The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-03-07

itself, can be detected as tending to prove combination; but when 1t is seen in connection with other acts, its true nature may be discovered. And SO, as this species of proof is multiplied, strong case of unlaw- full conspiracy is often established"
 The principal claim of the de- fendants is that, even giving to the evidence offered by the state It's ut- most probative value, 1t can be said to have proved no more than that some or all of these defendants had a similar underlying object to de- fraud the city which they accom- plished through separately planned conspiracies, each complete in It. self. If that were so the defendants could not properly be convicted.
 To Defraud City
 The jury could reasonably have found from the evidence the follow ing facts: The main purpose of the conspiracy was to defraud the city of Waterbury of very large sum of money and the case was tried by the court and by counsel on that theory. That Is the issue with which we are primarily concerned. The activities of the defendants rough- ly resolve them into three groups. Hayes, Leary, Kelly and Olsen formed the principal and original group and while their activities per- meated the entire conspiracy, they were principally directed to the ob- taining of money from the city treasury. Assisting them as men whose cooperation and silence was essential to success in this effort were Dunn, Fleming, Crary and Shanahan. The second group were designated by the special states at- torney as feeders" It consisted of Coppeto, Santalucia, Healey, Mac- kenzie, Williamson, Levy, Minor Johnston and Pietraroria. They were all men whose positions and occupations gave some semblance of plausibility that the bills rendered by them or the payments made to them were based on valid consider ations, although the payments were out of all proportion to the services rendered and sometimes entirely gratuitous. In order to retain their cooperation and silence they were allowed to keep some portion of the city moneys disbursed to them but a large part was turned over to the members of the first group. The third group was principally engaged in endeavoring to conceal the exist- ence of the conspiracy, both during its progress and after It's collapse. It included Purdie, Horgan and Borgnaes and the members of the first mentioned group.
 The general methods of operation of the conspirators may be illustrat- cd by certain typical instances. It would serve no useful purpose and would be impracticable to review the entire evidence within the reason- able limits of this opinion.
 Levy "The Feeder"
 Levy was the first feeder" em- ployed by the central group. He contacted Hayes and Leary concern ing survey of the city of Water bury to ascertain whether savings could be effected in the use of elec- trio light and power. At the request of Hayes the board of aldermen au- thorized him to enter into con- tract with a partnership known as George Browning, Incorporated, consisting Of Levy and George Browning, for the purpose of re- ducing the light rates of the city. Before this contract was entered inc to, Leary arranged with Levy and Browning that one-half of the sums paid to the latter under the con-