Evening star., 1935-08-04
us. S.AGENTSBREAK.
ALIEN SMUGGLING.
RING ON ELLIS ISLE
10 Employees Face Charge
of Faking Papers-Lead-
ers Still at Large.
VICTIMS THROUGHOUT
NATION BLACKMAILED
Toll of $1,000, 900 Annually Ex-
acted From Immigrants, Aide
to Cummings Reveals

tCopyrieht. 1895. by the Associated Press.l }
NEW YORK, August 3.-Federal
investigators, smashing through the
traffic in faxed naturalization papers,
disclosed details tonight of a nation
wide racket that has terrorized immi-
grants and taken yearly toll OF more
than $1,000, ,o00
After three months of sleuthing,
Special Prosecutor Samuel H. Kauf-
man declared he and his staff had un-
covered a maze of racketeering that
extended from E lis Island into vir-
tually every large city in the coun-
try.
Sufficient evidence to convict or
indict 10 Government employees at
Ellis Island already has been amaSsed,
he said, and his agents are concen-
trating now on the brains" Of the
outside organization.
RingIeaders Still Sought.
I'VE haven't caught the ringleaders
yet, but when we do we will have
them right" he said. The nature
Of these cases. with the documentary
evidence involved. makes it almost
impossible for them to escape con-
viction."
Kaufman, appointed special assis-
tant to Attorney General Homer S.
Cummings to smash the fraudulent
naturalization racket that sprang up
when the 1921 quota law went into
effect, disclosed that he was hot on
the trail of a Brooklyn organization
suspected Of being the nucleus of
the entire set-up.
In addition to paying from $50 to
s2500 for faxed records. Kaufman
disclosed, aliens who enter the coun-
try illegally are blackmailed regularly
thereafter.
He promised immunity from prose-
cution to all aliens who would testify
against the extortionists.
Suicide Snagged Inquiry.
"It's the most consummate shake
down racket I have ever seem" he
said.
Benjamin Bergman. suspected pay
Of man for the Brooklyn organiza-
tion, agreed last June to tell Kauf-
man all he knew about the system of
forging the names Of smuggled aliens
on ships manifests in order to pro-
vide them with the certificate OF
arrival necessary for citizenship
papers
The night before he was to keep
his appointment he took lethal dose
Of poison in a Brooklyn lodging
house.
His death was a great blow to
us" Kaufman said. we had hoped
through him to get to the five or six
rmgleaders. His death slowed us up
three months"
kaufman said the Government
employees rarely received more than
$50 for falsifying records.
They were the catspaws," he ex-
planned.
The penalty drawn last week by
one of them, Joseph Lamonte, AZ, a
former Ellis Island guard. was a
4-year prison sentence.
One other Ellis Island employe has
been convicted, two have pleaded
guilty. and six are awaiting trial.
Among the latter is Frederick A.
Tuttle, SIS, Of Elizabeth, N. j., who
became inspector in charge after
years in the service and who now is
under indictment on 13 counts rang
ing from subornation of perjury to
conspiracy and forgery of Govern
ment records.
Indicted with Tuttle were Joseph
Singer, Cleveland, Ohio, night club
operator, and his younger brother.
Bella Singer, who allegedly entered
the country several years ago on
students visa. They are awaiting
removal proceedings.