said Murry in the further prosecution and part of and participation in the selling of dope or coke, associated himself with one Baby Paradise, and one Pye, alias Collantino, who is now a fugitive from justice, and that on or about this time at the bench at Little Locust and Line street, the said Murry and the said Paradise met with the said Pye, whereupon the said Paradise sold to the said Deana Howard, a common prostitute, a certain amount of this dope. Officer Murry was sitting on said bench alongside of the said Pye and saw the illegal sale of the said dope, but failed to protest, but in fact not only winked at it, but aided and abetted in said sale and failed to prosecute any of the parties concerned therein. On three different occasions within the past year the said Baby Paradise has sold to the said Deana Howard dope in the presence of and with the connivance and assent of the said Murry, said sale being in exchange for money given in the presence of the said Murry.
12.—That within the past six months at sundry times protection or hush money was paid by a prostitute or disorderly housekeeper, Blanche Martin, to the said Murry. The last money so paid was on or about the 1st of November, 1921, at the time of the soldiers’ pay, the sum then paid being $2, the sum being paid on the street near Locust and Line.
The said Murry at that time had seen the said Blanche Martin working or hustling on the street as a street-walker and asked her for this money, and had seen her getting or accosting men for immoral purposes, knowing at the time she was running a disorderly house at 214 Pine street, Camden, N. J. That the said Murry failed to prosecute the said Blanche Martin or to make any complaint against her of carrying on or conducting said house. That previous to that time the said Murry had been paid by the said Blanche Martin the sum of $20 on one occasion out of a sum of $140 stolen from some male, which said payment was made either in the late summer or the early fall of the year 1921. That the sailor who was robbed made a complaint, but the said Blanche Martin was not prosecuted.
13.—That on or about the 11th day of September, 1920, about 12 o’clock midnight, in, on, near, or about the premises 327 Line street, while one Antonio Pelle and others were playing poker at said house, a colored police officer came in and placed the said Antonio Pelle and three other associates under arrest and grabbed the pot of money, $50, and marched the said Pelle and his associates out through the back door to Third and Line streets, whereupon one of the policemen said, “Wait a minute, I am going to call George,” meaning the said Officer George Murry; thereupon Officer Murry appeared and said, “Is this the four men?” and the officer said, “Yes.” Officer Murry then turned to the said Pelle and said, “Where do you live?” Upon being told of Pelle’s address and the address of the parties who had been arrested, the said Murry told the colored officer and the others who had made the arrest not to lock up the said Pelle and his associates, but to let them go. That the $50 was taken and not returned to the said Pelle or his associates or neither was it turned into the Police Department of the City of Camden, and the said Murry did not prosecute the said Pelle or any of his associates or make any attempt so to do. That the son of the said George Murry was one of the parties with the officer who made the raid.
14.—That on or about Saturday, July 18, 1920, City Detective Murry instructed Police Officer Toney Latorre and Nazzareno De Vechies, at Locust and Line streets, Camden, N. J., “Toney, you tell them if they don’t give up the Liberty Bond we will lock them up.” Said Liberty Bond being won in a crap game, the night before from Paolo Genovese. That said Liberty Bond was on the same day given to the said Officer Latorre together with $15 hush money for alleged expenses and was not turned over to the said Paolo Genovese, except $10, the said bond being of a $50 denomination, nor was any prosecution afterward instituted either by the said City Detective Murry, or said Police Officer Latorre.
E. A. GRAVENOR.
STATE OF NEW JERSEY, COUNTY OF CAMDEN, ss.
E. A. Gravenor being duly sworn according to law on his oath deposes and says that the facts, matters and things above set forth are true to the best of his knowledge, information and belief.
Sworn and subscribed before me this 3d day of January, 1922.
JAMES TATEM
Justice of the Peace.
Camden, N. J., Jan. 3, 1922.
