The nation . t)was to break up the big-time rackets,Wessel naturally devoted a lot ofattention to developing an estimateof just how big the rackets were. Hisapproach, it must be emphasized,was essentially conservative. Forexample, in attempting to evaluatethe revenue that horse-race hook-making pours into the coffers of theunderworld, he used a ratio every authoritative source 260 considers too low. He assumed that,for every dollar bet in the pari-mutuel machines at the nationstracks, three will be bet with Massachusetts Crime Commis-sion, which used the same conserv
The nation . t)was to break up the big-time rackets,Wessel naturally devoted a lot ofattention to developing an estimateof just how big the rackets were. Hisapproach, it must be emphasized,was essentially conservative. Forexample, in attempting to evaluatethe revenue that horse-race hook-making pours into the coffers of theunderworld, he used a ratio every authoritative source 260 considers too low. He assumed that,for every dollar bet in the pari-mutuel machines at the nationstracks, three will be bet with Massachusetts Crime Commis-sion, which used the same conserva-tive ratio in compiling its figures,pointed out that the lowest esti-mate it obtained from the gamblingfraternity itself was 4 to 1 and that5 to 1 was generally considered to erron the side of caution. With such a preface, one may beprepared to accept the validity ofWessels final figures — and theirshocking import. Baldly, his analy-sis showed that the American publicspends $47 billion a year on all forms. of illegal gambling — a figure big-ger than the national defense bud-get! This is the total turnover, thetotal handle. Out of this huge flowof cash, Wessel and the experts onhis organized crime task force esti-mated that the underworld keepsabout $9 billion. But, Wessel pointsout, this is not all clear profit. Fullyhalf of the syndicates income fromgambling is earmarked for protectionmoney paid to police and politicians,he says flatly and unequivocally. Just what does a gross underworldgambling profit of $9 billion a yearactually mean? Just what does fullyhalf of this, or $ billion a yearinvested in the payoff, actuallymean? In dealing with figures sograndiose that they escape the graspof the normal human imagination,one needs some solid basis for com-parison. For instance: In its peakyear of 1955, the automobile indus-try - one of the nations greatest— turned out ,i flood of new ctlSon which Detroit put .i wholesalevalue of SI billion. In more aver-age years,
Size: 1757px × 1421px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookidnation191jul, bookyear1865
