Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-02-22
ga ROUNDED UP IN
100000 SPURIOUS
MONEY WORLD PLOT

MONEY WORLD PLOT
New York, Feb. 21-secret service
| operatives today rounded up Ga
! counterfeiters involved in a plot OF
| international scope whereby between
$1,000,000 and S10,00O,O0O in spurious
money has been dumped into the
| trading marts Of a score Of nations.
A nationwide hunt is being car
ried on, it was discovered, for the
| capture Of 1000 members of a gang
which maintained its headquarters in
basement in the Italian quarter OF
! New York.
] Government operatives in Detroit,
Chicago, San Francisco and other
large cities, with the details of the
| elaborate plot at their fingertips are
| prepared to raid counterfeiters dens
in the foreign quarters of their cit =
les. Police of South and Central
America and Western European ma
tions have been informed of the
| haunts Of the foreign agents of the
| . iSttiielS ~ illlC llilS.
/ The plot was barred after the cap
| ture last night of three men alleged
| by the authorities to be the leader;
ramifications and the discovery of
the printing presses which turned
out hundreds of thousands of United
States 50. 50. SO and $40 bills, Amer
| lean silver quarters. gold pieces,
Austrian kronen. Italian lire. inter-
nal revenue stamps and certificates,
| postage stamps. watermarked pro-
] hibition papers. whiskey and cham
| payne bottle labels and bogus drug
i and liquor permits.
| Raids in Manhattan. Brooklyn,
Long Island City and New Jersey
resulted in 28 arrests in the last "a
hours, and ended successfully an
! eight months search for the interna =
tional gang leaders. Joseph A. Palma.
chief of the special service squad of
the internal revenue department. an
nounced. Thirty-siX prisoners had
been taken in secret raids during the
! last two weeks, bringing the total to
Ca
The raided places We're found.
Palma said, stocked with bundles of
$4,000 in counterfeit American
money, tens of thousands of dollars
worth of postage stamps, whiskey
labels. revenue stamps. bogus coins,
as we'll as piles of memoranda,
moulds and dies and number of en-
craving boards.
Twenty -four of yesterdays round
up victims were. arraigned before
Federal Commissioner Hitchcock to-
day and held in bail ranging from
| S25OO to $4,000. Three were sent to
Newark, n. j.. for arraignmcnt.
] The counterfeiters. Palma asserted,
were closely associated with traffick-
ers in drugs and Illicit rum. They
bought huge quantities of drugs and
| liuuor from smugglcrS and resold the
contraband in American cities. While
they paid the smuSgle-s with the
counterfeit money.
The headquarters and manufacture
ing plant of the gang. Palma reported,
was in a basement at % Cornclia street
in the heart of Greenwich Village.
There were seven wholesale diStribut +
! ing agencies in New York city and
surrounding territory. the principal
one in Rroome street. stones throw
from police headquarters.
! Tho traffic was organized on eiap-
orntc business basis with whole salcrs
, ana lnclT dSCIlS, I'tdii'iS ''iiNa s'' -
| agents. hired gunner and liason Off
GERS each branch Of the trade operated
independcntly. The necessary contracts
we're maintained through the liaison
officers.
Investigation of the a ctivities of the
gang, Palma explained. began late in
! August when the treasury department
decided to suppress reported traffic IN
| bogus money.
Palma said that when the supposed
sources Of supply were traced to New
York it was discovered that each place
\ was guarded by score of gunner.
most of them cX-conricts. Agents sur
rcptitously bought bogus money at 80
cents on the dollar. AS the rate dimin-
ished the agents knew they were APP
preaching the source of supply. The
| manufacturer, it was found. sold at
from II 20 20 cents on the dollar.
When the plant in Cornelia street
| was Captured. the presses were
found dismantled and those men. al
legged to be the directors OF the IN
| ternational scheme. were caught
They were Dario Maiolatesi and An
| tonia Fotior. of Brooklyn, and Vito
Migliorini, of New York. Maiolat-
! csi. it was stated, was arrested eight
wears ago and given short sentence
| for having counterfeited internal
| revenue stamps.
| The overt act charged against the
group arrested yesterday was that
Benny Sorentino. on Dec. 9. gave to
Gabriel DE Fiore several counterfeit
bank notes. Sorentino. it was stated.
is out on bail on charge of raising
| checks made against him in New
Jersey. Palma said he was on parole
on a murder charge.
Sorentino. Palma said. was agent
| for John Di Rosa, who Wept a whole
sale distributing place in his coffee
| house in Broome street near police
| headquarters.
1.-The way we broke through the
counterfeiters' defense" Palma said.
! was by the discovery that Soren-
| tino was to deliver $4,000 to George
, Jackson and Salvatore D'Angelo. of
Pittsburgh, and Michael Trantier
and John Gadana in a house in
Brooklyn. Our agents were on the
spot and caught all five. During the
raid last night in Long Island City.
we arrested John and Ernest Jaico-
pinom. who were managers of a
printing shop called the Radio