Newspaper Page Text
Griffin Daily News Wednesday, September 25,1974
Page 14
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Plainclothes cop holds gun on man believed to be part of gang who abducted an undercover
officer. The officer, Anthony Vltallano, acted like a crooked cop and got drunk when the
extortion gang he infiltrated found out who he was and took him for a ride. He was rescued
unhurt. (UPI)
He acted like
a crooked cop
NEW YORK (UPI) — Police Officer
Anthony Vitaliano, 27, spent most of
Tuesday afternoon acting like a crooked
cop and getting drunk while on duty.
His commander says he’ll be promoted
to sergeant very soon.
Vitaliano, an undercover policeman with
the public morals division, used the
corruption ruse to stall for time when the
extortion gang he infiltrated found out who
he was and took him for a ride to Brooklyn
—at gunpoint.
The racketeers had taken a liking to
him, according to Inspector Charles
Peterson. So they took him for drinks to a
house in Coney Island used as a hideout.
Those who thought Vitaliano could still be
trusted argued with those who thought
otherwise.
And while Vitaliano stalled for time,
downing drink after drink, police who had
scoured the borough of Brooklyn trying to
rescue him finally located his car outside
the bar. They were waiting when the cop
and his captors came staggering out, and
safely rescued him.
Vitaliano’s 3 % hour ordeal began
around 2 p.m. when he showed up in his car
at a Lower East Side intersection in his
assigned role as a “collection agent for the
protection racket,” which preyed on
prostitutes, madams, massage parlor
operators and small-time gamblers,
according to police.
However, the gang members caught a
glimpse of his revolver, found papers in
PAIN RELIEF
DALLAS (UPI) — A Univer
sity of Texas Southwestern
Medical School professor re
cently returned from China
says acupuncture will not be a
fully recognized method of
surgical pain relief in this
country for a long time.
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the car indicating Vitaliano was a
policeman, pulled a gun and warned he
“would have his head shot off,” police
said.
After denials didn’t work, Vitaliano
admitted he was a cop but said he was a
“bad one.” He told the racketeers that
“this is the way he always made his
money,” according to Peterson.
They ordered him into the car and drove
toward Brooklyn. Vitaliano’s worried
back-up team followed, but lost the car in
traffic.
An all-out search was launched. A police
helicopter spotted the car as it was headed
for Coney Island, but then lost it.
Police cars were dispatched to various
locations known to be hangouts for the
gang, and one finally spotted Vitaliano’s
car outside the house.
At 5:30 p.m., the captors and their
hostage staggered out. Four suspects,
three men and a woman, surrendered to
police without a struggle. Five other
suspects were arrested at other two
locations, and the nine were variously
charged with kidnaping, extortion and
weapons violations.
Noting Vitaliano’s glassy-eyed
condition, police took Vitaliano to Coney
Island Hospital in the mistaken belief he
had been drugged or was in shock.
Tuesday night, in a news conference at
police headquarters, Peterson called
Vitaliano a “very bright young policeman
who is shortly to be made a sergeant.”
Dr. M.T. Jenkins, chairman
of the medical school’s anes
thesiology department, said it
was doubted acupuncture anes
thesia would be accepted by
western patients who tend to
have relatively lower pain
thresholds than orientals.
Blacks
going
urban
ATLANTA (UPI) - Southern
blacks are leaving rural areas
for the cities in increasing
numbers, according to a study
recently released by the South
ern Regional Council.
The study said despite the
migration of blacks to Southern
cities, “the South has not
experienced the full range of
problems that are associated
with Northern ghettos, and
there is still a more even
distribution of blacks and
whites within the South.”
However, the study said
black population trends in the
South “are disquieting,” with
Southern cities developing
white rings around black cores
and few blacks making their
way into the more affluent
suburbs.
The study, entitled “The
Distribution of Southern Black
Population,” was compiled by
C. Jack Tucker, assistant
professor of sociology at
Atlanta University, and E /erett
S. Lee, professor of sociology at
the University of Georgia’s
Institute of Behavioral Re
search.
Mrs. Johnson tells
of break with Orkin
ATLANTA (UPI) - Mrs.
Gerald W. Johnson testified
Tuesday she broke off her
romantic relationship with mil
lionaire William B. Orkin last
February because “we both
had too much at stake.”
Orkin, A Sandy Springs land
developer and heir to the Orkin
pest control empire, and his
groundskeeper, Bobby Charles
Bowen, are on trial for murder
conspiracy in Fulton County
Superior Court.
The two allegedly paid an
undercover agent $7,500 to kill
insurance executive Gerald W.
Johnson. No attempt was ever
made on Johnson’s life.
