MISCELLANEOUS NEWSPAPER ARTICLES RE ITKIN

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Records Related to the Assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00455778
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: June 6, 2025
• Document Release Date: June 12, 2025
• Publication Date: January 1, 1969

104-10107-10128 Village Voice 14 August 196'9 9 se ' �re 1,4 9 ye T0 Fedis' Case by Mary Perot Nichols The federal government lost its star witness in a series of major 'Mafia cle.es this week because it has failed to protect his family. The development may well turn the long battle against organized crime into a total rout. The witness, Herbert Itkin, who was also the chief witness in tire flow of ,gamblinF, funds from organized crime in t%7i.- SOU r.try to Swiss banks and the influx of American gangsters i?eto British exhausted all the legal remedies to get protection for the children. .The Itkins also indicated they now the trial of � former City Water �felt the CIA had not lived up to its Commissioner James Marcus, told promise to protect the children. The Voice in an exclusive interview on Monday night, "If the government cannot arrange to protect the children of witnesses as promised by Robert Kennedy federal marshals. an es uy. when he was attorney- general, then not only will I not testify but there will be no war on organized 'crime because no one will be willing to testify and endanger - their own children's lives." � Itkin has been an agent for the , Central Intelligence Agency for 1.4 years and an agent for the FBI for five years. In a slate court last � November, Itkin became the only � agent on whoee behalf the CIA ever filed an affidavit. Itkin was. expected to be the leading witness � she had been unable to get a full in an upcoming trial of top Mafia hearing in the Westchester Family figures in Pittsburgh, Detroit, and � New Yorle. He was also expected to be P witness in the trial of restaurant, Itkin and his wife, Ada, said they had been unable to find any court that would put Mrs. Itkin's two sons into protective custody. They said they feared the children would be killed or maimed by the Mafia. Mrs. Itkin's sons, by a previous marriage, live with their father, Frederick Hersh, in Peekskill, New York. The Itkins said that Mrs. Itkin lost custody of the boys on a legal technicality in 1965 when they went to England on assignment by the CIA. Itkin's assignment in England was to set up a business as a cover. He set up a partnership with James Marcus, then an assistant to Mayor Lindsay; Peter Littman, a Swiss banker; and Littman's brother-in-law, Philadelphia businessman Albert Greenfield. Itkin said that at that time he was assigned to investigate. Mrs. Itlthi said that what was now needed was the appearance of Lawrence Houston, chief cou re-21 .of the CIA, and Richard Heine, gambling. director :he CIA, to go inee What prompted Itkin to call the Westcheeler Family Couri; and The Voice and seek an interview fight. %WAILl the judgce in that was that last Friday the Itkins court," sie slied, "refuse to iieten apparently thought they had to Richard Helms?" The Itkins claimed that � undercover agents 'all over the country were watching to see if the CIA and the FBI are able to protect their own. If the federal The Itkins now. live on a federal agencies cannot, the government military installation maintained, there can be no war ware on organized. crime because other and, during dinner, they two agents will not "blow their covers" guarded in the restaurant by According to the ltkini, Judge � Edmund Palmieri of the United I States District Court ruled on i Friday that his court had no jurisdiction over the question of the children's protective custody. The Itkins claimed that on , Wednesday the Westchester Family Court also ruled it had no jurisdiction. They also claimed that in the three and a half years since Mrs. Itkin lost the children, Court on the custody question. Itkin said that Judge Palmieri told his attorney, F. Lee Bailey, former Tammany chief Carmine last Thursday�before he ruled G. DeSapio. that his court had no In an interview in an East Side jurisdiction�that the situation th the children was I wi "horrendous" and that "while we are sitting right here something! could be happening to the .children." Judge Palmieri declined to comment on the case but it was learned from informed sources that the federal court has noe closed the cam. The sealing e Judge Palmieri's decision and the � retention of possible jurisdiction in the case is regarded "..iy cloee ebservers of the situation as a 1 pressure on the state courts to watch their step in this case. � Informed sources also confirmed Itkin's statement that Judge Palmieri is concerned over' the safety Of Mrs. Itkin's. two children. Itkin's own four children and his previous wife are already in federal custody. HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM