The Washington times., 1920-12-31
REVENUE MAN
FO|LS B|CPL0T
Gngantic Frauds in Liquor Per-
mits Uncovered by Agent
Stephenson.
d ARRESTED IN N. Y. COUP
Two Women Employed in Office
of Prohibition Director
Seized in Net.

The story of the greatest liquor
/ ring in the United States and how
the master mind" and several OF his
! lieutenants were trapped when they
thought their scheme was beyond the
touch OF the law was told today by
Revenue Agent Stephenson, OF the
Washington office, who returned here
this morning.
sTEPHENSON's cOUP.
1t was Stephenson who was re-
sponsible for the arrest of the ring,
and il was said at Prohibition Bureau
! headquarters today that substantial
promotion would be his reward.
In the rounding up Of the whiskey
| ring. which took several months or
work on the part of the secret service
| Of the Internal Revenue Bureau. bVe
men in the bureau assisted stephen
son. Not even Commissioner OF
! Prohibition John Kramer was taken
! into their confidence.
Stepheson lived for the past month
at the Hotel McAlpin, in New York.
known as revenue officer, but the
! leadens thought he. too, was cr0oked
| and eonfided to him their inmost
s.acrcts. when hey learned Stephen-
Sss> was not rr5 they suppered aoA
/ he had enough evidence to send them
TO Jail, the. offered him small
fortune 10 forget about the case.
StephcnsOn's answer was to have the
whole crowd arrested after nrranE-
ing n meeting with them In the Nc
AIpIn Wednesday night.
INSIDE HELP INVOLVED.
The scheme could not have pro
crossed as far as it did. revenue OF
ficers say, if the leaders had not had
the help of persons inside th' ofncc
and several who recently had been
employed in the prohibition Cfticc.
Two women-Miss Regina Sasson",
twenty-onc years old, clerk in the
office of Charles II. O'Co1nor, New
York State prohibition liTcctor:aad
Mrs. Mary c. Parkins. thirty eight
years old, a former clerk in OConnor's
lofficc--werc arrested by the revenue
agents, together with Edward Done
gan. a wealthy New York contractor,
and Sigmund Rosenfcld. who on sew.
eral occasions recently, has been men
toned in connection with gambling
scandals.
Donegan was held in 100000 bail
and the other three in $4,000 each.
| According 80 revenue agents the
ring has obtained through illegal
met hods more than 81 600 coo worth of
| Whiskcy
HOW PLA NWORkED.
The method OF obtaining ~hiskey
was as follows: Miss Sassouc would
issue fraudulent permits for the with
drawal OF whislley to Donegan, and
when the distillery telcEraphed tho
office of tho prohibiticn director. as
required by law to see IL the permit
was all righa Miss Sa5sonc would
telegraph back in OConrors name
verifying the permit.
When business rival Of Dore6sa's
would present "A permit at = dirtillery.
she would telegraph back that tho
permit was fraudulent or TO hold II
up for a few days while the New
York office made an investigation.
When Doncgan gave the word she
would wire the GistiIlcry saying that
the rivals permits were all right
Mrs. ParlSins has Seen under sus-
picion FOR some time and she learned
that she was suspected. she resign
ed from tho New York office when
the trail became hot and then she
thought she was safe. Bcfcre lesy-
ing, the rcveDHc agents say. she stole
quantity OF office stationery and
permit blanks and when these rRr
out Miss SaSsonc supplied more.
LIVED THERE FOR TIME.
Mrs. Parl>ins was formerly An
employc OF the Internal RcvcnCc Blu
reau in Washington end lived here
for several years leaving Washing
ton six mCntha ago for New York, II
was said at the Revenue Bureau to-
day. She was in Washington rccortiy
for about a wccN, leaving here last
Monday afternoon after receiving S
brihc Of $3.50 from Prot Antonio Pap
pano. the Washington fencing mas
ter, who Ia locked up in tho Distrie Z
Jail in default OF $4,000 bail.
Mrs. parkins' manner OF !!Ving WAS
said to have attracted the attention
o. the Internal Revenue agents, who
thought u would bea" explanation
how she could liyc at a hotel like the
McNlpin on her small salary. wear =
profus,un of diamond AMI platinum
iCWrlry and expensive fU-5. While
iurdcr observe, ,ion Of thc agents. Mrs.
parkina. who is attractive, was said
to havc gone IN automohiin rides
with mon cot prominence and 80 have
c;,,roIy conducted h'r},ls go - -
piy" tine appearance ut possessing
wcalll.
Mrs. parS.us' room 80 tee hoiol Nc
lNn!r vas I,"H .Nr 5d'oi0.rg room
l.7g5. was ur..,r.nd ,y Dut,guu Zach
! rorrr l.d , '.tH and 'h''o " nt "a en-
! !nr,t.''. JoyJ Notwc. NhcN ~. TE-
Y lcontiEl,d on rage :. CoiuInn II