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Show Manacling the Black Hand in America 1 ITIlo spirit, of Guiscppi Morrello, the chief of tlic Black Hand, is broken. Lupo, The Wolf, the proud and haughty one, the carrier of Mio mandates of the. dread society, has been socnto throw himself upon his face in despair and weep. The pang that gathered about them is dispersed, broken in fragments frag-ments and without u head. For not only have their chiefs been sent to federal prison, but. along with them eight most active lieutenants. So is broken up an organization that has terrorized half of the United Slates, a gang at the door of which is laid such crimes as the notorious barrel murder in New York and the assassination assassi-nation of Lieutenant Petrocino in Italy. So are removed the men who have dominated dom-inated thousands of Italian-Americans through fear and are believed to have collected tribute in a thousand cases. The crime of counterfeiting has at last been proven against these men. For a decade ihoy had escaped punishment largely through intimidating witnesses. But now they are in prison for long terms in every case. ?o ends a romance ro-mance of lawlessness which hns but few parallels in the history of the nation. I -'The 'Black Hand,' " said Chief Wilkie of the secret service, "has just, been dealt the severest blow in all its American history. A few days ago the federal court in New York city sentenced sen-tenced to prison eighr Italians charged with counterfeiting. In so doing it broke up a gang of counterfeiters that had' been giving trouble for ten yonrs.-But yonrs.-But it did' more. It cut the very heart out of the best organized gang that has over used Black Hand methods ou this side of the ocean. Morrello the Leader. Guiscppi Morrello, leader of those counterfeiters, was, contrary to general belief, the chief of a gang that was, I believe, responsible for GO per cent of the Black Hand extortion that has taken place in the United States in the past ten years. Lupo the Wolf, who received sentence for counterfeiting at the same time and who is generally considered the chief of the Black Hand-ers, Hand-ers, was in reality but a tool of Morrello Morrel-lo and his outside man. Ciuu, Calic-chio. Calic-chio. Sylvestre, Giglio, Palermo and Ooeala were the intimate associates of these, and the men nearest them in all their activities. Last year fourteen others were sent up for passing counterfeit coun-terfeit money. They wore lesser stars inhc same notorious constellation. With twenty-two of the leading members mem-bers of this gang behind the bars the country may reasonably expect a lull in the so-called Black Hand operations. This statement coming from the chief of the secret service, the organisation organi-sation that knows more of the workings of this underworld of the foreigners than any other, is important. This announcement an-nouncement of the manacling of tho Black Hand is of national and world importance. It gives to nn occurrence which at the time seemed only the sentencing of ordinary crimnals, an importance im-portance that has been entirely overlooked. over-looked. Last Act in Murderous Drama. The sentencing of the Morrello gang a month ago was the last act in n blood spilling melodrapia, that has been running for ten years.. . In it. Morrello and Lupo have played. pans that would be hard to exaggerate in the most lurid lu-rid fiction. In 'it Old Sleuth in the gulsp of the secret service men haa been ever on the traiT of tho criminals. crimi-nals. In it there has been murder, blackmail, kidnaping, extortion, counterfeiting coun-terfeiting and fraud in thousand phases. The bold outlaw has laughed his .stage "ha, ha," defiantly in the face of tl o authorities. Tho red bandana ban-dana of the bandit chief hns appeared aud dentil has followed. The death sign has boon passed to witnesses on tho stand and they have bocomo muto. As tho curtain goes down on the last scone, tho leader's proud spirit is bro-kon bro-kon with the contemplation of tho cold, dark cell as a future, domicilo, and ho breaks down and weeps in an abandonment of grief. Italian-American Countorfcltor. Guiscppi Morrollo first came under tho surveillance of tho secret servico when in 1000 there appeared ou the cast side in New York a flood of counterfeit coun-terfeit money. This had been passed upon small shopkeepers at many places. As nightfall approached and the lamps in these abodes