Evening star., 1935-01-18
Former Trapped in Apart
ment Hideout and Latter
Arrested in Hospital.
(Continued From First Page)

though he did all he could to stop the
fugitiveS.
MaiS' mother, Mrs Elizabeth MaiS,
ST, of Philadelphia, was arrested after
the break as suspect believed to
have helped smuggle the guns to the
doomed men. This charge, however,
was never proved and Mrs Mais was
released
throughout the trial, testifying as the
chief defense alibi witness. At the
time of his first capture, near Balti-
more. Mais was wounded in a gun
battle with police. He was still suffer-
ing from the old wounds when he
made his escape, and reports have
persisted since that he was lying near
death in Philadelphia hide away.
Trailed by ID. c. Policeman.
The role played by Washington
homicide squad members in tracking
down the fugitives was described to-
day by Inspector Frank S. w. Burke.
He said Sergt. Floyd Truscott, who
was largely credited with breaking"
the TriState gang prior to the Rich
mond escape, spent a week in New
York recently on hot" tip that
Leganza was in a hospital there. He
again went to New York today to
question the men.
Truscott was associated in the in
vestigation with Postal Inspector Leo
De Ward 1t was TruScott and De
Ward who went @ San Francisco
last Summer and returned Arthur
CDutch) MiSunas, 38. who turned
States evidence at Richmond against
his former pals
At that time the gangs girl friends
were the give away" and through
them MisunaS was run down. Mi
sunaS not only testified in Richmond
but came to Washington several weeks
ago as a Government witness against
John tSlim) Dunn and Sam Berlin,
on trial in the Tri-State gang robbery
of the Heurich Brewery. Dunn and
Berlin received prison sentences.
Woman ShadOwed.
In New York today Fay told how
the McKeever woman was the give
away" Department of Justice men
shadoWed her as soon as they learned
she was in town. They followed her
movements closely and established
the Whereabouts of the men, who
were unsuspecting up to the last
minute.
We were prepared to shoot it out, "
Fay said, knowing the men We were
dealing with were desperate characters.
But the fugitives never had an oppor-
tunity to draw their weapons"
Legenza was surprised as he hud-
died on his hospital cot still cripple,
and Mais did not awaken in time to
grab for his gun. Mais had very
wicked-looking knife in his possession" !"
Fay said. The arrests followed each
other in rapid succession and were
not announced until the final
roundup.
Fay said the prisoners we're in Fed
eral custody, but refused to say where
they were being kept pending their
delivery to Virginia authorities.
Gang Organized Here.
LegenZa, or Davis, is Washington
product. He escaped from Lorton Re-
formatory while serving a term for
safe cracking and organized the Tri-
State Gang here. According to
MiSunaS, the mob'S "Squealer," Davis
was stir crazy" and inclined to take
desperate chances which sent chill
of apprehension through the toughest
hoodlums at his heels.
Legenza never had much to do with
the girls, but the younger members of
the gang made up for what he lacked
in this respect. One of the strongest
weapons of police on the trail of the
mobsters was their ability to play on
the jealousies of the "molls.'
Federal agents said they were able
to shadow the McKeever woman, first
to the hotel where Farrell and Gale
were hiding, then to the hospital, and
several hours later to the apartment
where the unsuspecting Mais slept.
Another Woman Gives Tip.
Another woman helped to break"
the Tri-State mob, Mrs. Mary Eliza
beth Fontaine, runaway wife of
Canadian steel worker and sweetheart
of William B. Phillips 20. slain last
April by washington policeman in
trap set for the mobsters.
Mrs. Fontaine later was shot in the
back as she lay sleeping in an Upper
Darby, Pa, hide-away of the gang by
her own companions because "she
knew too much" Recovering, she did
enough talking from a hospital cot to
put the mob on the spot"
A roll call of the old Tri-State gang
an E0ie vaI
more in the shadow of the electric
chair.
Kaufman Taken for Ride.
"Big George" Kaufman, "a, a prod
uct of Washington's half world, could
not answer to the roll CALL any more
than could Phillips. He was taken for
a one-way ride by Pittsburgh mobSters
year ago.
Another member, Herbert Meyers,
80, one-time bouncer at Richmond
night club which since was bombed,
was cornered by New York detectives
and shot to death last Summer.
Meyers was trailed through a girl
friend.
Another member, John Kendrick.
90, dloo diiCSItu ny pOllCe VINO CrdCeQ
woman, is serving time at Alcatraz
off the California coast. He escaped
from Lorton Reformatory while serv-
ing 10 years for shooting a Washing
ton policeman and started running
with the mob.
Misunas is being held in Richmond,
where he pleaded guilty in the hold
up murder, and Dunn and Berlin are
serving long robbery sentences.
Among the Washington jobs laid to
the gang was the shooting of a mail
guard more than a year ago during
a hold-up at Union Station. The VIC
tim spent many months in the hos
pital after the shooting.
Shortly before Legenza and Mais
were first captured members of the
gang robbed the Maryland National
Guard Armory at Hyattsville of $3.50
worth of machine guns and rifles.
They stole automobiles, hijacked huge