| Notes: | CMP. TC. Enlisted in the General Service Corps, later Royal Armoured Corps, transferred to CMP. 29/9/46 discharged. Eric Leslie Swetnam.
Extract from the Liverpool Evening Express, 23/5/1945. Smashed Rome Gangs, Liverpool Man's CMP Mission.
A former member of the City Police Force, Sgt E L Swetman of 7 Westerton road, Liverpool, now a member of the special branch of the Corps of Military Police has played a big part in rounding up four gangs of criminals, responsible for a wage of organised racketeering and crimes of violence in liberated Rome.
With his chief, Company Sergeant Major A J Brown, of Braunton, Devon. Sergeant Swetnam spent months investigating the activities of the gangs.
Conditions of scarcity and his prices made Italy a happy hunting ground for criminals. Habitual criminals, deserters of all nations and weak minded "ne'er do wells" banded together in gangs to exploit the situation.
HOLD UPS
Small arms were easily obtained, and there was a great deal of armed robbery for money and valuables. The gangsters did not hesitate to shoot if their demands were resisted, several deaths resulting. They sometimes held up cars by posing as Allied military police, having previously held up real MPs and relieved them of their distinctive armbands and headgear. Once the car of General Anders, the Polish C in C was held up.
The police officers made great use of informers, and one informed was rescued just as he was being bundled into a taxi by members of a gang "taking him for a ride."
When information was gained that a gang planned to raid a gaming house on a certain night, a party of military police were there to intercept them, and the whole gang was caught red handed. |
