WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 B3
made the dean’s list two or three
times. I can still see the smile on
his face when I showed him my
report card.”
In his old age, Charles “Rags”
Warring went to Mass every day.
He was remembered as someone
who, back when he was flush,
supported local charities. He died
in 1969.
His son went on to a 40-year
career at the Treasury
Department. Now 72 and retired,
Leo lives in Harwood, Md., in
Anne Arundel County. He started
research for the book after his son
Charles came across his
namesake grandfather in a 1954
court case. With newspaper
archives easily searchable online,
Leo began exploring how his
family was once depicted.
“They’ve kind of risen almost
to the surface and can be dug up
by hand,” he said. “If somebody
was going to dig them up and
present them to the public, I
wanted to be that person.”
Not everyone is appreciative:
“I’m getting some blowback from
some relatives who think I should
have left them buried.”
Leo said he tried not to cast the
Foggy Bottom Gang as saints. He
makes a distinction between
“criminals” and “bad guys.”
There’s no denying that his father
and his uncles were criminals.
But they weren’t bad guys.
“Maybe I’m biased,” I said, “but
I don’t see them that way.”
[email protected]
Twitter: @johnkelly F or previous columns, visit
washingtonpost.com/john-kelly.can tell their stories, which is
what Leo has done with his book,
“The Foggy Bottom Gang: The
Story of the Warring Brothers of
Washington, D.C.” (Parafine
Press).
Charles Warring was born in
1907, the youngest of Bruce and
Julia Warring’s 10 children. The
elder Warring ran a cooperage in
Georgetown. He expected his
children to take over the family
business, but lifting heavy barrels
held no appeal to Charles and two
of his brothers, Emmitt and Leo.
“Not when it was a lot easier
and more profitable to get into
bootlegging,” said Leo. “It was too
much to keep them at the barrel
shop.”
Prohibition did not magically
reduce the demand for
intoxicating beverages. It simply
drove the liquor business
underground. The three Warring
brothers were happy to help.
When Prohibition ended, there
was still a market for untaxed
liquor, which the Warrings
provided.
Soon they got into the numbers
game, running an underground
lottery that reportedly took in
$2 million a year. They
frequented a Foggy Bottom bar
called Pete Dailey’s, part of a D.C.
demimonde that included such
figures as Sam “Pickle King”
Beard, Victor “Toots” Juliano
and Alfred “Puddinhead” Jones.
And the nickname “Rags”? It
came from how messy even the
nicest suit looked on Charles,
especially compared with his
natty brother Emmitt, recognized
as the brains of the operation. (ItTHE DISTRICTMan found fatally shot
along R oute 295 in NEA man whose body was found
early Tuesday in the travel lanes
of Route 295 in Northeast
Washington had been fatally shot,
a police department spokesman
said.
Police said it is not known
whether the man was shot on the
highway or elsewhere and was
left there. The case is being
investigated as a homicide.
The body was discovered about
3:10 a.m. in the northbound lanes
of the road, between East Capitol
Street and Benning Road NE.
Police sent detectives from the
homicide unit and the major
crash team, which investigates
fatal incidents involving vehicles.
Dustin Sternbeck, a D.C. police
spokesman, later said authorities
determined that the man had
been shot. His identity was not
made public pending notification
of relatives. Sternbeck said the
man was 20 years old.
Authorities closed n orthbound
lanes of Route 295 through most
of the morning rush hour. The
road reopened about 8:30 a.m.
— Peter HermannMan fatally shot in
Southeast WashingtonA man was shot and killed
Sunday in Southeast Washington,
D.C. police said.
Demeitri Anderson, 23, of
Northeast, was found about
12:40 p.m. in the 4500 block of
Benning Road SE, police said.
No further details about a
suspect or motive were available.
— Martin WeilMARYLANDPolice: Officers kill dog
after it attacked m anTwo Prince George’s County
police officers shot and killed a
dog that attacked them after it
attacked a man, p olice said.
The incident occurred about
4:30 a.m. Monday in the 100 block
of Daimler Drive in the Capitol
Heights area. Police went there
after a dog attack was reported,
and they saw the animal pinning
a man to the floor of a porch.
When the officers distracted
the dog, it lunged at them, police
said. They protected themselves
with a police patrol shield, but it
was damaged by the lunge.
After the dog charged at the
officers a second time, they feared
for their safety, and both fired
their weapons, killing the dog,
police said. The officers were not
injured; the victim of the original
attack suffered minor injuries,
police said.
— Martin WeilLOCAL DIGESTTo the FBI,
Charles “Rags”
Warring was a
bootlegger and a
numbers runner.
To the IRS, he was
a tax cheat who
had the audacity
to claim as
deductions the
bribes he paid to
District cops. To The Washington
Post, he was the “genial
triggerman” of a Washington
gang.
