The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-17
NUMBERING AN EASY TASK,
SAY POLICE, VINO ARE AT SEA As
no NEHARK MYSTERY.
Body Found In Canal, Yet Unidentified attd
40 One Seems Anxious TO Claim II
-Charnct eristiCs OF Italian Murders
The Letter n IN Recent Grimes.

with eight bullet wounds. two slashes In the
throat and wei gifted down in the Morris
and Essex Canal near Newark last Tues
Gay is still at Mullins Morgue incom-
pletely identified. All OF the activity Of
the Newark police, in conjunction with
Detective Sergeant Joseph Petrosino and
his squad OF Italian sleuths from the Central
Office in this city, were centred yesterday
in an effort to positively establish the
identity of the body, but these efforts were
in vain.
The Identical ion made on Thursday
night by Antonio Bozzuffi, the fourteen
and-a-half-yeal-old sonof an Italian banker,
who was kidnapped and held as a p prisoner
for two days; was not greatly satisfactory
to either the Newark police or the detec-
tives from this city. The boy was very
reluctant about going to Newark to look
at'the body and his action when there was
such as to cause the detectives to suspect
that he was willing to make any sort Of a
statement in order that he might get the
matter over a soon as possible and return
to his home.
The boy said that the dead mar was the
one who had been his jailer in the house at
3lS East Fifty-ninth street, where, he says,
he was held a prisoner. The action Of the
boy ever since he returned home is as per-
picking to the police as was that Of his
father during the period tina the boy was
missing. Neither they nor their imme-
date relatives have at any time seemed
inclined to aid the police in their investiga-
ton.
The identification by the Bozzufi boy
was considerably strengthened by the fact
that in the pockets of the dead man were
found two pawntickets On which were the
name Joe" and the address "314 East
Sixtieth street" Detective Sergeant Pc
trosino carefully investigated that end Of
the case yesterday. No one was found to
be missing from 314 East Sixtieth street.
but across the way at eli one Giuseppe
Curreri has been strangely absent for
about six days, Curreri lived with his
brother-in-law Vincenzo Bagarelli. He
was a young man and came to this country
only three months ago. He married Baga-
relli's sister. who is yet in Palermo, Sicily,
having never been in this country.
Bagarelli, after much persuasion, was
finally induced to go to Newark late yes
terday afternoon to view the body.
Although the description he gave of his
missing brother-in-law fitted that Of the
dead man perfectly Bagarelli failed to
make the identification. He was positive
that the lead body was not that Of Currerl.
The missing man is a native Of Palermo
and is not known to nave worked since
arriving in his country. According to
Italians who knew him, he is a gentleman
with soft hands and a fondness for as
soclating with convivial souls in barrooms
and restaurants. Any Italian, and espe-
clally a Sicilian, of his type is always
under suspicion by the Italian sleuths in
the Detective Bureau. Detective Sergeant
Petrosino intimated yesterday afternoon
after he had despatched Detective Cavone
to Newark with Bagarelli that he didn't
feel confident that the latter would identify
the corpse, even if it was that Of his brother
in-law. Petrosino last night as much as
said that Bagarelli had a reason for not
identifying the body If it were that OF
Curreri, as Bagarelli was not above sus-
picion himself.
The bank and home OF John Bozzuffi,
father of the boy who was kidnapped, is
within a block Of the home of Bagarelli n
Curreri. Yesterday Detective Sergeant Pc
trosino found an old Italian woman, who
keeps n bakery at sle East Fifty-ninth
street, or next door to the house where young
BozzuR saws he was held prisoner. She
identified a picture of the body in the Newark
morgue as that of one of three men who
came into her place during the time that
Bozzufi says he was held in the house at
8lS, or next door to the bakery. The three
men ceased to come into the bakery, the
old woman said, on the day that Antonio
Bozaufi returned to his parents. Another
strange coincidence is the fact that the
elder Bozaufi received a threatening letter
on Thursday evening, or the night after
the boy had been seen travelling around
with the detectives, before he was taken
to Newark. This letter demanded IS 900
and stated that if the amount was not
forthcoming the boy would be again
kidnapped and never returned. In the
opinion of Petrosino this letter was merely
sent to scare of any activity on the
part of the B%ozzufis toward aiding in the
capture of the gam that murdered the man
found in the Morris and Essex Canal. The
letter was unsigned and merely stated that
a man would approach the uncle Of the boy
in a day or so and collect the money.
Police Commissioner Bingham has taken
a great interest in the case and says there
nave been too many Italian murders re-
Gently. He has notified the Detective
Bureau to leave no stone unturned in an
effort to run down this gang OF ~blackmailers
and cutthroats.
Detective Sergeant Petrosino and his
men are working night and day on the
murder in Newark and they are satisfied
that by clearing it up they will eventually
clear up all, perhaps, Of tie Italian muir
0erB OF recent udlt. lutIt was IL COu-
ference yesterday morning at Police Head
quarters between Petrosino and Detective
Sergeant Antonio Vachris, who looks after
the Italian cases in Brooklyn, The two
announced afterward that they were con-
WINGED that the murders were all done by
one band. In the opinion Of the sleuths
the murders were both those Of victims and
Of members Of the gang itself, The de-
~tectives say they are convinced that some
of the men, and especially those whose
bodies have never been properly identified,
we're part Of the gang and were slain owing
to some act of treachery on their part or
because it was suspected hat they might
weaken and confess to the police. Petrosino
said yesterday that he is positive that the
body found in the canal near Newark is
that of one Of a gang ofkidnappers, black
mailers and cutthroats and he points out
the reticence on the part Of friends and
relatives to identify the body as proof Of
his assertion. .
Not long ago there was an Italian found
murdered on the cliffs near Fort Lee. He
was subsequently identified as Joseph
Esposito, a suspected gangster. When
his body was found his hat was missing.
A strange coincidence lies in the fact that
the a found near the body Of the man
taken out Of the Morris and Essex Canal
bore the initials 81. E.
All of the recent Italian murders have
been similar in one respect. Each victim
was stabbed after the true Sicilian fashion.
That is there we're two slashes in the throat