To Jimmy Hines, political activity was life, and vice versa. During his gaudy years as a Tammany boss the line formed each morning outside his bedroom door. Supplicants began filing past his bed as soon as he awakened. He listened, smiling genially, to them all. They were the basis of the controlled vote, and the vote meant many things to Jimmyprestige, front-row seats, wads of bills to bet at the races, comfortable bank accounts in his wife's name. He controlled judges and cops. His friends ranged from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Arthur ("Dutch Schultz") Flegenheimer, the "numbers" king. The...
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