Monday, May. 09, 1927

"Muscle Men"

Chicago, crime laboratory, has evolved a new type of ruffian-- the "muscle man," cousin-at-large of the "hijacker." The "hijacker" confines his activities to the bootlegging profession. He is the strong boy who lets his victim run rum, then robs him of it--or buys it at a low price with violence. "Muscle men" regard all weaker criminals as their prey. A "muscle man" exploit that came to light last week in Chicago, was the chaining of one Sappho Jo Lawro and his partner, one Jakie Adler, proprietors of the Midnight Frolics Cafe, to iron bedsteads, and keeping them there for five days at pistol-point, until they paid over $100,000. Messrs. Lawro and Adler, evidently having done something shady themselves, dared not appeal to police.