The sun., 1895-02-17
COUNTERFEITERS CAUGHT.
TEN ITALIANS lRREsrED mr. Sc
CREr sERVICE AGENTS.

They Followed = Wonan Whs Hsa Nee,
Used 60 Pass che spuriou. Coin s.a oot
Seven OF Them .. n Runeh-0usrtsr.
ssd Dines Were Their speeisitiss-Th.
Priscners Are Also suspeetea or Arson.
shopowners up town have for the last month
received great many bogus quarters and dimes
This matter came 10 the notice of the secret
service mon, who set about tracing tho bad
money They learned that woman was doing
tho work OF passing the coin. and. after patient
search, they found her. For fortnight they
followed her. Whenever she entered n store
and made purchase the secret service men
would mako inquiries. finding in each case that
the purchases, usually of nve or ten cent articles
were paid for in dimes or quarters. Finally they
found that the woman lived at 307 East Seven
tieth street.
Yesterday Secret Service Agents Bagr. Calla-
han, Esquirell. Owen, and Flynn went to East
SEVENTEEN street and hung about until they
saw the woman come out Two OF them fol-
lowed her on a Third avenue car, where she
paid her fare with bogus quarter. She en-
tered number Of shops, making a purchase at
each place. Just as she was getting on All up
bound car the officers arrested her aud took her
said she was Mrs. Stella Frauto % Sesrs old. off
307 East Seventieth street.
The two officers then Joined their comrades
who had been waiting for them, and all entered
the house where they suspected the plant was.
They made their way directly to the top floor,
and there in a rear room found seven persons at
lo-cent pieces, nifty in a roll were piiA up ali
the attention OF the counterfeiters who were
busy with files smoothing off imperfections. A
foo. oand In the place. SS
was offered to the officers.
sss Gns nS OF the ans %en to h
fuss" ''
The prisoners are James Merendino. aa. years
old OF $50 East 10th street; Raffaele Federico,
sq ear ola @ ssS Se%
5smn II yeSrs oay ID sn cemsnte sGh fn
years old, and his wife Madeline. 30 years old,
husband OF the woman first arrested. Besides
these, there were found in the rooms, which are
the Clements baby. 'Tf The Frauto children % were @
sent TO the Gerry society rooms and the baby
raisSsd before M ssr Commissonsr shisds, and % were
held In $4,000 bail each IN default Of which
branch OF the big Italian confederacy OF coun-
terfeiters who work to some extont In conjunc-
in the East Seyentieth street house for about q
month, having moved there from l23d street.
has escaped conviction. He formerly worked
with the counterfeitlng gang in East Forty
Franco. his brother-in-law. The business was
broken up by the arrest of Franko and several
OF his men last september,
All of the prisoners are suspected of having
been implicated in plots To- defraud insurance
companies by burning buildings. 1t is thought
that complaints Of arson will be brought against
them by agents Of various fire insurance com
panies as soon asclues which now being fol-
lowed can be traced to thericoncfusion.
In Officer Bagg's room last night were some Of
the counterfeit coins made by the gang. The
quarters in particular were excellent limitations
They were, however. somewhat light in weight.
and . careful examination showed the milling
30 be less clear than that of the real coin. The
date on the quarters Is 1893. Besides these
found in the possession of Mrs. Frauto. 1t con-
tains two com alton purses full of small coin,
received in change for the bogus money, and q
mass of loose coin. mostly pennies. In all there
10 about So Besides these there are various
purchases, such as q roll of tape, q cheap card
case case Of needless q stick of candy. a fan.
Paul de Lucca and his wife. Teresa. were ar
rested in the evening at their home, 2,342
broadway. The agents say that they belong to
the samo gang.