Norwich bulletin., 1919-12-30
Poisonous WIiskey
 Leads to Six Arrests
Men Are Alleged Ringleaders In a Conspiracy to Flood New England With Poison ous Substitution For Whis- key.

New York, Dec. 29.-With six men in custody, alleged ringleaders Tn conspiracy to flood New York, New Jersey and New England with poison ous substitution for whiskeye federal, state and city authorities were united tonight in a vigorous pursuit or the puryeyors of the poisonous beverages which have caused scores of deaths and hundreds of cases of blindness and illness The arrest of the six men in New York last night and today is only the first step in widespread campaign which is expected to result in the capture of at least a score or mere, according to the federal off cials.
 In the meantime the toll of death and serious illness caused through drinking wood alcohol and o;-ler ollicit connections continued to mount in New York and adjacent cities. Dur
 ing the day four mere deaths were recorded, one each from Newark EliG-
 abeth, Passaic, N. J., and one from
 New York. In addition, two men and
 a woman were picked up unconscious on New York streets and two men in
 Passaic in similar condition, all four being critically i'll tonight from alco- holic poisoning.
 The authorities held several confer ences during the day at which coop eration was planned between the diff ferent federal and municipal depart ments. Colonel Daniel L. Porter. su- pervising revenue agent for New York who is at the head of the campaien ! for the federal government declared i tonight that New York city is the i headquarters for the country in the ! illicit liquor industry and that it is | impossible as yet to tell how far the notifications of the trade extend. l The two most important arrests made so far. according to the federal agents, are those of John Romanelli, a | Brooklyn undertaken, and Samuel | Saleeby, Brooklyn druggist, who are accused of being the principals in the l distribution of the poison throughout 1 New England. The two men were released tonight on S25.000 bail pend | ing further examination, and in the 1 meantime revenue agents and city de-
 tectives are continuing their investi- | gation as to the sources of the liquor | which the two are accused of having distriuted. Romanelli is supposed to
 have obtained large quantities on the l ground that he needed it for embaIm- ] ing purposes but whera he purchased it has not yet been leafned.
 l The remaining four men are Adolpt Panarelli, a former saloon keeper;
 Carmine Licenziato, Amedio Deloms and Luigi Puca, Italian grocers. Pan
 arelli has made statement to the authorities in regard to the Inethoe
 employed for the distribution tf tht liquor in New England. and. It was ] stated tonight, he may be witnes:
 for hte- government. .ssil I Colonel Porter tonight gave the de tails of one transaction in which Par
 anelli is said to have been the gu I between Rpmanei1i and Nathan Saiz berg, a saloon keeper of Hartford
 Conn. According to this story SaIz
 berg got three barrels of liquor iron Romanelu through Panarelli for whicl he paid 5 900 while the go-betweel
 was paid $50 as brokerage commits sion. Romanelli is said to have sup
 piled seven barrels in all. five of whicl
 have been traced. while two are stiI
 missing.
 Two of the seven barrels of liuuo which Romanelli is accused of havin
 sold are said to have been bought b A a Bronx saloon keeper. This man, ac eording to Colonel Porter, came t , Panarelli after the sale and denounce him for having charged him S3,200 fo wood alcohol. Panarelh claims, Col onel Porter said, that he took a sam 2 pie of the liquor to druggist. wh confirmed the saloon keepers wor
 that it was poison. He said that h
 then warned Salzberg by telephon . not to sell any of the stuff he ha bought. Salzherc told him, he con l tinued, that he had sold a barrel to D dealef in Calconee. 4Lass., and smaHt quantities to other dealers in Hartfor B but that he would try aud recover z i much of the liquor as he could Late n he was informed by Salzberg that l s had got back almost all except a ha c barrel which had been sold in Chico . pee. After reading of the deaths fro n wood alcohol poisoning in Connect g cut and Massachusetts. Panarelli wei = to lawyer and. On his advice SUI e rendered himself to Revenue Agel d Dobbs.