The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 17

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 197? Page i THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR OPENED IN NEON, CLOSED IN ARSON 0 Case Of Silent Partners Las Ve Strip: gas third ownership. Miller determined Sinito had bought in by assuming all debts but had made a $2,000 down payment with a check that bounced. How Sinito came into the picture never did become clear. He has an un- listed telephone number in Cleveland. SINITO HAS been operating a car -rental agency and was involved in controversy in 1974 when authorities deter-1 mined his agency had rented a vehicle used in the slaying of a Cleveland Model Cities official.

Miller's investigation was hampered by a number of factors, including threats against one potential witness. Miller himself received a series of anonymous threatening phone calls and was told once in person to "cool" his The club was known as the 3030 Club in the 1960s and then the Shivaree when it went into bankruptcy in 1970. Alcoholic Beverage Commission records list it as the Chapparal after that, until November, 1971, when a corporation known as Losers Inc. was formed and renamed the club the Las Vegas Strip. No records of Losers Inc.

could be found in the secretary of state or Marion County recorder's offices, but the articles of incorporation are on file with the ABC. ON PAPER, Losers Inc. had five principal participants. As it turned out, some represented other investors. Judith Tripi, for example, now reported to be living in New York, represented Mendelsohn and Levy.

In the less-than-one-year period when the Las Vegas Strip functioned under that ted there were "too many partners." Another said some of them "didn't know who the other partners were." A former associate of Flick told investigators that the controversial one-time bondsman had a piece of the action, but Flick's name is not listed on paper. Flick was asked whether he had a financial interest in the place and answered, "I'll have to reserve an answer on that." He said he had been a customer, however. MENDELSOHN, reached by telephone, snapped, "I've never heard of the place." Four sources said Mendelsohn and Levy were original investors, each putting up $2,500. Then there was the late arrival, Thomas Sinito of Cleveland. Ohio.

And police reports contain information that there was yet another "silent partner" Norman Z. Flick, identified by the FBI as an organized crime figure here. Part of the story was revealed by The Indianapolis Star several years ago with allegations that a city policeman was one of an array of "silent" partners. BUT THE STORY still is incomplete because records are missing and people don't want to talk. The arson squad and FBI investigated, but no arrests were made Determining how many partners there were at any one time is difficult.

Once, at least seven existed. One principal admit This is the incomplete history of the Las Vegas Strip. The Strip was not that glittering section of the Nevada gambling capital where the high-rollers do their thing, but rather a nightclub at 3030 Southeastern Avenue here in Indianapolis which opened in neon and closed in arson. Gutted in a 1972 arson case in which a fire department investigat6r was threatened, the nightclub seemed to be a textbook illustration of how, behind the scenes, a business can get unwanted partners, with unpleasant results. THE PRINCIPALS included several Indianapolis businessmen.

But, according to other sources, some of the initial money was put up by two Indianapolis gamblers, Robert (Rubyi Mendelsohn and Isaac I Jumbo I Levy. name, it appears the partners kept changing like a deck of cards being shuffled. Mendelsohn and Levy sold out. Ernest (Chins I Fisher and Robert Shane came in. Where Flick stood, if at all.

is not known. By 1972, the nightclub, despite its name, was not specifically a gambling joint, but it attracted a lot of the town's high-rollers, including Jerry Delman and Ronald G. Grubbs. Delman was murdered in 1976 in Las Vegas, and Grubbs was murdered here last July. Neither slaying was related to the nightclub.

ALSO IN 1972, some "thuggish looking folks from Ohio started showing up," as one of the partners remembered. According to Lt. Herbert T. Miller of the arson squad, it seemed certain that at some point one or more of the owners became indebted to hoodlums and could not pay up. On Aug.

16, 1972, fire broke out and caused an estimated $75,000 damage. Miller determined that flammable liquid had been poured into the building before the fire. At that point, Sinito had acquired one- Underworld 'Outfit' Has Many Names, Multitude Of Moneymaking Activities Holiday f'' -how is the time JT' Jf, to pui a line iy Wtaa Piano ft 2 llrl or organ under yur Christmas i tree at a price Kj Sri 111 who disposes of the hot goods through mob connections in other cities. A gambler who bets locally on sporting events may not know that the mob controls the betting information, cards giving sports lines or even the local bookmaker. A businessman who handles local investments or loans may actually be trading in mob money.

