Report and Proceedings of the Senate Committee Appointed to Investigate the Police Department of the City of New York
by Clarence Lexow, Jacob Aaron Cantor in 1895
Quote:
A. Yes; and there is Jake Shipsey; he is another big man; Cornelius P. Parker,
and Billy Meyers, and Ed. Hogan, and Charlie Lindauer, Dick Gammon; ...
Full page:
in Albany; there is two of these cipher messages come, one to
Conlon and one to this man in Albany; he has charge of Syracuse
and Troy and all that part of the district.
Q. The man in Albany? A. Yes, sir.
Q. There must be considerable telephoning and telegraphic
work? A. Each one of these backers have a long distance
telephone in their office, in their private headquarters, a long
distance telephone; they have their names in the telephone book,
but there is also a fictitious name—a real estate office, may be,
or something of that kind.
Q. Now, could you tell us how many of those backers are in
the city of New York? A. I can name them off for you.
Q. Name them, if you can? A. Al Adams, Jake Shipsey—
Q. Why do you put Al Adams first? A. Al has the most
number of sheets, and he is the biggest man, and has the most
money, and has the biggest pile.
Q. He is called the king of the policy dealers, isn't he? A.
Yes; and there is Jake Shipsey; he is another big man; Cornelius
P. Parker, and Billy Meyers, and Ed. Hogan, and Charlie
Lindauer, Dick Gammon; how many is that; (the stenographer
states the number); Morton — Billy Morton, Murray — if I
seen the names I could tell you.
Q. If they occur to you again, all right?
A. Yes; all right.
Q. Now, can you state of these 14 or 15 policybackers in
this city, if they have the city divided up into districts?
A. Oh, yes; they, some of them, join together; now, they all work
rather together, except Parker; he, as Parker says, he has to
buck against the whole lot of them.
Q. You are acquainted with all of those men?
A. Oh, yes;
Parker, he has to buck against the whole lot of them; Al
Adams, Billy Meyer, and Shipsey, and Morton, and all those fellows work together.
Q. On a sort of combine?
A. Yes; Jake Shipsey takes all
the "put-off play" that these backers are afraid to back; a
gig, for $1,000 for one of these backers, he may be afraid to
take it, and he puts it on for Jake Shipsey; Shipsey takes most
of the "put-off play;" that is, the big play; he has got plenty of money, Jake has.
Q. What class of people mostly indulge in this policy business?
A. It differs; sometimes the prosperous people; downtown, it is the poor class, the Jewish people, and up town, it
