The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1922-01-26
True
Detective Stories
TEN YEARS LATER

~NE Of the first acts Of william J.
Flynn after taking charge Of the
New York Office Of the United
States secret service was to order the
arrest of two Italians, Vincenzc Lupo
and Giuseppe Morello, on charges Of
manufacturing and passing counterfeit
money. But the Slcilians, anticipat-
ing such a move, had taken care that
their trails were well covered, and at
the trial they produced a flock Of Wit
| nesses VINO swore to alibis which eff
fectually prevented conviction.
AS Morello and his companion
passed out of the courtroom, after the
case against them had been dismissed,
Lupo remarked I'm a voice loud enough
for Flynn>to overhear: "Those pigs
of American detectives haven't the
brains to get the evidence they need.
| They'll never land us."
The man who later became the head
the time.
1t was three years before Flynn
again came into contact with the two
Italians. and again the federal forces
had to be content with the losing end
OF the argument.
This time the case was the famous
one of the "Morristown Fives"-five-
dollar bills printed in precise imitation
of the currency issued by the National
Iron bank of Morristown, N. ]. Flynn's
men found that the trail led directly
into Little Italy" In New York, right
up to the door of grocery store
owned by Giuseppe de Primo. But
there, apparently, 1t disappeared into
thin air.
Flynn investigated the matter very
carefully from the outside, but the.
only suspicious circumstance that he.
could discover was that De Primo was
importing Il much larger quantity of
olive oil than his business appeared to
warrant. On account of the duty
olive oil is usually imported In bar
IelS and then canned or bottled on this
sidr-the empty cans being shipped
from Italy ready for use.
Feeling certain that there must be
some connection between the olive Oil
and the mysterious counterfeits, Flynn
first tapped several of the barrels con-
signed to De Primo. But these were
filed to the brim with oil of the pre-
! else quality mentioned in the bills OF
/ Iading. Then, merely to make certain
I that he had not neglected any possible
angle of the case, the secret service
man ripped open one of the boxes OF
empty cans" Instantly the mystery
| was solved. The cans contained roll
upon roll of the "AIorriStOwn Elves"
| manufactured in Italy,
| In the roundup which followed this
discovery, Lupo and Morello were
gathered in by the government agents
and charged with passing counterfeit
money. 1t was moral certainty that
the two Sicilians had had hand in
the plot-in fact. Flynn suspected that
they were the ring-leaders-but none
OF the others would implicate them,
even 10 save themselves. De Primo
and his associates went to the peni-
tentiaiy, hut LupO and Morello walked
out OF the courtroom still sneer:ng at
thr "hFdiiiiess American detectives"
Durin:; the years that followed,
coGntcrf,ting operations and Black
Hand murders, extortion and black
mail of all kinds were almost traced
emily they worked as far west as Chi.
cago and south to New Orleans, but
ev"ry time the nolice or the govern
ment agents started to close in on
them, the pair slipped out through
some legal loophole prepared in ad-
vance.
1t was nine years after the original
Lupo-Morello case that Flynn got wind
| or the fact that the Itaiinn colony in
| New York was planning big counter
feiting coup. The only thing lacking,
according to the information which
reached government headquarters, was
printer.
few days later. a young Italian
named Comita, who claimed to be q h.
printing expert who had been forced
to leave Italy on account Of participa-
ton I'm a number Of Malta outrages,
applied to Lupo for a position. The re-
cruit was put through grilling cross.
examination. but Flynn had seen to II.
that he was supplied with the proper.
answers to all The questions, and IT,
wasn't long before the secret service
had an operative planted In the very
heart of the counterfeit plot.
Comito reported that the gang was
operating from small farm near
Highland, n. y, and that thousands of
dollars in spurious currency was ready
to be released.
but Lupo," he added, "is preoar-
Ing 10 take a trip to Italy and won't be.
hack until the spring"
VERY we'll" replied Flynn, I'VE can
wolt. just lay low until he returns
Then well nail the whole bunch"
1t was early in the following year
ten years after the first arrest and re-
lease Of the LupO- -Morello combination
that the secret service sprung It's
trap and rounded up 10 Italians. Dur
Ing the trial which followed, pbvst-
| clans and other witnesses swore In
| WI