COUNTERFEIT BILLS APPEAR
In May, 1909, counterfeit two-dollar and five-dollar bills began to
appear in many of the large cities, such as New York, Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Chicago and Boston. Some of the bills were
distributed as far away as New Orleans. The simultaneous appearance of
the bills in so many different cities indicated quite plainly that a
large band was operating in the distribution of the bad money.
Ever since Lupo and Morello and his associates were arrested in 1908,
and were turned out by the Police Magistrate because there was not
sufficient evidence to hold them for the barrel murder, I had not lost
sight of them. They were being trailed all the time, day and night. As
a result of my watchfulness, I learned many things that have since
proven to be very useful to the government in its efforts to keep the
counterfeiting of money down to a minimum.
Among other things, I learned that Morello made frequent trips to
Chicago and other cities where the counterfeit money seemed to
flourish. Morello made a flying trip to New Orleans on one occasion
when my men tracked him all the way. When his train arrived in
Philadelphia we knew he was on board; when the train reached Baltimore
we knew he was on the train, and when he arrived at Washington we knew
where the "Black-Hand" leader was; and so on, till he arrived in New
Orleans. On his arrival there certain Italian confederates were
waiting for him and escorted their chief to a little Italian café
where a conference was held in a back room lasting a little longer
than two hours. Immediately after the conference was over, Morello
took the next train back to New York.
Now enters into the story a man by the name of Antonio Cecala.
Remember the name of this man, for he plays an important part in the
game for the remainder of the story. Cecala, whom we will establish
here as the third executive bandit in the Lupo-Morello group, made
trips to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Cecala proved a
valuable aid to the two "Black-Hand" captains.
Lupo was tracked by Secret Service men to cities where the counterfeit
money was circulating. Another thread of investigation disclosed the
not unimportant fact that there were members of the Ignatz Florio
Association scattered all over the United States, especially in the
populous centers where the five- and two-dollar counterfeit bills were
being circulated. Besides, I was getting information daily from banks
and merchants that the bills were being "pushed on the market" in
abundance. I also learned that Italians from Corleone, Sicily, were
the only Italians who were trusted in these centers by the
Morello-Lupo gang, pointing to the probability that the bad bills were
being circulated and "pushed" through native Corleonians exclusively.
Another clue showed that the bills were being manufactured somewhere
in the immediate vicinity of New York City. I fine-combed the State of
New York upon learning this. Naturally, my attention was focused on
the Corleone Italians in New York City. In this way I gathered that
Lupo had fled from his creditors, to whom he owed money in connection
with his Italian grocery stores business. I finally succeeded in
locating him living in Ardonia, New York, which is not very far from
Highland on the Hudson River.
Past experience with these Morello-Lupo counterfeiters had taught
me not to make an arrest until I had the net completely woven
around the men who made the money. It is futile to arrest the
"pushers-of-the-queer"--that is, the men who distribute the bad money
among the little Italian grocery stores and shoe shops, small
merchants, and the like. The arrest of these men only serves to warn
the manufacturers of the bad money that the Secret Service is on the
trail. The factory then closes down, and it is moved away to another
location. Even if a conviction of the distributor of the bad money is
obtained, no definite information can be obtained from the convicted
man. He could not tell the government anything of value even if he
wished to "squeal." As a rule, all that a "pusher" or distributor can
tell is where he got the bad money.
Here is where Antonio Cecala looms up as a very important criminal
factor in the counterfeiting game as plied by the Black-Handers under
the leadership of Lupo and Morello. Remember this: _Lupo and Morello
always remain in the background_. Cecala was the connecting link
between the two leaders and the "pushers-of-the-queer."
Cecala was the man who got in touch with those who wanted to buy the
counterfeit money to circulate it at the rate of thirty-five cents on
the dollar.
Cecala was careful to deal only with men whom he knew--men who were
from Corleone. He would pick six of these as his deputies. These
deputies would choose six others, and so on. Cecala made business
trips to other cities and took the orders for counterfeit money. He
also had the say as to whom should be the agent in each city directly
responsible to him. These various deputies were required to give their
O. K. before any money would be sent to or given to any person by
Cecala.