Mrs. Johnson, a middle-aged
mother of two, said she worked
for Orkin as a secretary four
Thompson says Busbee
Georgia Howard Hughes
ATLANTA (UPI) — Denounc
ing George Busbee’s refusal to
engage him in public debate,
GOP gubernatorial candidate
Ronnie Thompson said Tuesday
his Democratic opponent has
become the “Howard Hughes of
Georgia politics.”
Thompson told a news confer
ence at the state Capitol
Busbee has accepted money
from Georgia Power Co., the
milk industry and other special
interest groups for his cam
paign and “has gone into
seclusion to count his money.”
“I think it is shameful that he
is a coward, that he is afraid to
take on a public administrator
in face-to-face debate, particu
larly when he was begging
Lester Maddox to debate the
issues with him not long ago,”
the Macon mayor said.
When questioned about the
rift between himself and state
Republican Chairman Bob
Shaw, Thompson said he was
the only Republican guber-
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years before they discovered
last October they were in love.
She testified she told Orkin in
November “that it would be
easy for me to love him, but we
both had too much at stake. He
has four children and I have
two, and we were both happily
married.”
Mrs. Johnson said she dis
cussed the affair with her
husband in January, then quit
her job and told Orkin she
would stop seeing him.
Assistant Fulton County Dis
trict Attorney William Weller
said Orkin and Mrs. Johnson
had “an intimate relationship.”
Weller said Bowen, a 20-year
Orkin employe, had hired Rex
Armistead, later identified as
an undercover agent, to murder
natorial candidate in the nation
not invited to the White House
as a guest of President Ford
about 10 days ago.
Thompson said he does not
know why he was not invited
and does not care, but indicated
his troubles with the state party
might have had some bearing
on the decision.
“I’ve always been considered
a renegade and maverick
Republican,” he said. “But I’m
not going to let that impede my
campaign.”
Thompson said if Busbee is
not willing to debate, he would
like to appear with the
Republican and Democratic
nominees for lieutenant gover
nor, John Savage and Zell
Miller.
“This man is truly what he
claims to be—a horse,” Thomp
son said in reference to
Busbee’s slogan that he will be
a “workhorse” governor. “And
Johnson. Bowen told Armistead
that Orkin was afraid Johnson
“might cause him some trouble
because he thought he knew
Mr. Orkin was running around
with his wife,” the prosecution
attorney said.
Orkin was vacationing in
Puerto Rico with his family
while the arrangements were
made by Bowen, Weller said.
He said authorities were able
to trace plans for the murder
through wire taps of telephone
conversations between Bowen
and Armistead and Bowen and
Orkin.
He told the court Armistead
was paid a total of $12,500 for
what Orkin and Bowen believed
was completion of the murder.
I truly believe in this year of
1974 the people of Georgia
deserve a human being.”
TV A asks
cutback
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (UPI)
— Although customers of the
Tennessee Valley Authority
have been asked to reduce their
use of electric power, consum
ers served by four major
investor-owned electric compa
nies in the South probably
won’t have to make the same
sacrifice.
A spokesman for the Southern
Co.,owners of utilities in Alaba
ma, Georgia, Mississippi and
Florida, said Tuesday system
wide coal supplies were suffi
cient to operate generating
plants for about 49 days and
that it was unlikely customers
would be asked to cut back
usage.
News summary
By United Press International •<
Nixon responds well
£ LONG BEACH, Calif. (UPI) - His doctor said Tuesday |
former President Richard M. Nixon “has responded well”
g to treatment for phlebitis. Anticoagulation therapy began
g after Nixon entered Long Beach Memorial Hospital, Dr. g
John Lungren said. g
Mondale eyes nomination
£ DULUTH, Minn. (UPI) - Sen. Walter F. Mondale, D- g
g Minn., said Tuesday he is “99 per cent on the way” to g
deciding to seek his party’s presidential nomination in
1976. Mondale said he shared many political positions with g;
Sen. Edward M. Kenndy, D-Mass., who withdrew from g
g contention on Monday. g
No blocks found yet
WASHINGTON (UPI) — The Senate Rules Committee g
is exported to finish questioning today of Nelson A. ¥:
Rockefeller. So far, members say they have found nothing g
g to block his confirmation as vice president. g
1 Kidnap victim okay
g CINCINNATI (UPI) — Kidnap victim Allison Mechem, g
g 4, was found unharmed Tuesday and returned to her g
g father, Charles Mechem Jr., chairman of the board of g
g Taft Broadcasting Co. Her alleged kidnaper turned :g
himself in several hours later. Another man was held for
investigation and a third was wanted for questioning. g
| Israeli planes hit Lebanon $
g TEL AVIV (UPI) — Israeli warplanes attacked Arab
g guerrilla bases in Lebanon for the second straight day g
g today. The Israeli military command said the planes hit g
guerrilla encampments in an effort to stop terrorist g
g attacks on Yom Kippur, the most solemn day of the g
g Jewish calendar. g