of economy were not yet lighted, a mild mannered Italian would make a small purchase for which he would pay in a supposod treasury live-dollar note, getting tho change-. Under a stronger light the money was found to be counterfeit. This was the first entrance of the Italian-American into the field of counterfeiting. Tho secrot service know little of their haunts. A force of picked men wore, however, put on tho case, and before lonn- tho scent led ic the resort of Mor rello in Elizabeth streol. Various trails converged here. The resort was raided, Morrello arrested and charged with the crime. There was convincing proof, but uot sufficient for conviction. Morrello Mor-rello was released, but kopt under surveillance. sur-veillance. It was in 1002 that tho Morrislown fives appoarcd, so called from the fact that thev wore counterfeits of the issue is-sue of a 'bank in that town. The secret sorvico men discovered, because of certain cer-tain peculiarities that appeared, that thes notes were of Italian orign. Tho touch of the originator of any article will be left on it somewhere. It was the sons of Italy who were passing tho money. Money Shipped in Oil. In tracing thorn the trails of the previous case were crossed. Tey pointed toward Morrello. Thoy .so led past the customs house, and it was through tho officials of that servico that the manner of the introduction of the bills was discovered. Olivo oil. under the tariff laws, may come in by barrels at a less rate than in tho cans. Therefore, it is imported in bulk and the Italian cans arc brought in empty for its retnilng after landing. Their suspicion bciug aroused by these empty cans, the secret service men went at them with their can openers. They found bales of counterfeit monoy in them. Morrello and some of his associates asso-ciates were arrested, but tho evidenco was not strong onough yet for conviction. convic-tion. Famous Barrel Murder. It is here that the plot, begins to thicken, for we approach tho famous barrel murder, one of the biggest cases that the police department of New York has over had to deal with and ono of those on which it has had to pronounce itself beaten, although morally certain it knew who tho crimnals crim-nals w'ore. A certain Italian" who had been an associate of Morrello and a suspect in tho counterfeit money cases, was sent to prison on some other chnr'gc. He left a family that was in great need. Morrello Mor-rello owed him money. Ho sent his wife's" brother, joung Modino, to see Morrello. Modino was instructed to say to Morrello that if tho debt was not paid the man in Drison would tell all he knew. Here the character of Morrello begins to develop. Ho flung baek a defiance, and in such a way that it. will long be romemhered in the Italian quarter. Modino was seen to loave the establishment estab-lishment of Morrello lato in the afternoon. after-noon. With him was one Petto, commonly com-monly known 113 The- Bull. Lupo, Tho Wolt, also camo into tho case, having boon seen at the Morrello establishment at about tho same time. That night. Morrollo appearod on tho strocls of tho Italian quarter with his head swathed Tho Wolf, was tho active outsido man who carried out hia mandates. Because of his being moro soon than his chief. Lupo became to be popularly regarded as tho head of tho Black Hand, but in reality he was only its outward evidence. evi-dence. Tho mind that directed it. tho secret sorvico believes, was that of the maimed Morrello. to have handled counterfeit monoy in connection with him, operating in Now Orleans, had been talking freely. It is said that he had gone so far as to threaten to expose tho Morrollo operations, Morrello immediately wont to Now Orleans in person. He was seen among the Italians of that city for throe or four days. Finally, oho after- Black Hand Thugs Now in Prison JOHN E. WILKIE, Chief of Secret Service. VINOENZO GICrLIO LUPO, Tho Wolf. in a red bandana in tho best accredited bandit style. Modino wns nevor soon again alive. Tho next morning his body was found in a barrel, with a scoro of knife thrusts in his breast. In this case the secret servico was of great assistance to the police. They knew every man who belonged to the Morrollo gang, and were familiar with the movements of all of them. Although Al-though their object in gathering this information was to prevent counterfeiting, counterfeit-ing, they waived any advantngc that secrecy might give them, and placed their