Corruption by Consent

The Greater Newark Chamber of Commerce and the city's entire business community are deeply shocked at the indictment today of Mayor Addonizio, three members of the city council and other officials.

THIS outraged statement notwithstanding, Newark's business leaders had little reason to be shocked by last week's indictments. Crime and corruption have long been blatantly evident in what may well be the Mafia capital of the U.S. After the city's bloody 1967 race riot, for example, a special Governor's commission laid much of the blame to "a widespread belief that Newark's government is corrupt."

The belief appears to be well founded. City officials and police are casually assumed to be on the take. Last year Newark Police Director Dominick Spina was indicted for "willful failure to enforce antigambling laws." His acquittal did nothing to convince Newarkers that their city was well policed.

Organized crime secured its first firm beachhead in New Jersey during Prohibition days, when Abner ("Longie") Zwillman used the state as the base for 40% of the nation's bootlegging operations. Aside from Newark and Jersey City, much of the state retained a rural character until the opening of the George Washington Bridge in 1931. New Jersey suited the underworld's needs perfectly. The Hudson River separated its members from the tough law enforcement of New York racketbusters like Fiorello La Guardia, Thomas Dewey and, more recently, Frank Hogan. Neither police forces nor local government had caught up with the state's sudden population growth. To make matters worse, officials were only too eager to accommodate the free-spending gangsters.

The state's attempts to clean up its own house have been few and far between. Immediately after World War II, a gambling crackdown in Bergen County netted only a 15-year-old boy for taking telephone bets. But following the late Senator Estes Kefauver's disclosures of widespread gambling in the county, Special Prosecutor Nelson Stamler launched a probe that resulted in indictments against 77 people, including two police chiefs. To nobody's surprise, Stamler soon was replaced. One reason the reform efforts failed may well be that local political bosses, many of them thoroughly venal, enjoy virtual veto power over the appointment of county judges and prosecutors.

Close to 300,000 New Jersey residents leave the state every day to work in New York City, and nearly 50,000 more commute to Philadelphia. Many of them regard the state as a bedroom and take no interest in state or local government. Among those who are active in local affairs, many are only too willing to coexist with La Cosa Nostra. Mafiosi who can assure peace with labor unions are often respected members of the community. Many otherwise solid citizens seek them out as friends; they either refuse to believe that the Mafia exists or find it exciting to associate with racketeers.

That attitude infuriates Mafia Expert Ralph Salerno. "The Silent Majority consented to all this for 30 years," he fumes. "The bad guys worked at taking over the state while the good guys sat on their asses and watched television." Unfortunately, that failing may be characteristic of good guys elsewhere. Federal strike forces are at work in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York and Florida. If they are anywhere near as successful as they have been in New Jersey, 1970 may prove a boom year for grand juries.

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