We will never know how many investigations and prosecutions have been compromised by the involvement of the White House with organized crime or how much insider information organized crime was given and subsequently made use of to enhance its
profitability and avoid prosecution. With regard to the Reagan presidency, however, we can point with certainty to some very tangible and positive outcomes for the mob. Name at least three examples.
• In response to complaints from Paul Laxalt, the Reagan administration reined in federal investigations of organized crime in Las Vegas.
• The Reagan administration supported Laxalt's opposition to proposed regulations aimed at
reducing the laundering of illicit drug profits through Las Vegas casinos.
• The Reagan administration supported Laxalt's attempt to divert the focus of federal criminal
investigation efforts from organized crime to street crime.
• Despite having the support of the attorney general, Laxalt was unable to get FBI director William Webster to close down the political corruption hotline in Las Vegas.
• During Raymond Donovan's tenure as secretary of labor, prosecutions of union officials
declined by 30 percent.
• The Reagan administration imposed a 33 percent cutback of the FBI's investigations of
gambling, prostitution, arson for hire, pornography, and gangland murders. The president also announced that no new undercover operations would be authorized against organized crime or white-collar crime in his administration.
• The Reagan administration severely curtailed the investigative and enforcement abilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force.
• One of the very first legislative proposals to come out of the Reagan White House was a bill
that repealed two federal taxes on gambling.
• Attorney General William French Smith tried to persuade Congress to repeal the Ethics in
Government Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
• In his first term, Reagan received 588 commutation requests, but he granted only 10, all
white-collar criminals with organized crime ties.
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