To Leo Warring, he was Dad.
“They used various labels, like
‘mobster,’ ” Leo said of the way his
father was described in print and
in the courtroom. “I don’t relate
to them at all. I would say that’s
not the case.”
Triggerman?
“I think it’s a little bit of an
exaggeration,” said Leo. “He was
involved in some shootings,
admittedly. But he was a very
outgoing, personable, likable
person.”
Of course, you can’t choose
your parents. And you definitely
can’t influence the lives they led
before you were born. But you
Bootlegging
brothers
have their
story told
John
Kelly's
Washington
the spirit of the proposal, which
focuses not on the original crime
but on whether an offender has
been rehabilitated and deserves to
return to society. He and other
lawmakers said Cheh’s amend-
ments could e xacerbate racial dis-
parities in sentencing that council
members are trying to address.
“It would essentially under-
mine the entire bill,” said Allen,
who shared his own experience as
a victim of a crime when he was
once held up at gunpoint. “These
are all serious offenses.”
Council member Kenyan R.
McDuffie (D-Ward 5), a former
prosecutor, said he appreciated
concerns about victim rights but
didn’t think a punitive approach
would serve their interests.
“There’s nothing we can do to-
day... to address fully the grief
that people will feel about having
lost a loved one to these heinous
crimes,” he said. “Making some-
one stay in prison longer isn’t go-
ing to bring their loved ones back.”
O nly Brandon T. Todd (D-
Ward 4) joined Cheh in support-
ing her amendments. After they
failed, both lawmakers joined
their colleagues in voting for the
early-release bill.
Dec. 15 is the last day for bills to
win final council approval.
[email protected]give their former workers who lost
jobs during the pandemic the op-
portunity to return once the busi-
ness is operating again.
But multiple lawmakers said
they wanted changes before the
second vote to address concerns
raised by restaurant owners, who
said the bill could complicate their
reopening plans. Mendelson sig-
naled openness to those changes.
Lawmakers unanimously ad-
vanced legislation that would al-
low prisoners who committed
crimes before they turned 25 to
petition for early release after
serving 15 years of their sentences.
That bill prompted fierce opposi-
tion from prosecutors, who said it
was insulting to victims who ex-
pected perpetrators to be locked
up for decades.
The council rejected amend-
ments proposed by Cheh to re-
quire judges to give greater weight
to the voices of victims and the
nature of the offenses when con-
sidering early release.
“It’s inevitably also about the
victim, the victim’s family and giv-
ing agency to the victim and ac-
knowledgment to the victim about
the harms that were caused,” Cheh
said.
But council member Charles Al-
len (D-Ward 6), the bill’s author,
said those changes went againstwas needed to safeguard upstand-
ing residents and local businesses
in the District of Columbia.”
Most other bills approved Tues-
day were receiving their first of
two required votes. Each faces a
further vote this month — before it
can be sent to Bowser for her
signature — to become law.
The council voted unanimously
to ban noncompete clauses after
the bill’s author, Elissa Silverman
(I-At Large), agreed to exempt
doctors making more than
$250,000 — an attempt to assuage
concerns raised by hospitals and
the mayor.
Council member Mary M. Cheh
(D-Ward 3) recused herself from
the vote because she works as a
law professor for George Washing-
ton University, which operates a
hospital affected by the bill.
The council also advanced leg-
islation to reorganize the D.C. De-
partment of Consumer and Regu-
latory Affairs — long the source of
customer-service complaints
from residents and businesses —
into two separate agencies: one
handling consumer issues, the
other construction matters. Law-
makers must include funding for
the changes in the budget cycle
before the bill can take effect.
The council gave initial approv-
al to a bill requiring employers totract residents and businesses,”
Bowser said in her letter.
The mayor urged the council to
withdraw the measure allowing
more lawsuits against businesses
that fail to pay taxes, as well as bills
that would break up the city li-
censing and permitting agency
and ban “noncompete clauses”
that prevent people from leaving
one employer and quickly landing
a job with a competitor.
But the council passed them
over her objections.
Council Chairman Phil Mendel-
son (D) feuded with the D.C.
Chamber of Commerce over the
bill that would allow company in-
siders to bring tax fraud lawsuits
against their employers and win a
share of the unpaid taxes. The
chamber mobilized members
against the bill, asserting that it
would lead to “frivolous” litiga-
tion.
Lawmakers ultimately gave fi-
nal approval to the bill 12 to 1, with
Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) the
sole no vote, after Mendelson of-
fered changes, including requir-
ing more independent review be-
fore a lawsuit could proceed. The
bill heads to the mayor for action.
In an email to members, the
chamber called the bill’s passage
“disappointing” and said amend-
ments “fell short of what we feltNew Jersey and Massachusetts.
