Johnsons JAHRESTAGE - Der Kommentar

Seite/Zeile(n)	Datum/Text
	12. Mai 1968

1151, 10-16	»DAS ZITAT DES ... Buddhas gefeiert wurde.« - »QUOTATION OF THE DAY ›We tried to go down one street three times and so far we’ve had five killed and 17 wounded in my company. I don’t care whose birthday it is, we’re going back to clean them out.‹ S. Sgt. Herman Strader in Saigon, where the 2,512th birthday of Buddha was celebrated yesterday«, NYT 12.5.1968. Unter der Rubrik »Quotation of the Day« erschienen in der NYT gelegentlich kurze Bemerkungen zu aktuellen Ereignissen.
1151, 17	(c) by the ... York Times Company - s.K. 116, 25.
1151, 18- 1155, 14	»DASVERBRECHEN BLÜHT ... in jeder Lieferung.« - »Airlines and Law Enforcement Agencies found Unable to Cope With Flourishing Crime at Kennedy By Charles Grutzner. The flood of recent thefts, including diamonds, blue-chip stocks, palladium and other high-value cargo, at Kennedy International Airport has focused attention on the activities of organized criminals at the city’s airports. One of the cases brought the sentencing last week in Federal Court of the nephew of the reputed Mafia boss, Joseph Colombo, to two and a half years in prison as a conspirator in the cashing of $407,000 in American Express traveler’s checks stolen at Kennedy Airport. Twenty-three men and two women have been indicted, and all but four have pleaded guilty or have been convicted of transporting the travelers [sic] checks, which were stolen on Aug. 30, 1966. In all that time, however, no one has been arrested or indicted for the actual theft. United States Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau has called the theft and disposal of the check here and in Las Vegas, Dallas, Baltimore, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and elsewhere the work of a gang familiar with air cargo handling at the airport. The American Express case and the other thefts have raised serious questions about the ability of existing law agencies at the airports and the airlines’ private guards to provide adequate protection of high-value cargo. In 90 reported thefts at Kennedy Airport last year, the loot amounted to $2,2-million, two and a half times the 1966 total and nearly 50 times that of five years ago. The Port of New York Authority, which compiled the figures, did not include thefts of items valued at less than $ 1,000, nor did it include the $2,5 million in non-negotiable securities stolen from Trans World Airlines last Aug. 10. Among those sent to prison in the American Express case, besides Colombo’s 34-year-old nephew, Maurice Savino, was Vincent (Jimmy Jones) Potenza, 40, who has been listed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a member of the Mafia ›family‹ headed by Carmine (Mr. Gribs) Tramunti, reputed successor to the late Thomas (Three-Finger Brown) Luchese [sic]. Potenza and Americo Spagnuolo, who bought the stolen checks at 25 cents on the dollar and sold them for twice that to the passers, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and took maximum prison terms rather than identify the actual thieves. One prospective government witness, John Anthony Panarello, an ex-convict named in the indictment as a co-conspirator but not as a defendant, has been silenced by gangland guns. His body, with two bullets through his head, was found in a roadside ditch in the Catskills as his rented car burnt nearby. [...] An official expression of concern over underworld influence at Kennedy came from S.I.C. Chairman Lane during the questioning of the hearing of Alvin C. Schweizer, regional director of Air Cargo, Inc., a corporation jointly set up by the airlines to hire trucking companies. Mr. Schweizer had told of threats of labor troubles allegedly made by Harry Davidoff, an officer of Teamster Local 295, against National Airlines and Northwest Airlines when they were considering changing trucking companies. Burglar and Extortionist Referring to Davidoff, a convicted burglar, extortionist and bookmaker, Mr. Lane asked Mr. Schweizer: ›It seems to me that one man could tie up the whole airfreight industry in New York if he has that much control over the union - is that right?‹ ›Yes, Sir, very definitely,‹ replied the witness. ›Because the drivers of the catering trucks and refueling trucks and the food processors who come onto the airport with food for the flights are either teamsters or other drivers [who] would respect any informational picket line that Local 295 or any other organization might establish.‹ There was testimony also that a negotiator for the Metropolitan Import Truckmen’s Association had threatened American Airlines with a shut-down of the airport if it hired a ›non-associated‹ trucker. Mr. Lane also charged that racketeers held key positions in both the union and the trade association. Among underworld names that came up at the airport hearings were those of convicted labor racketeer John (Johnny Dio) Dioguardi and Antonio (Tony Ducks) Corallo, identified by law enforcement agencies as members of the Tramunti Mafia ›family‹; Anthony DiLorenzo, an ex-convict described by authorities as an associate of the Vito Genovese ›family‹, and John Massiello, a reputed Genovese Mafioso and convicted smuggler. DiLorenzo, a convicted car thief, was on the payroll of the Metropolitan Import Trucking Association for $25,000 a year as a labor consultant. Massiello was also on the same payroll as a labor consultant. Joseph Curcio, a convicted labor racketeer and strong-arm ›enforcer‹ who once shared the same cell in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary with Joseph M. Valachi, the Mafia member who later testified against the crime organization, was on the payroll of a trucking company as a salesman. The company’s president admitted during the S.I.C. hearings that Curcio had never brought in any business. Most of the underworld influence uncovered in the air freight industry has been at the 4,900 acre Kennedy Airport, which is as big as all of Manhattan south of 42nd Street. The airport is crowded with cargo buildings and heaps of unguarded freight are piled even on the aprons of the flying field. More than 40,000 people work on the airport. [...] Forged Papers Used Two men drove a panel truck on Feb. 27 into the cargo area of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, showed forged papers marked with what resembled a United States Customs seal, loaded the $508,000 shipment of the rare metal [palladium] from the Soviet Union, smiled at a guard, and drove away. The airline was unaware it had been robbed until five hours later when representatives of the real consignee arrived in an armored truck to claim the shipment. Port Authority police contend that the robbery might have been prevented if KLM, which had been robbed three times in the last two years, had notified them when the men in the panel truck picked up the metal. Lieut. John Lefsen, in charge of the authority’s cargo squad, said: ›If we’d been called in to guard the loading of the shipment, we’d have known right away there was something wrong. Engelhard [the consignee] always uses an armored truck and this was just an old, battered green truck with floorboards missing.‹ According to authorities, the thieves had known the flight numbers of the precious cargo, which had arrived in two shipments, and the exact number of items in each«, NYT 12.5.1968; s.K. 22, 20-29.