THE LIST is long. Today the mob more and more uses "front men" because investigative agencies in recent years have publicly identified many syndicate members. This is why organized crime often is defined through "connections" and "associations" describing various enterprises involving the syndicate. As Cornell University's Institute on Organized Crime noted by way of example recently, "Popular belief to the contrary, the operators of most substantial country to ply their trade, and it is not always blatant or open. As one law enforcement agency disclosed, a respected Indianapolis businessman who never has been arrested is known to be a major loanshark who has conducted transactions in various Midwestern states.

Other activities contrast from the case of Fiore Carl Bucci of Cleveland and Toledo, who was convicted of a local robbery in the 1960s, to the activities here in 1975 of "Albert Rossi." "Rossi." who sought construction loans for various "paper" i non-existent) companies in suspected frauds, police said, later was identified as Bert Carmen Doto. who was being sought on a variety of fraud charges in his home state of California and now is thought to be in England dodging a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. LEGITIMATE businesses which have been tainted in the past and are operating here include Sportsystem Corporation of Buffalo, formerly known as Emprise. Emprise in 1972 was convicted of conspiring with the Mafia to conceal ownership in a Las Vegas hotel-casino. Emprise's operations here include a series of Indiana subsidiaries which supply concessions to everything from airport restaurants to more than a dozen Central Indiana movie theaters.

However, nothing unusual was found RECOMMENDATION WURLITZER ORGANS Starting At s634 MUSIC FINE PIANOS AND Washington Square 899-4330 investigation. In February, 1973, the liquor permit was sold to a restaurant chain. Mean- and the FBI investigation resulted in no 3IT6StS. In February, 1972. the liquor permit was sold to a restaurant chain.

Mean- -while, only part of the insurance pro- ceeds were dispensed after the fire. AND THE SILENT partners continue to maintain their silence. Savings WURLITZER PIANOS For Under 1000 STORES OKCANS SINCE 1856. Lafayette Square 293-6144 Gift Boxed mnion bookmaking businesses are not organized crime figures themselves, but independents who have links to organized crime." Experts say those who deal with the syndicate whether simply through misguided friendships or business or in more nefarious ways contribute to a national menace. AS THE CHAMBER of Commerce of the U.S.

dramatically warned: "This criminal conglomerate employs thousands, nets billions annually, operates nationwide and internationally, possesses an efficient and disciplined organizational structure, wields a depressingly effective lobbying apparatus, insulates itself against legal action, hurts billion-dollar corporations and cripples smaller companies, and, according to many, rates as the most serious lomg-term danger to the security and principles of this nation." in the conduct of these businesses and the parent corporation since has reorganized Still, the files of police agencies contain sufficient examples of more questionable operations with legitimate and semi-legitimate fronts. ONE EXAMPLE was information police received that a relative of a well-known East Coast Mafia boss worked here two years ago at a local finance company buying time-payment contracts from persons suspected of fraud in the home improvement business. But that investigation never got off the ground, under circumstances which illustrate the frustrations some investigators face in probing organized crime Political interference, legal constraints on the collection of intelligence and manpower shortages stand in the way. In recent years the Indianapolis Police Department has had haphazard investigations hampered by a lack of coordination and insufficient manpower. IN PART, this has been the result of political apathy and long-standing pronouncements that organized crime somehow had bypassed the nation's 11th largest city As a consequence, the only effective investigations, however limited, have been conducted by federal agencies and, to a lesser extent, Indiana State Police.

Only recently has the city department created a full-time intelligence unit whose focus will include organized crime. tained an exemption from the four-year pledge requirement for presidential appointees. Bell's willingness to move Civiletti from the demanding position of heading the department's criminal division to the No. 2 job reflects the attorney general's regard "for Ben's good judgment on very sensitive matters," an official said. Civiletti has had responsibility for some of the department's thorniest problems, including investigations into Korean lobbying and FBI break-ins.

Civiletti was recommended to Bell initially by Charles Kirbo, President Carter's friend and adviser. Kirbo, a partner in the Atlanta law firm of King and Spalding, came to know Civiletti when the firm represented a client in Baltimore on an antitrust matter. Civiletti, then a member of the Baltimore law firm of Venable, Baetjer and Howard, assisted Kirbo on the matter. Before joining the law firm, Civiletti was an assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore from 1962 to 1964.

