J.T.

by John Nicholas Iannuzzi

  “Very impressive.” Lucy was standing near the door, her pencil and pad in hand.

  “Well, for Christmas sake, Lucy, come on in and make like you’re going to stay for a few minutes.”

  Lucy sat on a couch near the door.

  “As long as you’re going to sit all the way over there, why the hell don’t you just sit in your office and leave the door open and we’ll shout,” the senator smiled. “Come on over here, will you?”

  Lucy walked to the senator’s desk and sat in the chair opposite J.T.

  “You thought it was impressive?”

  “Very. It did everything it should have, put you right into the national picture.”

  The senator looked at J.T. “That was J.T.’s doing. He arranged the interview. He and Duneden and I had lunch and discussed the subjects we would cover, like a dry run. And damned if Duneden didn’t go for it all, and cooperate a hundred—and I mean a hundred—percent.”

  J.T. nodded.

  “Now why don’t we go to that committee meeting, J.T., and we’ll get ourselves approval to hold the hearings. After the members read Duneden’s article and see how interested the press and the American public are in organized crime, the vote will go like oil through a funnel.”

  “That’s how you planned the article to break, isn’t it, Senator?” said J.T. “Right before the vote?”

  “You bet I did,” Anders said, standing, walking around the desk toward J.T. “You bet I did.” The senator put his arm around J.T.’s shoulder as they walked to the door. “J.T., you are one hell of a smart young man. Isn’t he, Lucy?” he said over his shoulder.

  Lucy smiled.

  The senator and J.T. left for the committee meeting across the street in the Capitol building.

  “That was some interview, Senator,” Senator Carleton from Louisiana remarked as Senator Anders entered the hearing room.

  “Thank you, Senator.”

  “I never realized you were so concerned about organized crime,” Senator Carleton added.

  “Well, I’ve been doing a lot of research into the subject, and damn, I said, this is a serious problem, serious enough to start some hearings and draft some new legislation. Fact is, that’s what I’m going to propose today. I hope you’ll go along with me on this, Senator?”

  “Suppose I will. Especially with the kind of national concern that’s indicated in this article.”

  “Believe me. I just happened to mention to Duneden over lunch last week that I intended to propose such a hearing. He immediately became as interested as could be. By the way, Senator, if we have such hearings, I’m going to propose that they be public hearings, nationally televised, so the people back home can see what a problem organized crime really is.”

  “National television coverage?” Senator Carleton was impressed. “These hearings sound right on the money to me.”

  Anders looked around the room. “Looks like most of us are here. Perhaps we should call the meeting to order. By the way, Senator, this subject matter might get under Senator Maggiacomo’s skin, seeing that he’s eye-talian.”

  “You think that Senator Maggiacomo is somehow going to try to protect those hoodlums because they’re eye-talian too?”

  “No, I wouldn’t say that. But what the hell, you know, it’s kind of like owning up to the fact that your blood kin are polecats. You know what I mean. He could be a mite sensitive about the subject.”

  “I get you.”

  “A lot of the members of the committee look up to him. So if he gets a little touchy, you and I are going to have to calm him down, get around him somehow, so he doesn’t sidetrack the hearings. Oh, say, Senator Carleton, do you know our new associate counsel to the committee, J.T. Wright?” Anders said, motioning to J.T. to join them.

  “No, can’t say that I do.”

  “Senator Carleton, this here is J.T. Wright, one of the brightest young men to join us on Capitol Hill in a long time. You must know his daddy, Big Jim Wright.”

  “Big Jim? I sure enough do. A good friend of mine. How is your daddy, J.T.?”

  “Very well, sir.”

  “You’re the newest member of Craig Rogers’s team, eh?” asked Senator Carleton.

  “Yes, sir,” J.T. acquiesced.

  “Excuse me a moment, Senator Carleton,” the chairman said. “I want to call the meeting to order.”

