Crime Without Punishment

Introduction

The Rackets Committee of the United States Senate, of which Senator John L. McClellan was chairman, was engaged for more than five years in a bitter battle against criminals at all levels of our society, whether in labor unions or in great corporations, whether sleek, polished leaders of national crime syndicates or furtive, fly-by-night tinhorns who help their bosses extort upwards of fifty billion dollars annually from United States citizens. In this report of the committee’s activities, Senator McClellan tells how some of the greatest labor unions in the nation were corrupted by conscienceless men, how racketeers prey upon honest businessmen, how criminal influences have become so widespread that they threaten the very future of our nation.

Content Overview

In Crime Without Punishment, Senator McClellan takes his readers behind the scenes of the nationally televised hearings and shows how they were developed by a dedicated staff of top-notch investigators, formerly headed by the committee’s chief counsel, Robert F. Kennedy, who became Attorney General of the United States. The reader sees the full picture of James Hoffa and Dave Beck, of the mammoth Teamsters Union, of the invasion of racketeers into many other unions, of the operations of the nation’s top-level gangsters in the fields of labor and management.

Warning and Reflection

This report of the committee’s activities and findings does more, however, than tell a fascinating story: it sounds a warning to every citizen of the nation. It reveals in stark terms the national apathy which permits criminals to travel their evil pathways without stop or hindrance. It raises a question that must be answered: are the punishments, the penalties, to be exacted from the men who committed the crime—or must they be visited upon the entire nation?

Conclusion

Crime Without Punishment is important, vital reading.

“Pulls no punches—names names…from top to bottom of the crime hierarchy.”—Miami Herald