Show IN S. S L I d LEVINE HELD 1 j lc What at They e Asked Him to Do 0 i J y 14 0 h p Y Y y 8 S SUSPECT IN LEVINE EXTORTION CASE Secondo Frank Conti I w was s fram framed d t 1 MAN ADMITS WRITING TWO RANSOM LETTERS TO BOYS BOY'S KIN Waiter Is Arraigned Before Fe Federal Feder er Commissioner on Charge hate of 4 r Demanding Ransom i t Asserting he was engineered into this Secondo Frank Conti 1 year old Italian waiter was arraigned at the federal building I here Saturday afternoon on charges he attempted to extort money from the family of Peter Levine 12 of Ne Nc NY W men G-men relaxed relaxed their usual si silence silence sl- sl lence lenco to disclose Conti was 85 ar arrested arrested arrested ar- ar rested here Friday afternoon In Inthe Inthe inthe the business district and confessed confessed confessed con con- to sending two letters asking asking ask ask- ing luJ for payment of a total of 25 23 for release of the Levine boy bore The demands were made upon clergymen in New Rochelle Hochelle and Denver and laboratory analysis re revealed revealed revealed re- re they were written by the same man it was revealed The missives were traced to Conti in Salt Lake City Conti well dressed and quiet J spoken was taken before U. U S. S Commissioner Com Corn L missioner Edward D. D Dunn at p. p m. m and asked if he read had read the t complaint charging t that at on April 11 11 he mailed a. a demand and f th that t he dem demanded and requested sted ransom and reward for release of ofa a person namely Peter Levine He said he had read the complaint and asked to plead not guilty as this complaint puts it all on me He asked for a hearing which was set for 10 30 a a. a m. m Wednesday before before before be be- fore Commissioner Dunn Bond was set at and Conti i unable to p post st it was taken to the A county jail On the way from the commissioners commissioner's commission commission- ers er's chambers Conti talked to re reporters reporters re- re porters briefly I I was engineered into this thing by two other fellows he saidI said saidI saidI I dont don't know the men except b by the names of Chuck and Jack The They claimed to be from the east and claimed they the knew a all II about it it I only did what the they asked me to do I met them in in Denver I 1 have hae been In Salt Lake City about a week Ive I've been working l las I as a waiter at the Rotisserie inn y i I I 1 used to live in New York City t Io I I left there In 1916 Deputy marshals then whisked 7 Conti away awai to the jail Word from Denver said tha that Conti had worked as a waiter walter in several cafes there in February and March Dispatches said his home home was believed to he e in San Francisco Conti was arraigned specifically on charges he tried to extort 10 from the Levine family through the Rev Francis J. J H. H Coffin of New Rochelle who has been named by the family as intermediary Conti was staying at the Wasatch hotel 78 West Broadway at the time of his arrest Hotel s said he registered there April 1 7 and did not check out O Officials in Washington D. D C C. said the arrest of Conti is not deemed a solution of the actual Cj of Peter Levine and the investigation of that case Cal Is being continued according to toa a United Press dispatch Gs' Gs 5 Department of ot justice agents here said Conti admitted extortion ex- ex extortion extortion ex ex- letters one to the Rev Coffin and one to a clergyman in Denver whose name was not re re- re The letter written to the Denver 0 clergyman was mailed in Denver and instructed him that he was to tobe tobe tobe be on an Intermediary The letter Jetter to the the- Rev Re Coffin named named- a Salt Lake City resident as go-between go here and alid Instructed that the money was was s to to be sent to the person here Tie The local go-between's go name was pot ot of revealed Agents of the federal bureau of investigation United States department department department depart depart- ment of justice arrested Conti inthe in inthe inthe the business district about p.m. p.m. p.m. p. p m. m Friday a spokesman said The spokesman who specified that his name not be used refused comment on a direct question Is Conti directly connected with the or acting for a third party He likewise declined to say when how long longa the Jetters letters were mailed or a- a Conti has been in Salt Lake City The letters mailed from here de- de Contin ed on Oil Page PaJe Three Column Fly f kl 1 v LEVINE SUSPECT CAUGHT IN S S. S L 1 L. L Continued from rom Page One and designated a local person as intermediary it was announced The two letters together demanded demanded demanded de de- de- de approximately Technical laboratory examination of the letters determined they were written by the same man Conti a admitted admitted ad ad- writing both of them Other details will have to come from Washington or be supplied in inI inthe inthe the complaint I From Washington came word according according ac ac- ac- ac cording to press press dispatches s t that at I I Conti asked be sent by telegraph telegraph telegraph tele tele- graph on n condition that Peter Levine Levine Le Le- vine would be returned by Easter Efforts Fail Peter disappeared the afternoon of February 24 while he was was' en route home from school Frantic efforts to locate him or his purported purported pur pun ported abductors have failed ailed Two North Pelham N. N Y youths were arrested and charged with blackI blackmail blackmail black black- mail as an outgrowth of a futile attempt to collect ransom Officials said the two men had no connection with the Speculation was rife as to whether Conti Is in the same category as the two blackmailers or whether he is directly linked with the boys boy's disappearance In a complaint filed before United States Commissioner Edward D D. Dunn Conti was charged with mailing mailing mailing mail mail- ing the demand April 11 am and that he demanded and requested ransom and reward for release of a person namely Peter David Levine The complaint was signed by H H. S. S Hoover special agent of the F. F B. B I. I |