The KEFAUVER CRIME COMMISSION held hearings in Cleveland 17-19 Jan. 1951 as part of the U.S. Senate probe into interstate crime. Under the direction of Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, 20 crime figures were subpoenaed to testify in an effort to establish interstate control of rackets activity. ARTHUR "MICKEY" MCBRIDE, owner of the CLEVELAND BROWNS and the Continental Press, a horse racing news wire, testified he had business dealings with racketeers Alfred Polizzi and Anthony Milano. Thomas J. McGinty, Cleveland gambling figure and part owner of the Desert Inn, admitted to knowing his partners in the Las Vegas casino, Moe Dalitz, Morris Kleinman, and Louis Rothkopf, who had once operated the Pettibone Club here, before moving onto Covington and Newport, KY, and Las Vegas, but avoided questions about his own gambling operations. Others who either avoided subpoenas or were uncooperative witnesses included Dalitz, Kleinman, Rothkopf, local crime figure James Licavoli, Polizzi, who refused to discuss any activities before 1945, and Youngstown gambler Joseph DiCarlo.
Although the witnesses who did testify took care not to incriminate themselves, the Kefauver Commission was satisfied that at least 6 states had Cleveland gang money in them; that local law enforcement authorities were easy on illegal gambling establishments; and that racket money had infiltrated into legitimate business. The Kefauver investigations provided evidence of nationwide racketeering to Congress in the hope that steps could be taken to control it.