  “Very well, Senator. I’ll be talking to you again, young man,” Senator Carleton said to J.T. “And be sure to give my very best regards to your daddy, hear?”

  “I will, sir.”

  The twenty-six members of the Joint Judiciary Committee were divided equally between senators and congressmen. The committee was further split along party lines in accordance with the ratio of Democrats to Republicans in each of the Houses of Congress. Since the Senate was Republican, there were more Republican senators. And the House, primarily Democratic, had sent more Democrats.

  One of the functions of the committee was to investigate matters that required new legislation or a modification of old legislation, particularly in areas dealing with crime and the criminal justice system. Organized crime, according to the chairman, fell into the category of new legislation.

  The committee members stood throughout the room, conversing as they waited for the meeting to begin.

  “Will the meeting please come to order,” the chairman announced from his seat midway down the oval table.

  The room began to quiet down.

  J.T. sat at one end of the long oval table. There was an empty chair next to him. He was delighted to see that Rogers was not around.

  “Thank you kindly, gentlemen,” said the chairman after the members were all seated. “I have some information I want to share with you this afternoon concerning an area where there is a compelling need for new legislation.”

  Craig Rogers opened the door, peered in at the long table surrounded by the committee, hesitated, then walked quickly to his seat. J.T. frowned.

  “Organized crime is a national contagion,” the chairman announced dramatically. “It’s like an octopus. Its tentacles reach into every city, every business, every home, wreaking havoc on everything it touches. Our committee counsel has, at my request, studied the subject and reported to me that there exists an incredible void of legislation to control this pestilence.”

  J.T. watched the committee members, making notes on their reactions to Ander’s remarks.

  “Organized crime is a vast organization, not unlike an underground government. It is nationwide, worldwide, with a committee-like board of directors as its governing body. It’s composed of groups or gangs called families, in cities throughout the country. There is a family in Detroit, in Chicago, in Florida. There are families in New Orleans, in Philadelphia, in Arizona, in New Jersey, in New York. In fact, in New York there are five families. There are families in Rhode Island, in Connecticut, in Massachusetts, as well as many other states.” Anders knew that a member of the committee came from each state and city that he had mentioned. “This thing is like a spreading cancer, gentlemen. And there are no laws with which to deal with this cancer. I am recommending that we investigate what legislation is necessary to cope with this plague. I am proposing that we conduct open, televised hearings.”

  A buzz of soft conversation filled the room.

  “Yes, gentlemen,” the chairman said loudly, to override the buzzing. “I have had our staff check with the media, with the public, with law enforcement. The public wants to know, the media is anxious to tell them, and the law enforcement agencies are ready to cooperate in every way possible. In other words, gentlemen, the time is ripe for such hearings; our people, our constituents, are waiting for us to act. I would like to hear some of your comments.”

  The chairman sat, looking around the table. He glanced at Senator Maggiacomo of Connecticut. Maggiacomo’s face was pensive as he read some notes on a pad in front of him.

  “Senator?” a young representative from New Mexico asked tentatively.

  �
�Yes, Mr. Keller.”

  “My state is not one you’ve mentioned where there is a family of these people, but I’ve read various monographs on the subject, and I was formerly a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation …”

  That news intrigued several of the members, who looked more carefully in Keller’s direction.

  “Since there is a code of silence among the members of organized crime,” Mr. Keller continued, “who will testify at these hearings other than law-enforcement officials? And, that being the case, what will these hearings reveal that we don’t already know or can’t easily ascertain from reading official reports and studies already accessible to this committee?”

  “That’s a very good question, which deserves a very good answer, Mr. Keller,” said the chairman. “I think I’d like to have Mr. Wright, our associate counsel, answer that question. Mr. Wright.”

  J.T. braced himself, then stood. He nodded to the chairman. “Gentlemen, it’s a great pleasure to be a member of this committee’s legal staff, assisting Mr. Rogers in this study.”

