The New York herald., 1921-06-16
DETECTIVES CATCH
YOUNGEST YEGGMAN
The Wop, Z, Taken With
the Polack, the Kid, Dunn
my, the Duck and Skinny.
EIGHT PLACES ROBBED
Underground Five Points
Club Hatches Out Many
Nefarious Plots.
MAIN LOOT LOLLYPOPS
Instead of Trial, Officer Sug-
gests whale Of Licking
for Boy Robbers.
MAIN LOOT LOLLYPOPs

pounds-waS captured yesterday BY
those inexorable detectives of the East
Twenty second police station. With
him were taken five of his pals of the
Underground Five Points Club, whose
members plot their crimes In a cellar
and are desperate consumers Of lolly-
pops. All are charged with juvenile
delinquency. consisting of burglary in
eight business offices. They say they
also stole two pairs of opera glasses In
the Thirty-ninth Street Theatre, but
there has been no such robbery there,
the management said last night.
All have given and family names,
but prefer to be known as follows:
The Wop, Paddy the Kid, Skinny, The
Polack. The Dummy and The Duck.
Their ages range from to IA years.
The midget of Z, the safe expert. is
The Wop. otherwise Joe Agassano. OF
345 East Twenty-first street, also q
pupil in Public School so. The others
are schoolboys, too. The police. round
ing up the gang, found three Of them
at their desks.
Was Yegg of Outnt.
Joe Agassano. The Wop, was. accord
ing to his own and his comrades
stories, ths spider and yegg of the out
fit. His Job was to wriggle through
small holes and climb electric cables.
and. getting into a building, make ac-
cess easier for the others. Then. II
there was a safe. he opensd 1t If he
could, not by jimmy or soup. IL you
please, but by applying his ear to the
door and listening to the click OF the
tumblers as he turned the knob of the
combination lock. He actually did open
ons safe twice. 1t is in the office of
the Empire Hat Block Company. S22
East TweEty-second street. The safe
yielded each of the burglars Sl.0S the
first time and a few cents the second
time. Tbs proprietor says that on each
occasion the door of the safe was half
locked''-that is. the dial was set at a
very simple combination. Joe Agassano
himself says:
II turned the knob twice and the door
come open" He said he had seen safe
robbers at work in the movies. but did
not think that gave him the idea. and
was unable to account for his pre-
costly.
In the gangs division of labor Tire
Dummy carried the flashlight and Pad
dy the Kid-Patrick Murphy of 3l7 Eas.
Twenty-first street. IA. according to the
others. leader of the band-laid kicky.
which means that he stayed OUTSIDE
watching for the cops. All their opera
tons brought them perhaps s25 in cash.
Their fanciest haul was three boxes of
lollypops. found in the factory OF the
Phoenix Products Company 37s Second
avenue. Emerging from the factory
with the boxes on Sunday night. they
were set upon by a gang of bigger boys.
ana ths lollypops were fiendishly
snatched from them. So they stole
moro lollypops on Tuesday night, and
yesterday. when they wens arrested.
their pockets were still full of thess It's
sued bombs.
At their ages they could not be sent
to jail. II Lieut.. Cornelius wfiIemse.
boss Of detectives at the East Twenty
second street station. has any influence
in the Children's Court they will not
be sent to an institution either, for
his study Of the East Side and of boys
and Of parents and of institutions has
persuaded him that In cases like these
the best punishment is. as he says. a
whale Of licking at home. So he has
told the parents of The Dummy. Tho
Duck and the rest TO meet him this
morning In the Children's Court. and
Upon their promise OF personally ad-
ministered chastisement he will ask the
Judge to suspend sentence on all hands
Had Christmas Party.
boy. known to them as Petty, was boss
Of the Underground Five Points club
and sent them out to steal, and II they
didn't bring back something fired them
out So at first they stole lanterns from
beneath wagons. and Petty sold them
and kept the money. Then one Of the
boys stole n lantern on his own account
and traded il for five pounds of apples.
and with pie and cake borrowed from
[ast Side Kitchens they had Christmas
party In the cellar. From that they
went on to bigger things. They agree
that the Wop stole loaded revolver
from an automobile one day and after
making proud display of it gave Il 10 a
man. as the Wop was a safe opener. not
a gunman.
OF late a series Of robberies not far
from the Fast Twenty-second street
police station itself was reported. De-
tectives Meyers and Gilman, suspectins
boys. roved the neiehborhood looking for
the possessors Of many foiiypops. Yes
terdsy they sighted the Wop and another
boy scanning appraisingly the Standard
Gas Company's plant at Twenty-second
street and First avenue. The detectives
felt OF the pockets OF the pair. They
were stuffed with lollypops At the
station house they named Murphy. or
Paddy the Kid. Paddy. hauled out Of
school, broke down. From him the
police got the names Of the others. Some
Of the loot has been recovered includ-
tng n pair Of opera glasses stolen from
one OF the offices
The firms robbed were. in addition
10 the Phoenix Products Company Piano
4 Kline and Pacific Paper Box Company.
ss2 Second avenue johnson Process
Glue Company, 30l East Thirty fourth
street Empire Hat Block Company. 312
East Twenty-second street Municipal
Lighting Company. ais East Twenty
second street the Standard Gas Com
pany and W. Katz, manufacturer OF
billiard cues, 201 East Twenty first
street. Tho prisoners. besides those men
toned. are Mathew Agostinelio o. 3f9
East Nineteenth street Walter Michael
sky. 10, s4s First avenue John Rubsha,
10. s<2 East Twenty-first street. and
Francis Sweeney, 10. 4o5 East Twentieth
street.