At War45-05-2297Wartime Racketeers

Words at war. Good evening, sucker. Oh, no, no, don't look at him. It's you I mean Think you're a wise guy, don't you? Catch you buying the Brooklyn Bridge or taking money out of your sock to pour it down a fake oil well Am I hey day is over?

Bootleg gin, speakeasies, protective associations? Oh, my rack, it's gone with prohibition. Hmm, maybe sucker. Maybe. I'm still around and doing fine. Take this war now. It's got angles of you know how to work them. You call it a war for democracy.

Well that's okay with me. Call it what you like. Sucker. I ain't complaining I'm getting mine out of it. What's so long sucker? I'll be seeing you. National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with the Council on Books and War Time presents another program in the widely discussed series, Words at war. Tonight our story dealing with the enemies on the home front is based on the book by Harry Lieber and Joseph Young.

War time racketeers. Ted Osburn is the narrator. We're facing a fact tonight. The ugly fact that Americans are paying billions a year in tribute to the wartime racketeer. The whole crew of them. The swindlers, the hijackers, the gunmen are out to line their pockets with your earnings, Mrs. America.

Not in a dark alley at the point of a gun. That's pre-war technique. The gangster 1945 style operates in broad daylight. You may meet him in the corner meat market or grocery store. You may rub elbows with him in a crowded railroad station.

Go to the kitchen office. I'm sorry old trains might completely sold out. Next? I'd like one to do. Oh, pardon me, madam. You want a reservation in Chicago? Do, I, right? You have one to sell.