Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-05-12
SCORES OF DUPES
A Society Which Preyed Upon
SHperstitious Italians.
ARcE-coNsP1RAroR IN CUSTODY
He Sold Curses and Favors of Satan, and
Waxsd Rich.

The Arrest OF ''Dr.' LibertlnO. Chief of
the Society, Reveals an Elaborate
Scheme OF Extortion PractIcad Upon
Italians in New York - husbands and
Wives ssparstsd, and Then Reunited
Children Blasted Before Birth.
New YORK, May 12.-An Italian So
ciety called "Magaro," which has been
making a commercial article out
of the malevolence Of the devil and SELL
ing both his curses and immunity from
his i'll will, received q severe blow in the
Tombs Police Court yesterday afternoon,
when one of its leading lights, CDR. "
Vincenzo Libertino was committed in
default of So, 500 on charges of defraud-
ing his countrymen. The prisoner and
his co-conspirators seem to have made
thousands of dollars out ofthe supersti-
ton of their fellow countrymsn.
The three leading lights in the organi-
cation, which can be described best per-
haps as the Devil Society, were the
prisoner of yesterday, his brother
Giuseppe Libertino and a man named
Giuseppe Giannasio The SO cond man is
in Jail now, having gone there a few
weeks ago in preference to paying a fine
of $3.50 inflicted on him in the Court of
Special Sessions at the instance of the
County Medical Society for practicin z
medicine illegally. Though he is said t o
be worth thousands of dollars, he wen t
to prison rather than part with any of
his cash, and he is paying his fine with
work at the rate of 81 day.
Giannasio, the other conspirator ia q
fugitive from justice. Vincenzo had
taken ticket for Italy, and would have
escaped only for the agility of some
Italians, who chased him over roof tops.
Both men have learned that wizard craft
won't pay them any longer in New York,
but the lesson has been taught them at
the expense of thousands of Italian dol
lars.
The doings of the Devil Society have
been on an elaborate scale and they have
terrorized half of the Italian colony.
The prisoner does not seem to be inUel-
lectually much better than monkey, to
which he bears some resemblance, but
he was able to play upon the supersti-
tious fears of his acquaintances. Among
fifty people who will testify that he ex-
torted money from them are women, TO
whom he went and said:
"When you have your child 1t will
have two big horns sticking out of its
head. The devil has willed it. I am a
friend of the devil, and the only way
to settle the matter and have a child
without horns is to pay me for my
trouble" Many of them paid willingly.
But the most fruitful source of income
was the jealousy of husbands and wives.
Love could be won back for cash in every
case. To regular clients pencil mes
sages from the devil were free, but mes
sages to be efficacious had to be in ink,
and those cost $40 each.
The particular case in which the Devil
Society was implicated in the Tombs
Police Court was that of Mrs. Carmena
VuzEi, who was "bled" by Vincenzo, the
prisoner at the bar. Mrs. Vuzzi is a
good looking, blackeyed little woman
who fears spooks and ghosts with su
perstitious horror. Her husband. to
whom she was married a year and half
ago, is fine looking intelligent and fru-
gal fruit merchant Vincenzo represent
ed to the wife that the husband was uu-
true, and to regain the love of her spouse
she paid Vincenzo 500. The prisoner
will have hearing to-day.