New-York tribune., 1921-12-30
2: @ Million
Months s Loot
OF Rum Riing
Day Charges Withdrawal
Plot Here Involving
Forgery, Mail Frauds
and Possible Bribery
Dry Agents Unable
TO Catch Criminals
Only Small Percentage of
Operations of Bootleg
gers Brought TO Light

Inc existence Of highly organized
pootlegglng conspiracy, through the
operations of which about $40, 900 900
worth of alcohol and liquor is believed
TO nave been withdrawn on forged per-
mlts here since December /, was re-
vcalcd yesterday by Ralph A. Day, Fed
efai Prohibition Director He said that
in the month since he went into Office
more than forty instances of fraudu-
lent Withdrawals had been detected in
vovlng about $1,50O,0OO, and that there
is reason to believe that not more than
a small percentage of the forgeries
have come tc the attention of his Of
nee, possibly only one in a hundred.
And the worst of it is" he con-
tinued, THAT even when we discover
the forgery there is practically moth
ing that we can do. The vendor pre-
sents to US a complete set of all the
papers required for withdrawal and
asks US how he could tell they were
forged. The yendee has given false
address and cannot be traced Inspcc-
tors are working night and day on the
conspiracy, but so far about all we
nave been able to do is to prosecute
the truckmcn"
four Grimes Involved in System
Forgery, mail fraud, bootlegginp and
possibly bribery arc the crimes in
VOWED III the operation Of the fraudu-
rent withdrawal system. Paper bearinr
the watermark of the internal revenue
service and government manila on
vSelopes must be counterfcited, official
letter heads must be printed, with
draWai forms must be run off on the
mlmeograph and six separate forgeries
III some cases involving more than one
name must be committed before the
most dliicut task of all can be at
tempted
This is the evasion OF the enforce
ment ruling that permits for the with
dfawal OF more than one barrel or fif-
Ieeh cases OF liquor or alcohol must
DC confirmed by tho directors of';ce
mere before they can be acted mon
lhe vendor must write by registered
mail to prohibition headquarters. ask
ing Veutication of the permit a conv
oi which he encloses, and must obtain
a return card announcing the receipt of
INC le1ter. He must then await a let
ter of confirmation from the dircctor
before he can make delivery.
in every withdrawal fraud which has
attracted Director Days attention the
vendor has shown the postoffice recent
Tor The registered letter, the return
caro- and the answering confirmation.
stofilcc inspectors are co-operatinr
with Chief Hugh McQullan's internal
revenue men IN an effort to run to
earth the method by which these
papers were obtained, but so far il is
understood that they have had little
success. some one connected with
either the mail service or the prohib;
t1on staH, it is thought. must be work
ng with the conspjrators
Forgeries Are Perfect
The watcrmarks on the paper used
by the bootleggers are SO perfect tl.at
even Mr Day finds himself unable to
detect a flaw, and the mmeogra 1hed
forms have been copied with such nc-
curacy that the omission of two dots
iron, line of periods in the genuine
blanks is also found on the false forms.
so far the forgerics have been de-
tected only in cases in which the sus-
plcion of inspectors on their monthly
rounds of the warehouses have been
aroused by some trifling inconsistency
in the forms. In one case a permit
called for delivery from New York to
Philadelphia by truck, contrary to the
policy of the enforcement office here.
In others the inspectors have known
that the Vondec named in the papers
was not entitled to the amount set
forth in the permit There is no
chance of detection at headquarters, as
the forged papers never pass through
the hands of the officials.
Raid Park Avenue Cafe
Posing as Englishmcn attending the
disarmament conference, Prohibition
Enforcement Agents Barry and Man
nix last night visited cafe at Park
Avenue and Fifty~third Street, wnere.
they say, they bought two drinks Of
liquor, paying rs cents for each drink.
Behind the bar, the agents said they
found a suitcase containing gin.
Thomas Ellison, the bartender, of 9s6
Sixth Avenue. was arrested aud taken
to the East Fftyfrst Street station
Summonscs were left for the two pro-
prietors.
Liquor valued at more than S5o.oOo
was seized in Hobohen last night when
Il score Of prohibition agents raided
the Grand Hotel and Meyers Hotel, on
opposite corners of Third and Hudson
streets. The proprietors of both were
ordered to appear before United
States Commissioner Stanton this
morning. The bartender at the Grand
executed a skillful getaway down
coal chute as he was leading the
mad