RELEASE IN FULL CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR RELEASE OF CIA INFORMATION' IN THIS DOCUMENT E 6938 -CONGRESSIONAL RECORD � Extensions of Remarks August 13, 1969 cisco are attempting to expand employ- ment opportunities for minorities, the Federal Government sometimes seems intent upon frustrating their efforts. Some 1,600 persons�most of them resi- dents of San Francisco�,find that their place of employment may be moved to an outlying community. The San Fran- cisco Examiner called attention to the consequences of this proposed action in an editorial of June 27 of this year: WRONG MOVE � The Social Security Administration's ten- tative plan to move its payment center out of San Francisco carries damaging implica- tions for the City. A total of 1600 jobs is at stake, half being clerical posts held by workers of minority origin, the very class of citizen toward whom job-finding efforts are most energetically di- rected. As Congressman Phillip Burton warned, "The plan at best could turn (them) into commuters to the suburbs and deprive the City of employment opportunities it desperately needs." The payment center's operations currently are spread out in five San Francisco loca- tions, admittedly not a desirable situation. But the employment needs of the central city�certainly one of the keystones of the Nixon Administration�must take a higher priority. Job accessibility is of unusual importance to the minority worker. A lengthy commute by bus or auto�or later even by BART� is expensive and, at this stage of the game, contrary to the life style of many. No obstacle should be put in the way of minority hiring. Since bne of the main thrusts of the Administration is toward the rehabilitation of the �core city, any policy that reduced employment opportunities there would be destructive of the central purpose. , City officials should join with Congressman Burton in forcefully impressing this Indis- putable fact on the proper authorities in Washington. � POPULATION GROWTH HON. FRANK HORTON OF NEW YORK r1N rn. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuzsday, August 12, 1969 - Mr. HORTON, Mr. Speaker, modern medicine and nutrition have cut the death rates throughout the world, pro- � ducing unprecedented population growth. � And if left unchecked world population will double to 7 billion persons by the end of the century. The very quality of life on this planet is at stake. Such growth cannot continue indefinitely without, serious social and environmental problems. Eighteen months ago, Secretary-Gen- era! U Thant made public a "world lead- ers declaration on population." The declaration signed by the heads of 30 nations, including the United States said: ' The population problem must be rec- ognized as a principal element in long- range national planning if governments are to achieve their economic goals and fulfill-the aspirations of their people. ' As a member of-a special congressional task force on earth resources and popu- lation, I have been studying this problem \ on a worldwide basis. Yesterday, I cosponsored legislation to create a Commission on Population Growth and the American Future. The thrust of this act would be to study pop- ulation problems and to educate the country to an awareness of these prob- lems. When you are told that only a dozen or so countries around the world now have efficiently functioning population programs, the importance uf broadening public awareness and expanding family programs becomes even more evident.'We must erase the unjustified stigma asso- ciated with such phrases as "birth con- trol" and "family planning." Population growth is a serious prob- lem because it affects health and nutri- tion, literacy and education, productive employment and living standards. It be- comes obvious that overpopulation is much more an economic and political problem than a medical one. The late President Dwight D. Eisen- hower recognized this problem. He said: The population explosion has already be- come one of the most critical world problems of our time and daily grows more serious. It threatens to smother the economic prog- ress of many nations and endangers the free world struggle for peace and security. While the current rate in the United States is a low 1 percent a year, this na- tural population increase cannot be maintained. By the year 2000, the popu- lation of our country could reaCh 360 million. In this country and elsewhere, the basic problem lies with persons, most of them poor, who are unable to limit their families to the number of children they desire and can feed and support. It is a fallacy to believe the poor have children only because they want to stay poor. Unfortunately; they have more children and these children are con- demned to perpetuate the poverty of their parents. For the majority of Americans, birth control can be attained through current research and family training programs. But for