The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1923-02-21
ARRESTS MAY REVEAL DEATH TRUST
BY NEA Service

BY NEA Service
Clarksburg, w. Va, Feb. 21.-An
organized murder band whose tenta-
cles have crushed life from scores
of victims is believed by police to
have been revealed by the arrest
here of II men and alleged confess
sions of some of those arrested
Revenge as unrelenting as that
which has wiped cut VIII ole clans in
Italian vendettas, murder lists, Sc
cret rituals. symbols Of blood-r red
handkerchief and knife gripped be-
tween clcnched teeth are but some
o. the dramatic features Of the con-
fessions. according to police.
More than 40 murders, dynamit-
ings, incendiary fires, and extortion
will be charged against some mem
bers of the band if the police arc
able to substantiate clcws upon
which they are working. Others will
be CHARGED with completely in vari-
Gus of the crimes.
/ Named in the confessions as the
''hir boss" Joe Sergi of Fairmont,
w. Va, is alleged to have been the
artocratic director. His was the
brain, according to the confessions,
under which the Italian colony here
has lived in dread for months, not
knowing where next murder would
strike.
Killed Woman, Charge
Police claim positive proof that
the band committed three murders
which until now have been labeled
''unsolved"
| One of these was the killing near
Baltimore Of Bella Lemon. notorious
woman Of the Fairmont underworld.
Her one-timc master, Rosario De
marco, shortly afterward was shot
down in Chicago and $4,000 taken
from him by orders of the Malta,
the confessions arc said to have
stated
Besides the murders, police are
working on theories that the burn
ing of a business block in Farming
ton, and the dynamiting of store
at Grasseli were the work of the
iNband
| The confessions are said to show
that bootleg whisky traffic was tn
cause for the reign of murder and
violence. 1t is believed the gang
| furnished liquor to various dives.
and that enemies of the traffic and
members of the rival whisky-selling
| gang were the victims.
Old Ritual
| But interviewer with the most
modern of business was ritual
of Old Italy. In the trunk one of
the members, arrested here, officer;
say they found Malta ceremony
and, among other things, blood
red handkerchief. This, it is be-
! lieved, was used by the band ia
swear in new members, the initiate
! taking the oath with hand upon the
| handkerchief and knife gripped be-
tween teeth.
Other confessions are said by po-
| lice to have show nthat the prison
ers had list of men marked for
, death. Chief of, Police Laco Wolfe of
Clarksburg, was to be called on the
| telephone, declare police and told =
still was being operated in house
at Kelley Hill, an Italian settlement
near Clarksburg. In this house, in
J stead of a still, was to be timed
! charge of nitroglycerine. The Rev.
! L. f. Gamer of Northvew, who
preached against bootlegging, was
another marked man, as was alsc
Chief of Police L. d. Snider, who
/ cleaned up the East Side in Fair
mont, it is alleged. A half dozen
Italian merchants, upon whom plans
to extort had failed, were to be MUIR
dered, according to the statements
Fear More Killings
Feeling over the arrest of the II
men now held is so strained, that
police fear further killings to avenge
the revelations made against the
murder gangs.
Special detachments of state police
are on guard at the Jail, while de-
tectives in the Italian section have
doubled their vigilance.