Swashbucklers, velvet-gloved racketeers, care-free ruffians, dishonest bankers, pitiless politicians and ruthless “men of the palm” have for a good many months been more cautious than has been their wont. Tipped off that the old Army game isn’t what it used to be, these individuals whose sources of income would not stand investigation have been obliged to resort to less brazen methods. A name that will long be associated with the curtailment of public racketeering and with the arrest of its major pretenders is George Z. Medalie, United States Attorney for the Southern District in New York, who will resign from office Tuesday.
“I am returning to private practice,” said Mr. Medalie in explanation. “This job was only a little vacation for me. My business is that of a practising lawyer.”
Recently Mr. Medalie made the headlines when, together with Presiding Justice Frederick Kernochan, of the Court of Special Sessions, he launched an investigation into racketeering. Senator Copeland’s Senate subcommittee one day was informed by the U. S. Attorney that there is an intimate alliance between New York City politics and New York City crime. It was reported in the newspapers a short while afterwards that Tammany Hall tried to “stop Medalie”, that President Roosevelt was being petitioned to replace the Republican office-holder with a member of the faithful.
As a prosecutor, however, he gave such satisfaction that he was kept in office by the Democratic administration in spite of pressure to install a Democrat.
Mr. Medalie’s resignation is not a cause for mourning in certain quarters of Gotham. But that he is a loss to the Southern District of New York, recognized the world over as a racketeer’s paradise, can not be disputed.
QUITS AT AGE OF FIFTY
Mr. Medalie will be fifty years old on the day of his retirement. He was born in New York City and studied at Columbia, where he met in 1902 the bright young undergraduates Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lincoln Ellsworth and William Donovan, defeated gubernatorial candidate in the last State election. He also became acquainted with Miss Carrie Kaplan, Barnard College student, who today is Mrs. Medalie. They have two children and live at 225 West 86th Street.
Successively, Mr. Medalie became in 1910 assistant District Attorney in New York County, deputy Attorney General for the State, and United States Attorney in February, 1931, by appointment of President Hoover. A year ago he was defeated for the U. S. Senatorship by Mr. Wagner who rode into office on the wave of the Roosevelt landslide.
He is an active worker in Jewish circles. Mr. Medalie is president of the Jewish Board of Guardians, a trustee in the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies, a director of the Bronx Y.M.H.A. and a trustee of the Hebrew National Committee of the Administrative Committee of the American Jewish Congress.
The United States Attorney is slight of build, of medium height and has a suave, unruffled courtroom manner. He wears conservative clothing, usually preferring dark gray and brown; he uses old-fashioned rimless glasses (pince-nez, no less) which he transfers gingerly to his right hand when talking.
Mr. Medalie’s name is mispronounced so often that its owner is quite inured to “Mr. Midalee”, “Mr. Medaler” and “Mr. Medal”. Correct, both e’s are short.
His office assistants know him to be punctual and dependable, and a relentless worker. Sometimes, persons not accustomed to high-pressure activity are amazed at his daily output of work. They soon grow accustomed to him, however, and learn to admire the keen, shrewd, aggressive personality.
One young man whispered that his chief, finding it difficult to sleep soundly, eats bananas before retiring. This “sends him right to sleep,” it was averred.
SENT “LEGS” TO ATLANTA
Before the bar Mr. Medalie is a most relentless criminal-hunter. He sent Jack “Legs” Diamond to Atlanta after the late gangster had been twice acquitted in State courts. He won numerous convictions and exposed “entry factories” for illegal immigrants. Using the prohibition and income tax laws, he put slippery racketeers behind bars and made the underworld tremble.
Recently, in connection with the prosecution of Charles E. Mitchell, president of the National City Bank, Joseph W. Harriman, another prominent banker and others in high office, he waged a memorable fight on the issue whether men of wealth have the legal right to establish technical losses to evade income tax payment by selling stock to friends and relatives, and then buying it back.
Mr. Medalie’s most recent victory was scored when he succeeded in winning an indictment against Heinz Spanknoebel, dethroned Nazi chieftain in the United States, now in hiding.
WILL EXPRESS VIEWS LATER
The writer talked briefly with Mr. Medalie in the spacious ancient office in the Federal Building. He declined to go deeply into the subject of world affairs, saying that it was not his place as a federal official to discuss them.
“My views will become public at the proper time,” he said.
Recently the U. S. Attorney described “the value of Judaism as follows:
“As I see it, Judaism’s value is that we are attached, not simply because we have a concept or an ideal, but because that concept is a part of a people and the people are part of that concept.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