To Police Officer George Murry:
Please take notice that the above complaint and charges have been made against you and filed and that a hearing thereon will be given before the Police Committee of the City of Camden, N. J., at the City Hall, Camden, N. J., on Wednesday, January 11th, 1922, at 8 o’clock in the evening of said day, at which time you will please attend and you will then and there be given an opportunity to make any defense you may have to said charges.
E. A. GRAVENOR,
Chief of Police.
Took $50, Is Charge
Draper is accused of frequenting a disorderly house said to have been conducted by Blanche Martin on Pine street near Second, and of failing to report the place as to its character. He also is charged with having raided a poker game in a house near Fourth and Line streets and of having released four men he had arrested. The release is said to have resulted from a conversation with Detective Murry on the street. The charges also declare that Draper confiscated fifty dollars in the poker game and did not return it to the gamesters or his superiors.
In the fourth specification presented by the City Solicitor, Draper is said to have been in an alleged disorderly house at 666 South Second street when detectives and policemen raided the place on the morning of December 29. The accused policeman is declared to have jumped from a window of the room on the second floor, occupied by one of the women sought by the raiders.
Says He Concealed Woman
Charges of neglect and conduct unbecoming an officer are based against Hall in connection with the robbery of $250 from a soldier in a house at 229 Pine street. The specifications read:
“That on or about January 2, 1921, at the premises at 229 Pine street, kept as a disorderly house by Jessie Smith, a soldier named Ernest Brown, was robbed of $250 with the connivance, aid and assistance of Ira Hall, in the presence of Minnie Draper, and that the said Minnie Draper was warned by Hall, then a police officer of the City of Camden, to get out of the house, ‘the cops are coming.’
“That when Officer Fisher went after Minnie Draper, on the charge of robbery, the woman told the officer to go and get a warrant, and, while he was in the process of getting a warrant, Police Officer Hall with one ‘Baby’ Paradise, now under charge of selling dope illegally, came and took Minnie Draper from Camden to Palmyra and concealed her there, well knowing that a warrant was out for her arrest.”
Latorre Specifications.
Specifications contained in the charges against Latorre allege:
That when the policemen heard of a dice game in which one of the players had won a fifty dollar Liberty Bond, he went to the man’s house and after telling him there was a warrant out for his arrest, obtained the bond and also fifteen dollars for court fees. He promised to return the bond but did not do so.
He then went to the home of another of the players and obtained twenty dollars from him, fifteen of which was to go to the loser of the bond. Latorre then saw the loser of the bond and told him he did not want to arrest the players and said the bond had been cashed and divided among the other men, the loser receiving ten dollars as his share.
That sometime in February Latorre permitted a truck alleged to contain liquor to be taken into the garage of Harry Knox against the orders of the watchman, and that later the policeman went to the home of Knox and tried to give him money to “drop any complaint.”
That Latorre also was a frequenter of the alleged disorderly houses conducted by the Draper and Martin women mentioned in the charges against the other officers.
Ira Hall Is Dismissed, Evidence Against Four Men Given Prosecutor
Camden Courier —
Criminal Prosecution of Murry, Latorre, Draper and Hall Looms as Result of Sensational Hearing by Police Committee— ‘Dope’ Sellers Linked With Detective and Policemen in Lurid Testimony at Crowded Session— Predict Speedy Action
Policeman as Own Attorney Given Grilling
Criminal prosecution of Detective George Murry and Policemen Tony Latorre, William Draper and Ira Hall for their alleged “protection” of vice in the downtown underworld loomed today. At a sensational hearing before the police committee of City Council last night it was unanimously decided to turn the mass of evidence against the four men, gathered by City Solicitor Bleakly, over to Prosecutor Wolverton’s office.
At the hearing, Policeman Hall was summarily dismissed from the department, classed as a “moral degenerate” and roundly flayed when, after he acted as his own attorney, he was cross-questioned by every member of the police committee.
