PLAYBOY CASE MAY HOLD KEY TO FATE OF 'BUG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000300070002-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 1, 1998
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: December 7, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

Y, NLi\YS
?an7fiiecl .Apprpve.Agr'FR.e~ e : (~ II P
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CPYRGHT
yyTT By JERRY. GREENE '
:SFIINGTON Dec. 6 (NEWS Bureau)-The
mysterious electronic "bug, "key weapon o the
modern policeman in the war against organized
crime, is going on trial for its constitutional life
before the Supreme Court.
The forthcoming decision in New York's Playboy Club
Brownell during the isen o
ganized crime when Brownell
thought that unrestricted use of
the weapon might be required to
keep tabs on the nation's top
hoodlums.
An interdepartmental memo
from the Justice Department in
July, 1961, reported: "The attor-
ney general stated he recognized
the reasons why telephone taps
should be restricted to national-
defense-type cases and he was
pleased that we had been using
microphone surveillances where
these objections do not apply
wherever possible in -organized
liquor license bribery case may well fix rules for gathering
of. criminal intelligence-an area vastly different from the
assembly of evidence to be used in the trial of the accused.
Police officials across the nation will watch the out
come with keen interest, but none more so than agents o
the federal investigative agencies-the. Federal Bureau o
Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Narcotic
Bureau, and the Centrl._ Iri el~nce,,gnr,
5urisdiction in a clear-cut test of
"bugging" when it agreed yester-
day to examine the constitution-
that permits police to engage in
electronic eavesdropping unde
court approval. .
The case involves the -appeal o
Ralph Berger, Chicago public re
lations mart convicted in 1964 o
plotting with Playboy Club offi
cials to brib the former chair
-man of the New York State Li
quor Authority to obtain a li
tense.
BUG WILL 31: ISSUE
1N BAKER'S TRIAL
Several other cases touching o
the bugging issue are pending i
the lower courts. The questio
Nvill fig-tire prominently in th
trial of Bobby Baker, form
Senate Democratic secretary an
protege of President Johnso .
The New York case is consi -
ered as the first open-and-sh
test of the use of the bug, the
electronic listening device that
law enforcement officers have
used effc,Lively to keep up with
what's going on with the mob.
A specific question to be de-
. tided is whether the, bugging
"involves trespassory inttuston
Into private premises, 'general'
searches for 'mere evidence' and
Invasion of the privilege against
self-incrimination .. "
This, in the eyes of the police,
means the gathering of intelli-
gence, not evidence:-
The tapping of telephone wires
and disclosure of telephonic con-
versations is forbidden under the
Federal Communications Act, but
back before World War II, with
the approval of the Justice De-
i partment, the I ate: President
. Roosevelt. held . that wiretapping
i LAW ENFORCERS
memo bearing the sign
of Sen. Robert Kennedy (D-
.Y.), then attorney general,
dated Aug. 17, 1961, explained
some of the problems facing the
law enforcement officials in us-
ing the bugs:
In connection with the use of
ticrophono surveillances it is
n national security cases or in ales such as kidnaping where uman life was at stake was per-issible, so long as the informa_ ion obtained was not divulged or led as evidence. That ruling is still in effect,
nd followed. Federal wiretap
lust be approved by the attorney
eneral and, in cases. involving
iplomatic offices such as foreign
mbassies, by the secretary o
tate as well.
Bugging is something else again
oming into its own with the ad
antes in technology made durin
nd after World War II. Here
licrophone is planted in a?roo
occupied by those under surveil
ante, with a recording device a
h other end of the wire.
78 FBI WIRETAPS
AND 67 BUGS IN '61
to monitor, such a surveillance
This activity in,no way involve
any interception of telephoni
icd in a Denver case, listened t
he -rustle of the bills as the L
eggs casino managers skimme '
he-profits from the gamblin
1
d
f
er
e
ables to duck taxes. A
rand jury is looking into th
itu (tion and the FBI is bein '
ued for invasion of privacy.
Information obtained from t e.
ugs has saved the lives of info r- ?
ants planted inside the mo
nd on occasion has saved the U e.
f a gang member who was slat r
or execution by the syndicate.
-THANKS TO 'EAR' --
Investigative agencies Have ou-.!
lined shocking information on.
osa Nostra payoffs of corrupt.
olice in more than one city
trough the attentive ninnage-'
gent of political ward and pre-,
inct leaders.
They know the names, dates.-
laces and amounts. Some of the
rrupt have been weeded out;
hey. can keep listening.,
FBI, IRS HAVE BEEN
BUSY LISTENERS
"In the New or t
'he telepthone company has over
i he yeacs insisted that a letter be
urnished to the telephone com-
I on each occasion when a
special telephone line is leased by
the FBI. It is required that such
a lease arrangement be with the
approval of the-attorney general
n o
the extent of bugging by the FBI
came in a letter of May 25, 1961,11
from Assistant Attorney General
Herbert J. Miller Jr. to Sen. Sam
Ervin Jr. At that time, Miller..
wrote that the FBI had 78 wire-
taps in operation and 67 "bugs"
working.
"As in the case of wiretap-
ping," Miller wrote, "the technique
of electronic listening devices is
used on an highly restricted bas-
is. The majority are in the field
of internal security, with a few
used to obtain intelligence infor-
mation with re and to or anized
g
"We have not previously use
eased ? lines in connection with
icrophone surveillances because
f certain technical difficulties
vhich existed in New York City
hese technical difficulties have
owever, now been overcome."
So the bugs were planted, an
of only by the FBI. The?Interna
ovens Service has been a bus
istener. And through' the years
ederal agents have been lookin
own the open mouths'. of th
osa Nostra-; -and the Communis
Artj~~ ?.~y,tltitiltr~,1?n~a.r:'r?..:.,n.rrrr
g
I
crime."
Use of the bugs were approved
by then Attorney'General Herbert
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000300070002-3
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