Kobey

“Hair-raising” and “horrendous” are the adjectives used by two of the appellants to denounce the sentences that they are here seeking to overturn.

All four appellants are admitted lawbreakers. Yet now they are loudly invoking a “concept of ethics, social natural justice and fair play” — a concept in which the record shows that they themselves have been conspicuously lacking.

The appellants were bookmakers. Each was convicted on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and on eighteen counts of violations of the income and excise tax laws.

All four appellants admit that, in carrying out their illegal practices, they “nicknamed God’s creatures”, although, as we shall see, they do not agree upon their reasons for doing so.

Another protective device resorted to by the quartet was to counsel their “agents” — i. e., employees — to destroy records and “have no bookmaking paraphernalia around where it could be found”.

All in all, the tale told by this 1536-page record and the bales of exhibits is not a pretty one.

1. The Indictment

The indictment, filed on June 12, 1951, named 68 defendants, and consisted of 20 counts. The four appellants were the only defendants named…