Hall was the only one of the quartette of accused officers who made any attempt to defend himself. Murry, Latorre and Draper resigned several days ago. At the police committee session last night it was the sense of the members that their resignations was a tacit admission of guilt and that their mere removal from the police department is not sufficient punishment for their underworld activities.
The grand jury convened on Tuesday of this week. The next step will be the presentation of evidence gathered by Mr. Bleakly against the four men to the prosecutor’s office who, in turn, will turn it over to the grand jury. Quick action may be expected, it was predicted today in official circles.
Policeman Hall’s friendship for Anthony Paradise, charged with peddling “dope,” was brought out at last night’s hearing.
Underworld Life Exposed as Hall Is Given Grilling
Camden Courier —
Denounced and flayed as a “moral degenerate,” Policeman Ira Hall was summarily dismissed by the police committee of City Council last night following the most sensational hearing in the history of that body.
Resignations of Detective George Murry and Policemen Tony Latorre and William Draper, also were accepted before the hearing adjourned. Councilman J. Hartley Bowen, who presided, declared that “on their face the resignations appeared as an admission from the men of their guilt.” None of the three who tendered their resignations were present at the hearing.
The four men have been charged by City Solicitor Bleakly with responsibility for “shocking” vice conditions found in recent investigations made by federal agents and city officials in the Third and Fifth wards.
Committee’s Resolution
Just before the close of the hearing, shortly after 10 o’clock, Councilman Enos Dellmuth, of the Ninth ward, introduced a resolution urging a continuation of the vice probe by city officials and requesting that Solicitor Bleakly present to Prosecutor Wolverton “all evidence of a criminal nature” against the four accused.
His resolution, which the committee unanimously adopted, follows:
“Resolved that the city solicitor present to the prosecutor of the pleas all evidence of a criminal nature against officers George Murry, Ira Hall, William Draper and Tony Latorre in order that indictments may be secured against said officers, if the evidence justifies the same, and so that the ends of justice may be furthered and the community protected against a repetition of the evil conditions brought to light in the investigation, as far as it has gone.
“And be it further resolved that the investigation of vice conditions in the city be continued by the officials in charge of the recent investigation.”
Among those who attended the hearing besides Solicitor Bleakly and [?] were Frank S. Van Hart, president of Council, Chief of Police Gravenor, Assistant Chief Hyde and members of the police committee, including Councilmen Bowen, Dellmuth, Von Nieda, Bantivoglio, Corea, Dobbins, Dudley, Kelly and Payne. Each member of the committee took a personal interest in the proceedings and [?] question after question at the defendant and witnesses.
Spectators Jam Room
Spectators, among whom were several women welfare workers, filled every bit of space in police court, where the hearing was conducted. Expressions of disgust could be seen on many faces as revelations of the depravity that exists in the tenderloin district were made. Husky policemen, who by virtue of their duties one would expect to be accustomed to stories of immoral practices, almost blushed when they heard the startling accusations.
Hall seemed to have been assuming an attitude of defiance as indicated by accusations he directed at his superiors. He explained he had no lawyer and was entitled to all the privileges of a witness under such circumstances. He sat most of the time in a chair opposite the witness stand.
Hall’s Plea in Defense
“Why should I—one man—be held responsible for the vice that has been existing in the Fifth Ward for years?” Hall fairly shouted after he had taken the witness stand in his own defense.
“Doesn’t the captain of the district know that such conditions have existed in the ward and that there are disorderly houses there?” he continued. “What has been the matter with the men who have patrolled the beat near Second and Pine streets for years?”
He added dramatically as he faced the committeemen and the spectators: “If I had interfered I would have been before the police committee before this.”
Hall’s sarcastic remarks roused the ire of the city solicitors and the Councilmen and before he left the stand he refuted many of the allegations he made. He appeared “lost” many times when called upon to answer questions relative to remarks he uttered.
