Remarks at a Meeting With Federal Enforcement Officials To Deal With the Problem of Organized Crime.

General Katzenbach, Director Hoover, Mr. Cohen, General Vinson, Mr. Acheson:

I know how deeply all of you share my concern over the scope and the power of organized crime in this country. It constitutes nothing less than a guerrilla war against our society.

This is a war that takes scores of lives each year in gangland violence.

It is a war that terrorizes thousands of our citizens. It is a war in which billions of dollars are drained off by illegal gambling, narcotics, prostitution, loan-sharking, arson, and other forms of racketeering.

Most damaging of all are the efforts of racketeers to seek protection against honest law enforcement by corrupting our public officials. Such evil strikes at the heart of our democracy. It corrupts individual officials. It breeds a general contempt; it saps public respect for law and for law enforcement.

We have sought to fight this war with every Federal resource. The intense and vigorous efforts of the Justice Department and the Treasury Department have given the Nation great cause for encouragement. Federal prosecutions in organized crime have risen from 17 in 1960 to 491 last year.

During the same period, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Intelligence Division of the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Narcotics and other agencies of the Government have been gathering more and more information on organized crime throughout the country. As a result of this work, we have been able:

--to identify the membership of criminal syndicates

--to anticipate many of their activities

--to prosecute their members.

So this morning I salute and I congratulate all of the dedicated Federal officials who are joined in this concerted campaign.

Still, if we are to be realistic about the nature of organized crime, we must recognize that it cannot be uprooted by any short campaign. Criminal syndicates continue to bore into the structure of our society. As we apply pressure in one area, such as gambling, racketeers shift to another, such as infiltrating legitimate business.

This makes our job very much more difficult-and it makes it much more important. The campaign against racketeering must not only be continued but it must be accelerated.

So I am today calling on each Federal department and agency of this Government that has been engaged in the war against organized crime to redouble its efforts.

I am today directing the distinguished Attorney General, our chief law enforcement officer, to act as the focal point of the Government's renewed drive against these corporations of corruption.

A society can be neither great nor just as long as organized crime exists.

Of course we know that there will be no instant victory.

But today we do want to serve notice on all syndicates of crime that victory will come.

It will come through the joint efforts and the cooperation of all concerned Americans.

It will come through a new partnership between Federal, State, and local governments.

Together, we will match our determination with effective action, fairly taken, to rid our land of the menace of organized crime. And to those of you who are leading principals in this attack, I salute you and I extend my congratulations and I pledge you my full support.