William Molasky
St. Louis shareholder in the Consensus Publishing Company and the Pioneer News Co.; convicted in the 1940 Consensus tax case, a conviction reversed on appeal; testified to the Kefauver Committee in 1950.
- Role
- Shareholder of the Consensus Publishing Company, St. Louis (Supreme Court of the United States, United States v. Ragen, 1942).
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited records state. Testimony and staff exhibits are labelled as such; they are not findings.
On the record
- 1929 — The Supreme Court records that he held 30 shares of the Consensus Publishing Company and that "Molasky alone lived in St. Louis, where Consensus conducted its principal business operations" (United States v. Ragen, 1942).
- January 1932 — He testified that a half-interest in a St. Louis race-news business was bought by "Annenberg, myself, Kruse, and Ragen" (Kefauver Part 4-A, 30 September 1950).
- 12 September 1940 — Convicted with four others in the Consensus tax case; the Seventh Circuit reversed on 26 February 1941 (United States v. Molasky, 1941).
- 1940 — He testified that Annenberg gave him his shares in the Pioneer News Co. for $1 (Kefauver Part 4-A).
- 1942 — The Supreme Court notes that the Government did not seek review of the reversal of his conviction (United States v. Ragen, footnote 4).
The role line is the Supreme Court’s statement of the facts. He appeared before the committee three times, on 13 June and 30 September 1950 and on 24 February 1951; only the September session was read for this page.
Records
itemUnited States v. Molasky, 118 F.2d 128 (7th Cir. 1941)Seventh Circuit decision of 26 February 1941 reversing the tax-evasion convictions of William Molasky, the two James Ragens and the two Kruses in the Consensus Publishing Co. case, on an indictment of 22 August 1939 that had also named Moses L. Annenberg.itemUnited States v. Ragen, 314 U.S. 513 (1942)Supreme Court decision of 5 January 1942 reinstating the tax-evasion convictions of James Ragen, Sr. and Arnold and Lester Kruse in the Consensus Publishing Co. case, and describing Moses Annenberg as "the dominant figure" in several horse-race betting enterprises.itemKefauver Part 4-A: testimony of William Molasky on the Pioneer News Service and the Annenberg shares (30 September 1950), pp. 652-672A St. Louis witness testified that in 1932 a half-interest in a St. Louis race-news distributor was bought by "Annenberg, myself, Kruse, and Ragen," and that in 1940 Annenberg gave him his shares for $1.