Mr. Palmer. I think Abe Weinstein suspended the thing, the amateur nights for 2 weeks. I am not sure. I know that Jack was subscribing wholeheartedly to the memo. And Barney indicated that he was going to relinquish his affiliation with AGVA.
It became necessary then for me to indicate to our membership that while it was legal for them to accept employment wherever they wished, if it were in violation of our rules as a union, we were obligated to exercise a fine on them. And this, I believe, right up to the minute of the show, Barney indicated an indifference. Then he realized that this would do two things.
First of all, put several of his people he liked out of business, or in jeopardy, let us say, to the amount of $100, I believe, per person. He decided to withdraw himself that evening and try to negotiate again with New York. And again, there was much confusion.
Mr. Griffin. Did Jack Ruby ever accuse you of showing favoritism?
Mr. Palmer. Frequently. On the other hand, I had to point out to him that I exercised extreme leniency in his welfare, to which he agreed, and was placated with this sort of thing.
Mr. Griffin. To your knowledge, were there other people in the business who were also trying to get these amateur nights stopped?
Mr. Palmer. Yes. In fact, Irving Mazzie on the west coast, I believe, came into civil court with the, I think it was, Body Shop, and received several threats on his life.
The same thing occurred, I believe, in the State of Washington in Seattle. There were three areas that seemed to subscribe more strongly than the others to that.
Mr. Griffin. Was Jack Ruby the only nightclub operator who was trying to get the amateur nights stopped, or were there others?
Mr. Palmer. Those who were not subscribing to it were not the least bit interested, in my area.