The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-22
Nationwide Search Being
 Made for ,0O0 Members of Gang With Headquarters in Italian District of City-64 Are Now Under Arrest
FOREIGN COUNTRIES ARE
 INFORMED OF GREAT PLOT
Counterfeiters Are Closely Associated With Traffickers in Drugs and Liquor, Govern-
 ment Chief Declares Money Sent to Cuba and West Indies

NEW YORK, Feb. 21.-Secret service operatives today rounded up GA alleged counterfeiters in- volved in a plot of international scope whereby between $1,000,000 and $10,000,000 in spurious money has been dumped into the trading marts of 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 head quarters in the Italian quarter of New York.
 Government operatives in De- troIt, Chicago, San Fra cisco and other large cities, are prepared to rad counrerfeiters' dens in the for e4gn quarters of their cities. Po- lie or SourE and Central America ana western European. nations have peen informed ot the haunts of the lorelgn agents of the gigantic crime r4ng.
 oI insernati0nai Scope.
 The plot was barred after the cap tLre last night or three men alleged by the authorities to be the leaders oI an organization with international rami1icauons and the discovery ot the printing presses which turned olt hundreds uf thousands oi United states $2, $o, SI0 and s10 blils, Amer iean silver quarters, sold l4eces, Aus lrlan Arenon, Itahan h.e, lnterna- uonal revenue stamps and ,ertit- icates, posease stamps, water m.fAed prohiDItion papers, wn4sky and cham lasne uot.Ie IaucIs ana bogus ulug anu liquor permits.
 raIuS In manhattan, Brooklyn, Long island Guy anu 4Sew Jersey re- suited m 70 arrests in the last zs hours anu ended suocessfuiiy an eIgn. month search Tor the lnlernatlonaI gang leaoers. Joseph A. PaIma. cniet Ol tne specIal seryIce squad ot tle internal revenue oepar,ment. an nouneeu. Ihirty-six prisoners hau been taken In secret raius during tne last two weeks, bringing the lutaI eo 61.
 Victims Arraig neu.
 lne raided places were found, Palma salu. stocked with bundles oi sIlU,VvO voun,erIeIt American money, tens oI thousands of dollars worth or postage stamps, whisky labels, rev enue stamps. bogus colns, as well as lles or memoranda. press. moulds ana dIes and q numper oI engraving poards.
 twenty four of yesterdays round- up ylcums were arralgned before federal Commissioner hitchcock to- day and held In bail ranging from $2,50O to Sz5,0VU. Three were sent to Newark, \. d., for arraignment.
 The counterleiters. Palma as- serted. were closely associated with traffickers in drugs ana illicit rum They bought huge quantities of drugs ana liquor from smuggIers and resoiu the contraband in american cities willie they paid the smuggiers wltn the counterfeit money.
 In Heart of Greenwich Village.
 IGallua utCldTtu Oi uOl- lars in bogus money found it's way into foreign ports, especially in Cuba and the West Indies, through mem- bers of the boat crews in the rum fleet, which, hailing rom alien ports, aojourned off the New Jersey coast for nearly month.
 The headquarters and manufacture ing plant of the gang was in base ment at 29 Cornelia street, in the heart of Greenwich village. There We're seven wholesale distributing agencies in New York city, and sur rounding territory, the principal one in Broome street. stones throw from police headquarters.
 The traffic was organized on an elaborate business basis with whole saIers and their agents, retailers and tLeir agents hired gunmen and liaison officers. Each branch of the trade operated independently. The necessary contacts being maintained tt,ronsh fha lio siop officers.