one-fifth of the Nation�those who are poor or nearly poor�such pro- grams will riot be enough. The current family planning programs are of little help to those who cannot afford the services, who do not know that they are -available or who live where medical fa- cilities are scarce. The lack of family planning services among the poor is not a problem con- fined to one race, nor is it confined to the urban areas. In fact, two-thirds of the Nations' poor are white and only one-third live in the central city shims. Neither is the problem-confined to any particular geo- graphic area. The people needing such � services live in all sections of the coun- try. The Federal Government must under- take a much larger effort if this Nation is to play its proper role in attaining a better life for our people as well as for 'the people of developing nations. To preserve and improve the quality of human life here and abroad, we must focus attention on the quantity of pop- ulation now. I urge my colleagues to sup- port this measure. U.S. TRADE WITH JAPAN OMINOUS PROSPECT HON. JOHN H. DENT OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, August 12, 1969 Mr. DENT. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to submit the following analysis of U.S. trade with Japan for consideration by the Members. It was prepared by 0. R. Strackbein, president of the Nationwide Committee on Import-Export Policy, and one of our country's most knowledgeable men in the field of international trade. The analysis follows: Our trade with Japan has undergone- a radical change in recent years. As recently as 1964 we had a surplus of exports with that country, according to our official statistical reports. We exported goods valued at $1.9 billion in that year to Japan whereas our imports were only $1.7 billion. In1965 we imported $350 million more from Japan than we exported to her. By 1968 the turnabout was so complete that any idea that the reversal was merely a temporary phenomenon was shattered. In that year we imported $1.1 billion more than we sold there. Our imports were 38% higher than our ex- ports. The 1968 deficit in our trade with Japan was greater than our total trade surplus. � There are other aspects about our trade with Japan that set it apart from our trade with most of the other areas of the world. In 1968, for example, at least 91% of our imports from Japan consisted of manufac- tured goods, or $3.7 billion of the total of $4.0 billion. With respect to our exports to Japan the same classifications of manufactured goods represented only 31.6% of our total exports _to Japan. It goes without saying .that more labor goes into producing manufactured goods than into raw materials and partially manu- factured goods. Therefore our trade with Japan, aside from showing a broad deficit in total dollar value, represented a heavy labor deficit in 1968. Predominantly we are selling low labor- content goods to Japan and importing high labor-content goods. Whatever may be said about the stake of labor in foreign trade, our trade with Japan does not provide us with a happy ex- ample of an exchange beneficial to labor. It represents an exchange in which a high-wage economy is,Pitched against a low- wage economy in a competitive contest in which relative productivity must be the arbiter of where the advantage lies. If our wages are four or live times as high, includ- ing fringe benefits, as the Japanese counter- part we must enjoy a wide margin of higher productivity per man-hour than the Jap- anese if we are to be able to compete. It does not follow that we must be exactly four or five times as productive per man-hour as the Japanese, because other factors intrude; but since employee compensation is by far the greatest part of the cost of production incurred in bringing goods to market, it is clear that we must enjoy a formidable lead in productivity if we are to compete with wages as low as the Japanese. Of course, we find some market in Japan because that country is deficient in certain resources. She must import heavily If she is to manufacture extensively. Therefore we can sell raw cotton, coal and a large variety, of other raw materials to Japan, not because we could undersell her if she had the same resources, but because she is not self-sufficient in those products. This is not a test of relative competitiveness. NEV YORK TIMES 24 JUL 1.9S;) ,I 0 Linked to T/2.alia. iiz ;v� ; 7 By EDWARD RANZAL Ten reputed Mafia members are among � 13 'persons who, have been indicted here on charges of -conspiring to pay kickbacks to a teamsters' pen- sion fund official to obtain a mortgage loan for a builder: . The conspiracy allegedly in- volved a heated jurisdictional dispute between New York and Michigan Mafia members over. the spoils. To arbitrate the dis- pute, a Goverment source said,. a hearing was held near Pitts- burgh under the aegis of the Mafiosi there with a decision handed down by a '76-year-old "re force." Before the sealed Federal in- dictment was opened yester- day, the Federal Bureau of In- vestigation arrested nine of the 10 reputed 71 figures. 