New Britain herald., 1927-02-10
Federal Agents Arrest Antonio Torello With 2l Gallons of Alcohol In New Haven Today
 His Sixth 0fense.
Expose in Recent Scandal Said to Have Resulted From Theft of 100 Bar rels of Alcohol and Sub- stitutiOn of Water.

New Haven, Feb. 10 R - After watching Antonio Torello, state wit ness against the Il men indicted on Tuesday in Hartford by a federal grand jury, leave his home today. federal agents arrested him as he was driving an automobile containing 2 gallons of alleged alcohol in the direction of North Haven.
 His Sixth Arrest
 This was the sixth time that Tor clio has been arrested for alleged violations of the liquor laws. Yes terday in a statement to a local newspaper he accused man said 10 have been In the employ of fed eral prohibition enforcement agents here of receiving bribes offered for immunity In illegal liquor traffic, and then pocketing the bribes and permitting the arrests to be made.
 Torello was placed under bond of S2,50o by U. s. Commissioner Robert Alcorn.
 The arrest of Torello and absolute denials by Anthony Florio and Harry Comen, two of those indicted. of any knowledge of illicit traffic in alco- hol. were the outstanding develop ments today in the alleged s1,000.- coo liquor scandal in which II men and two corporations have been in dicted. Comen said he "did not know and had never seen" Anthony Periotti, convicted bootlegger and states witness before the grand jury.
 A truck of the Florio Trucking company could not get up Snake hill in Newtown because of an overload and the driver was arrested and fined s1o there for exceeding the load limit allowable under state laws. Then came announcement that the alcohol carried by the truck, said to have been consigned to the Connecti- cut Alcohol Distributors company here. would be held In default of a state permit for it's transportation. The case, being heard in Bridgeport, IS not yet over.
 Comen said today that he had a federal permit and knew of no office in Connecticut where state permits were issued.
 "It there was one, we would be glad to apply and get them," he said.
 Florio said that his company had proper permits for all that 1t car ried for the Solvents Recovery com- pany of Danbury and the distributors company here.
 Confidence in John A. Morse sus- pended federal agent under indict- ment was expressed by Frank T. Putney, federal prohibition adminis- trator for the state.
 ''He was my most trusted man. said Mir. Putney. His guilt will have to be proved before I am con- thing"
 Water Was Substituted
 The substitution of 100 barrels of water for an equivalent amount of alcohol in custody of U. S Marshal Jacob P. Walter occasioned the complaint which led to federal grand jury Investigations, 1t has been made known
 The alcohol. seized in the Bridge port railroad yards was stored in New Haven warehouse in custody of the marshal during litigation which ended in the acquittal of the owner Edward Derigibus of Bridgeport and an order from the court that the all cohol be sold to persons entitled to purchase it and the proceeds turned over to Derigibus.
 When compliance with the sale order wa attempted, the liquor was found to have vanished and water to have been substituted. The ori- ginal contents of the barrels have not been located. As result, formal complaint was made to '. S. Attorney Buckley.
 The present indictments followed five day inquiry in which Anthony Periotti, now serving a prison sen- tence for various violations of the liquor law. testified that II New Haven man. including a former New Haven banker and prohibition agent, who was suspended February 1, were involved in the diversion of specially denatured alcohol from le- gitimate purposes to beverage uses.
 Periotti's testimony was corrobor- ated by other witnesses.
 Dry Agent Missing
 John A. Morse, then in charge of prohibition agents here, was accused of having received sS50 q week to protect the conspirators in their op- erations. Morse has not yet been brought into custody. He is under stood to be outside the state. Josef Adler. former local banker is in custody of his attorney pending his release from local hospital where he is on the danger list from mon. oxide gas poisoning said to have re- suited from being in closed garage with his car while the motor was running
 Tarer's that n r'nn nromircnt in state politics was involved in the case. have not been corroborated,