“By denying patrons the ability
to use cash as a form of payment,
businesses are effectively telling
lower-income, undocumented
and young patrons that they are
not welcome in their establish-
ments,” Grosso said Tuesday.
Some businesses say they avoid
cash because of the risk of robbery.
Sweetgreen, a salad chain found-
ed in D.C., r eversed its cashless
policy after criticism that it was
discriminatory.
If it becomes law, the prohibi-
tion would take effect after the
public health emergency has been
lifted. The novel coronavirus has
fueled concerns about exchanging
currency hand to hand.
In a letter to the council Tues-
day, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D)
said lawmakers should be mindful
of the “collective impact” of pass-
ing bills affecting businesses amid
the pandemic. But she did not
threaten to veto the cashless re-
tailers prohibition.
“Though some of these mea-
sures may have merit indepen-
dently, taken together they inject a
heightened level of uncertainty
into our business climate at a time
when we are competing regionally
and nationally to retain and at-
COUNCIL FROM B1
D.C. businesses oppose p ayments to those who expose tax fraud
Hawkins, who was elected in
2018 and served for the past year
as vice chair, will lead the council
as Prince George’s weathers a sec-
ond surge in coronavirus cases.
His challenges will include pass-
ing a budget with what officials
anticipate will be a massive rev-
enue shortfall and steering help to
struggling businesses.
Council member Deni Taveras
(D-District 2), the first Latina
elected to the council in 2014, will
serve as vice chair.
Hawkins pledged to work close-
ly with County Executive Angela
D. Alsobrooks (D), whom he first
met about two decades ago, when
he was working for County Execu-tive Wayne K. Curry (D) and she
was a young prosecutor in the
state’s attorney’s office.
Alsobrooks praised Hawkins as
a leader dedicated to helping resi-
dents — always willing to assist in
a crisis, even if it means answering
a call at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. “I am so
proud of you,” she told him in her
remarks.
Hawkins, who was a close ad-
viser to County Executive Rush-
ern L. Baker III (D), served six
years in prison for an armed rob-
bery he committed at age 21. In
2008, he was accused of sexual
harassment by a colleague.
He talked openly about his past
on the campaign trail two yearsago, pitching himself as a candi-
date who believes in redemption,
and he referenced his “incredible
journey” in his remarks to the
council Tuesday.
“I’ve lived each day with it — I
carried the burden of my past,” he
said in an interview. “But I also
carried the promise of what exam-
ple I could be to others.”
Taveras, who has been a consis-
tent advocate for Prince George’s
growing immigrant community,
said her elevation to vice chair “is
a testament to how far we have
come as a council and as a county.”
She and Hawkins said that
council member Sydney J. Harri-
son (D-District 9) will serve as anunofficial “third leg” of their lead-
ership team, a move that Taveras
said is intended to prepare Harri-
son for future leadership on the
council.
Hawkins was a swing vote on
some important issues this year.
He withdrew his support after ini-
tially backing an effort that would
have put a charter amendment on
the ballot that would have allowed
the council to increase the cap on
the homestead tax credit.
The effort could have led to an
increase in county revenue, but
Hawkins said the public outcry
showed this was not the right time
to put the measure to voters.
[email protected]BY RACHEL CHASONThe Prince George’s County
Council unanimously elected Cal-
vin S. Hawkins II (D-At Large) as
chair during its final meeting of
the year Tuesday, elevating a long-
time player in county politics with
strong ties to the executive
branch.
MARYLAND
Prince George’s
council elects
Hawkins as chair
Katz (District 3).
Gabe Albornoz (At Large) was
appointed vice president, becom-
ing the first of the four first-term
lawmakers elected in 2018 to take
on such a leadership role.
Hucker, who lives in Silver
Spring, is a former state delegate
and a well-established voice in
Montgomery politics. In 1999, he
helped found Progressive Mary-
land, a grass-roots organization
that campaigns for liberal causes
and candidates.
On the council, he has posi-
tioned himself as an ally to unions,
tenant groups and transit advo-
cates. He spearheaded a bill last
year mandating air conditioning
in all rental properties and has
asked for state permission for the
county to install cameras thatcatch motorists who drive and
text.
Council member Andrew
Friedson (District 1) said Hucker’s
long-standing relationships with
state lawmakers and activists will
be helpful.
“ We need to have the ability to
bring people together,” Friedson
told Hucker during the Zoom ses-
sion, “and I’m confident you’ll
have the ability to do that.”
Hucker and Albornoz will help
to define the council’s priorities
and set weekly agendas. Both said
they are sobered by the challenges
that lie ahead.
Amid the ongoing spread of the
coronavirus, which has infected
more than 33,000 in Montgomery,
the County Council has to manage
hundreds of millions in projectedrevenue shortfalls, shepherd re-
lief programs that have struggled
to get off the ground and revitalize
an economy that had slowed even
before the pandemic. Residents in
the suburb of 1 million are divided
over how to move forward on a
slate of progressive issues, from
police reform and school bound-
aries to affordable housing and
climate change.
