You would have to start as soon as possible, probably after Christmas,
if you care to stay with your folks over the holidays.
Best regards to Mrs. R. and the children.
With best of wishes, believe me,
Your friend
F—i
That immediately upon receipt of said letter the affiant well knowing
from past experience with said Weiss the need of expedition and secrecy,
instructed his wife, Laura Ruzzamenti, to telegraph to said Feri Felix
Weiss, P. O. Box 2107, Boston Mass. in substance and effect that he, the
affiant would come to Boston immediately after the Christmas holidays,
and said telegram as outlined above was sent.
That between the said date of sending of said telegram to said Feri
Felix Weiss and the morning of December 27th, 1920 when the affiant
secured leave of absence from said Reddington Standard Fitting
Corporation, and left Reddington, Pennsylvania to come to the City of
Boston, no letter or telegram or communication of any character was
received by the affiant from the said Feri Felix Weiss.
That upon arrival in the City of Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
on the evening of December 27th, 1920, at or about the hour of ten p.
m., the affiant went to the office of said Feri Felix Weiss at 7 Water
Street in the City of Boston and made inquiry for said Weiss, but found
that he was out for the evening. Whereupon the affiant went to the
American House in said City of Boston and there registered.
That following morning, December 28th, 1920, the affiant went to the
office of said Feri Felix Weiss at 7 Water Street in said City of Boston
and interviewed the said Weiss.
That the said Weiss then admitted receipt of affiant’s telegram but
expressed some surprise that the affiant had come to the City of Boston
in view of the fact that the said Weiss had sent to him, the affiant, a
telegram stating that he should not come.
That the affiant has since made inquiry and to the best of his
knowledge, information and belief the said Weiss did not send a telegram
to the affiant, but did send a letter stating in effect that he, the
affiant, was not to come to Boston until further word was received from
the said Weiss, but that said letter was not received in Reddington,
Pennsylvania, until December 28th, 1920, the day after the affiant left
Reddington, Pennsylvania.
That after some discussion the said Weiss stated to the affiant in
substance and effect that however it was all right: that he, the
affiant, was here in Boston and that he, the said Weiss, would
immediately get in touch with Mr. Frederick G. Katzmann, the District
Attorney for Norfolk and Plymouth Counties, Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, and would arrange for an interview between the said
Katzmann and the affiant.
That the said Weiss in the presence of affiant attempted to telephone
the said Frederick G. Katzmann, but was unable at that time to secure a
connection at the office of said Katzmann at Hyde Park, Commonwealth of
Massachusetts.
That thereafter, to-wit, December 28th and December 29th 1920, the
affiant remained in and about the office of said Weiss discussing with
said Weiss and receiving from said Weiss the details of the plan
purporting to be the product of the minds of said Weiss and said
Katzmann and mutually agreed upon between said Weiss and said Katzmann,
the details of which plan are hereinafter set forth, and also awaiting
instructions from said Weiss as to when he, the affiant, should see the
said Katzmann; that sometime in the afternoon of December 29th, 1920 the
affiant received instructions from said Weiss to be at the office of
said Katzmann at said Hyde Park the morning of December 30th, 1920 at
nine a. m.
That in accordance with said instructions the affiant at nine a. m. on
December 30th, 1920 was at the office of said Frederick G. Katzmann,
District Attorney of Norfolk and Plymouth Counties, Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, at Hyde Park, Massachusetts, and there awaited the coming
of said Katzmann, that shortly after nine a. m. the affiant saw a
gentleman enter the said building and go upstairs; that thereupon the
affiant followed the said party and saw him turn to the door marked with
the name of said Katzmann and insert a key; that the affiant then
stepped up to said party, whereupon the said party turned and said to
him, the affiant, “Is that you John?” whereupon the affiant admitted his
identity and was welcomed into the office by said Katzmann, the said
Katzmann helping the affiant to remove his overcoat; that the affiant
then explained to said Katzmann that he had been sent there by said
Weiss and presented as evidence of his identity the card of said Weiss
with the name of the affiant written in the handwriting of said Weiss on
the back of said card.
That immediately after the identity of the affiant was established to
the satisfaction of said Katzmann, the said Katzmann asked the affiant
in substance and effect what he had to say of importance; whereupon the
affiant outlined to the said Katzmann the proposition, or plan that had
been proposed to the affiant by said Weiss, and which the affiant had
been told was the product of the minds of Weiss and said Katzmann, which
was in substance and effect that he, the affiant, was by prearranged
plan and in concert with police officers to break and enter some
dwelling house for the ostensible purpose of committing the crime of
burglary, and that by prearranged plan with said police officers the
affiant was to be apparently caught in the act of committing the crime
of burglary; that then the affiant would be duly and regularly arrested,
complaint issued, committment papers executed and the affiant confined
under the terms of said committment in the Dedham County Jail in Norfolk
County, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the said jail being the jail
where Nicola Sacco, named in the title herein, was then confined and
awaiting trial on the charge of murder.
