The same evening the case was placed in the hands of the veteran head of the New York Italian Squad, Sergeant Michael Fiaschetti, successor of the murdered Petrosino and the agent who has sent more Latin killers to the chair and the prison house than any other officer in the country. Fiaschetti saw with immediate and clear vision that this job was probably not the work of any organized or powerful society. He knew that professional criminals act with more caution and better information. They would never have made the blunder of assuming that Varotta had money when he had none. The detective also saw that the plan of sending a messenger to the house for the ransom was the plan of resourceless amateurs. He reasoned that the work had been done by relatives or neighbors, who knew something but not enough of Varotta’s affairs, and he also concluded that the child was not far from its home. Fiaschetti quickly elaborated a plan of action in accordance with these conclusions. His first work was to get a detective into the Varotta house unobserved or unsuspected. For this work he chose a woman officer, Mrs. Rae Nicoletti, who was of Italian parentage and could speak the Sicilian dialect. The next day, Mrs. Varotta, between weeping and inquiring after her child, let it be known that she had telegraphed to her cousin in Detroit, who had a little money. The cousin was coming to aid her in her difficulties. That night the cousin came. She drove up to the house in a station taxicab with two heavy suit cases for baggage. After inquiring the correct address from a bystander, the visiting cousin made her way into the Varotta home. So the detective, Mrs. Nicoletti, introduced herself to her assignment. The young woman was not long in the house before things began to happen. First of all, she observed that the Varotta tenement was being constantly watched from the windows across the street. Next she noted that she was followed when she went out, ostensibly to do a little shopping for the house, but really to telephone to Fiaschetti. Finally came visitors. The first of these was Santo Cusamano, a baker’s assistant, who dwelt across the street from the Varottas and knew Salvatore and the whole family well. Cusamano was very sympathetic. It was too bad. Undoubtedly the best thing to do was to pay the money. The Black Handers were terrible people, not to be trifled with. What? Varotta had no money? He could raise only five hundred dollars? Sergeant Fiaschetti had instructed Varotta to mention this sum. The Black Handers would laugh at such an amount. Varotta must get more. He must meet the terms of the kidnappers. As for the safety of the boy, the Varottas could rest easy on that point, but they must get the money quickly.