Acquitted of Robbery
Hall appeared before the committee for the express purpose of clearing himself of a charge of having been connected with the robbery of $250 from a soldier in a house that was conducted by Minnie Draper, underworld character, at 229 Pine street.
He also denied having aided the Draper woman to flee from Camden to Palmyra when she had been informed the “cops” were on her trail.
Hall was acquitted of the “robbery” charge. Solicitor Bleakly and Mr. West, his assistant, declared the evidence insufficient against Hall in the specification of the charges against the policeman.
The specifications against Hall read:
“That on or about January 2, 1921, at the premises at 229 Pine street, kept as a disorderly house by Jessie Smith, a soldier named Ernest Brown, was robbed of $250 with the connivance, aid and assistance of Ira Hall, in the presence of Minnie Draper, and that the said Minnie Draper was warned by Hall, then a police officer of the City of Camden, to get out of the house, ‘the cops are coming.’
“That when Officer Fisher went after Minnie Draper, on the charge of robbery, the woman told the officer to go and get a warrant, and, while he was in the process of getting a warrant, Police Officer Hall with one ‘Baby’ Paradise, now under charge of selling dope illegally, came and took Minnie Draper from Camden to Palmyra and concealed her there, well knowing that a warrant was out for her arrest.”
West Conducts Investigation.
Men frowned in disgust and women in the courtroom lowered their heads when shocking accusations against the policeman, a married man, were made. Hall seemed to glory in the condemnations of the attorneys and councilmen and even went as far as to declare “very few men can say their lives are clean.”
In one particular instance, Solicitor West, who conducted the greater part of the examination of witnesses, showed Hall several “familiar” letters the defendant wrote “Miss Alice E. [?]iske, of Atlantic City,” a white woman, according to Mr. West. Hall did not hesitate to admit he wrote the letters and that the woman named was a “friend” of his.
He denied, however, that he frequented disorderly houses near his “beat” and that he joined in “Dope” parties and other revelries of denizens of the underworld. He did admit that he was a “very intimate” friend of Jessie Smith, 229 Pine street, an underworld character who was brought from the county jail to appear as a witness at the hearing.
Hall said he only visited the alleged disorderly houses when he had a warrant to serve and when he was called to the place to quell any disturbance.
Smith Girl on Stand.
Hall admitted a charge that he had recommended Jessie Smith to an installment merchant when she made purchases to furnish a home. He vigorously denied he knew the furniture was to be used in partly equipping an alleged disorderly house said to have been operated by the Smith woman.
Upon examination, he declared he had often recommended persons to the same dealer but would never recommend anyone who was buying the furniture for disorderly house purposes.
When the Smith girl, colored, was called to the stand she testified the house she conducted at 229 Pine street was equipped with furniture purchased by her on the installment plan. She declared, upon examination, that Hall “signed” for her when she made the purchases, for which she paid $1[?] down.
The witness testified that she and Hall had been on “very intimate terms” and for a time had been known as “man and wife.” She declared she was under the impression her “friend” was a single man. She said the officer visited her frequently up until the past summer and on one or two occasions remained at her home during the night.
Hall There Night of Robbery
Solicitor West asked her if she had [?]ailed the robbery of $250 from a soldier last year in the house conducted by Minnie Draper, a colored girl 17 years old. She answered she [?] and said she recalled a soldier telling her he had been robbed of $250 the night of the alleged occurrence.
“Was Mr. Hall there on the night of the robbery?”
“Yes.”
In reply to questions from Mr. West, the witness declared Hall had been in the house “before and after” the alleged robbery.
“Was Mr. Hall in uniform?”
“No,” the witness replied.
Warned Her of Raid
[?] told [?] to put the soldier [?] that I should beat it” as the place was about to be raided.
“When the officers came there later he told them to put the ‘slightly’ intoxicated soldier out of the house.
“Did Mr. Hall say anything to Minnie Draper?”
“Yes, he told her to beat it, too.”