11to 10th is a fugitive. United Scat! s � Attorney �� Robert M. Morgenthau� said the indictment. winch was handed up Tuesday. Nv az; the sixth, in- volving kickbacks to officials of the Teamsters Central States Southeast and Southwest Areas Funds obtained by his office. Mr. Morgenthau said that more than $7.5-million in mort- gage loans was involved in the cases. In the only case that has gone to trial, three defend- ants were recently convicted. � 'Gan Expected to Testify Although his name did not :appear in the indictment, Her- bert Itkin, an F.-3.I. informer, is expected', to testify for the Government. Mr. Itkin has'sup- piled much of the evidence in the kickback indictments, 'and was a Government witness in the kickback casit involving ;woo:, I.. Mareiv� former City Winer Commissioner. The kickback of about $5,000 'was reportedly made Co one of the 13 defendants in yes- terday's indictment. He is David Wenger, 58-ycar-old cer- tified public accountant and . � � � auditor of the pension fund, .� � iMr. Morgenthau said. �� It was supposedly paid to in- � faience Mr. Wenger's decision '� ' on a mortgage application by - .. � _ Mid-City Development Compa- ny, a Detroit corporation that ... � owns an industrial building." complex in Warren, Mich. �� Mr. Wenger vial one of three. defenants not arrested but I will Plead to the ._ indictment:,- Ant.:.zc:.eci. A,zciwaca next week. The other two aro John M. Keilly. 40, a rportJ ,gage broker, of Oyster Bay !Bay Cove, L. I., and California, and James Plumeri, alias Jimmy �Doyle, 66, Of 400 East 59th Street. � Plumeri, who has been � de- � scribed as an important mem- ber of the Mafia family of the late (Three-Finger Brown) Lu- chese, has been named a .de- I fendant in three of the six.I kickback indictments. The . following -defendants from New York have been�de- scribed by Government sources' as members of the gangland group headed by the late Vito Genovese: - Salvatore Cclembrino, 65, former organizer for the Inter- national Longshoremen's -Asso- ciation, of �242 Sanilac Street, Staten Island: Salvatore Granel-. lo, alias Sally Burns, 40,� fugitive, of 215 Mott Street, and Edward Lanzicri alias Ed- die Buff,' 52, of 2066 Gist Street,. Brooklyn. 1 . pension fund. The company,' for help to get an additional; Mr. Brannigan said, then asked $200,000 loan. There was some hickeringi I with the Detroit Mafiosi and the company- allegedly ap- proached*Plumeri in New York. Detroit. learned of the deal and protested to New York. The dispute was brought to the attention oi' the Mafia's national commission, � which hcid that the matter should be arbitrated' in. the Pittsburgh area. The meeting was allegedly held in the $50,000 home of Rosa's father, who has since died, in a suburb of Pittsburgh. The New York .group arrived first and presented its. case to Amato That afternoon �he De- troit Mafiosi sat down with Amato and told �their story. That evening Amato alleged- ly decided, that the entire deal would be handled by Detroit and after the' loan had been received Detroit would pay .off New York Mafiosi. � The � indictment also named In � similar _indictments the - Dominick (Fat Dominick) Cor- Government. has � said that the rado, 39 of Grasse Pointe Park, arrangers *got. at leaat .10 � per Mich.. reputed to be one of the cent, of the total loan.������� top Mafia figures in Detroit. Mr: Brannigan said that the Another defendant. was Sarnu S200,000 loan was never made . Marrosco, 55, of Warren, Mich., by the pension fund to.lViid-City a public relations man, who, Development. Mr. Morgenthau said, was in- Celembrino.-, pleaded' . not striimental in getting a loan in'giiiltv, and Fe'cleral 'Judge John 1064 for the 'Mid-City Develop-.M. �Ca-nneila set,, his bail at mcnt Company. 1$10,000, pending a hearing next ' The reputed "referee" in the:�month.. Bail was set, at $5,000 dispute was Frank Amato of;for Lanzicci,. who also'.pleaded Ingoinar,�reputed Mafia boss oflnot southwest Pennsylvania; Ga- " � � � briel Mannarinci, 53, of New 'Densington; Frank Rosa, 39, of Penn Hills, and Joseph Sica, GO, of Monroeville. 'Assistant United .States -At- torney James W. Brannigan said that in 1964 .the Detroit development company needed a S1.25-million loan to buy the industrial building complex. The icompany allegedly.