| OCR Text |
Show page 152 YOU BOYS IN WASHINGTON When Sam Cortese lived in our town with his parents he sold good f r e s h mullet f i s h a f t e r school hours, helping in the family s t o r e u n t i l 7 p . m. on weekdays and u n t i l 11 p. m. on Saturdays. Sam was t h e only c h i l d of a civic-minded Catholic family, his f a t h e r a c t i v e in Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary and such, but Sam d i d n ' t l i k e the smell of f i s h . Eventually he d r i f t ed away from our town and learned t o l i v e more f a s t i d i o u s l y. Sam Cortese became head of an i l l e g a l liquor d i s t r i b u t i on ring with headquarters in Washington, D, C, He ran stuff into dry s t a t e s and undersold state-oxvned and privately-owned stores in wet s t a t e s . The operation n e t t e d big money. Frank Louder was his man i n Norfolk, Virginia, u n t il Charlie. P r u i t t got greedy, which r e s u l t e d in Louder's death. Cortese d i d n ' t l i k e i t . Louder had been conservative, had avoided p u b l i c i t y , had been nursed along into a s o l i d investment. For t h r e e weeks, while he stayed glued to t e l e v i s i on watching a s e n a t e i n v e s t i g a t i o n committee quiz p r e s i d e n t i al appointees, Cortese did nothing about P r u i t t . Afterward, he c a l l e d in Latham Rathburn, the r i n g ' s h i t man. Cortese was appalled at t h e l a t i t u d e of answers the i n v e s t i g a t i o n committee permitted and the committee's f a i l u r e t o draw inference from c a s u a l , offhand remarks. He resolved again to keep t i g h t er c o n t r o l on h i s group's a f f a i r s than "those boys in Washington" did on $ h e l r s . Malta l l j l ^ o r t e s e always removed himself from the |
