Oldest Industry

Boston offers a lucrative field for the business of vice. Competition is keen. Thriving "places of business" crowd one another in Boston's South End. Philadelphia and New York rings vie with local operatives for the Boston trade. But last week the Boston vice industry suffered a slump. Federal agents descended on South End "houses." The hostesses, forewarned, had fled. Only two women were taken in: Rose ("Rosie Big Lips") Restant and Pauline ("Queen Polly") Levine.

This sudden cessation of business activity was caused by a Federal investigation. Several weeks ago Samuel Reinstein, New York white slave racketeer, was murdered in Boston by a rival gang. A U. S. attorney, investigating the killing, disclosed that 50 murders in Massachusetts and neighboring states had been traced to white slave rings operating unmolested in Boston. Raids on the South End district were begun, primarily to trace the Reinstein killers.