- re- ceived help from -the Detroit Mafiosi in obtaining a -$1,050,- 000 mortgage. loan from the . . , .11�������������=umm, THE NEW YOR K TIMES 1 May 1969 Vdt) THE NEW YORK TIME'S, TrIorc,;DAY, MAY1,1969 Itkin Ties Mafia Figure to Umon Loan By EDWARD RANZAL A complicated intrigue laced with chicanery, greed, threats, double-crosses and orders from a reputed Mafia figure was spun out yesterday in Federal Court here by Herbert Itkin, a Fed- eral Bureau of Investigation informer. He drew a picture of frantic maneuverings by a group of alleged conspirators'to arrange, in return for kickbacks, a $1.2- million loan from a teamsters' union pension and welfare fund for a financially, sick manufac- turer of sweaters. The 42-year-old Itkin, a la- bor lawyer, was a Government witness yesterday in the trial of three men and a woman before Judge Walter Mansfeild and a jury of 10 women and two men. Witness at Marcus Trial Mr. Itkin's role as an F.B.I. informer came to light during the bribe conspiracy trial of former Water Commissioner James L. Marcus. The lawyer testified for the Government. The defendants in the teamster case are charged with conspiring to receive illegal kickbacks to obtain a mortgage loan from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Cen- tral States Pension and Wel- fare Fund. The defendants are James (Jimmy Doyle) Plumeri, 65 years old, of 400 East 59th Street, a reputed member of the Thomas . Luchese Mafia family; Mrs. Yvette Feinstein of,, White Plains, a former ad- ministration assistant to Team- ster Local 237; Samuel Berger, 57, of 350 East 54th Street, president of the Master Truck- ing Association and former manager of Local 102 of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, and Travis Levy, 56, a lawyer, of Scars- dale. The trial of another defend- ant, Frank Zalferino, president of Local 10, of the Interna- tional Brotherhood of Produc- tion, maintenance and Operat- ing Employes, was severed at the outset because of the death of his lawyer, William Klein- man. Earlier witnesses had said that in 1964 Shiah Arsham, head of the Cashmere Corpora- tion of Cleveland found him- self being squeezed by factors who had loaned him money. Mr. Arsham was named as a co-conspirator, but not a de- fendant in the case. � Mr. Arsham's lawyer, Mr. Levy, sought financial help, it was testified, and talked with Stephen Birnbaum, a mortgage broker who shared a Park Ave- nue office with Mr. Itkin. He was introduced to Mr. Itkin. Mr. Itkin said he was ini- tially. given $20,000 by Mr. Ar- sham, who had raised the money by mortgaging his home. He related how Plumed had arranged to obtain a loan for the manufacturer from a fur- riers' union, which insisted that it first get an appraisal of the sweater business. The witness said that the manufacturer and Mr. Levy had agreed to give him 7 per cent of the total loan if it went through. Itkin Met Plumed Several weeks later, Mr. It- kin said, he met Plumed, who allegedly told him to forget the! deal because there had been no; appraisal, and " I don't want to be embarrassed with these peo- ple." Mr. Itkin said he had given Plumeri $500. At Plumeri's suggestion, Mr. Itkin continued, he approached Mr. Zalferino, who agreed to. give a letter to the manufac- turer committing the union to a $1.2-million loan. The union's treasury, the wit- ness explained, did not have the money and the letter was to be used only to obtain a loan from a bank. Mr. Zalferino assertedly made threats as to what he would do if the letter was used, and when Mr. Itkin complain to Plumeri, the reputed mobster gave orders to Mr. Zalferino. The union head then allegedly told Mr. Itkin, "I'll get even with you for this." When banks refused to ac- cept the union letter, Mr. Berger was allegedly brought into the plot, and he arranged a loan from the teamsters' union. But the manufacturer needed cash to operate until the loan went through. The witness said that on Plummeri's orders, Mr. Zal- ferino lent the manufacturer $5,000 in union funds, and an additional $55,000 loan was ob- tained from Teamsters Local 875. NEW YORK TIMES 25 April 1969 S. JUDGE su:stitllys DE SAPIO INDICTMENT . Federal:: ...judge Charles , M. MetZrier refused:. yesterday to dismiss a bribery conspiracy in clictnient against tarrnine 9. De 5apio, former Tanithany. flail leader, and two other. � The: indictment� chyged. a plot to bribe fOrmee .Water Commissioner James L. Marcus and extort constructioti Con- tracts from Consolidated Edi- son., . Marcus, who is serving a 15- month sentence in another Fed- eral bribery conspiracy date, and Herbert Itkin, a Federal Bureau of Investigation inform- er, are expeated to be the prin- cipal government witnesses against Mr. De SPalo: � The indidtment, returned last Dec. 20, named as defendants, in addition to Mr. De 'Sapio, Antonio (Tony Ducks) Cprallo, a Mafia figure, and Henry. Fried, a wealthy contractor. No,"date has been set for trial. - In a 36-page opinion, Judge Metzner dismissed: one count of the four--count_ indictment. This -involved the :alleged use of the telephone interestate in furtherance of the alleged con- spiracy: Judge :Metzner.. held that there - was no indication that interstate calls had been made in this case. He also ordered that Mr. It kin: undergo pre-trial, question- ing :on May".9.`by defense laiv- yers pertaining to his role in the alleged conspiracy.