“Did Policeman Fisher come to the house the morning the robbery occurred?”
“Yes.”
“Did he have a warrant?”
The witness replied in the negative.
“Did Mr. Hall ever stay all night at 229 Pine street while you were there?”
“No.”
“Part of the night?”
“No.”
Went to Newark Once
The witness explained later that Hall had been at her home, 666 South Second street, all night on one occasion when she lived at that address.
“After one of the times you were released from the county jail, did you leave Camden?”
“Yes, I went to Newark.”
“Did you receive any communications from Mr. Hall while you were in Newark?” Solicitor West asked.
“Yes, several.”
She said, in answer to further questions, that Hall had informed her in the letters the matter involving the $250 was “all right and you don’t have to come back.”
He said also in the letter, continued the witness, he had “it fixed for Minnie Draper, too.” The witness said she still has letters she received from Hall, but she had not brought them to the hearing.
Hal [sic] was then granted permission to ask the witness questions.
“On the night of the alleged robbery,” he asked the witness, “did I come into your house?”
Denies Hall’s Questioning
“You did,” answered the woman in a positive tone.
“Didn’t I tell you that if you didn’t take that soldier out of the place that I would get the military police to take him out?” Hall asked.
“No, you didn’t.”
“Wasn’t I in my uniform the night of the alleged robbery?”
“No, you were in your citizen’s clothes that night.”
“That’s all,” Hall said to the witness.
It happened to be “all” as far as the witness was concerned because she was then excused from the stand by Mr. West.
Minnie Draper, the girl referred to in the charges against Hall, was brought from an outer room and asked to take the stand. She testified the robbery of the soldier was a little “before Easter” last year, and that Hall was there the evening it occurred.
Said “Cops” Surrounded House
“Hall told me to get out that night after the soldier had been robbed,” Minnie testified. “After the robbery occurred he told me ‘cops’ were surrounding the house and I should get out as fast as I could.”
She testified, upon being further examined by Mr. West, that Hall met her about two o’clock the night of the robbery and “went as far as Twenty-sixth street in a machine driven by Babe Paradise,” now under heavy bail on a charge of being a drug peddler. She said Hall alighted from the automobile at Twenty-sixth street and Paradise took her the rest of the way to Palmyra, where she remained, she said, from April until July.
She testified that on one occasion Hall visited a house where she was staying while she and other women were “enjoying a coke party.” She said that on another occasion she saw Hall and Jessie Smith in a room together acting in a “very familiar manner.”
Admits She Got Stolen Cash
She also testified that Detective Murry was given $50 to “squash” the robbery case, which, it has been alleged, involved Hall, herself and the Smith woman.
“Did you get any of the $250 stolen from the soldier?” Mr. West asked the witness.
“Yes. I know I got my part,” she answered. “The remainder went to Jessie Smith, but I suppose Mr. Hall got his share.”
“Was Mr. Hall in uniform when he gave you the caution to get out of the house the night of the robbery?”
“No,” the woman answered.
Sellers of Dope in Keen Rivalry Slashed Prices
Camden Daily Courier —
SELLERS OF DOPE IN KEEN RIVALRY SLASHED PRICES
Women Say ‘Babe’ Paradise and ‘Pye’ Calletino Did a ‘Cut-throat’ Business
5 GET STIFF SENTENCES
Paradise Arrested Second Time—‘Menace to Community’ Says Kates
Competition for the trade of “dope” addicts in the South Camden underworld was so keen between “Babe” Paradise and “Pye” Calletino that the prices of cocaine and heroin dropped from $1.00 a “deck” to fifty cents within a week.
That was the substance of the testimony of a dozen or more women, arrested in the recent “dope” raids, who testified at the trials of the five men convicted in the Criminal Court yesterday of selling drugs and sentenced to stiff terms in the State penitentiary.
