Citizens Crime Commission Dallas 1963

An Article about James Kell Zullinger before his ... desertion(?)

JAMES ZULLINGER, formerly of Franklin County, and a brother of Sydney Zullinger, Shippensburg, is visiting his erand mother, Mrs. Emma Zullinger, at Orrstown, as a member of, the U. S. Navy. James Zullinger was one of the three divers who went down into the sunken submarine S-51 off Block Island and took the compass readings of the ill-fated boat. He will give his testimony before the examining board of the Navy Department at Washington. Young Zullinger is only 19 years old and it was his first experience in diving.
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/57747441/

Family claimed the Navy told him to get lost and not speak of the papers he found aboard the sunken sub.

Was he diving and his first time was into a sunken sub???? WTH? 
Was he a mail clerk or such and stole money from the mail?
Do navy divers also deliver mail?
Just trying to get my head around this "event" and the desertion/theft/heroics

Oddly James Kell Zullinger had a twin brother John, both from Pennsylvania, was saying his brother was involved in National Security matter with S-51.

Seems divers were checking the sub, yes Navy divers with experience as opposed to the rookies running the sub or James a mail room clerk ...



On September 25, 1925, the S-51 tragically sank to the ocean floor, and Edward Ellsberg was the man whose courage and determination brought it back

The sinking of the submarine S-51 was one of the greatest tragedies in American naval history. Due to a miscommunication and subsequent collision between the sub and a passing steamship on a September night, the S-51, including thirty-three of its crew of thirty-six, sank to the ocean depths. The tragedy of the S-51 captivated the nation, and was a fixture in the pages of American newspapers. The story took on a whole new dimension when the navy decided to take over the salvage of the thousand-ton behemoth from a civilian company.
 
Heading the crew tasked with this impossible feat was Edward Ellsberg, at the time a lieutenant commander. On the Bottom is Ellsberg’s account of the successes and failures he and his men experienced as they attempted an astonishing feat of engineering and bravery: the first salvage of a submarine from the open ocean.


Was James one of these brave men? Was he enlisted from his other job as mail clerk?

Bringing up important items would require a bag...
Hmm just such was used in the salvage



The associated Press has a card on file with Zullingers particulars and listing him as USA- Guam-Marshall Islands


"To build its cadre of divers, the Navy assigned every man whose record reflected diving qualifications to the squadron. Unfortunately, of the 30 who reported, only 10 were deep-sea divers—too few to complete the job before winter. ⁷ Ellsberg would have to persevere with his limited resources under the eyes of journalists and newsreel cameramen. On 22 October 1925, the diving began."

McKee Gets Seven Years Probated DALLAS (UPI) -The eight man, four-woman jury that Sat- urday convicted John McKee, the former watchdog of Dallas law enforcement, of Scottish Rite funds, sentenced him to a probated prison term Monday The probated sentence, apparently a compromise, had been requested by Bill Alexander McKee's attorney in a plea to the jury earlier in the day. 

 "The guilty verdict has done him Alexander told the jury before it retired to deliber- ate the sentence "Don't add more to it McKee looked haggard The jury convicted McKee of using Scottish Rite funds to buy an automobile for Mrs Charlotte B. Weirauch 

McKee and Mrs Weirauch were married after his indictment in March Two indictments charing embezzling and swindling still are pending Alexander not call character witnesses, because If he had, the state could have called witnesses to testify that McKee was James Kell Zullinger a 1929 Navy deserter. District Judge John Mead at the outset of the trial ruled that McKee would be tried as McKce and would not be called "Zul- linger" and that name would not be alluded to. Assistant District Attorney Doug Mulder in his final argument called upon jury to give McKee the 10 Years in prison "He is a Judas Iscariot of Scottish Rite" Mulder said "He has tainted a world renowned organization of virtue and goodwill and given them a black eye that may nev- er remove "Here is a man who has acted as a voice for law and order He disgraced the city, law and the Scottish Rite Never has one man done much to harm, humiliate and disgrace to many "Make John McKee account for what he has done and his punishment at 10 years in the penitentiary"

Alexander was able to call one witness without opening the door to testimony about the Navy desertion He called sheriff's deputy Earl Gunn who testified McKee hid no previous convictions.

In his summation, Alexander told the jury that the funds McKee took had been repaid "This is a case that could very well have been handled in the Alexander said. "But it wound up in crimlnil court" He described McKee's plight as "painful" "The finger of scorn has been pointed at him." Alexander said "The finding of McKee guilty is more punishment to him than to people sent to the penitentiary Why punish him more when you can give him probation."

Thanks for the great info,Ed.

