European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 05, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Bootleg Butts monday september 5,1977 the stars and stripes Page 5 interstate cigarette traffic May give profit to organized crime second Only to drugs by Wayne Kin Atlanta not interstate Bootleg Ging of cigarettes building for a decade because of growing disparities in state and local tax rates has grown to such proportions that it is regarded by some As second Only to narcotics As a profit item for organized crime. According to a report by a Blue ribbon panel called the advisory commission on intergovernmental relations four new York crime families employing More than 500 enforcers paddlers and distributors smuggle an estimated 480 million packs into the state each year and the Esti mated tax loss from nine identifiable mob groups in the Cosa Nostra exceeds $62 Mil lion. The commission made up of private citizens members of Congress governors boy s fall into Crocodile pit proves fatal Miami up a 6-year-old boy Tum bled into a pit at the Miami Serpent rim saturday and a 14-foot, 1,800-Pound Afri can Crocodile snapped its jaws around the child s Middle and dragged him to his death in a Small Lagoon. David Mark Wasson was apparently sit Ting on top of the Wall around the pit Dan gling his feet during an intermission Between shows when he lost his balance. The boy screamed and his father and Uncle ran to the pit from about 20 feet away and hurled themselves Over the Wall into an area that had about two inches of  father 42-year-old David Wasson straddled the Croc and tried to pry his Mouth up said Dade county detective Iza Aguirree but he was too Strong for  owner Bill Haast heard the screaming As he was preparing for the next Snake show at the tourist attraction and ran to the pit. He jumped in and was joined by a Spectator Charles Burroughs. All were wrestling the powerful Croc but the reptile managed to crawl away into Moat in the 50-foot Square pit dragging the child with him. A Dade county fire Rescue unit arrived and helped pry the giant reptile s jaw open with a Broomstick. Finally the Croc released the boy and his body floated life Lessly to the surface. Cabinet members mayors state Legisla tors and county officials also reported that in a nine state area in the Northeast alone organized crime Bootlegs More than a Bil lion packs of cigarettes annually at a profit of More than $105 million to the criminals and losses to wholesalers and tax agencies of More than $500 million. In the last 10 years according to Morri Weintraub an ant tax spokesman who Heads the Council against cigarette Boot legging new York state and new York City have lost $600 million in tax revenues the cigarette Industry has lost $2.5 billion half the employees of wholesalers and Ven Dors have been thrown out of work a third of the cigarette wholesalers have gone out of business and insurance costs have sky rocketed because of bootlegging and hijacking. Meanwhile he reported criminals have netted some $245 million and captured the sales of one out of every two packs of cigarettes sold in new York City which has the highest taxes in the country and one out of every four packs sold in the , reports that new Jersey lost about $119 million in taxes pennsylvania$176 million Connecticut $86 million and Massachusetts $32 million. In the Midwest Illinois lost $25 million Michigan $14 Mil lion Minnesota $17 million and Ohio $30million. Typically a bootlegging operation consists of buying a Large number of cigarettes in a Low tax state such As North Carolina where the tax is paid and trans porting them to a High tax area like new  said that bootleggers have see what i saw Bob Herbst 39, of Hometown 111., is a artist with an unusual medium a Chain saw. At left Herbst begins to Cut out a face on a log while at right he shows off a finished product. Among Herbst s creations Are Indian Heads squirrels horses dogs cats Monkey Sand mushrooms from eight inches to three feet in height. Fuzziness must be booming. A photo better Energy Fhern electricity expert says wide use of nuke lasers predicted Gainesville Fla. A a nuclear Engineer predicts that nuclear laser beams will bring a new dimension to american life in the next 20 years provid ing the Energy people need and doing it better than electricity. Richard Schneider a Pioneer in nuclear powered Light sources says scientists envision a future where underground laser4�ams carry Power to Homes for Refrigeri to forty heating and Cooling. Beams also will carry television pro Grams to sets that use lasers instead of electrons to project a much finer picture he said. Photoelectric cells on the roof will oper ate blenders sewing machines and elec tric shavers Schneider  nuclear lasers Are in their in fancy Schneider says his findings look promising. He says nuclear Energy can be converted fairly directly to lasers