Special Message to the Congress on a Program To Combat Organized Crime in America.

To the Congress of the United States:

Today, organized crime has deeply penetrated broad segments of American life. In our great cities, it is operating prosperous criminal cartels. In our suburban areas and smaller cities, it is expanding its corrosive influence. Its economic base is principally derived from its virtual monopoly of illegal gambling, the numbers racket, and the importation of narcotics. To a large degree, it underwrites the loan-sharking business in the United States and actively participates in fraudulent bankruptcies. It encourages street crime by inducing narcotic addicts to mug and rob. It encourages housebreaking and burglary by providing efficient disposal methods for stolen goods. It quietly continues to infiltrate and corrupt organized labor. It is increasing its enormous holdings and influence in the world of legitimate business. To achieve his end, the organized criminal relies on physical terror and psychological intimidation, on economic retaliation and political bribery, on citizen indifference and governmental acquiescence. He corrupts our governing institutions and subverts our democratic processes. For him, the moral and legal subversion of our society is a life-long and lucrative profession.

Many decent Americans contribute regularly, voluntarily and unwittingly to the coffers of organized crime--the suburban housewife and the city slum dweller who place a twenty-five cent numbers bet; the bricklayer and college student who buy a football card; the businessman and the secretary who bet illegally on a horse.

Estimates of the "take" from illegal gambling alone in the United States run anywhere from $20 billion, which is over 2% of the nation's gross national product, to $50 billion, a figure larger than the entire federal administrative budget for fiscal year 1951. This wealth is but one yardstick of the economic and political power held by the leaders of organized crime who operate with little restriction within our society.

Organized crime's victims range all across the social spectrum--the middle-class businessman enticed into paying usurious loan rates; the small merchant required to pay protection money; the white suburbanite and the black city dweller destroying themselves with drugs; the elderly pensioner and the young married couple forced to pay higher prices for goods. The most tragic victims, of course, are the poor whose lack of financial resources, education and acceptable living standards frequently breed the kind of resentment and hopelessness that make illegal gambling and drugs an attractive escape from the bleakness of ghetto life.

BACKGROUND

For two decades now, since the Attorney General's Conference on Organized Crime in 1950, the Federal effort has slowly increased. Many of the nation's most notorious racketeers have been imprisoned or deported and many local organized crime business operations have been eliminated. But these successes have not substantially impeded the growth and power of organized criminal syndicates. Not a single one of the 24 Cosa Nostra families has been destroyed. They are more firmly entrenched and more secure than ever before.

It is vitally important that Americans see this alien organization for what it really is--a totalitarian and closed society operating within an open and democratic one. It has succeeded so far because an apathetic public is not aware of the threat it poses to American life. This public apathy has permitted most organized criminals to escape prosecution by corrupting officials, by intimidating witnesses and by terrorizing victims into silence.

As a matter of national "public policy," I must warn our citizens that the threat of organized crime cannot be ignored or tolerated any longer. It will not be eliminated by loud voices and good intentions. It will be eliminated by carefully conceived, well-funded and well-executed action plans. Furthermore, our action plans against organized crime must be established on a long-term basis in order to relentlessly pursue the criminal syndicate. This goal will not be easily attained. Over many decades, organized crime has extended its roots deep into American society and they will not be easily extracted. Our success will first depend on the support of our citizens who must be informed of the dangers that organized crime poses. Success also will require the help of Congress and of the State and local governments.

This Administration is urgently aware of the need for extraordinary action and I have already taken several significant steps aimed at combating organized crime. I have pledged an unstinting commitment, with an unprecedented amount of money, manpower and other resources to back up my promise to attack organized crime. For example--I have authorized the Attorney General to engage in wiretapping of organized racketeers. I have authorized the Attorney General to establish 20 Federal racketeering field offices all across the nation. I have authorized the Attorney General to establish a unique Federal-State Racket Squad in New York City. I have asked all Federal agencies to cooperate with the Department of Justice in this effort and to give priority to the organized crime drive. I have asked the Congress to increase the fiscal 1970 budget by $25 million, which will roughly double present expenditures for the organized crime effort.

In addition, I have asked the Congress to approve a $300 million appropriation in the 1970 budget for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. Most of these funds will go in block grants to help State and local law enforcement programs and a substantial portion of this assistance money will be utilized to fight organized crime. I have had discussions with the State Attorneys General and I have authorized the Attorney General to cooperate fully with the States and local communities in this national effort, and to extend help to them with every means at his disposal. Finally, I have directed the Attorney General to mount our Federal anti-organized crime offensive and to coordinate the Federal effort with State and local efforts where possible.