So here is the Cop watcher and keeper of police records and responsibile as Crime Commissioner in 1963 Dallas. But was really on the run from the Navy.
Deserted in 1929, had been accused of stealing monies from USS Camden as its mail stewart.
Sent to a mental facility for "evaluation" escapes or is let go depending on who you ask.

We hear very little about him regarding Oswald's fate in Big D.
WHY?
Was the top cop watchdog told to stay, and roll over, or his jig would be up.
How does a man wind up in Dallas with a new identity
Where did "folk" get new identification and records from back then.
Who ran these kinds of establishments.
Criminals, yes?
Mob or Cop.
Both were running things as they saw fit in the early days of the big d.
So Zullinger got papers and identity from xyz, and moves up the ladder till he is crime commissioner... no one checks him out, or if they do they dont reveal Zullinger's secret.
How did McKee get paid or file taxes
Did he have a phony social sec #
Where do you get those from, oh that's right...

Bill Alexander (yep former DA) represents McKee in court.... holy cow.
Wade sends in a kid, Mulder, vs Alexander.
I dont think they tried very hard to go after McKee.
Just a dog and pony show for public consumption.

Probation and fines.+ Honeymoon for McZ

Thx, V
Please feel free to add anything you feel pertinent or want to ask about the Crime commissioner 1963 Dallas.
Cheers, Ed

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4118819/abilene_reporternews/



https://www.newspapers.com/image/?spot=10505595&fcfToken=46366873586554532b48446649565570514e4631674d716163586976504b76427862596679456133576f6b5a7531717276476b643136663679354d676a6f4670

The police department and District Attorney Henry Wade jointly announced Friday that commission president, John McKee, actually is James Kell Zullinger, a mail clerk who jumped ship in 1929 and never went back. He was identified through fingerprints. “John needs some time to think this thing out,” a man who called himself a “friend” said at McKee’s home Saturday. “He will talk and tell it as it is when the right time comes.” McKee said Friday, shortly after the police-district attorney’s announcement, that the whole thing is “ridiculous” and appears to be grounds for a libel suit. McKee recently retired as Ford Motor Co.’s regional manager for civic and governmental affairs. He has been grand master of the Masonic grand lodge of Texas and a leader in numerous city and state com missions. The crime commission is < semi-public watchdog on Dallas crime. Its membership includes 165 citizens, who donate $100 to $1,000 a year to the commission’s budget. McKee has freely criticized law enforcement agencies in the past as commission president. Wade said he was turning the case over to the grand jury, but unless he has something besides desertion in mind, there is little or nothing the grand jury can do about it. prosecution for desertion in peace time and within the three-year limit, desertion is a military crime, not within the purview of a state grand jury. Friends rallied to McKee’s support. “I’ve known John McKee for 30 years,” crime commission Vice President R. L. Thornton said. “There hasn’t been any harder working man for the good of Dallas. ‘ ‘ I am really shocked,” Lawrence Melton, a member of the committee said. ‘‘I have heard he has had an injury and wears a steel plate in his head. This may be some kind of loss of memory.” The national association of crime commissions, however, suspended the Dallas commission until the accusations against McKee are cleared.


The article by HUGH AYNESWORTH
https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1983/august/the-strangest-story-1-ever-covered/

A good look at organized crime, Henry Wade and the Crime Commissioner.

Betrayal In Dallas

https://books.google.com/books?id=l4wkAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT168&lpg=PT168&dq=%22john+mckee%22+dallas&source=bl&ots=I5HRx-Fbjm&sig=ACfU3U3JGROn4k9clBK2wmsKBzF2uEZvnQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi56sLl0crgAhXNjp4KHX9fArQ4FBDoATACegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=%22john%20mckee%22%20dallas&f=false



Cheers, Ed

Gee whom would McKee be notifying in the FBI about Ruby, the Mob, Orgsnized Crime, Civello, etc
I would surmise it was none other than James Hosty.
His call on Monday got to Shanklin though.
Cheers, Ed

https://www.nytimes.com/1972/02/12/archives/police-panel-head-in-dallas-named-as-1925-deserter.html


Times article has important points and emphasis on police oversight during a navy deserters reign over the commission.

In a Master of Science thesis, H. Lee Latham, described the effects of the DCC (Dallas Crime Commission) and GDCC (Greater Dallas Crime Commission)
He discusses Wade, DPD, Mob Bosses and John McKee.
Significant passages

31.  Goodman, p. 176, p. 243.
32. Livingstone, H.E. (1993). Killing the Truth: Deceit and Deception in the JFK Case. New York: Carroll & Graf, p. 477.
33. Soc Sec Records

Sam Weiner (Weiner Lumber) was on the crime commission...


Cheers, Ed