The Ordway new era., 1922-03-17

AS 5ioreiio aud his companion
passed out of the courtroom, after tue
rasa against them had been dismissed,
Limo remarked ia voice loud enough
fnr FLYNN TO overhear: Those pigs
OF American detectives haven't the
brains TO get the evidence thsS heeu.
They'll never LAND rs."
The man who later became The head
nf the secret service said nothing al
the time.
Ii was three years before Flynn
again came into contact with the two
Italians. and agaiu the federal forces
had to be conteut with the losing END
Of the argument.
This time the case was the FAMOUS
one Of the "Morristowu Fives live
dollar bills printed in precise Imitation
of The currency issued by the Natlonai
Iron bank of Morristowu, y. J. Flynn
men found that the trail led Directly
into Little Italy in New York. right
up To the door of Il gr-cery store
owned by Giuseppe lie PriIno. BuI
there. apparently; ii disappeared into
thin air.
Flynn investigated the matter very
carefully from the outside hut the
only suspicious circumstance that he
could discover was that De Primo was
importing u much larger Gllantity Of
olive oil than his business appeared 10
warrant. ON account of the duty,
olive oil is usually imported in bar
rels and then canned or bottled ON this
side-the empty cans being shipped
from Italy ready for use.
Feeling certain that there must he
some connection between the olive oil
aud the mysterious cnunterfeitS Flynn
first tapped several of the barrels con
signed to- De Primo. Bur these were
ulIed to the brtm with oil OF the pre-
else quulity mentioned in the bills of
Iading Then, merely to make certain
thar he had not neglected any possible
ausle 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 "Morristown Fivps,"
manufactured -im1taly.
In the roundup which followed this
discovery, Lupo and Moreilo We're
gathered in by the government agents
and charged With passing counterfeit
money. 1t was a moral certainty that
the two Sieilans had had a hand in
the plot-in fact. Flynn suspected that
they were the ring-leaders-but none
of the others would implicate them,
no Primo
and his associates went TO the peui
tentiary, but Lupo and Morello walked
out of the courtroom still sneerins at
the "brainless American detectives
During the years. that followed,
counrerfeiting operations and Black
Hand murders, extorfion and black
mail of all kinds were almost traced
to Lupo and Morello-almost. Appar-
emily they worked as far west as Chi.
cago and south to New Orleans, but
every time the police or the govern
ment agents started TO close in on
them, the pair slipped out through
some legal lOophoie prepared in ad
vance.
1t was nine years after the original
of the fsct that the Italian colony In
New York was planning big counter.
feiting coup. The only thing lacking,
according TO the Information which
reached government headquarters, was
printer.
A few days later, a Young Italian
named Comits, who claimed ts be
printing expert who had been forced
10 leave Italy on account Of participa.
ton in number of Mana euuages,
applied 10 Lupo for Il position. The re.
cruit was put through ErilIinK cross.
examination, but Flyna had seen To 1t
that he WAS supplied with the proper
answers to all the ssestions, and Il
wasn't long before the secret service
had an operative planted in the very
heart of the counterfeit plot.
Comito reported thar the gang was
operating from 4 small farm near
Highland, n. Y, and that thousand. of
dollars in spurious currehcy was ready
10 be released.
But Lupo.' he added, "is prepar.
ing 10 take trip TO Italy and won't be
back until the spring"
Very we'll" replied Flynn, I'VE can
wait. just lay low until he returns.
Then We'll nail the wh,le baach."
1t was early In the following year
ten years after rhe first arrest and re-
lease of the Lupo- Morello cOmbinat ton
that the secret service sprung its
trap and rounded up 16 Italians. Dur
ing the trial which followed, physi-
clans and other witnesses swore to
alibls which had been previously pre-
pared. But the government, aided by
Comito's first-hand evidence and the
testimony of the men who had been
trailing the Italians. proved every point
In its case, though 1t took the evidence
of 800 people to do 1t.
As result LupO and MOrpllo went