“Babe” Is Arrested Again
The testimony, particularly against Paradise, was so strong that Assistant Prosecutor Albert E. Burling immediately ordered the rearrest of Paradise, who was out on bail on a charge of selling dope. Paradise was taken into custody by Policeman Howard Fisher and George Ward yesterday afternoon and is confined in the county jail.
“The facts disclosed warranted further complaint against Paradise,” said Mr. Burling this morning, “and he will be held until additional bail is furnished to guarantee his appearance when he is called for trial.”
Mr. Burling said he would confer with Judge John B. Kates late today as to the amount of bail that would be accepted on the new complaint against Paradise.
Paradise was conspicuously mentioned throughout the police probe of vice conditions in the Third and Fifth wards, which resulted in serious charges against City Detective George Murry and Policemen William Draper, Tony Latorre and Ira Hall. All the accused men, with the exception of Hall, resigned when ordered before the police committee of City Council. Paradise was a witness for Hall, who was found guilty and discharged.
During the trials yesterday the witnesses openly admitted that Paradise and Calletino had engaged in vigorous competition for their trade and that prices were split in half as a result. One witness said the “dope” sold by “Pye” was the stronger and was preferred when it could be secured. Calletino has been a fugitive since the police probe was begun.
One of the convicted men testified Paradise had paid him a salary of $10 per week for the use of his room as a distributing point.
(Continued on Page Twenty-two)
(Continued from Page One.)
Four of the drug agents were sentenced from eighteen months to three years. A fifth peddler, who gave the State some aid in obtaining evidence against the other offenders, got from one to three years.
Judge Kates characterized the defendants as “a menace to the community.” He directed the police to keep a sharp outlook for dope peddlers and issued a warning that such offenders would be shown no mercy whatever at his hands.
Denizens of Underworld
The men who got from eighteen months to three years are Harry “Dutch” Selby, Gus Davis, Albert “Salty” Cook and Ned Galvin. The other defendant is James Wilson. All are notorious underworld characters and known to the police.
The convicted men were caught in the raids conducted by the police in an effort to “clean up” the tenderloin. With the exception of Wilson, all the prisoners are colored.
Damaging testimony against the men was furnished by ten women, all of whom are colored, who were rounded up in an investigation following the raids and detained as material witnesses.
Asks Stiff Sentences
Assistant Prosecutor Charles S. Straw pressed for the maximum sentence in every case, arguing that the evidence presented left the Court no other choice.
The defendants were represented by Walter H. Keown, who was assigned by the Court when the prisoners appeared without counsel.
Throughout the hearings at the Criminal Court, the names of Paradise and Calletino were mentioned as the men who hired agents for the sale of the narcotics. Paradise is a prisoner in the county jail, pending trial for alleged drug trafficking.
Wilson, Pine street above Second, admitted he peddled the stuff and declared he was an agent for Paradise. When caught in the police net during the raids, 100 decks of narcotics were found on his person. He admitted selling dope to nine of the girls who took the stand against him. Sentence was imposed on one of the twelve counts and suspended on the remainder.
“Dutch” Selby, Sycamore street near Seventh, asserted he had sold cocaine and heroin to Alice Murphy, and not to the other witnesses. He said that he received $10 a week from “Pye H” for the use of his room. He admitted having been convicted for larceny, and declared that he formerly was employed by the Highway Department. He was found guilty on fifteen counts and sentenced on one. Sentence on fourteen counts was suspended.
Gus Davis, Sycamore street above Ninth, denied vigorously that he had ever sold a drop of cocaine. Admitting that he was an addict, he claimed that he had given a “shot” to Rosetta Blue, one of the witnesses, and to her husband, when they were both sick in bed. Davis denied receiving a ring from Deena Howard, in payment for a deck costing 50 cents.
Asked by Prosecutor Straw whether or not he had been in a fight with Paradise because he owed the latter money for twenty-five decks, which “Babe” had given to him to sell, Davis declared that he used the dope himself.
