European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 20, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20 the stars and stripes february to crime chronicle Doodle gangsterism by Jerry Buck associated press organized crime expert Ralph Saler no says abcs the gangster chronicles re Veals a lot about the Way the is he Calls gangsterism a Yankee Doodle Dandy partnership of venal politicians and an apathetic i think an Alert and objective viewer May sense that what made them possible were the corrupt who first started using them As Young men and ended up being used by says technical adviser to the the criminals in this show May not be the most evil characters depicted on the they May very Well be the local the growth 01 organized crime would have been totally impossible without the help of the gangster follows the careers and Pri vate lives of three founding fathers of organized Charles Lucky bugs and Michael who is a fictional organized crime is a billion year second in the United states Only to the Oil Salerno estimates that if those criminals paid their taxes wed All get a 20 percent tax Salerno is a former new York City supervisor of detectives who specialized in organized he has frequently worked with Senate investigators and govern ment task at he is a consultant to the National Council on crime and i understand after 35 years in and around Law in and even More particularly specializing in this that what we do about or what we dont do about is a series of political he How Many officers Are we going to have what Laws Are the police going to enforce How will the Judici Ary preside Over a trial and impose sentences those Are All political he says i dont think the american Public under stands i think from this series they will get a better grasp of Luciano says to you prohibition the government May have done us a great that also the conclusion of scholars who studied what it did was make them instant million Aires and gave organized crime the foothold it the gangster chronicles was originally conceived As a three hour then it became six seven hours and finally a regular it is Likely that Abc has in mind the Success it had with the godfather Richard Alan who created the series and wrote the Early contacted Salerno As soon As he got a who has a White fringe around his nearly Bald Pate and thick says Dick was looking for a feeling and understanding of the one of the first things 1 did was put together a chronological he told me the so 1 Drew it up so he could see their Early and All the High lights of their Salerno Doest think the series glorifies Crimi if he feels the Public May come away with a different View after seeing the Way they treat their he says it explodes the myth of the Ralph Salerno left with actor Louis who is Al Capone in the gangster gangster As a devoted husband and attentive i have thought for a Long time that there was a need to depict organized crime much More accurately than has been he i have a lot of admiration for what Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola gave us in the but i dont think it really looked like i got the feeling Simmons and Abc were looking to do something very not another godfather and not another Salerno says he sees parallels Between the past and whats happening what i Hope this series might be helpful in doing is kind of forcing us to realize were doing those same those same mistakes Are being in one scene Lucianos father will either work or not work de pending upon the labor that event is 70 years and the labor Bosses Are still doing minorities and new immigrant groups Are being and nobody really cares too i think the resemblance of today drug picture to prohibition is its pretty much the same except that the person who consumed the product in prohibition did not have to commit crimes to buy that Salerno says his experiences As a Law enforcement officer have shown him that cutting the Supply of drugs can actually have a deleterious the shortage forces the Price of drugs causing More burglaries and he suggests that the country needs to reassess its drug abatement the English program of drug maintenance is not but it he its not but that not the measuring stick we should look we should not jump from the sordid mess we have to we should be jumping to something that is not Utopia but a lot better than what weve got he says if the series stays on Long enough it will Progress to modern times and the present drug prob organized crime is tomorrows says a if we stay on and get closer to the present its not going to be an old Story any till be tomorrows therell come a time when Well have a Seg ment depicting an event As fast As the writer can turn out the Only time will Tell if its a laundry but for the a Combina Tion bar and laundromat in has Given new meaning to the word according to a up wire suds v duds laundry is the brainchild of a couple of men who figured out that laundry is just about the most Boring thing in the while the Washer is on so is the i used to know a woman who occasionally nipped to get through her ironing and she ended up one Day pressing her heaven knows in for anything that makes running a Home an equal Opportunity but a laundry room Doest seem to be the place for people who turn ugly when they my experiences with laundromats has been limited to those i frequent on frequent if you get a card from me that int spotted with its a i must say there a strange Bunch to Deal with when i hate to think what they be like if they were picked up on a Wei washing while its probably my own insecurity with things but i am intimidated in Laundro Mats beyond somehow i always follow on the heels of a woman who is camping outside of town with eight children and is lugging in a rain soaked tent and ten Muddy sleeping washers and dryers Are her she knows every she has a pocketful of knows what Wash ers work and what dryers she has five of them spinning at once with the Confidence and organization of a High roller at she usually has a Small Tattoo of a Snake on her you do not want to hear her answer when you ask what she thinks a dryer will do to your neck maybe the laundry lounge will i have a few reservations about would you want to explain to a Man who is sloshed what happens to one out of every pair of his socks and where they go when they disappear do you want to see the wife who faded her husbands under Wear drink enough courage to go Home there was one Man at the suds v duds who went to the drank a Little watched a Little foot Ball on the tube and went Home at it want until he got into the car that he saw his Load of dirty laundry and remembered what he had come on the other a bar would be a Nice place to write postcards let me think about c Field enterprises