Celebrations Mark Start Of Hanukkah New York (AP) To mark the start of Hanukkah today, the Jewish Lubavitcher movement will light a 30-foot-tall menorah, or candelabrum, said to be the world's largest. The lighting ceremony will take place at Sunday afternoon on Fifth Avenue and 59th Street. In Philadelphia, a 22-foot tall menorah will be lit on Independence Mall facing the Liberty Bell. Hanukkah, an eight-day celebration also known as the Feast of Lights, commemorates the recapture by the Jews of the temple in Jerusalem in 165 B.C. WHAT IS ORGANIZED CRIME? Experts who devote full time to the subject define it as a "self-perpetuating, continuing criminal conspiracy, designed for profit and power, utilizing fear and corruption, and seeking to obtain immunity from the law." The President's Task Force on Organized Crime described it as "a society that seeks to operate outside the control of the American people and their governments." The Chamber of Commerce of the United States warned: "Practically every type of business and industry in the United States is being exploited and penetrated by an awesome, powerful and no-holds-barred competitor, a conglomerate of crime." The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act defines it as "the unlawful activities of the members of a highly organized, disciplined association engaged in supplying illegal goods and ser- 'Open'- Continued From Page 1 Riddle, now 70, the son of the head of the old Indiana Motor Traffic Association, and the late Joseph Mitchell, an Indiana Avenue vice boss in the 1930s and 1940s.

Although Riddle eventually went to Las Vegas via Chicago, his influence remained heavy here, currently through legitimate gambling junkets operated from the city and formerly through gambling clubs run by aides and former partners. Riddle, a millionaire who once dated mob "moll" Virginia Hill, quietly backed a notorious gambling spa near McCordsville, the Plantation Club, in the late 1930s, but said he did not know Dalitz until both became Nevada casino owners in the 1950s. However, organized crime expert Hank Messick who studied the Cleveland syndicate, testified before congressional committees and authored numerous books said he was certain Riddle had dealt in the old days both with Dalitz and his associate. Lou Rothkopf. Like Dalitz.

Riddle became one of the most influential figures in the Nevada gambling capital and enjoyed key Teamsters Union ties, including friendship with the now missing union boss, Jimmy Hoffa, himself a former Hoosier. ONE OF RIDDLE'S top aides is David (Butch) Goldstein, a long time Indianapolis gambler who went on to gain influence in Las Vegas and around the country. Although Riddle, as boss of the Dunes Hotel and Country Club, is known for his political clout and only peripheral mob relationships, one close aide and a former partner established syndicate ties. One was the late Joseph (Joey Jacobs) Jacobson, who once ran the Plantation Club and a half-dozen other gambling operations here at various times. Another is Leo Louis Miroff, who has been identified by police and federal authorities as having conducted criminal business with the Chicago syndicate and currently is under indictment for a syndicate-sponsored robbery at Chicago Riddle said that he and Miroff have not been friendly for years and he knew of no misdeeds by Miroff during their association.

ACCORDING to a reliable source. Miroff is a "close friend" of Norman Z. Flick, a former bondsman described by the FBI in 1975 as an organized crime figure in Indianapolis. The Star established that Miroff had private meetings with Flick. Flick, authorities say, established a "network" of criminals who worked under his direction before Flick went to prison two years ago following his conviction in an interstate check-kiting scheme.

Police reports and underworld informants identify Flick as having had various deals with Samuel i Sam the Moustache) Norber, a former associate of Detroit's Purple Gang, and William (Billy) Stepp, reputed Dayton (Ohio underworld leader. Flick denies knowing either man, though he acknowledged knowing Miroff. Goldstein, who now holds stock in the Dunes (the hotel-casino is controlled by Riddle and Hoffa's former attorney, Morris Shenker), grew up in a southside neighborhood where he was close to Joe Mitchell. THE NAMES OF Joe and his brother haac (Tuffy) Mitchell dominated vice headlines in Indianapolis for decades, with Joe starting and Tuffy later controlling lotteries and then the numbers racket centered in the Indiana Avenue area When Joe Mitchell was involved in vices, including but not limited to gambling, prostitution, loansharking, narcotics, labor racketeering and other activities. IN GENERAL it is a national "syndicate" or "outfit" whose most powerful element is popularly known as the Mafia but is identified as La Cosa Nostra LCN I by federal authorities.

