Two arrests are expected today as a climax to an exposure of racketeers preying on Jewish pre-medical students who seek entrance into bona fide medical schools. Professor W. C. McTavish, chairman of the Committee on Recommendations to Medical and Dental Schools of New York University, has presented evidence of such racketeering to Maurice G. Wahl, Assistant District Attorney, it was revealed yesterday.
Evidence in addition to that presented by Professor McTavish kept pouring into Wahl’s office yesterday, a fact which led officials to believe the racket is of national scope. Wahl declared he will conduct a thorough investigation.
Complete evidence has been gathered against two persons, one of whom represents himself as a certified public accountant, the other as a Georgia professor. The two have been working in New York among Jewish students.
GOT $500 FROM ONE MAN
The men have been asking Jewish students for specified sums, in return for which they have guaranteed the students would be admitted into good medical colleges. According to Professor McTavish this racket has been abetted by unfounded rumors that many medical colleges discriminate against Jews.
One of the cases disclosed yesterday was that of a nineteen-year-old youth who was induced to turn over $500 for which he was told he would receive entrance into either Long Island University Medical School or Bellevue Medical School.
The Jewish student’s parents wanted him to attend medical school despite the fact that the boy’s scholastic record was not of the best. When the two men promised to place him in a college, the father, a clothing contractor of limited means, borrowed the $500 from his daughter and handed over the money.
The contract between the student and the men stipulated that if he was not admitted to a medical school, the money would be returned. The racketeers, of course, did not keep their promises and the money has not been accounted for, according to Detective Harry Leichtblau, who is assisting Wahl. Also working on the case is Dr. Perry M. Lichtenstein, medical adviser to the District Attorney.
Another case, not unlike the first, was recently reported to Wahl. This one concerns a Jewish student who studied in a German medical school. Upon his arrival here for his vacation at the end of one year, his parents refused to permit him to return because of the Hitler regime.
This student’s record was rather poor so the two men now demanded $900. At the same time they wired to the student who had previously paid $500, advising him to “keep his mouth shut.” The student, although not in the best of circumstances, managed to scrape together the money and turned over $900.
A hearing into these racketeering activities will be held at Wahl’s office, 137 Center street, this afternoon. Wahl indicated yesterday that a woman attorney is involved in the case in addition to the two men.
Wahl also revealed that he intends to investigate purported medical school prejudice against Jewish students, which he doubts exists. “If there is prejudice, I am going to say so, and I don’t care who is involved,” he emphatically ###d yesterday.
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.