1151, 22f.	Palladium - Zu den Platinmetallen gehörendes Edelmetall, als Zahnersatz und zum Überzug silberner Gegenstände verwendet.
1151, 26- 1153, 4	Einer der Fälle ... der Nähe stand - s.K. 22, 20-29.
1151, 27	Joseph Colombo - s.K. 213, 35.
1152, 4	Robert M. Morgenthau - Robert Morris Morgenthau, geb. 31.7.1919, Rechtsanwalt; 1961-70 Bundesanwalt für den südlichen Bezirk von New York State; arbeitete eng mit Robert Kennedy bei dessen Kampagne gegen das organisierte Verbrechen zusammen.
1152, 6	Las Vegas - Stadt in Süd-Nevada; ursprünglich Rastplatz und Mormonensiedlung am California-Trail. Die moderne Stadt entstand erst durch den Bau der Eisenbahn 1903; bekannt vor allem als Spieler-, Heirats- und Scheidungsparadies.
1152, 6	Dallas - s.K. 876, 4.
1152, 6	Baltimore - s.K. 710, 13.
1152, 22f.	Trans World Airlines - s.K. 1006, 13.
1152, 27	Bundeskriminalamt - s.K. 300, 29.
1152, 29f.	Thomas Luchese, genannt Dreifingerbrown - Richtig: Lucchese; s.K. 89, 27.
1153, 3	Catskills - Gebirge und Nationalpark nördlich von New York, östlich des Hudson River, beliebtes Erholungsgebiet der New Yorker.
1153, 31	American Airlines - American Airlines Inc., 1934 als Nachfolgerin der American Airways gegr. Luftverkehrsgesellschaft in den USA mit Sitz in New York.
1153, 39	Gewerkschaftsgangsters John Dioguardi, genannt Johnny Dio - s.K. 156, 35.
1154, 1	Antony Corallo, alias Tony Duckdich - s.K. 475, 15f.
1154, 5	Vito Genovese - s.K. 118, 22.
1154, 14f.	Joseph Valachi - Joseph »Cago« Valachi (22.9.1903-3.4.1971), New Yorker Mafioso; wegen eines Drogendelikts im Atlanta Federal Prison als Zellengenosse von Vito Genovese (s.K. 118, 22) inhaftiert, kam er zu der Überzeugung, er solle auf Befehl von Genovese von dem ebenfalls einsitzenden Joseph DiPalermo ermordet werden. Er starb, während er eine lebenslange Strafe wegen des am 22.5.1962 begangenen Mordes an einem Mithäftling absaß, den er mit DiPalermo verwechselt hatte. Valachi war das erste Mitglied der Mafia, das bereit war, den Schweige-Codex zu brechen. Er machte gegenüber dem US-Justizministerium und später in einer Zeugenaussage vor einem Untersuchungsausschuß des US-Senats von September bis Oktober 1963 umfangreiche Angaben über die kriminellen Aktivitäten der Mafia (u.a. ein Zeugnis von etwa 300.000 Worten), die zu einer weiteren Schwächung der Mafia in New York führten. Er bestand auf der Bezeichnung »Cosa Nostra«, das Wort »Mafia« werde nur außerhalb der Organisation benutzt; verfilmt unter dem Titel »Die Valachi-Papiere«; Italien/Frankreich 1972; Regie: Terence Young; mit Charles Bronson als Valachi und Lino Ventura als Genovese; vgl. NYT 24.4.1968; s.K. 22, 28.
1154, 30	K.L.M. - Abk. für Koninglijke Luchtvaart Maatschaapij.
1155, 16-19	EINEN GLÜCKLICHENMUTTERTAG ... und kommerzielle Anzeigen - »PUBLIC NOTICES AND COMMERCIAL NOTICES/To Sylvia, the best mother in the world. From children Ellen, Peter, Frank and Amy«, NYT 12.5.1968.