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Information Regarding The Maine State Prison, Thomaston, Maine 1824-1953, Allan L. Robbins

Maine Bicentennial

Prior to the start of World War II, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI declared dead the criminal networks established by violent career gangsters during the Prohibition Era. By 1950, America’s attention was focused on the Cold War, Communism, and suspected Soviet subversion plots.

As the FBI continually denied the existence of organized crime, a new American mafia was establishing legitimate businesses as covers for racketeering, drug trafficking, and loansharking. Bribes to local police and politicians bought protection from investigation.

In 1949 the American Municipal Association pushed for the U.S. Congress to investigate. Despite Hoover’s continued denials, the resulting Kefauver Committee proceedings …