  Rogers looked at J.T. and nodded slightly. He had no idea what studies had been made on this subject. But with true political aplomb, he rode the wave.

  “What Mr. Keller has said is correct,” J.T. continued. “There is a great deal of law-enforcement literature available to us. However, the point of these hearings is not to rehash some tired reports and studies, but to dramatically present the picture of this cancer, as the chairman has so aptly called it, to the American public. These hearings—broadcast throughout the country via radio and television—would awaken the public to the magnitude of the problem.”

  “How would the public’s awareness via radio and television help us to formulate legislation, which, as I see it, is the only purpose of these hearings?” asked Representative Wicks from California.

  “Shall I answer that question, Mr. Chairman?” J.T. asked.

  “Why don’t you,” the Chairman said, shuffling the hot potato back to J.T.

  “Just as the McCarthy hearings aroused the public to the menace of Communism, these hearings would arouse the public to the menace of organized crime.”

  There were murmurs around the table.

  “Now, gentlemen,” said the chairman, rising, “let me just suggest one thing. When Mr. Wright refers to the McCarthy hearings, he’s referring only to the wide public dissemination of those hearings. However, let us not forget the ultimate fate of the late senator from Wisconsin. We must be careful not to make the same mistakes. This will be a search for the truth, as the lawyers put it, not a witch-hunt.”

  The murmurs quieted a bit.

  “And if we can, by television, bring the menace home to the American public,” the chairman continued, “then they, our constituents, can bring to our attention far more information about this menace than is presently in the hands of law enforcement. In other words, these televised hearings are intended not only to get information to the public, but to get some information back from them.”

  “And television and radio coverage into every corner of the country wouldn’t hurt us with our voters, either,” Senator Carleton threw in.

  The committee members laughed.

  “That would be a side effect we could all live with,” chided the chairman. “Why don’t you continue, Mr. Wright?”

  “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator Anders has mentioned the McCarthy hearings and possible abusive methods. The chairman has said that the proposed new hearings wouldn’t be the same. That’s not to say, however, that there would not be people who would appear at our proposed hearings who would try to hide behind the Fifth Amendment.”

  “Who would they be?” asked a voice from J.T.’s left. “Surely law-enforcement officials aren’t going to take the Fifth.”

  “Certainly not,” said the chairman, rising again. “Mr. Wright is referring to the crime figures. You all know we have the power to subpoena, and we’d subpoena these crime figures right out of their lairs, right out into the light of God’s day, and ask them questions about all their activities. As Mr. Keller, who was in the FBI, has already said, there is a code of silence in these crime families. Thus, many of these crime figures would rely on the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer our inquiries.”

  “Could we compel them to answer, or punish them for refusing to answer?” asked a representative from Iowa.

  “Mr. Rogers, would you help us out with the legal technicalities?” the chairman said diplomatically.

  Rogers was caught short. He removed his wire-framed glasses, polished their lenses, and replaced them carefully on his nose.

  “Our committee does have subpoena power, gentlemen, but not the power to grant immunity from prosecution based on information uncovered by testimony. Since we cannot grant immunity from prosecution, a witness could claim possible incrimination, and invoke his absolute constitutional privilege against self-incrimination, the Fifth Amendment.”

  Rogers looked around. Everyone seemed to have understood his explanation. He sat.

  “How could we accomplish anything by that?” asked Representative Whalen from the right side of the table. “If they won’t answer the questions, what good is calling them in the first place?”

  “May I answer that question, Mr. Chairman?” said Senator Maggiacomo, raising his hand.

  “Yes, certainly,” said the chairman warily.

  “The purpose of subpoenaing people you know will refuse to answer questions is to dangle them in front of the American public. As we learned from the McCarthy hearings, people can be crucified for legitimately invoking their Fifth Amendment privilege. In those hearings, witnesses legitimately refused to answer questions about whether they had ever been members of the Communist Party, or a group sympathetic to the aims of Communism as an economic philosophy.

