Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-02-24
GIGANTIC SW|NDLE
SHARES FOREIGNERS
AND RUM TRADERS
Brains of Gang Held in New
York Under Heavy Bond.
Many More to Be Jailed,
Federal SIeuths Say

NEW 4OfthI rep: ZZ.-DlreCL
connection between many unsolved
gang murders in this city during
the last few years, and the gigantic
| counterfeiting system barred by Sc
cret service operatives, was indicat-
| ed today when police began an in
dependent investigation into the
| counterfeit organization.
Several of the murders were be-
lieved to have resulted from pas.
sage of bogus money and from dou-
| BILE crossing in the ranks Of the
counterfeiters, the police said. The
crimes were said by investigators
to have been most frequent in coun-
terfeit circles which overlapped on
liquor and drug traffcling groups.
Discovery by secret service agents
who carried on an eight months
investigation into the counterfeit.
ing conspiracy, that the main whole-
sale distributing place here was the
Cafe Cross Of Savoy, owned by John
Dirosa, recalled to the police that
| SNNSA@L sang nave U6SIl
committed in or near the cafe. Di.
rosa was arrested yesterday.
The most dramatic murder COM
mitted in Dirosa's cafe was that Of
Joseph Viserat, known as Joe Pepi,
leader of Harlem's Little Italy, who
was shot and killed on October 10,
1921.
Sixty-FOur Arrested
Joseph "A. Palma, chief of the
special squad of the local secret
service staff, who directed the hunt
for the counterfeiters, which has
resulted in 81 arrests, admitted yes
terday that he had found that q
large number of criminals of all
sorts were connected with the bogus
money ring. Each wholesale dis
trlbuting place was protected by. a
dozen hired gunner, he said.
Secret service men drawing in the
strings Of a nationwide net that
they expect will enmesh 1000 mem
bers of the internal counterfeitinx
conspiracy.
international ramifications of the
huge -counterfeiting system were in.
dicated today when Joseph A. Palma,
| secret service agent in charge OF
the investigation, announced that
fifteen arrests have been made
abroad.
Persons have been arrested in
Egypt, Liverpool, England; Ham
burg, Germany; Havana, Cuba; Aus
tria, The Bahamas, Naples, Italy and
France, as result of clues given
the police Of the foreign countries
by secret service agents here, Mr..
Palma said.
In Naples two men and woman
i were arrested with $4,000 in sur
plus money in their possession, butt
one of them escaped, Mr.. Palma said.
1.-THE dozen others taken into Gus.
tody, he said, were all traced as re-.
suit Of the investigation which cul-
minated in the arrest here of % per-
oO1lS 1uSSudy 1llSHLa
The ring is believed to have man.
ufactured and distributed between
one and ten million dollars worth
OF bogus bills and spurious stamps.
Arrests all over the country with
raids centering in Chicago, Detroit,
San Francisco and other big cities
were forecast today by those fed
eral officers who completed last
| night the failing of 81 alleged coun-
terfeiters in the Metropolitan dis
trict. Deprived of it's brains" the
sleuths believe the organization to
be incapacitated. a. 2!
While secret service men in this
country are following the trail they
hit upon eight months ago in De-
troit, the police of several countries
will be hunting members Of the
band which extended its operations
over three countries with amazing
thoroughness. The haunts of its
principal members are known, the
secret service men say.
TWenty-one of those arrested
were held in the tombs in bail
ranging from $4,000 to ten times
that amount, and two others were
held in Newark, n. j., also under
bond.
The raids that fetched the 81
| % in the last two days-alSo de-
Veloped huge stacks of counterfeit
bills stamps, liquor permits and
IiOI10r bottle Iaholc hncidne ,npo
plete printing and engraving outfit
planted in Greenwich Village. Sew
en- distributing offices were found,
one within shouting distance of po-
lice headquarters on Broome street.
The state of the printing plant
indicated that the detectives arrived
as the trail was growing cold-dis-
mantlement had been begun.
Joseph, A. Palma, chief of the spe-
cial squad that barred the conspira-
cy, said the chief avenue of distri-
button was through bootleggers and
drug peddlers. Much counterfeit
money was palmed off to bootleg
ger row." while it swung at anchor
last month off Highlands, N. J., dis
charging liquor, he said.
The thoroughness of the organ
ization, Palma said, was astounding.
1t was divided into manufacturers,
wholesalers and their agents, re-
tailers and their agents, gunner
and liaison officers who kept each
department in contact.
Ignorant immigrants were declar-
ed to have been principal prey of
the counterfeiters whose various
headquarters were centered in Ital-
ian and Jewish centers. The bogus
stuff was sold at from SO to IL
cents on the dollar, the retailer get
ting most and the manufacturer
least.