New-York tribune., 1903-02-24
HEALTH BOARD TO HELP.
FALSE RECORDS Made.
FALSE
Italian Life Insurance S7cindlers
Made ILLEGAL Onth Certificates. -

It was learned yesterday that for some days a
representative of the District Attorneys office
has been examining the records of the Bureau of
Vita Statistics a part of the investigation
into the extent of the life insurance swindling
operations BY Italians The Health Department
is likely to play important part in this in
vestiga ton in the future. At present it has
no legal knowledge that any bodies have been
bur; under the names of other persons but
will take steps to have the guilty persons pun
ished, if necessary, when it is told what rec
orls of the bureau were falsfed. 1t will also
then begin the difficult task of having the
illegal certificates of death ana pufialS le
placed by proper ones.
The records must contain a truthful recital Of
facts and if the life insurance swinders sue
ceeded in having filed among the papers OF the
bureau hundreds containing many untruths' an
effort at least will be made to detect the ms
statements in the papers. How much tllhe 1t
will take + correct the certificates VIII propaply
depend on the success the District Attorney
meets in his work of trying to lay bare every
case of substitution in when the NE lH7Il dCe
swindlers had hand.
For more than ten years this gang OF swihdterS
hunted for dead bodies in the upper East SIDE
of the CITY to bury under the names OF persons
whom they had insured for sums ranging from
a few hundred dollars to many thousands OF
dollars Italians love to bury their dead III
style" to use a cooquial expression among
undertakers and the poorest of them viii spend
their last cent and deny themselves the neces-
saries of life to do so.
Because of the poverty of the people and
their ideas as to burying. their dead. no better
field than Little Italy could have been selected
bv the swinders The fact that most of the
relatives of the dead were not asked to pay one
cent toward the burial. coupled with the nat
rraI secretiveness of the Italians. may deteat
efforts to learn the causes of the deaths ana
the proper names of tie persons who were
buried under the names of living persons
According to The evidence so far obtained
many mutilated bodies were buried, and all
signs indicated that the amputation OF limbs
or arms caused death. 1t is said that the death
carti6cates in such cases show that the cause
of death was sworn to as being some pulmonary
trouble These bodies also could have been
those of persons who died in city hospitals
after an operation and who were not known
to have any friends relatives. For gang
Of swindlers possessed of an extraordinary
amount of cunning and boldness it would not
have heen herculean task to obtain many
of the bodies of the pauper dead ana TO nave
hurled them from various tenement houses in
little italy without arousing suspicion Before
.ba records in the Bureau of Vital statistics
,ra corrected if they ever ran he, the cause of
death in each case of substitution must be le-
gallv decided. This will have to be done so
that no crime may escape detection. Then. after
tho cause of death is settled steps will have to
ba taken to learn the identity of the bodies ana
the place in which the persons died. ana II they
haze any friends or relatives living.
The signs are that the Health Department Will
figure prominently in the prosecution OF the
members of the swndng gang. 1t is serious
crime to faIsify burial certificate, especially
for committing a crime. Evidence has already
been obtained that one or more cases of sub
stitution were successfully carried out by the
gang and should the allegation against them OF
swindling life insurance companies he not proved
in court they could be indicted for submitting
false afffdavits of death to the Health Depart
ment. g ~,
1IaaItb Department said last night:
.It is true that representative OF the DIS
tr,ct Attorneys office has been for some time
axanining the records of the department 1t is
also true that the department is not yet cog
nizan: that a crime has been committed. am
eura that when the proper time arrives the DIS
trict Attorney will inform the department about
tho matter and that the department may then
ion in the prosecution of the guilty persons