ASSISTANCE TO STATES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Through the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, and other units of the Department of Justice, the Attorney General has already taken some initial steps:

1. A program is being established so that State and local law enforcement people can exchange recent knowledge on the most effective tactics to use against organized crime at the local level.

2. The Justice Department is furnishing technical assistance and financial help in the training of investigators, prosecutors, intelligence analysts, accountants, statisticians--the professional people needed to combat a sophisticated form of criminal activity.

3. The Justice Department is encouraging municipalities and States to reexamine their own laws in the organized crime area. We are also encouraging and assisting in the formation of State-wide organized crime investigating and prosecuting units.

4. A computerized organized crime intelligence system is being developed to house detailed information on the personalities and activities of organized crime nationally. This system will also serve as a model for State computer intelligence systems which will be partially funded by the Federal Government.

5. We are fostering cooperation and coordination between States and between communities to avoid a costly duplication of effort and expense.

6. We are providing Federal aid for both State and local public information programs designed to alert the people to the nature and scope of organized crime activity in their communities.

These actions are being taken now. But the current level of Federal activity must be dramatically increased, if we expect progress. More men and money, new administrative actions, and new legal authority are needed.

EXPANDED BUDGET

There is no old law or new law that will be useful without the necessary manpower for enforcement. I am therefore, as stated, asking Congress to increase the Fiscal Year 1970 budget for dealing with organized crime by $25 million. This will roughly double the amount spent in the fight against organized crime during Fiscal Year 1969, and will bring the total Federal expenditures for the campaign against organized crime to the unprecedented total of $61 million. I urge Congress to approve our request for these vital funds.

REORGANIZATION OF THE CRIME EFFORT

I have directed the newly appointed Advisory Council on Executive Organization to examine the effectiveness of the Executive Branch in combating crime---in particular organized crime.

Because many departments and agencies of the Executive Branch are involved in the organized crime effort, I believe we can make lasting improvement only if we view this matter in the full context of executive operations.

FEDERAL RACKETEERING FIELD OFFICES

The focal center of the Federal effort against organized crime is the Department of Justice. It coordinates the efforts of all of the Federal agencies. To combine in one cohesive unit a cadre of experienced Federal investigators and prosecutors, to maintain a Federal presence in organized crime problem areas throughout the nation on a continuing basis, and to institutionalize and utilize the valuable experience that has been gained by the "Strike Forces" under the direction of the Department of Justice, the Attorney General has now established Federal Racketeering Field Offices in Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Newark, and Philadelphia. These offices bring together, in cohesive single units, experienced prosecutors from the Justice Department, Special Agents of the FBI, investigators of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the finest staff personnel from the Bureau of Customs, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, the Post Office, the Secret Service and other Federal offices with expertise in diverse areas of organized crime.

The Racketeering Field Offices will be able to throw a tight net of Federal law around an organized crime concentration and through large scale target investigations, we believe we can obtain the prosecutions that will imprison the leaders, paralyze the administrators, frighten the street workers and, eventually, paralyze the whole organized crime syndicate in any one particular city. The Attorney General plans to set up at least a dozen additional field offices within the next two years.

FEDERAL-STATE RACKET SQUAD

Investigations of the national crime syndicate, La Cosa Nostra, show its membership at some 5,000, divided into 24 "families" around the nation. In most cities organized crime activity is dominated by a single "family"; in New York City, however, the lucrative franchise is divided among five such "families."

To deal with this heavy concentration of criminal elements in the nation's largest city, a new Federal-State Racket Squad is being established in the Southern District of New York. It will include attorneys and investigators from the Justice Department as well as from New York State and city. This squad will be directed by the Department of Justice, in conjunction with a supervisory council of officials from State and local participating agencies, who will formulate policy, devise strategy and oversee tactical operations. Building on the experience of this special Federal-State Racket Squad, the Attorney General will be working with State and local authorities in other major problem areas to determine whether this concept of governmental partnership should be expanded to those areas through the formation of additional squads.

NEW LEGISLATION

From his studies in recent weeks, the Attorney General has concluded that new weapons and tools are needed to enable the Federal government to strike both at the Cosa Nostra hierarchy and the sources of revenue that feed the coffers of organized crime. Accordingly the Attorney General will ask Congress for new laws, and I urge Congress to act swiftly and favorably on the Attorney General's request.