As soon as Cecala would receive a request from a deputy for money to
be passed to certain Italians asking for it, it was Cecala's job to go
to Lupo and Morello and obtain their sanction before the money would
be handed along down the line from the distributing plant to the
person buying it at thirty-five cents on the dollar for the obvious
purpose of "pushing" it off on some unwary store-keeper.
The reader can now readily appreciate that with a crafty organization
like this the "pusher" could not testify, even if he desired, that he
had got the bad money from either Lupo or Morello. In fact, the
"pusher" never even heard of either of the leaders except in some
indirect way. Always, however, when the money was passed over to the
pusher by one of Cecala's deputies or remote subordinates a sinister
warning was given not to "squeal" if caught--a warning always
portentous with the threat of murder.
To "squeal" meant fatal punishment. The man in the barrel is grim
testimony to that fact.
At about this time I had pretty good evidence that the leaders of the
counterfeiting gang were none other than Morello and Lupo, as I had
suspected from the outset. Still, the time was not ripe to make
arrests that would result in dead-sure convictions. It is true the two
leaders could be arrested and charged with the making of these
counterfeit notes, but where was the evidence connecting them with
either the passing or the manufacture of the bills?
Let me here recite the case of Giuseppe Boscarini just to help the
reader appreciate how very difficult it would be, at that juncture, to
get Lupo and Morello involved in a way that would satisfy a court and
jury that they were legally guilty of making and of passing
counterfeit money:
While in Pittston, Pa., I learned that a man in that city named Sam
Locino knew Boscarini, a New York agent of the Black-Hand Society.
After talking with Locino for some time he told me that Boscarini had
made several trips to Pittston lately, and that Boscarini was willing
to sell counterfeit money to him. When Locino mentioned Boscarini's
name I felt sure that the Pittston man was talking of one of Cecala's
most active deputies.
In order to see how far Locino could go with Boscarini, and whether
Cecala's deputy would turn counterfeit money over to Locino, I made
the latter write a letter in the Sicilian dialect to Boscarini asking
the deputy of Cecala to send a sample of the counterfeit money in
order that Locino might see what it was like and whether he thought he
would be able to get rid of some of it in Pittston.
When Locino had finished the letter I took it over to the post office,
and with the Mayor of the city and the Chief of Police as witnesses I
had the letter registered and addressed to Boscarini. I came back on
the same train that brought the letter to New York, and when Boscarini
signed for it at the registry window, this act of his was noted down
by men of the Secret Service.
The next day Boscarini went to a sub post office on the Bowery and
bought a special delivery and a two-cent stamp. He placed the stamps
upside down on a large white envelope. An agent of the Service saw him
buy the stamps and place them on the envelope; also, the agent saw the
fictitious return address which Boscarini put on the envelope: the
agent saw this as Boscarini put the letter into the slot at the
sub-station.
I returned to Pittston on the same train with the letter and notified
Locino that the letter was addressed to him at the General Delivery.
He got the letter and opened it in my presence. It contained a
counterfeit two-dollar bill and a counterfeit five-dollar bill of the
kind made by the Morello gang.
Then I sent Locino to New York and gave him thirty-five dollars with
which to buy one hundred dollars' worth of the counterfeit money from
Boscarini. I saw to it that the genuine money was secretly marked for
the purpose of "getting" it on some member of the gang when the raid
would come and in which I contemplated taking Morello and Lupo
together with Cecala, Boscarini and others.
Locino contrived to meet Boscarini at Mulberry and Prince Streets, and
the two talked it over. An appointment was made by Boscarini to meet
Locino again on the same day.
One of the things I had ferreted out meanwhile was to locate the
headquarters for the distribution of the bad money as being at No. 231
East Ninety-seventh Street. Secret Service men had hired apartments
across the street from this place, and were watching every one that
entered and left the place. Their view was interfered with by great
boxes of macaroni and other Italian groceries piled high in the
windows of the store. My men also learned that it was here, behind the
macaroni boxes, that secret conferences were being held between
Cecala, Morello, Lupo and others. A conference would never last more
than fifteen minutes. The store was run by Morello, Lupo and others.
