Not all that much happened in January of 1978 according to the newspaper. The article that I came up with dealt with phony ID cards that were for sale. The article says "it is startling to find that they (Las Vegas) were apparently ignorant of a phony identification card racket that had its office in that city and advertised all over the country." The article claims that the appearance of a Tribune article on this subject helped the Las Vegas officials learn of the Computer Security Card Co. They closed it down and arrested the man who ran it.

February of 1978 was quite a bit more eventful in the scheme of things. First off there was the killing of five burglars who may have been killed after trying to independently "fence" stolen goods in Las Vegas. These men probably were killed because they

Also in April was the trial of Harry "The Hook" Aleman. A reputed mob hit man who in his last trial was let off by Judge Frank J. Wilson in a bench trial. This trial was a jury trial for the charges of racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. Testifying against Aleman was Louis Almeida, a confessed criminal. The article did not specify whether or not Aleman was convicted of the charges. Aleman, born in 1939, is a nephew of the late Outfit boss Joe Ferriola. Aleman is believed to be responsible for at least fifteen homicides. A small man-five eight, 145 pounds, with a fearsome reputation. It was later found that the judge on the bench trail had taken a $10,000 bribe to fix the case. (Abadinsky 176)

A follow up story to the "Jimmy the Weasel" story spelled some of what he told the authorities about organized crime. Some of his disclosures: Mob activities across the country are tightly controlled by a commission composed of members of 26 families from New York and Chicago. Nationwide fewer than 300 new members were admitted into the mafia the previous year. Top Mafiosa still frown on getting into narcotics, but some members are secretly dealing in drugs. Joey "Doves" Aiuppa, the operating director of the Chicago mob, has taken up more duties as the commission's representative in Los Angeles.

May brought more news of mob corruption of unions. The article reports that the FBI has infiltrated the top echelons of some crime syndicate dominated unions. The infiltration included the International Longshoreman's Union. These infiltrations began only after the death of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who had blocked such activities in the past.

Another article from March dealt with "The Myth of the Italian Mafia". In this article Andrew Greeley denies the existence of an Italian Mafia. Greeley says, "The Mafia doesn't exist: neither does the Cosa Nostra, the crime syndicate, or even organized crime. The national crime empire is a figment of the imagination of the mass media and an anti-Italian ethnic slur to boot. I'm Serous." He goes on to question the validity of the gangland war of 1930-31 in which Salvatore Maranzano was killed. This war may have saw anywhere from 40-60 deaths, and Greeley purports that maybe 5 people (4 in New York and 1 in Pittsburgh) were killed in it. He says, "America needs demons and the Mafia is a superb demon even if it does not and never did exist as an organized national conspiracy". This man truly is the epitome of naivete. He is obviously a deluded man who is trying to push his delusions on his audience.

March of 1978 was a sparse month for information about the mob. The one important article dealt with mobsters who offered to sell A-bomb fuel. For sale was two tons of nuclear bomb grade uranium. The negotiations with officials, undercover federal agents, who were trying to buy the material, fell through. The author does not know if the mobsters really even had the material or if it was just a hoax. The NRC at first denied that it was possible for this much uranium to be stolen from one of their facilities. They later changed their testimony and admitted that such thefts were in fact possible.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2604
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)