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Prosecutor Dewey got another judge of the calibre he likes when Supreme Court Justice Ferdinand Pecora, famed counsel of the Senate banking investigation, was appointed last July to a special term running concurrently with Justice McCook's. With satisfactory staff, support and court, Prosecutor Dewey's final need was for a very special kind of headquarters. No official building, open to spying, would do. He established his staff on the 14th floor of the Woolworth Building, with private elevator, intricate soundproof and frosted-glassed offices, tamper-proof telephone connections, a policeman outside and detectives downstairs to scan lobby loiterers. Fear v. Fear-His headquarters pre- cautions had been inspired by fear. That fear was not, however, in the hearts of Thomas Dewey and his men. It was in the stomachs of his prospective witnesses. The same terror which makes their victims pay tribute to racketeers also makes them reluctant to complain. Prosecutor Dewey began with a radio appeal guaranteeing victimized businessmen complete secrecy and protection if they would come in and disclose their persecutors. None came. Their would-be deliverer had to subpoena their books, wring explanations of unexplained expenditures out of them.
Some-times persuasion worked. More often Dewey had to fight fear with fear, making threats—which he sometimes carried out —of prosecution for such offenses as State income tax evasion or contempt of court if they refused to talk. Best proof that Prosecutor Dewey has also put fear of the law into racketeers is that he can now boast that he has "never lost a witness"— not one has been visited by a stroke of criminal vengeance. Loan Sharks-First Dewey crackdown was on the loan shark racket. Human leeches were lending money to small and ignorant folk who knew no other way to get it, then keeping them perpetually in debt by charging up to 1,040% interest, which they collected by threats, beating, torture. Their estimated profits were $10,000,000 per year. Since usury is only a misdemeanor, Prosecutor Dewey bided his time until he had piled up several counts against each leader in the racket. Then he pounced. Terrorized debtors lined up behind a Venetian blind to identify their tormentors. Of 28 loan sharks brought to trial, all were sent to prison for terms ranging up to five years.