Mr. KENNEDY. You made a downpayment of $1,000 on the $10,000 toward settlement of the fine, and it wasn't until 1957 that the Government found that you still owed another $9,000 and collected it; is that right? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. So after your meeting at Apalachin, the Government was able to collect $9,000 that you had owed since 1931. Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. Of all the assets that you had had up to that time, all the assets you kept in your wife's name so that the Government found it impossible to collect the fine prior to that time; is that right? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. You owned a tavern. You sold cigars. You sold tickets on baseball pools, and you operate a dice game; is that right? Mr. Zrro. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. And you have an interest in a cab company, the Security Cab Co., in Springfield? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. In connection with the coin-operated machines, Mr. Chairman, and in connection with the testimony that we had yesterday regarding the setting up by the operators of the union, we have some documents here that I would like to ask Mr. Zito about and have him identify. This is the first one. The CHAIRMAN. I hand you what purports to be a photostatic copy of a letter dated July 28, 1948, addressed to AMI Phonographs, 2009 Fulton Street, Chicago, Ill. Apparently it is signed Modern Distributing Co., by Frank Zito. I ask you to examine this photostatic copy and state if you identify it as being a copy of the original. (The document was handed to the witness.) Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. The CHAIRMAN. You have seen the letter, have you, the photostatic copy? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. The CHAIRMAN. Let the record show he is looking at it when he answered the question, please. Did you sign that letter? Mr. ZITO. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. What kind of a union were you talking about? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. The CHAIRMAN. All right. He identifies the letter. Let it be made exhibit No. 7. (Letter referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 7" for reference and will be found in the appendix on p. 16929.) Mr. HACKENKAMP. May it please the chairman, I think the witness was confused in answering the question that he signed. I think he was directing his answer to the question of did he see it. The CHAIRMAN. All right. I will ask you again. Do you see the letter before you? Mr. ZITO. Yes. Didn't I say yes a while ago? I think I did. I don't know. The CHAIRMAN. Well, I asked you. You first declined to answer. Mr. ZITO. Yes, I do. The CHAIRMAN. You now see the letter before you, do you? The CHAIRMAN. Did you sign it? Mr. Zrro. I decline to answer. It may incriminate myself. The CHAIRMAN. You decline to answer that; it may incriminate you. Is that correct? Mr. ZITO. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Is that your signature? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. The CHAIRMAN. Let the letter be made exhibit No. 7. Mr. KENNEDY. I would like to have the letter read into the record, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. This letter is on stationery of the Modern Distributing Co., Springfield, Ill, 225 North 5th Street, dated July 28, 1948. A.M.I. Phonographs 2009 Fulton Street Chicago 12, Illinois Dear Mike We have received our charater [sic] for a union, for the automatic phonographs' here in Springfield. We have been requested to draw up our own By Laws and Contract, by this Saturday July 31, this is the reason we are writing you at this time. We understand that your union in Chicago is operating very successfully and would appreciate you sending us a copy of your By Laws so that we may outline ours along these lines as near as possible. Mike we would like getting this information as soon as possible do [sic] to the fact they will install our officers and ask for our By Laws and Contract on the next meeting [sic] on the above mentioned date. Your friend All right, Mr. Counsel. MODERN DISTRIBUTING COMPANY. Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, the significant part of this, of course, is that We have received our charter for a union. This is from Frank Zito, who is an employer. This is for the automatic phonographs here in Springfield. We have been requested to draw up our bylaws and contract by this Saturday, July 31, and this is the reason we write you at this time. We understand that your union in Chicago is operating very successfully and would appreciate you sending us a copy of your bylaws so that we may outline ours along these lines as near as possible. Then we have two letters indicating that a copy of the bylaws was sent by Michael Spagnola. The CHAIRMAN. I hand you two photostatic copies of letters, one dated July 31, 1948, addressed to you, from Michael Spagnola, of the Auto-Phono Distribution Co. I guess that is Auto-Phonograph Distribution Co. The other is addressed to you, dated September 15, 1948, from Automatic Phonograph Distribution Co., signed by Michael Spagnola. Will you examine those photostatic copies and see if you identify them? [The documents were handed to the witness.] The CHAIRMAN. All right. Are you looking at them now? You see the letters in front of you, do you? (The witness conferred with his counsel.) Mr. Zrro. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. The CHAIRMAN. The letters may be made exhibits Nos. 7A and 7B, in the order of their dates. (Letters referred to were marked "Exhibits 7A and 7B" for reference and will be found in the appendix on pp. 16930–16931.) Mr. KENNEDY. The letters indicate that the bylaws were sent down, Mr. Chairman, and again shows the close relationship between the association and the union, and also showing the difficulties of investigating these kinds of matters. For instance, this coin operation was not in Mr. Zito's name. It was in somebody else's name. It was only upon an examination of other records that we learned of Mr. Zito's interest, and also the fact that when we procured some income-tax returns from an independent source we found that Mr. Zito in a couple of years had taken tax losses on the operation of the pinball machines in the Springfield area. So people that operate such as Mr. Zito, and operate through third parties and fronts, with them it is often very difficult to make a complete investigation. The CHAIRMAN. The Chair may state that the letter dated July 31, 1948, promises to send a copy of the bylaws, which are not immediately in their possession. It seems they had been loaned to somebody else at the time. The letter of September 15, 1948, transmits the bylaws to Mr. Zito. All right. Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, after Mr. Hammergren withdrew from the Wurlitzer Co. many of the people that he had brought in transferred over and received their machines from the AMI Co. During the course of the hearings we will be developing that situation, but we have here another letter which this witness cannot identify, but which gives an indication as to the situation during the early 1950's, as far as the operation of hoodlums and gangsters in these companies. The CHAIRMAN. That letter will have to be properly identified. Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Kaplan can do it. TESTIMONY OF ARTHUR G. KAPLAN-Resumed The CHAIRMAN. You have already been sworn, Mr. Kaplan. You may be interrogated about the letter. Mr. KENNEDY. Would you identify to whom the letter is written and by whom? Mr. KAPLAN. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Where did you procure the letter? How did you get it? Mr. KAPLAN. I procured this letter from an examination of the files of the Automatic Phonograph Distributing Co. in Chicago, which was the franchised distributorship that was owned in part by Joseph Glimko and a union official in Chicago, Fred Thomas Smith. The letter is addressed to a Mr. Divinnell, Minneapolis Security Corp., Minneapolis, Minn. It is under date of February 26, 1951. The CHAIRMAN. The letter may be made exhibit No. 8. (Letter referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 8" for reference and will be found in the appendix on p. 16932.) Mr. KENNEDY. In the letter, Mr. Kaplan, there is some discussion about various individuals. Mr. KAPLAN. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. I will read just the pertinent part, Mr. Chairman. It is to Mr. Divinnell, Minneapolis, and from the Automatic Phonograph Distributing Co. Dear Bill: I appreciate your good intentions in sending me the information you did on Modern Distributing Co. and on Mike Keros. Who is Mike Keros? Mr. KAPLAN. One of the persons down in there. Mr. KENNEDY. Do you know anything about his background? Mr. KENNEDY (reading): I must confess that we already knew as much, but we also have other knowledge which influenced us to accept the deal. We have personal knowledge of the Zito brothers, and know their connections, politically and otherwise. I don't expect any more contracts with them but if it should be necessary I know the risk involved would be as good as any we have ever had. The Keros deal involves one more AMI, and the contract will probably be forthcoming this week. The first phonograph was not for his place of business as you might have supposed. Then it goes on. The letter indicates that they were aware at the time that the arrangements were made with the Zito brothers, that they were aware of the background of Zito. It is of significance, Mr. Chairman, that this distributing company in Chicago was a company that was owned at that time, and up until recently, by Mr. Joey Glimco, who was a Teamster Union official, who has been arrested a large number of times, twice for murder, and this other union official, Fred Smith Mr. KAPLAN. Fred Thomas Smith, known as "Jukebox Smitty." Mr. KENNEDY. He also had an interest, the union official, in what union? Mr. KAPLAN. Local 134 of the IBEW. Mr. KENNEDY. Did they have jurisdiction over the coin machines? Mr. KAPLAN. That union had jurisdiction over all coin machines in Chicago. Mr. KENNEDY. So here are two union officials that controlled the company, one of them being the union official in control of the local that had jurisdiction in these matters. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, those labor leaders were in the jukebox business? Mr. KENNEDY. That is correct. And these letters here are from the same company, Michael Spagnola of the Automatic Phonograph Distributing Co., the letters written to Zito telling him about the setup of the union in Chicago. "We hear you have a good union there." Here it is written to a company that is owned and controlled by two union officials, one of whom is the union official who has charge of the union. As far as Mr. Zito's brother, who was also in this business, his name was Mr. Anthony Zito. Is that right? Do you have a brother Anthony? TESTIMONY OF FRANK ZITO, ACCOMPANIED BY COUNSEL, Mr. Zrro. Right. Mr. KENNEDY. He was in this business with you? Mr. Zrro. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. He has been arrested seven times and convicted for violation of the internal revenue laws, sentenced to 8 years in prison. He was arrested for bootlegging, carrying firearms, arson, and assault with a deadly weapon. Is that right? Mr. Zrto. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. Do you know a man by the name of De Rosa? Mr. KENNEDY. He was a pinball operator, a pinball operator in Illinois, during 1956-57? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. He was an employee at one time of your brother, Anthony Zito? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. He was a pinball operator until his headless body was found in a cornfield in Sangamon County on December 6, 1957; is that right? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. His body was found after a farm dog found the head and brought it to its master? Mr. Zrro. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. Do you know anything about his being killed? Mr. KENNEDY. He had worked for your brother and then had set up a company in competition with your brother. Wasn't that one of the problems? Mr. Ziro. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. The CHAIRMAN. Has anybody been convicted for that? Mr. KENNEDY. No. It is still under investigation, Mr. Chairman. Senator CHURCH. When did it happen? Mr. KENNEDY. His body was found December 6, 1957. Could you tell us if the coin machine business was considered at the meeting at Apalachin? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. Isn't it a fact that this was discussed, that it was one of the things that was discussed? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. Do you know the penalty that was levied on Mr. Lombardozzi, who attended the meeting in Apalachin? Mr. ZITO. I decline to. It may incriminate myself. Mr. KENNEDY. That is all. The CHAIRMAN. Have you any questions, Senator? Call the next witness. Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Michael Genovese. Mr. Chairman, we have had witnesses from New Jersey, Missouri, Illinois, who are prominent figures in the jutebox business. I would now like to call Mr. Genovese. |