# Kefauver Part 5: testimony of Eugene Bernstein, Chicago tax attorney (17 October and 18 December 1950)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/kefauver-p5-bernstein-testimony-1950-10-17/

Bernstein said he prepared tax returns for Accardo, Guzik, Humphreys and others and handled the tax settlement for Campagna and DeLucia, and that Accardo went with him on ten or twelve visits to Leavenworth. U.S. Attorney Otto Kerner stated that the prison records showed those visits signed 'Joseph Bulger.'

Eugene Bernstein testified on 17 October 1950 (Part 5, pp. 467-515) and again on 18 December 1950 (pp. 916-937). He said (p. 468) that he was admitted to the bar in 1919, worked for the Internal Revenue Bureau until September or October 1923, and "more or less" specialized in tax practice. He said he had prepared returns for Rocco De Grazia, John Guzik, Anthony Accardo, Murray Humphreys and Lawrence Imburgio, and had handled the tax settlement for Louis Campagna and Paul DeLucia.

He said (p. 476) that he had represented Accardo from about 1941, and (pp. 480-483) that Accardo went with him on perhaps ten to twelve visits to Leavenworth while the Ricca and Campagna tax matter was worked out, and that Accardo paid him nothing. U.S. Attorney Otto Kerner stated on the record (p. 482) that the prison records introduced at a trial showed each Accardo visit signed "Joseph Bulger," with the address of an attorney of that name; the trial is not identified on the pages read. Bernstein said he was told that Bulger "handled certain affairs for Mr. DeLucia" (p. 477). Asked about Accardo's reputation, he answered: "I never knew Mr. Accardo to be a notorious gangster, sir, at that time, nor do I know him to be a gangster now."

He said (pp. 470-471) that Humphreys, Accardo, Guzik and De Grazia each came in between March and June and took their files back, which he treated as the end of the representation. At p. 483 counsel read the Tax Court stipulation's deficiencies, $90,371.49 for Campagna and $36,146.50 for DeLucia, and Bernstein said whatever the figures indicated "is the fact." At the December session (p. 934) counsel read Humphreys's reported income for 1946 and 1947 from his files; Bernstein said he did not know Humphreys's business.

Counsel's and the U.S. Attorney's statements are not testimony or findings. Quotations follow the Internet Archive's OCR of the printed volume. Page numbers are the printed running heads and can be off by one near a page break.

## Sources

- U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/investigationofo05unit
- Full text of the volume (Internet Archive, OCR): https://archive.org/download/investigationofo05unit/investigationofo05unit_djvu.txt