WITNESS IMMUNITY

First, we need a new broad general witness immunity law to cover all cases involving the violation of a Federal statute. I commend to the Congress for its consideration the recommendations of the National Commission on Reform of Federal Criminal Laws. Under the Commission's proposal, a witness could not be prosecuted on the basis of anything he said while testifying, but he would not be immune from prosecution based on other evidence of his offense. Furthermore, once the government has granted the witness such immunity, a refusal then to testify would bring a prison sentence for contempt. With this new law, government should be better able to gather evidence to strike at the leadership of organized crime and not just the rank and file. The Attorney General has also advised me that the Federal Government will make special provisions for protecting witnesses who fear to testify due to intimidation.

WAGERING TAX AMENDMENTS

We shall ask for swift enactment of S. 1624 or its companion bill H.R. 322, sponsored by Senator Roman Hruska of Nebraska and Congressman Richard Poff of Virginia respectively. These measures would amend the wagering tax laws and enable the Internal Revenue Service to play a more active and effective role in collecting the revenues owed on wagers; the bills would also increase the Federal operator's tax on gamblers from $50 annually to $1000.

CORRUPTION

For most large scale illegal gambling enterprises to continue operations over any extended period of time, the cooperation of corrupt police or local officials is necessary. This bribery and corruption of government closest to the people is a deprival of one of a citizen's most basic rights. We shall seek legislation to make this form of systematic corruption of community political leadership and law enforcement a federal crime. This law would enable the Federal Government to prosecute both the corruptor and the corrupted.

ILLEGAL GAMBLING BUSINESSES

We also shall request new legislation making it a Federal crime to engage in an illicit gambling operation, from which five or more persons derive income, which has been in operation more than thirty days, or from which the daily "take" exceeds $2000. The purpose of this legislation is to bring under Federal jurisdiction all large-scale illegal gambling operations which involve or affect inter-state commerce. The effect of the law will be to give the Attorney General broad latitude to assist local and state government in cracking down on illegal gambling, the wellspring of organized crime's financial reservoir.

This Administration has concluded that the major thrust of its concerted anti-organized crime effort should be directed against gambling activities. While gambling may seem to most Americans to be the least reprehensible of all the activities of organized crime, it is gambling which provides the bulk of the revenues that eventually go into usurious loans, bribes of police and local officials, "campaign contributions" to politicians, the wholesale narcotics traffic, the infiltration of legitimate businesses, and to pay for the large stables of lawyers and accountants and assorted professional men who are in the hire of organized crime.

Gambling income is the lifeline of organized crime. If we can cut it or constrict it, we will be striking close to its heart.

PROCEDURAL LAWS

With regard to improving the procedural aspects of the criminal law as it relates to the prosecution of organized crime, the Attorney General has been working with the Senate Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures to develop and perfect S. 30, the "Organized Crime Control Act of 1969." As Attorney General Mitchell indicated in his testimony on that bill, we support its objectives. It is designed to improve the investigation and prosecution of organized crime cases, and to provide appropriate sentencing for convicted offenders. I feel confident that it will be a useful new tool.

DEVELOPMENT OF NEW LAWS

Finally, I want to mention an area where we are examining the need for new laws: the infiltration of organized crime into fields of legitimate business. The syndicate-owned business, financed by illegal revenues and operated outside the rules of fair competition of the American marketplace, cannot be tolerated in a system of free enterprise. Accordingly, the Attorney General is examining the potential application of the theories underlying our anti-trust laws as a potential new weapon.

The injunction with its powers of contempt and seizure, monetary fines and treble damage actions, and the powers of a forfeiture proceeding, suggest a new panoply of weapons to attack the property of organized crime--rather than the unimportant persons (the fronts) who technically head up syndicate-controlled businesses. The arrest, conviction and imprisonment of a Mafia lieutenant can curtail operations, but does not put the syndicate out of business. As long as the property of organized crime remains, new leaders will step forward to take the place of those we jail. However, if we can levy fines on their real estate corporations, if we can seek treble damages against their trucking firms and banks, if we can seize the liquor in their warehouses, I think we can strike a critical blow at the organized crime conspiracy.

Clearly, the success or failure of any ambitious program such as I have outlined in this Message depends on many factors. I am confident the Congress will supply the funds and the requested legislation, the States and communities across the country will take advantage of the Federal capability and desire to assist and participate with them, and the Federal personnel responsible for programs and actions will vigorously carry out their mission.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House

April 23, 1969