information in the hands of the police. Morrello, Petto, The Bull, and Lupo, Tho Wolf, were nil arrested, but it was not possible to get sufficient evidence evi-dence to convict them. Morrello a Dictator. Tho oftener Morrello wns arrested tho moro insolent he became. By this timo he had come to sneer at the police and dictate whatever orders he saw fit to tho Italians he had come to dominate. A rough and hnrd-faccd scoundrel, he sat in his office and sent out his orders. A maimed hand interfered with him as an outside man, so ho did the thinking and ordered other men to execute exe-cute his plans. He had by this time discovered tho advantages that attached at-tached to tho dread namo of the Black Hand for extortion purposes. Tt is believed be-lieved by tho secret service men who watched him for ten years that ho was responsible for tho greater portion of such extortion as far west as Chicago 1 and as far south as New Orleans. Lupo, Mft rail v M GUISEPPE COLACOIO SALVATORE OINI Potto, The Bull, who was suspected of being the direct agent in tho barrel murder, was a compatriot of Lupo, and probably ranked as high in the estimate of his master. Ho was a man who could bo depended upon to execute a desperate mission. But he was over bold in ono of these, and so camo to his death. Ho domanded, in the namo of tho Black Hand, a large sum of money from tin Italian mcrcnant in Scranton, Pa., supposedly sup-posedly at the direction of Morrello. Ho appointed a limo and place for the delivery of the money. Tho merchant kept tho engagement, but instead of giving Petto the money, gave him a large-sized load of buckshot from a sawed-off shot gun. Potto expired on the spot. Another Bloody Crime. It was at abom this stage of his career that Morrello appeared in another an-other of the most spectacular incidents of his life. Word was brought him that a certain associate who was believed III NICHOLO SYLVESTRE GUISEPPI MORRELLO, ' Chief of tho Black Hand. noon, in true bandit style, he appeared again on the streets with a red bandana handkerchief about his head. . - That night the offending Italian was found .dead in his store, .with a Hcoro of knife thrusts in his brcstst, very like those roceived by the victim of tho barrel murder. The direct evidenco was again lacking upon which to convict tho dreaded visitor. Yet the Italians of all the country took this stabbing as they had the barrel murdor, as a warning warn-ing not to defy the authority of tho bi" chief. Tho next crime of which tho Morrello gang was suspected was tho murder, in Italy, of Lieut. Petrocino, the man of all the sleuths of the New York police force whom the gang most feared. There hn3 never been any admissible ad-missible evidence to show that. Morrollo Mor-rollo had any connection with this crime. It was shown at tho time, however, how-ever, that tho business of Petrocino in Italy was to' investigate the past of the members of this gang. Such ovidence wns being unearthed as that which showed that Lupo, The Wolf, had fled Italy because of a murdor which he had committed. It was also known that members of the Morrello gang were in tho vicinity of Palermo when the murdor was committed. Beginning of the End. Then begins the final chapter of the operations of tho gang, the chapter in which, because of the courage of a despised supposed weakling known among his fellows as Tho Lamb, the men who had spread terror throughout the nation were .brought finally to a felon's cell. About a year ago counterfeit money began to appear in New York. Philadelphia. Phila-delphia. Buffalo. Cincinnati and other cities. It was all of the same kind and all handled by Italians. On the face of it there was evidently a well-organized gang spreading this false money broadcast. broad-cast. So efficient had tho secret service ser-vice drag, built un by that most efficient operative in charge W. J. Flviin, become, be-come, that it succeeded in gathering in fourteen of tho men who were pass'ii" the money, and convicting them But the men at tho head of tho schoino were still hard to reach. This difficulty lav largely 111 the fact that so intimidated woro all of their countrymen who associated as-sociated with them that thev would en to prison in silence rather than disclose tho source of the bad money, for to do this laltcr meant death. But finally the man was secured who had tho direct evidence and who was willing to give it. This indivdual was Antonio Comito, tho