It was a wholesale store. The small Italian grocers in New York were
compelled to make their purchases there at the peril of being wrecked
by a bomb if they did not. To this store went Boscarini when he left
Locino at Mulberry and Prince Streets. At the Ninety-seventh Street
store Boscarini met Cecala and several others of the gang. Returning
to meet Locino, Boscarini handed over a roll of bills to the Pittston
man. Secret Service men saw the bills handed over. Locino handed the
bills to me. When the bills were examined they were found to be
counterfeits of the same make as those previously sent to Locino in
the letter.
Even then we made no arrest. It would have been a foolish piece of
business at that time, for I was busy on other ends of the case
pulling in valuable threads of evidence. After the lapse of a week
Locino came to New York from Pittston and purchased more of the
counterfeit money from Boscarini, giving in return genuine money,
which was secretly marked.
Finally the time arrived when the government had evidence which was
deemed sufficient to convict most of the band. The raid was made. When
Cecala was seized and searched there was found on him two of the
genuine bills with the secret marks which I had placed on the bills
given to Locino.
Locino's testimony, the reader will see, was necessary in order to
secure a conviction of Boscarini and Cecala. By Locino's telling what
part he had played in the game the government was put in position to
verify the following complete chain of evidence: Locino writing the
letter to Boscarini and asking for the counterfeit samples; Boscarini
receiving the letter, and receipting for it; Boscarini posting the
answering letter to Locino, the letter on which the Secret Service man
saw the stamps placed upside down on the long white envelope. Then,
further, Locino receiving the letter at the General Delivery, and his
opening it in my presence and finding the counterfeit two- and
five-dollar bills. Locino could testify that he got counterfeit money
from Boscarini and had given him the genuine money secretly marked in
return for the spurious bills, thus directly connecting Boscarini with
the charge of passing spurious money. Also, Locino could verify my
testimony of secret marks being placed on the bills, so that when the
marked bills were found on Cecala, Locino could identify them as the
ones he had given to Boscarini in return for the counterfeit money
passed by Boscarini to him. Locino could thus connect Boscarini and
Cecala. Other evidence connecting Cecala with Boscarini was in my
possession, but which I need not give here. It merely served to
corroborate the testimony of Locino.
Locino was perfectly well aware what it meant to go on the witness
stand and "squeal." He had heard of the man in the barrel. After some
weeks of thinking the matter over Locino loosened up and declared that
he had an ancient wrong to right! He never explained to me further
just what his grievance against the "Black-Handers" was. He finally
made up his mind to take the stand and tell what he knew.
Needless to say that Boscarini was sentenced to fifteen years in the
Federal Penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia. But it is worth mentioning
here that shortly after Boscarini received his sentence Locino was
shot twice in the back of the head at Pittston. He survived, however,
and is confident that he will be able to take care of himself for many
years to come.
The point I want to make clear by relating this story of facts is as
follows:
I traced the connection of Cecala with the passing of these
counterfeit bills by finding the genuine money with the secret marks
on him. Nevertheless, I had not reached the leaders, Lupo and Morello,
who were still in the background serenely confident that they could
not be legally implicated in the passing or the manufacturing of the
counterfeit bills.
True, we could prove that Cecala and Morello and Lupo had met many
times, and that they had been to the houses of one another and eaten
at the same table. Other evidence of a like nature could be produced;
but such evidence was not sufficient to convict the two leaders of the
charge of either passing, having in their possession, making or
causing to be made, any of the counterfeit notes which were being
poured into the great centers of population at one and the same time.
Had I stopped with Locino's testimony, I never could have got the
leaders. But the Secret Service never leaves the trail of the
counterfeiter, and the way in which the long arm of the government
reached out for the "Black-Hand" leaders, who loomed in the shadowy
distance like the silhouettes of devils incarnate, will be told here
for the first time.