After the 1950 New Year’s Eve local slots extravaganza, and the January 17th Crossroads Restaurant gathering of gambling interests (including, just maybe, Eastern mobsters), a new voice joins the fray: Jimmie Tarantino, owner-publisher of Hollywood Life.
A special, free, Contra Costa edition of that publication was distributed throughout Lafayette, Orinda, Walnut Creek, Martinez and Richmond at the end of January. Its purpose seemed to be to debunk the stories that had been running in the Sun concerning gambling in the area. For example, here’s how Hollywood Life begins the story: “The picturesque towns of Orinda and Lafayette are being sold down the river by its own newspaper….”Sun”, published by Herman Silverman. In a campaign organized by Silverman and Dana McGaugh, smear-headlines and articles are attempting to frighten citizens…with lies about incoming Eastern gangsters and gamblers.”
As the victims of these “lies” are the good family men of the Tunnel Strip’s Club Owners Association, the beleaguered club owners decided to meet at the Crossroads to discuss the problem of “dishonest journalism.”
Says Tarantino: “Evidence of Sun reporter Dana McGaugh’s ridiculous and trumped-up story about being taken for a ride in the Berkeley Hills, gangster-style, lies in the fact that until his bylined story appeared, he was a complete stranger to Sun readers. This was his first story and assigned for a special reason. The reason is obvious.
“McGaugh, evidently a student of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, must have taken an overdose of opium to dream up so fantastic a story….Who is paying Silverman to push his staff into such fabulous fabrications is a question being currently investigated. Is he behind a gambling syndicate himself and afraid that another group is moving in, although no such move is being contemplated? To take such libelous potshots makes one wonder what ‘shakedowns’ are being perpetrated.” [I’ll see your libelous potshot and raise you one.]
Tarantino poses questions about the reporter who observed the Crossroads gathering and was subsequently taken for the harrowing ride into the hills, and says McGaugh’s first-hand account of the evening was “the shock of their lives” to the ten club owners who attended the meeting.
“THERE IS NO VICE ON THE STRIP,” he continues in capital letters. “The people of Orinda and Lafayette know that there are no gangsters, houses of prostitution, dice tables and GENERAL GAMBLING in that vicinity.”
Tarantino asks why the supposed kidnapping wasn’t reported to the police and why there weren’t photos of the scratches and bruises the reporter says he sustained in being pushed from the car. In reply, Sun Publisher Silverman writes, “As we go to press (Wednesday morning) McGaugh is being quizzed by the District Attorney’s office.”
In summary, Tarantino says, “To fake a kidnap of this type is a direct violation of ‘the Lindbergh Law’ which automatically makes McGaugh an accessory to a Federal crime, perpetrated by himself and upheld by Editor-Publisher Herman Silverman.”
But the feisty Silverman isn’t in any way cowed by Tarantino’s insults and speculations. In his introduction of the Hollywood Life article, which is the only record we have of it, Silverman notes: “This situation is apparently of much more consequence than even we had realized. Apparently the gambling disclosures and the accompanying storm have hit home. Could it be that some mighty important plans have been upset? That they fear more disclosures? That it is necessary to becloud the issue as soon as possible? That too much heat is being applied?
“If not, why are thousands of dollars being spent to print and distribute such a magazine in this area? And WHO is footing the bill? This was a special edition, tailor-made for Contra Costa County. The regular edition on sale in San Francisco doesn’t contain the Sun “expose”.
Silverman points out that the Crossroads Restaurant and Tunnel Inn are advertising in this issue of the Hollywood Reporter. And they’re in good company, with Mickey Cohen (who Silverman identifies as “THE Mickey Cohen”), the Flamingo and Hotel El Rancho Vegas in Las Vegas, Nardoni Bond Agency and many night clubs.
And you thought the 1950s were very quiet and orderly and, frankly, just a little bit dull.
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-Ruth Bailey
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Carolin