That then by prearranged plan and in concert and with the understanding
of one Samuel Capen, High Sheriff of Norfolk County, Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, the affiant would be placed in a cell next to and
adjoining to the one occupied by said Sacco, and that the affiant would
then, by preconceived plan and by special arrangement with said High
Sheriff of Norfolk County, be given special privileges and special
opportunity to establish the confidence of and to act as a stool pigeon
on said Nicola Sacco. That in this connection the said Weiss had
instructed the affiant that he, the affiant, was upon his incarceration
to appear to be very much depressed and melancholy by reason of his
arrest and was to make no attempt to talk with said Sacco for at least
three days after his arrest. That the affiant outlining the said plan to
the said Katzmann as same had been outlined to the affiant by said
Weiss, stated to the said Katzmann that he, the affiant, had never been
arrested and was not agreeable to this plan of arrest; that while he,
the affiant, had been previously engaged by the said Weiss as an
operative while the said Weiss was in the United States Department of
Justice, nevertheless the affiant had never up to that time ever gone so
far as to commit a crime in the furtherance of any end, and that he, the
affiant, could not and would not agree to the said plan of said Weiss,
but was willing to listen to any counter suggestion or other proposition
that might be made by the said Katzmann.
That thereupon the said Katzmann said to the affiant in substance and
effect that he, the said Katzmann, was right hard up against it; that
he, the said Katzmann, had no evidence as against the said Nicola Sacco
or as against the said Bartolomeo Vanzetti, that they, the said Sacco
and said Vanzetti, had not talked and would not talk; that he had been
unable to get anything out of them or out of any other person, that said
Katzmann named in this connection some man that he had arrested in
connection with a motorcycle, and stated that he had grilled this man
but had been unable to learn anything, and that it was necessary that he
secure other and additional testimony to that which he already had.
Whereupon with this preliminary explanation, the said Katzmann made the
following proposition, to-wit:
That Rosina Sacco or Rose Sacco, the wife of said Nicola Sacco, resided
in the town of Stoughton, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and there had a
small home and had an extra and unused room in said house by reason of
the arrest and incarceration of her husband, and he, the said Katzmann,
then proposed to the affiant that he, the affiant, should undertake to
secure employment in said town of Stoughton or some place adjacent
thereto and should as an Italian and a member of the same race as the
said Rosina or Rose Sacco, secure a room in her home, and that for and
by reason of the fact that the said Rosina or Rose Sacco was undergoing
great physical, mental and spiritual suffering by reason of the
incarceration of her husband, it should be easy for the affiant to
establish friendly relations with her, and said relations once
established, it would then be easy for the affiant to secure
confidential communications from her as to any criminal activities of
her husband, the said Nicola Sacco. That the affiant agreed to undertake
this plan.
That thereupon the said Katzmann stated to the affiant that it would be
some few days before he, the said Katzmann, was ready to go ahead, that
meanwhile he, the affiant, was to “send me” (Katzmann) “your expense
bill and I will see that it goes through the County and you will get
your money.” That the affiant then left the said Katzmann’s office, the
said Katzmann courteously helping the affiant to put on his overcoat and
following him to the door and shaking hands in parting.
That the affiant then returned to Boston and reported to said Feri Felix
Weiss. That the day following the affiant sent his statement to said
Katzmann. That meanwhile it was arranged between the affiant and said
Weiss that he, the affiant, would be employed by said Weiss pending word
from said Katzmann on a job down on Cape Cod; that thereupon he, the
affiant, went to Cape Cod on said investigation for said Weiss and was
employed for a period of approximately two weeks; that nothing
developing and the affiant receiving no word from said Weiss, he, the
affiant, returned to Pennsylvania sometime about the middle of January
1921.
That after the affiant returned to Pennsylvania he received a letter
from said Weiss, only a part of said letter being now in the possession
of the affiant; the part which he now has reading on the face thereof as
follows, to-wit:
“Dear John:
I just returned from my trip and found your letters. As soon as Mr.
Katzmann sends me your check I’ll mail it to you.”
and on the back thereof as follows, to-wit:
“was a big trial of Mrs. De Falco. I’ll remind him by and by of your
bill.