New-York tribune., 1921-02-11
Sought as Bond
Hold-Up Chief,
TIe Surrenders
Tony Vanelli, Richly Clad and
Wearing Jewelry, Walks
Into District Attorneys
Office With His Counsel
Held in $446,OOO Theft
Denies All knowledge of the
Robbery; DisplaysRoll He
Says He Won at Craps

Tony Vanclli, of 1923 Webster Ave
nue., the Bronx, for whom the police
have been hunting ever since his na>a G
was found on the rolls of a club which
met in barber shop in East Eleventh
Street, where bond robbery of almost
half a million dollars is said to have
been planned, walked into the District
Attorneys Office in Brooklyn yesterday
with his attorney, George Gordon
Battle.
Mr.. Battle informed District Attor-
ney Lewis that he understood his
client was being sought and that he
had decided to give himself up in order
to save the police any trouble or anxi-
ETY. on his account.
The police had Tony under suspicion
they said, because he had been in their
hands before, and information they had
obtained led them to believe that he
was the director of the hold-up. The
CRIME of which he is accused is the
robbery of two messengers of Kean,
taylor Co. in front Of Igoe Bros.
factory, SO Metropolitan Avenue.
Brooklyn, November 80, 1920.
Robbers Make Clean Getaway
Blackiacking one of the messengers
and nlcking the ear of the other with
a bullet, the hold-up men got away
with bag containing ,$466,00o in Lib
erty bonds. Although the robbery took
place about noon in busy thorough
fare, it was so skillfully planned and
carried out that the robbers made a
clean getaway.
Tony Di Gregorio, head messenger
for Kean, Taylor g. Co. at the time, is
said to have admitted that he tele-
phoned to "the chief" at the East
Eleventh Street barber shop as soon as
the messengers set out from the brok-
ers' office with the bonds. The police
accuse Vanelli of being "the chief"
and allege that he set out with the
gunmen to hold up the messengers as
soon as he received the message
indictments have been found against
Vanelli charging him with robbery,
assault and grand larceny as a second
offender. The police say that he has
done time for a robbery in Broome
Street, Manhattan.
Three persons who saw the hold-up
IL Metropolitan Avenue were called to
District Attorney Lewis's Office at once
end are said to have identified Vanelli
as the man who appeared to be direct
ing operations.
Vanelli Appears Bored
Vanelli was arrayed in his best for
his visit to the District Attorneys of
tice and wore an air of infinite bore
dom. The sline-up' ceremony attend
ant upon the alleged Identification wor-
ried him not whit, and in the midst
of it he borrowed match from the
detective standing next to him and
lighted a cigarette
He said he had been in Manhattan
ever since the robbery and gave an ac-
count Of himself for most of the time.
Upon only one subject was no infor-
nation to be obtained from him, and
that was the robbery of the brokers'
messengers. He had none to give, he
said. Word had reached him that he
was wanted" and here he was.
AS to his expensive clothing, his
flashy jewelry and the $217 which he
had in his pocket, he acknowledged
that he hadn't really worked for them,
as the word is understood by police
men, probation officers, assistant Dis
trict Attorneys and the like.
His hardest work in the last eighteen
months, he said, had been persuading
pair of dice to do his bidding. He
work, he said, and undoubtedly had
shooting craps. just how many thou
sand he wouldn't venture to guess; he
had had a run of luck and had made
all the money he needed-why waste
time on bookkeepin
Strolls Over 10 Jail
When the wearying examination at
the District Attorneys office was over,
Vanelli lighted another cigarette and
strolled over to the Raymond Street
jail with a couple of detectives. The
detectives looked more worried than
he did. He will be arraigned in County
Court, Brooklyn, this morning.
Although the police announced their
suspicious concerning him within a
few days after the robbery and as
serted that his arrest was imminent.
the crap shooting Toney Vanelli proved
to be as hard to lay hands upon as
Nicky Arnstein himself, and the
records in the $466,000 bond robbery
We're getting dusty when District At
torney Lewis revived interest in it e
little more than a week ago by an
nouncing that $235,000 of the stolen
bonds had turned Up at the Federal
Reserve Bank here.
The bonds were traced through
various brokerage houses to Memphis,
where, so far as could be discovered
or their agents. Several arrests have
been made in that city in connection
with the case, and it was announced
there that $350,000 worth of the bonds
IN all had been disposed of in that city.