He insisted that the girls were testifying against him because they disliked him. “They say I put on too many airs,” declared Davis, who is very light skinned, and of effeminate ways. Sentence was suspended on all of the fourteen counts except one, Judge Kates declaring that the evidence clearly showed the defendant to be guilty of having sold drugs to nine girls.
$750 Worth Each Month
Albert “Salty” Cook pleaded guilty to each of the five counts as they were read. He admitted being in the employ of Paradise for at least six months. He was given the maximum sentence. Cook resided at 708 Sycamore street.
Galvin was convicted of dope selling and was said to have disposed of $750 worth each month. In making a plea for leniency, Mr. Keown, who was appointed to defend the youth, declared that he was a victim of “higher ups.”
Babe Paradise Admits He Is Narcotic King
Camden Courier-Post —
3 Others Held by Camden Police as Leaders in Dope Peddling Gang
OPERATIONS COVERED ALL OF SOUTH JERSEY
Tell of Making Buys With Auto Used as ‘Silent Salesman’
Captured after a lengthy investigation, Anthony “Babe” Paradise, of Camden has confessed to being the head of a narcotic ring operating throughout South Jersey, it was declared yesterday by Captain John Golden, head of the city detective bureau.
Paradise also admitted that he is a drug addict, Golden said, making the fact known when he became ill in his cell at the city jail and calling for Dr. W.G. Bailey, who has been treating him for the drug habit.
With three other men, who are accused as accomplices, Paradise is being held for a preliminary hearing in Police Court tomorrow morning. The four men, Golden said, will probably be held without bail pending grand jury action and be committed to the Camden County Jail. At the jail, detainers will be lodged against the quartette by Federal narcotics agents, who co-operated with city and county authorities in the investigation, which resulted in the arrests.
Golden declared that city detectives had purchased more than $500 worth of drugs from Paradise and his agents, in obtaining evidence against the ring, which authorities said reaches into Atlantic City and other South Jersey communities as well as Camden.
The three men arrested with Paradise are James Mucci, 18 years old, of 324 Stevens Street, Rocco DeCord, 21 years old, of 221 Spruce Street, and Andrew Hill, of Locust Street, near Kaighn Avenue. According to the detectives, the base of operations of the “ring” was in the Third Ward. Mucci and DeCord were arrested in a barbershop at Third and Locust streets, three blocks from the Wiley M. E. Church where the pastor, Rev. John S. Hackett, recently exposed vice conditions existing in the Third Ward and assailed the Department Public Safety for laxity. The arrest of Paradise and the others is believed to be a result of the clergyman’s scathing sermons.
Paradise and Hill were arrested several hours before the other two men. Fearing that they get word to other members of the “ring” police took the two men to Merchantville police headquarters, where Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Varbalow and Chief County Detective Lawrence T. Doran were waiting. Statements were obtained from the two, and meanwhile Mucci and DeCord were taken into custody. Paradise, who is 34 years old, served a year in State Prison five years ago for selling narcotics.
Detectives George Ward, Louis Shaw, and Thomas Cheeseman, of the city, and M.H. Shapiro and J.H. McFadden, of the federal office in Philadelphia, arranged the purchase of a “deck” of heroin from Paradise, and “caught him with the goods” when he met them at Nineteenth Street and River Road, near his home at 927 North Nineteenth Street.
Paradise was in his expensive automobile when arrested. It was the machine he had used to distribute narcotics to his agents and addicts during the past few years, the detectives said.
Decks of dope which sold for $1.50 each, police said, were placed in the automobile which was driven to a certain point as prearranged, and then Paradise would leave it parked, the detectives said.
Peddling Scheme Bared
At a stated hour an agent or addict would approach the machine, take the “dope” inside, and leave money as payment. Paradise would return and collect the money received, it was said.
That the ring extended to Philadelphia, New York, and other large Eastern cities was indicated by the many times the automobile was parked at Camden bridge plaza for hours, when exchanges would be made, the detectives said.
