" A little
later she said: "I am sorry you came here. Honest. You should
have stayed at home and stuck to your holy books. It would have
been a thousand times better than coming to America and calling
on girls like myself. Honest."
She was known as Argentine Rachael
It was from her that I first heard of the relations existing between
the underworld and the police of New York. But then my idea of
the Russian police had always been associated in my mind with
everything cruel and dishonest, so the cormption of the New York
police did not seem to be anything unusual
One day she said to me: "If you want a good street corner for your
cart I can fix it for you. I know Cuff-Button Leary."
"Who is he?"
"Why, have you never heard about him?' "Is he a big police
officer?"
"Bigger. The police are afraid of him."
"Why?"
"Because he is the boss. He is the district leader. What he says
goes."
She went on to explain that he was the local chieftain of the
dominant "politician party," as she termed it
"What is a politician party?" I asked
She tried to define it and, failing in her attempt, she said, with a
giggle: "Oh, you are a boob.
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