The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1922-04-21
True
Detective Stories
TEN YEARS LATER


ONE 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, Vincenzo Lupo
and Giuseppe Morello, on charges OF
manufacturing and passing counterfeit
money. But the Slcillans, anticipat-
ing such a move, had taken care that
their trails were well covered, and at
the trial they produced flock Of wit
nesses who swore to aIibis 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 In voice loud enough
for Flynn to overheard "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
OF the secret service said nothing at
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 Flves"-five-
dollar bills printed in precise imitation
of the currency issued by the National
Iron bank of Morristown, N. J. 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, it 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 a much larger quantity OF
olive oil than his business appeared to
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 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 brlm with oil of the pre-
else quality mentioned in the bills OF
lading. Then, merely to make certain
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 "Morristown Elves"
manufactured in Italy,
In the roundup which followed TINS
discovery, Lupo and Morell0 were
gathered In by the government agents
and charged with passing counterfeit
money. 1t was moral certainty that
the two Sicilians had had hand III
the plot-in fact, Flynn suspected that
thew were the ring-leaders-but none
of the others would implicate them.
even to save themselves. De Primo
and his associates went to the peni-
Tertiary, but Lupo and MOrello walked
out of the courtroom still Sneering at
the "brainless American detectives"
During the years that followed.
cOunterfeiting operations and Black
Hand murders, eXtOrtion 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 looph0le prepared in ad.
vance.
1t was nine years after the original
Lupo-Morello case that Flynn got wind
of the fact that the Italian colony in
New York was planning a big counter
felting coup. The only thing lacking
according to the information which
reached government headquarters, was
printer
A few days later, young Italian
named Comita, who claimed to be a
printing expert who had been forced
to leave Italy on account of participa
ton in a number of Malta outrages
applied to LupO for a position. The re
cruit was put through a grilling cross
examination, but Flynn had seen to II
that he was supplied with the proper
answers to all the questions, and ii
wasn't long before the secret service
had an operative planted in the very
heart of the counterfeit plot.
Comito reported that the gang waa
operating from small farm neal
Highland, N. Y, and that thousands of
dollars in spurious currency was read!
to be released
"But Lupo," he added, sis prepar
ing to take trip 10 Italy and won't be
back until the spring"
Every WELL" replied Flynn, 1--WE can
wait Just lay low until he returns,
Then Wen 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 its
trap and rounded up 16 Italians. Dur
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