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Show INSURANCE' SWINDLE OF HUGE SIZE' IS r - UNCOVERED BY CONFESSION OF AGENT torpses Substituted for Insured Persons and ' the Conspirators Netted . $1,000,000 4 in ' Ten Years. ' NEW YORK, Feb. 26. Complete ex- . " posure of the "Little Italy" gang ofin.i ?urance swindlers was made in" Harlem Har-lem court. -Assistant District Attorney; Krotel put Frank B. Forster on 'the stand at the examination of-Josepht Tre-. Tre-. . pani, the undertaker,. In whose-shop, It Is alleged. prot$vwere laid which netted the cdnsplratftr n.CCO.BOO In len "years, i Trepan! was held In $5000 bail for the - grand Jury.- ., .V-.", Forster, who Is C years eld, was the , chief soliciting agent in 'this city of the Union Central Insurance company of Cincinnati, one of the eight companies mulcted by the swindlers' substitution of corpses. The agent made. & tlean breast of his connection with the gang, and when he was. onthe-stand he told his story. 1 :.r - K . , v There were about . twenty persons In the gang, men and women. There are' five prisoners no- in the Tombs. Others who have fled will be 'arrested if they can be located. - - Hia FiiiitJ.Case.v.: Fcrsster in- his confession' said his company com-pany did kt large T business Tin "Little Italy," and. in 1900" he was called upon by Bartoloaieo, Ciroie, the leader, of -the gang, and with Dr. Oliver Moore of the company examlned'one Tromborula, ,to whom a policy was issued on" their report. re-port. , Tromborula foon after that was reported re-ported dead ,and the body substituted pjelng exhumed, the alleged frauds were Tevealed; ..... Dr. Moore testified he was sent to St. Michael's cemetery by the insurance company to identify the body exhumed, which was said to be that of Trom-""Borula. Trom-""Borula. -'-. "When I examined the body in the "coffin," said the physician, "I fourtd it to be that of a much older man than the man I- had examined as Tromborula the day of the issuance of the policy. The, examination -ot the body revealed iJie fact that "there were mittens on the hands. When they were taken off I saw Jiat the glove had been s tolled "with . t-otton ,and that the right forearm was-J was-J fsslnfc . .' . .-Body Cleverly Disguised.' ' "The right foot was also missing, the shoe having been stuffed with a block of wood'haped' like a foot. The lips had been sewn together so as to conceal the "tosence of teeth. - The mouth was "Ttuffed with cotton, causing the cheeks . t.to-puff out and give the body the appearance ap-pearance of being . that of a much founger man."' Forster said that he was at first hahd-"t'd hahd-"t'd $25 .aa a fee for his connection with "the deal, ' 'IT "I saw. then." said Forster. "that there " was big money In the swindle, and I de-"manded de-"manded a bigger rake-oft. I had a con- ference with Cirone and TrepanU and I Jaid I wanted $500 for. every claim I passed and I also wanted to know just 'ow the business was done. Trepanl "told me that if I would stick to them hey would collect on hundreds of poll-. poll-. cles. ' yZn Business Ten Years. " 'Why,' said Cirone. 'we have been "tn this business for ten years. There is nn agent that attends to all the industrial indus-trial class of insurance ir. this district, and he has got the inspector fixed so ' he can pass every claim without trou-r trou-r 'ble.' " Forster said Cirone and Trepanl told '-him how they got the dead bodies. Tre-' Tre-' pani. knew everybody who was sick and likely to die. "They would Insure a durn-""fny durn-""fny in one or more insurance companies. When they heard of a death In the neighborhood they would arrange with tie family to pay the funeral expenses rand the dead person would be buried Minder the name of the person Insured. |