lamb. Comito hnd long been tho unwilling tool of the gang. He had been so timid and inoffensive that the villainous crew regarded re-garded him as putty in their hands. Hud they not tamed the proud spirits of many, of their courageous and naturally nat-urally upright countrymen? Why should thoy fear this spiritless weakling? weak-ling? Yet Comito was tho instrument which sent the proud dictator and practically prac-tically all his intimates to tlio penitentiary. peni-tentiary. Tells Story in Court. Comito told his own story on the witness stand at the present session of tho federal court. Tho eight outlaws, most dreaded among their countrymen of all those that tho Italian quarter had ever known, sat in the prisoner's box nnd the lamb turned his head away while he testified, for ho had not tho courngo to face them. Ho said that he knew that he was to bo killed for what ho wns doing, but that it were better to dio than to Jives so miserably. Ho' but awaited the vengeanco which was to bo meted out to him. While tho trial progressed -the federal fed-eral building became filled almost to bursting with low-browed, ill-kept, dan gerous-looking Italians The authorities became alarmed and secret service men aud deputy marshals were brought into tho building until it fairly bristled with artillery. About tho colB thoso alert men of tho law walkjH tinually and dispersed each chlfS. dark-iaced rascals that got tonoM whispered conversation. Tho (fP was coii8lautliy surrounded by'iiria and when he was taken to and fif courtroom it was between rank8$ll uty marshals. Ono morning .jll Hencle found a long and ugly 'J mi dagger sticking in his door, objil as 11 warning of the fate thatjlK await the enemies of tho nccmiej Gavo tho Death Sign, $U But despite all this. "ComJlHl Lamb" went forward with hift mony harassed by a score of eis? and high priced lawyers that fiftt cused wore able to retain. Thraf did the secret servico men smRi Italian in tho room give him thjK sign, tho thing most dreadedlKi sons of Italy and usually eufflalL close their mouths against anyfllfi utterance. This sign is given -SIS, ing tho closed hand to the moutnWt the. knuckle and turning the ad W by running tho finger around fcjg of tho collar. Comito would fnltS faint and almost faint at sucl- A"1 but his story went forward to t fx and wns substantiated by such a'i al evidenco as to establish itsl M. tioncd truth. i W Comito said that in October,?: W met Cccala, one of the accused was well educated and a printtfe cnla offcrod him a job, saying'' Pj was in Philadelphia. Thev wen Sii river front at night nnd"took1 Tlfoy disomliarked nt a point to Comito later learned was IligVR-N. IligVR-N. Y, They went to a farm reMi Cina, and here ho was held ttrtf for months. Here he operated ing press nnd produced ercntMjB ties of spurious money. From Jljjf. went to New York with momKW the gang on shopping (ours. Tht" chases wero verified by manwff chants. Here camo Morrello, LuVA' other mombers of tho gang. Tlyg its wero likewise verified. HaW tho counterfeit monoy dealt offl here was the profit divided. fj-thousand fj-thousand five-dollar certiflcaflffl Comito produce here and manjg and ones. In all he printed $4e( money while held a virtual p?ju Yet C'aliochio was a better prinlfti he, he said, when Calichio cbf work. For all this service tmg; received no pay and little thai ran away and consented to tdllxj wanted to die. One eoufd die btjj Given Full Penalty. When the evidence was alltiljj its many substantiations, thejl was inevitable. When tho uicnfrK their sentences, the least fifteel and the greatest, that of LtipoSfi years, there was an ominous hushja courtroom. Tho men who 3. within and who waited in the seemed to expect some mighty 6Swj on the part of their dreaded chiajM had not these men defied the pffiJ tho great, new America for affl.: years, and had they not removal'' who opposed them'f What woiuj happen So the confidence of tbafl idated horde was greatlv shakes. Morrello, the chief, and Lupo, tH.fi threw themselves upon the flomV wept. They were at last om Their spirit's were broken. Thfl unmanned. They wept. So boliB men of tho secret service, the iH defiance which gives birth to th Hand- operations, "is broken. SH believed, that aside from the ocJ exploit of an isolated individuli the depredations of tho Black Hif. pass, and in its place will coriiV. curity that has been wanting ff$ years Tho Black Hand is mnng?- |
