Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 July 1952 — Page 84

Protect jar labels

COVER ALL JAR LABELS with “Scotch” cellophane tape to prevent smearing and keep them on tight.

PICTURE CREDITS:

parade

Cover, 2, Ben & Sid Ross; Combine Photos; 4, t.p.—U.S. Navy, strip— MGM; 5, INP, Wide World; 6-7, 8-9, Ben & Sid Ross; 10; Syd Hoff; 11, Bob & ira Spring of FPG; 12-13, Ben & Sid Ress; 14-15, National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis; 17, Gommi; 18, INP, 20th Century Fox; 19, NBC; 20-21, Ben & Sid Ross; 23, Combine Photos. ®

20 parade JULY 27, 1952

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PEDRO ORTEGA:

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BY SID ROSS & KARL KOHRS

“l can open AN

artist, not a character

. NEW YORK. N THE BLEAK West Side .rooming house, 1 Pedro (The Ghost) Ortega sat staring out . of the window. A balding little man in a threadbare suit, he finally spoke up in a wheezy voice: “All I want now is a job—any kind of a job to keep myself going.” This man was once the most notorious safecracker in America. Pedro, now 56, began his “career” at the age of four. He served as lookout for his father, “Seattle Jack” Ortega, one of the best-known “pete men” of his day. ® During the next 40 years, Pedro cracked more than 600 safes, stole $300,000 and was arrested 62 times. : ® “I can open any safe there is,” he says, meekly. “I'll make any safe company a standing offer I can open their box.” ® Today, The Ghost doesn’t have a dime. The only thing he has to show for his fabulous career is a limp from a cop’s bulet that smashed into his leg in 1910¢ ® Pedro was born in Nogales, Mexico. His father brought him across the border when he was four. He was one of 11 kids. “My old man thought I should learn the b&iness early,” he says. . #I used to case joints for him,” Pedro said. “We'd go into a town and I'd get a job selling papers. I'd walk into the post office or a store and find out where the safe was. Then my Dad and his bunch would take it.” Pedro said a “pete mob” was made up of three men—a lookout, a “heavy”, who actually blew the safe, and a cover-up man with a gun.

“l Was Calght”

HEN HME WAS eight, Pedro teamed up with a pete mob in California. “I cased one joint for them,” Pedro said, “and they blew thie safe. They got away, but I was caught. They put me in the reformatory.” ji Pedro served a year, then joined friends of his father. “I cased joints all over the country,” Pedro said. “I don’t know how many safes we blew.

Every so often wé'd rest up in Toledo. It was’

called a sanctuary town. Crooks rested up in these places after pulling a big job. The cops knew you, but didn’t bother you if you didn’t bother them. St. Payl and Kansas City were other sanctuary towns.” After one nice rest in Toledo, The Ghost and

For a ‘getaway car'..

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