which Are intense beams of parallel Light. The pro Cess is known As Light amplification by stimulated emitted  the nuclear laser will be used in space first where the distances involved make lasers the Only practical Way to communicate and nuclear materials the Only practical fuel Schneider says. Nasa which gave Schneider its medal for exceptional achievement for his nuclear powered laser sponsors his research at the University of  space Agency has plans for nuclear Power plants in space beaming Energy by laser to space stations and pushing space Craft on their journeys within the next decade. Hot news in London fire devours the Sun London a a fire in its plan warehouse Early saturday devoured thou Sands of copies of the tabloid Sun newspaper the printers said. The fire was brought quickly under control after the Plant was evacuated. The Sun has a daily Sale of 3.7 million. When nuclear laser technology comes to Earth Schneider said we should be Able to conserve Energy. Many of the things reuse electricity for can be done better with lasers in almost every  lasers can carry Large amounts of Power Over Long distances with very Small losses compared to the loss in current transmission lines using Metal wire. A single laser beam could carry All the phone Calls in the United states and still have room for All the television shows too he says. Within 10 years transcontinental phone Calls will be sent by laser bounced off a  lasers Are particularly Good at extract ing Energy from Gas Core nuclear reactors he says because the gases already excited by nuclear reaction can serve sagas for the laser tubes too. The Gas Core reactor is Small and ascertain safety advantages Over conventional reactors Schneider said. It do snot produce plutonium and contains Only one critical mass so if any leaks out the reactor shuts  created a distribution system that covers every apartment House every Industrial Plant every office building and Are no even making deliveries to  the commission found that cigarette bootlegging did not become a serious prob Lem until the late 1960s. Until then Price differences resulting from wide variations in taxes did not encourage bootlegging. In1960, for example the Price differential be tween North Carolina and new York state was Only 5.2 cents per pack. By 1975, it was18.4 cents and in new York City about 21 cents meaning a potential profit for bootleggers of $2.10 a Carton. He said that they have also set up sophisticated counterfeiting operations for tax Stamps and Supply their own retail out lets. The commission found that while Man states with tax rates generally in line with surrounding states were Little affected by smuggling those at the extreme ends of the tax Scales gained or lost  commission found the states gaining the most from bootlegging in terms of cigarette revenues were new Hampshire Ken Tucky North Carolina Vermont Indiana Virginia and Oregon. The Overall picture however was one of net loss since it is the Low tax states that sell More cigarettes and the High tax state that sell fewer. The report notes that some Law enforce ment and tax officials notably those in new York state have fallen under suspicion of accepting bribes from organized crime bootleggers. Moreover the committee reported that since 1972, four mob smugglers have Dis appeared and presumably were murdered because they hijacked smugglers incoming loads or cheated the  hijackings have become commonplace and one wholesaler reported four trucks taken in new York City alone just Las week. Because of the difficulties of enforce ment and High potential for profit the Corn Mission concludes that cigarette bootlegging will continue unabated and will increase if tax differentials increase further. At the same time the commission con cedes that erasing or diminishing disparities will be difficult. High tax states like new York Massachusetts and connect Cut among others say simply reducing cigarette taxes would result in a bigger loss of Revenue than the bootleggers cause. By the same Token states like Nort Carolina the nation s leading tobacco pro Ducer feel that High taxes Hurt cigarette sales and inasmuch As these states Are profiting anyway pressure from outside to raise taxes to get in line with National averages have Little effect. Of time sept. 5, 1947 Gen. Lucius d. Clay american military governor in Berlin said the . Will Stop tapping German Tele phone lines and opening German mail. Sept. 5,1957 nine Blacks who tried to enter the All White Central High school i Little Rock ark., were turned Back by a Kansas National guardsmen in Defiance Ofa Federal court order. The five boys and four girls were met at the Edge of the school Campus by . 5, 1967 the top winners of Golden discs Between 1958 and 1966 were the beatles followed by Elvis Presley match Miller Frank Sinatra and the Beac boys according to the record Industry association of America