Election Fraud: Then and Now: The Connection with Organized Crime

(Photo Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

Donald Trump recently brought the subjects of voter fraud and election fraud into the national spotlight. He has openly alleged that there is “large scale voter fraud happening.” He points to a 2012 study by Pew, which found that there are 1.8 million people who have died but haven’t been removed from the voter rolls. Also, roughly 2.75 million people are registered to vote in more than one state. This issue absolutely needs to be corrected, but it was intellectually dishonest for Donald Trump to insinuate that those numbers represent actual cases of voter fraud. Instead, those numbers show weaknesses in our registration system that present opportunities for potential voter fraud and election fraud.

First of all, let’s note the difference between both the two terms. Voter fraud involves an individual person who places a vote through illegal means. In most cases, these people used a fake ID to vote multiple times. In recent years, there haven’t been many documented cases. Election fraud is a larger, more organized effort to rig an election. Voter fraud is a common form of election fraud in which political fixers arrange for several people to act as repeat voters. There are many other types of election fraud including vote buying, voter suppression, open corruption, etc. Both major political parties have been guilty of these crimes throughout history.

For several years, the KKK organized crowds at voting stations to intimidate voters. In many cases, they also assaulted voters. In addition, various state laws were passed in the aftermath of the 15^th Amendment to disenfranchise black voters. For example, Louisiana required “literacy tests,” which were disproportionately required of minority voters. You can take a look at one these rigged questionnaires from 1964. In addition, Florida passed a law in 1868 barring convicted felons from voting. That same law affected the Presidential election of 2000 when thousands of voters were inaccurately purged from the rolls and it disproportionately affected black voters.  

Election fraud isn’t as widespread as it was in the past for a few reasons. The election process is much more thoroughly regulated. Also, technology has certainly enhanced public record keeping and prevented abuses with fake identification. More important, our political parties are now less connected with the organized crime outfits that were responsible for this corruption. That doesn’t mean that politicians suddenly developed a new sense of scruples. Instead, politicians are no longer beholden to dirty money from underworld figures due to our current system of legalized bribery. Corporate dollars now have a more profound effect on election results.

(Tim Sullivan to the right -Wikimedia Commons)     

 

Let’s explore this historic connection between political campaigns and organized crime. For me, I immediately picture a scene from Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, which was based in the 1860s. In this scene, an Irish immigrant cast his first vote of the day with a full beard. His facial hair was shaved multiple times (sideburns, goatee, and clean shaven) to help him continue voting throughout the day. The pioneer of this voter fraud technique was “Big” Tim Sullivan of the notoriously corrupt Democratic political machine of New York City.[1] Led by William “Boss” Tweed, Tammany Hall held power for decades and openly rigged numerous elections. Tammany Hall had various street gangs at their disposal who scared away opposition voters and campaign workers. In some cases, they were violently assaulted. These gangs also busted open ballot boxes to fix elections. In the election of 1843, prisoners were literally released temporarily from the penitentiary to vote for their candidates. William “Boss” Tweed acknowledged afterward that “the ballots didn’t make the outcome; the counters did.”[2]

(William "Boss" Tweed)

 How could they get away with such flagrant criminal activity? It all comes down to money. Tammany Hall represents arguably the worst example of the spoils system or the patronage system. Tammany’s loaded roster of cronies was appointed to key government positions. These officials pilfered funds from the government budget hand over fist and a percentage of that graft was kicked back to the leaders of Tammany Hall. They also profited by appointing law enforcement officials who openly collected bribe money from the city’s top racketeers. Specifically, gambling and prostitution were the most lucrative black markets. Simply put, the standardized nature of this corruption was remarkable. The New York Times printed a report in 1900 that revealed that “Big” Tim Sullivan led an unofficial “gambling commission,” which charged “licensing fees” to the city’s illegal gambling businesses, including craps games, covert casinos, bookies, numbers runners, policy shops, etc.[3]

Atlantic City was home to a political machine, “the Boardwalk Empire,” which was quite comparable. Unlike today’s demographics, this Republican political machine relied on a large bloc of black voters. Louis “Commodore” Kuehnle was the first leader of this corrupt organization. Like Tammany Hall, every vice racketeer was forced to pay their bribes. The Boardwalk Empire not only bribed voters, they encouraged them to vote multiple times. Voters brought carbon paper into the booth to provide proof to receive payment afterward. One of the most glaring examples of this corruption occurred in 1910 in the gubernatorial election. There were more votes for Woodrow Wilson’s Republican opponent than actual registered voters.[4]

Kuehnle was convicted of corruption charges in 1913, but it was a case of “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” His successor, Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, was arguably more corrupt. Like Tammany Hall, each illegal racket (horse betting parlors, policy shops, brothels, etc.) had to pay a specified “licensing fee.”[5] Nucky Johnson was also linked with a who’s who list of American’s top organized criminals. In fact, that’s why Atlantic City was the host city of the first interstate conference of the mafia in 1929.   

Chicago politics is particularly known for its connection with voter fraud. Al Capone hired “floaters,” i.e. voters who cast multiples votes in different precincts, to keep his mayor in office.[6] Likewise, an Irish street gang, Ragen’s Colts, made a fortune during the prohibition era from bootlegging. They also served as muscle for hire for the Democrats by performing the typical strong-arm tactics of election season.[7]

 James Ragen, the co-founder of this group, struggled in a battle of power with the Chicago mob or “the Outfit.” The Italian-American mafia wanted to take over Ragen’s lucrative racket that was known as the “race wire.” This was a telegraph service that delivered horse racing news and results via the telegraph to all of the illegal horse racing parlors (known as poolrooms) across the country. The Chicago mob eventually murdered Ragen for this reason and the race wire was an incredibly lucrative source of revenue that bred further political corruption.

There were allegations of election fraud in eleven states when JFK was elected in 1960. However, the most glaring red flags were in Illinois in connection with the Chicago mob. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Seymour Hersh, addressed the rumors of election fraud that persisted for decades with The Dark Side of Camelot. According to Hersh’s sources, Sam “Momo” Giancana was instrumental in the final results. 

The Kennedy administration never conducted a comprehensive investigation and the DOJ even attacked the men responsible for this fraud. One such individual, Paul “Skinny” D’Amato, owned an Atlantic City nightclub that was connected with Sam Giancana. The DOJ captured D’Amato on a wiretap bragging about his illegal campaign efforts and two months later he was indicted on tax charges.[8] Nonetheless, Richard Nixon didn’t want to be labeled as a sore loser and he never publicly contested the results. However, many historians believe that the corrupt nature of the 1960 election prompted the Watergate burglary even though his victory in 1972 was sure to be a landslide. 

 

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[1] David Pietrusza. Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series. New York: Basic Books, 2003. Print. P 54

[2] Tracy Campbell. Deliver the Vote: A History of Election Fraud, an American Political Tradition, 1742-2004. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005. Print. P 19

[3] Herbert Asbury. Sucker's Progress: An Informal History of Gambling in America from the Colonies to Canfield. P 456

[4] Ovid Demaris. How Greed, Corruption, and the Mafia Turned Atlantic City Into--the Boardwalk Jungle. Toronto: Bantam, 1986. Print. P 22-23

[5] Jonathan Van Meter. The Last Good Time: Skinny D'Amato, the Notorious 500 Club, and the Rise and Fall of Atlantic City. New York: Crown, 2003. Print. P 61

[6] Sam Giancana and Chuck Giancana. Double Cross: The Explosive, Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America. New York: Warner, 1992. Print. P 30

[7] Carl Sifakis. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Facts on File, 2005. Print. P 375

[8] Jonathan Van Meter. P 174