New Britain herald., 1927-01-05
TWO DRY AGENTS !. CAUGHT WITH RUM
Nine Other Ps sons Arrested in
 Mex London
VALUE SELL RE AT S25O,000
Capture Made 1t Groton Bridge
 Includes Ino Five Ton Trucks ard Two Exf lsive Motor Cars Liqtpr Bclievcl Worth $25O,OOO.

New A.onets, Conn.,, Jan. 5 1- Choice hquor Believed worth s25o.- 900, twofdyS ten trucks valued at s1o,ooo, and tso expensive cars, were sgzsa ,Spd eleven men, in- cludingf two federal prohibition agents ot New York were arrested on ehaises of ira nsporting liquor at the SntSaAcsS5L the state highway bridge at Groton today in what il believed to be the initial expose of one of the biggest liquor smuggling and conspiracy cases yet encount- cred by the authorities in this sec tion.
 Men Were Armed ! The federal agents, who were armed and carried identification cards are: Alex w. Westerlind of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Clarence w. Lovatt of Nyack, N. Y. Two loaded revolvers were found in the sedans besides the weapons carried by the l federal agents. Three of the men arrested are Arthur Ryan, John J. Tuite and Conrad Lafont of New York, are reported to have said they were invited guests" on the liquor expedition. The trucks were oper- ated by Edward Figuira and Roger Ferreira of Fall River, Mass. One of the sedans was operated by Frank Amaral of Fall River and the other by Lafonte.
 Two Were Prisoners Two of the men, John Carson and Isadore Miller. claim they were prisoners of the federal agents. The other men arrested. gave their names as William stpierre, and Frank Imaral. The trucks are owned by Manuel Ferreira of Fall River, Mass, according to the state police.
 State Police Act
 The seizure was made by Sergeant Clifford N. Gorgas of the Groton barracks and State Policeman George Sisson, Bernard kenerson, Henry Albright. and Arthur Webber. Upon receiving confidential information that the liquor trucks were proceed ing in this direction the state police men were stationed by Sergeant Cor gas at the entrance of the bridge. For the past six months the state police have received Confidential" information about liquor transporta- tion and had waited in vain for many nights without success.
 When the first truck drew up to the bridge the driver was hailed and stopped. In few minutes the other five ton truck and the two sedans had drawn up behind the first truck and the state policemen upon exam ming the contents of the trucks, which were piled high with barrels of alleged whiskey. bags and cases of choice assortments of liquor or dered the drivers out Of the trucks and questioned Westerlind and Love- att who represented themselves as federal agents transporting the cargo of liquor to New York from Som- ersett, Mass.
 Dry Agents Story
 According to the state police the prohibition agents claimed to have seized the liquor at Somerset yester- day afternoon. According to their story as told to the state police, they were working on clue from the New York office which led to Son. ersett where they said they seized the liquor and arrested Carson and Miller.
 The fact, as claimed by the prohf- bition agents, that they made the seizure of the liquor yesterday and were en route the same day to New York without regular criminal pro- ceedings in Massachusetts caused the state police to become skeptical of the story as told and resulted in the entire group of eleven men being placed under arrest.
 Examination of the two loads of liquor revealed about thirty barrels of whiskey, a large quantity of Bel gium alcohol and an assortment of Scotch, champagne. brandy and gin.