  “Remember, back in the early thirties,” Senator Maggiacomo continued, “in the middle of the Depression, it was fashionable to be a member of some leftist group trying to figure out how to put bread on the table. How could a person in a responsible job, twenty years later, a person who may have gone to one meeting and found out the whole socialist thing was a lot of baloney, how could that person answer yes to McCarthy’s question? There would be no waiting for an explanation. McCarthy didn’t want an explanation. He wanted yes or no. Yes was automatic ruin. And if the witness denied the accusation, McCarthy had proof that the witness had been a member for two weeks, or had attended one meeting of an organization long dead and buried.

  “I can’t imagine that our results would be much different,” Senator Maggiacomo said, looking around the table. “What would we ask? ‘Are you a member or an associate of members of an organized crime family?’ If the witness denies it, we’ll present proof that he associates with known or suspected criminals. That’ll suffice to make the witness both a liar and a criminal. You all know, gentlemen, we already have laws dealing with perjury and actual crimes. So no new legislation is needed to deal with any person we can prove is either a liar or a criminal. Better yet, perhaps, the witness says, ‘Yes, I am an associate of criminals; I was once a criminal, but I haven’t committed any crime in twenty years.’ What are we going to do, gentlemen? Create laws that banish people who haven’t committed a crime—but might in the future? Perhaps, as a third alternative, the witness simply refuses to answer. Wonderful. Then we can crucify him, because obviously he has something to hide. These proposed hearings would merely be an exercise in sensationalism and publicity-gathering, rather than a true search for necessary, viable legislation.”

  The men around the table were silent as they considered Senator Maggiacomo’s remarks.

  “Are you saying, then, Senator, that we should forego hearings—just as some say McCarthy’s hearings should have never taken place—because some people who only flirted with crime for a short time—just like the one-time Communists—will be embarrassed?” asked Senator Monrow from Georgia. “I say that the good American is never involved in crime, and never involved
in Communism, not even for one day, and those that are, even just once, are not good Americans.” Senator Monrow’s face was flushed with American self-righteousness.

  “Are you saying, then, Senator,” asked Senator Maggiacomo softly, “that those privileges and rights written into our Constitution by very wise men a hundred and eighty years ago, to protect the American people from abuses, should now be ignored because life in the rest of the country isn’t always as black and white as it is in Georgia?”

  “Sir,” said Senator Monrow indignantly, “I don’t know what you mean by your reference to black and white, but if you intend to cast aspersions on the sovereign state of Georgia, which I so proudly represent, then I say—”

  “Gentlemen, gentlemen,” said the chairman.

  “No, Mr. Chairman,” said Senator Monrow, red as a beet, “I demand an apology from Senator Maggiacomo, who seems a little oversensitive because most of these hoodlums are eye-talians.”

  All eyes turned to Senator Maggiacomo.

  Senator Maggiacomo pursed his lips. “I see many of my fellow members watching me expectantly, as if I should become infuriated by a remark calculated to achieve just that result. First of all, I can not be held responsible for the oversensitivity of my colleague at the use of a very common American—and I emphasize American—idiom. I don’t know what the senator from Georgia refers to when he suggests that this idiom casts aspersions on the sovereign state of Georgia, but I do invite him to explain to the committee his indignation over my use of it. Perhaps the colors black and white offend him? I don’t know. But I’d like to know. And surely, after such an explanation, if there is need for an apology, I shall indeed be delighted to give one. Senator Monrow, the floor is yours.”

  All eyes returned to Monrow.

  “Gentlemen, our function is not to debate other issues,” interrupted the chairman. “It is to decide whether the proposed hearings would be feasible and beneficial.”

  “I don’t intend to be hoodwinked into a debate the subject of which was cause for a civil war,” said Senator Monrow. “But Senator Maggiacomo should still explain to us his reluctance to bring all these hoodlums, whether they be eye-talian or not, out into the open.”