New-York tribune., 1921-03-16
Four Police
Indicted i'm
BondProbe
Headquarters Detectives
ChargedWith Accepting
ISL, 500 in Fees for Re-
turn of Stolen Securities

Four acting detective sergeants of
the Police Department were indicted
yesterday on charges of receiving un-
lawful gratuities for recovering stolen
property The indictments were filed
by the January additional grand Jury
before Judge Thomas C. T. Grain in the
Court of General Sessions Those in
dicted are: Thomas Meringolo, thirty
seven years old, of 1924 Dean Street,
Brooklyn; Alonzo H. Greer, twenty
eight years old, of 27 Thirty-eighth
Street, Corona, L. L.; Frank Gilillan,
twenty-nine years old, of ISL Wyckoff
Street, Brooklyn, and Isaac Mindheim,
thirty eight years old, of 293 Theodore
Street, Long Island City. All four are
married.
The indictments charge that Merin-
COLO Hceived $500, Greer, $4oO; Gill
fillan, $500, and Mindheim, 5000, from
the Fidelity Deposit Company of Mary
land for aiding in the recovery of a
portion of the $118,OO0 in Liberty
bonds and other securities stolen
March 29, 1920, from the brokerage
firm of Hartman & Co., of Ill Broad
way. The first three men mentioned,
it is charged, received the money Octo-
Der Is and Mindheim on October 20.
All payments, according to the indict-
ments, were made in cash
Bonds Stolen by 15-Year-Old Boy
was arrested last year charged with
the theft. The boy denied that he
ever worked for the Hartman concern,
but it. later developed that he was en-
ployed under the name of Dennis Shea
and was identified by several employees
of the Hartman company. At that
time Gardner said he lived at 159 West
Eleventh Street. This proved to be a
fictitious address. Gardner was SEN
fenced as juvenile delinquent June
10. 1920, by Judge Collins in the Chill
dren's Court.
In October, 1920, Anthony Colonna,
Jimmy Valentine" was arrested on
suspicion of having unlawfully re-
ceived some of the stolen bonds. Since
his arrest Colonna has been instru-
mental In aiding the police to recover
more than $4,000 worth of the bonds.
In cases of policemen receiving
gratuties the law specifies that 10 per
cent shall so to the Police Pension
Fund, 40 per cent to the Relief Fund
and the remaining so per cent to the
men receiving them.
Result Of Whitman Inquiry
The indictments are the result of an
investigation of the case by former
Governor Charles S. Whitman, who is
conducting the investigation into ir-
regularities in the city departme
-, To
Smith and William C. Chilvers, spe-
cial counsel to the Investigators have
aided greatly in gathering the evidence
Those witnesses who appeared be-
fore the grand jury and on whose
testimony the indictments were found.
! include Deputy Police Commissioner
Joseph Faurot, Roger Walsh, chief
clerk of the Police Department.;
George Hawthorne, chief bookAeeper
Of the Police Departments; Raymond c.
Laib. Of the Fidelity Deposit Company
OF Maryland, and Robert Bennett, Of
the Hartman Company
Assistant District Attorney James f.
Smith. who is assisting Mr.. Whitman
in the investigation, has obtained
copy of the Police Pension Fund re-
port for 1920. and, he asserts, nowhere
in 1t can DC found any account of the
men having reported the gratuities be-
tween October and the day the report
was published.
Last evening Frank Aranow, counsel
for the four men. appeared with them
in the chamber of Judge Morris Koenig
and obtained their release In bail Of
$500 each.
Worked in Financial District
The four detectives have been at.
tached to Police Headquarters. and for
the last two years have been assigned
to the financial district to help run
down the numerous bond thieves who
have operated there. During this time
they have been instrumental in caus-
ing many arrests and recovering ap-
proximately $1,000 900 in stolen bonds.
Detective Mindheim was one of the
detectives who aided in the recovery
Of thousands Of dollars worth Of bonds
stolen from Richard Whitney & Co.
Benjamin Binkowitz, the messenger
who disappeared with the-bonds and
securities, was found murdered in An
open field near New Haven. That va.
in 1919. Although no bonds were found
on the boys body some of them were
later recovered in Washington. Cleve-