Smyrna times., 1932-11-09
USE TECHNIQUE
IN GAS MURDERS
New York Authorities Worry
ing Over Use of bag"
By Gangsters
EIGHT OCCUR RECENTLY

New YOrk.-An epidemic of bag"
murders, the latest refinement Of
organized gang cruelty, is laying
out some mental work Of a heavy
weight order for the best minds of
a half dozen police departments of
the metropolitan district.
Eight such killings have occurred
recently. While the police, with
their stock explanation, have had
the ready answer Of ''racketeers'
war" for them all, evidence is not
lacking that other motives have
entered into the cycle. AT least two
Of them are believed to have been
due to revenge for previous muir
ders-one for a crime dating back
more than IL months.
Similarly, while the police were
inclined at first to credit each Of
the murders to members of the
same gang-owing to the similar
ity Of methodist is now believed
that three and possibly four differ
ent gangs are involved.
Same Expertness Shown.
Each of them, however, show the
same dexterity and brutality in
their handiwork. In each case the
body Of the victim, more or less
mutilated, is found tightly trussed
usually with endless coils Of
othesline-doubled in a burlap
bag, either in an abandoned auto
mobile or by some remote roadside.
In one mysterious instance two
bodies were found crammed to-
gether in the rumble seat Of a road
ster left standing BY the curb Of
an uptown Manhattan street.
In another case the slayers, lOath
to waste their time in hiding the
grewsome evidence of their job,
simply drove up to the curb. rolled
the sacked body to the pavement.
and drove calmly away. leaving
awed passersby to wonder what
the bag might contain.
incidentally, police are convinced
that it Is the pride Of the "eXecu-
tion squads" specializing in this
modernized type Of murder to bind
their victims in such a manner
that they will strangle themselves
to death in their struggles to free
themselves Of their bonds.
1t is a comparatively new trick.
The victim is first subdued by a
blow on the head with blunt In
strument. Then a sash cord is
noosed around the neck. with few
convenient knots. and the loose end
is brought around under the drawn
up knees. looped around the back,
and made fast, so that the victim,
on awakening, tightens the moose
when he tries frantically to
straighten his legs. The hands are
bound across the chest.
One of the latest victims Of the
trick was GerardO Scarpato, Brook
lyn racketeer. recorded by the pO-
lice as the fifth to die in a vendet-
ia springing from the murder of one
''Joe the Boss" Masseria. once head
of the Unione Sicilione and reputed
lieutenant of AL CapOne.
The strangled. trussed-up body
of Scarpato, wrapped, according to
gang routine, in a burlap bag, was
found in the tonneau of a sedan
parked for two days and nights in
front Of a Windsor place apartment
house in Brooklyn.
Death No Surprise.
Scarpato's death was no surprise
to police-Or to himself. For sew
enteen months, in Italy and Amer
lea, he had trembled in the shad-
Ow Of violent death-ever since the
afternoon Of April Is, 1881. when
"Joe the Boss" playing pinochle in
Scarpato's Coney island restaurant,
was put on the spot by his body
guards and slid under the card
table, an ace Of spades in his hand
and his back riddled with the lead
Of AS caliber automatics.
-Four men had died before Scar
patio for that killing in the seven
teen months since "Joe the Boss"
was given gaudy gangster's
funeral-an outstanding one in that
a great floral cross, bearing the
portent initials "A. c." had the
place OF honor at the grave.
Thanks to Scarpato's own knowl-
edge OF his impending doom at the
hands Of the gangster vendetta, his
Identification was quickly deter
mined-when his body was found
despite the removal by his slayers