Hucker said the coronavirus,
while devastating, has pushed of-
ficials to solve long-standing
problems in new ways. “We’ve
changed more in one year than we
ever thought possible,” he said in
his acceptance speech. “If we con-
tinue to challenge our old assump-
tions, we can build a county that’s
healthier, more equitable and
more sustainable in just one year.”Hucker shares some of the
same base as County Executive
Marc Elrich (D) and is close to
him. As president, he could help
repair the council’s relationship
with Elrich, which has frayed over
fiscal decisions and several ethics
scandals.
Albornoz, a child of immigrants
from Ecuador and Chile, directed
the county’s recreation depart-
ment under former county execu-
tive Isiah Leggett. As chair of the
council’s Health and Human Ser-
vices Committee, he played an
outsize role in leading the pan-
demic response and advocating
for the hard-hit Latino communi-
ty.
If tradition holds, he will be-
come council president in 2022.
[email protected]BY REBECCA TANThe Montgomery County
Council elected new leaders Tues-
day — an annual tradition t inged,
like most events this year, by the
coronavirus pandemic.
Instead of speeches and photos
on the dais, the nine Democratic
lawmakers met remotely over
Zoom to choose outgoing vice
president Tom Hucker (District 5)
as president, succeeding Sidney
MARYLAND
Montgomery
council chooses
new leadership
was strictly the press who used
the moniker. “No one in the
family called him Rags,” said
Leo.)
Rags was involved in at least
two shootings, one fatal. That was
on Nov. 7, 1933, at a U Street
nightspot called the Wunder Bar.
Joseph “Gyp” Nalley was part of
a rival gang that was, Leo said,
much more violent than the
Foggy Bottom boys. Somehow,
Rags and his friends wound up at
a table near Nalley and his
friends. The result was three
slugs from a .32 in Nalley’s chest.
Witnesses told police they
came from Rags’s gun, but when
it came time for the formal
inquest, people clammed up.
Rags was never charged.
Rags spent time in prison for
other transgressions, includingKATHY WARRINGnearly three years for the same
thing that got Al Capone:
evading taxes on his ill-gotten
gains. The Warrings kept
meticulous records of their
bookmaking operation,
apparently believing that if they
were ever caught, they could
simply pay the appropriate taxes.
That didn’t fly with the IRS.
By the time Leo came of age,
Rags was mostly out of the
business, though he did teach his
son how to tell if your car was
being tailed.
And Leo said his father never
expected him or his brother to
follow in his footsteps.
“Because my father only got a
sixth-grade education, he was
very big on education,” he said.
“He stressed it a lot to us. When I
was in college in Kentucky, IEVENING STAR COLLECTION/D.C. PUBLIC LIBRARY
LEFT: Leo Warring, left, with his son Charles and grandson
Winston. RIGHT: Brothers Charles “Rags” Warring, left, and
Emmitt Warring were part of the Foggy Bottom Gang.Results from Dec. 1DISTRICT
Day/DC-3: 4-3-5
DC-4: 6-5-5-2
DC-5: 3-0-8-6-0
Night/DC-3 (Mon.): 8-5-9
DC-3 (Tue.): 9-6-2
DC-4 (Mon.): 1-8-8-7
DC-4 (Tue.): 0-4-3-6
DC-5 (Mon.): 9-4-3-7-6
DC-5 (Tue.): 2-2-2-8-5MARYLAND
Day/Pick 3: 5-7-7
Pick 4: 1-3-5-8
Night/Pick 3 (Mon.): 5-3-5
Pick 3 (Tue.): 0-2-1
Pick 4 (Mon.): 7-0-3-9
Pick 4 (Tue.): 0-0-8-1
Multi-Match (Mon.): 8-16-24-30-31-33
Match 5 (Mon.): 6-7-18-24-29 *36
Match 5 (Tue.): 4-8-32-33-35 *1
5 Card Cash: JH-10C-QD-4D-10SVIRGINIA
Day/Pick-3: 4-7-2
Pick-4: 1-3-6-3
Night/Pick-3 (Mon.): 2-3-1
Pick-3 (Tue.): 6-2-4
Pick-4 (Mon.): 4-4-8-8
Pick-4 (Tue.): 1-9-9-1
Cash-5 (Mon.): 15-25-27-38-41
Cash-5 (Tue.): 18-22-27-33-36MULTI-STATE GAMES
Cash 4 Life:1-2-25-48-53 ¶4
Mega Millions: 7-33-53-61-65 **14
Megaplier: 2x
Lucky for Life:11-18-21-36-38 ‡9*Bonus Ball **Mega Ball
‡Lucky Ball ¶Cash BallFor late drawings and other results, check
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