Paradise Arraignment
Camden Courier-Post —
Declared to have confessed that he headed a narcotic “ring,” which conducted an organized business in the sale of drugs throughout South Jersey, Anthony “Babe” Paradise was to have been given a hearing in Police Court today. His attorney, Samuel Orlando, appeared in the court and waited for a time this morning. Later because he had business elsewhere, he asked and received a postponement of the case until tomorrow. Detectives say Paradise had confessed the sale of drugs, but the widely known Third Ward character now declares he is the victim of a “frame-up” and does not know the three men arrested with him.
‘Babe’ Denies Guilt
Camden Courier-Post —
Anthony Paradise And Two Alleged Dope Peddling Aides Enter Not Guilty Pleas
Pleas of not guilty were entered by Anthony “Babe” Paradise and two of his alleged dope-running accomplices when they were arraigned in Criminal Court today. Judge Shay did not fix a date for the trial of the three defendants but it was said they would be tried at the present term of court.
Paradise, James Mucci and Rocco De Cord are charged with peddling dope in this city. The Grand Jury recently returned eleven indictments against Paradise, five against Mucci and six against De Cord.
The trio was arrested by federal narcotic agents and city detectives who late in December raided Paradise’s home in Cramer Hill. The U. S. agents claimed that Paradise was the “master mind” of a local dope ring. The men will be tried later on federal charges, it is said.
Colanduno Guilty of Dope Peddling
Camden Courier-Post —
Jury Out Less Than Hour; ‘Babe Paradise’ Up Next Week
Convicted by a Criminal Court jury of conspiracy and the possession and sale of narcotics, Joseph Colanduno, 29 years old, 431 Walnut Street, said by police to be a member of a powerful dope ring in Camden, will be sentenced by Judge Shay tomorrow morning.
The jury deliberated less than an hour before returning a verdict of guilty on seven indictments, marking the end of the first of a series of “dope” trials scheduled to be heard by Judge Shay. The most important hearing will be that of Anthony “Babe” Paradise, who has been indicted in eleven counts on narcotics charges, six of them true bills accusing Paradise and James Mucci with conspiracy to sell narcotic drugs. Another alleged member of the gang, Rocco DeCord, 221 Spruce Street, who recently pleaded guilty to six indictments and who turned state’s evidence at yesterday’s trial, will be sentenced later. Still another alleged “dope runner,” Alex Frumento, is being sought by police.
DeCord and three confessed addicts testified against Colanduno at the trial yesterday. DeCord said that he had been hired by the defendant and Frumento to sell small packages marked “H” and “C” to certain men who had been introduced to him. DeCord declared that he did not know what the packages contained, nor did he ever use dope.
The drug users, Nolan Clark, 28 years old who gave no address; George “Gyp” Haines, 29 years old, 527 Spruce Street, and Andrew Hill, 20 years, Locust Street and Kaighn Avenue, declared they had brought dope from Colanduno on various occasions.
Colanduno, who until last December operated the Primrose Inn at Barrington with Frumento as his partner, denied that he ever possessed drugs or hired DeCord. His arrest, he said, was a “frame-up” engineered by his “enemies.” His wife Hazel and his wife’s grandmother, Mrs. Laura Brakeman, who lives with Mrs. Colanduno, both testified that they never had seen DeCord or the three addicts buying drugs at the inn, as they declared on the witness stand.
James Gatti, 18 years old, of Philadelphia, who is serving a six-month term in the county jail for robbery, took the stand on Colanduno’s behalf. He testified that DeCord had told him in the jail that the confessed dope peddler’s statement implicating Colanduno had been forced from him by police.
Assistant Prosecutor Joseph A. Varbalow stated that the Paradise case probably would be disposed of next week with the return from Florida of Samuel P. Orlando, attorney for the alleged “Dope King of Camden.”
World War II Draft Card
WWII Draft Registration Card