But. as the Florida Organized Crime Control Council notes, organized crime has a "much broader base comprised of career criminals of various ethnic origins whose common bond is the attainment of wealth and influence by whatever means." The experts say the "syndicate" actually perpetuates itself through alliances with persons who, while not members themselves, aid and abet organized crime in various ways. A burglar or thief who is strictly a "local" operator may deal with a fence gambling here, Angelo (Big Angiei I.onardo, Big Joe Lonardo's son. controlled the numbers racket at Cleveland, but there is no evidence the two were connected. However, Joe Mitchell's son.

nightclub owner Morris Mitchell, has had several business dealings with the Lonardo family. Morris Mitchell is known in gambling circles here for his political "juice." Tuffy Mitchell had established con-tads in Ohio also, and controlled at least part of the numbers racket in Dayton through the early 1960s, according to federal records and other sources. PART OF THESE records are Internal Revenue Service documents showing Tuffy had an operative in Dayton who worked the numbers there and reported to Mitchell Joe Mitchell is said by old-time policemen to have had strong political friends, while Tuffy's influence was evidenced in the early 1960s when federal agents found in his Northside home an incriminating adding machine tape which led to bribery charges against 22 policemen. One policeman went to prison; charges against the others were dismissed on a technicality. Joe Mitchell died in 1955 and Tuffy succumbed to a heart attack in 1970.

AS AN "OPEN CITY," Indianapolis is fertile ground for hoodlums and mob-connected con men from around the Ice Continued From Page 1 dation, said it was decided to drill through the ice shelf at any cost this year. DRILLERS RETURNED to the frozen camp 470 miles southeast of the main McMurdo Sound base early last month to begin drilling preparations. It is now approaching summer in Antarctica, the only time such activities can be carried out. Messages reporting the status of the operation have been coming into the National Science Foundation headquarters here every couple of days and a report Thursday said drilling operations were about to begin, using a new flame jet drill that operates like a high velocity blow torch. Use of the flame jet drill to penetrate this ice will contaminate the melted ice water with hydrocarbon compounds since the jet burns diesel fuel.

But once through the ice sheet, Anderson said sea water pushing into the hole should block pollution of the underlying sea. If all goes well, Anderson said drillers should be through the ice in about a week. AN INTERNATIONAL team of scientists has flown in to explore the water world below. "There is hardly any place in the Earth's biosphere which rivals the isolation and uniqueness of the Ross Ice Shelf not even the abyssmal trenches or underground caverns," Clough said. The Ross Ice Shelf, about the size of Spain, is believed to have formed hundreds of thousands of years ago during the Pleistocene ice ages.

Clough said the water below may harbor the only remaining community of organisms undisturbed since that time. The project is supported by the United States, the Soviet Union, Australia, Denmark. New Zealand and Norway. For the U.S. part, the science foundation is paying $4.7 million.

Harry Lcvinson Shirts Bell Urges Civile tti Move To No. 2 Post Colorful woven flannel with corduroy collar and elbow patches-machine washable. S-M-L-XL $16oo (C) THE LOS ANOELES TIMES Washington Attorney General Griffin B. Bell has recommended the appointment of Assistant Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti to the No.

2 post in the Justice Department, the Los Angeles Times learned Friday. The appointment, recommended to President Carter at a White House meeting, would make Civiletti, 42, the front-runner to succeed Bell if the attorney general leaves before Mr. Carter's first term ends, as is widely expected. Civiletti would replace Deputy Attorney General Peter F. Flaherty, who has said he is resigning to explore running for governor of Pennsylvania.

Administration sources said Civiletti is now willing to serve through Mr. Car-ter's term, although he had earlier ob- School Principal Slain In Yet Another Murder-Abduction Pittsburgh (UPI) A school principal was found shot to death Saturday in his suburban home and his wife was missing the third such incident of homicide and apparent abduction in the area In the last six weeks. Police said Richard Hyde, 34, principal at Fern Hollow Elementary School, was found dead in a kitchen of his home in Moon Township at about 7 a.m. by the couple's daughter, Kelly, 9. A search of the area by police and volunteers failed to uncover any clues to the disappearance of Hyde's wife, Donna, also 34.

Hyde apparently died about 1 a.m. of a shotgun wound in the abdomen, according to the Allegheny County coroner's office. The weapon was not found, police said. DOWNTOWN EASTGATI GREENWOOD LAFAYETTE SQ GIENDAIE CASTtETON WASHINGTON SQ..