The Barrel MysteryFlynn, William J. (William James)
General
The Barrel Mystery
Flynn, William J. (William James)
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
In January, 1903, several months before Benedetto's body was found in
the barrel, three Italians were arrested in the City of Yonkers. They
were Isadoro Crocervera, Salvatore Romano and Giuseppe DePriema. The
latter is the brother-in-law of the barrel-murder victim. The three
men were apprehended by the local police in Yonkers on the charge of
passing counterfeit five-dollar notes of the National Iron Bank of
Morristown, New Jersey. The Secret Service men were well aware that
these notes were being imported from Italy by the Morello gang.
When I was called into the case, the Yonkers police, who made the
arrest, told me that the three men were accompanied by another
Italian, a short fellow, who got away. Knowing the ways of the gang,
it was plain to me that the escaped Italian was the treasurer of the
crew passing the counterfeit money. Such a treasurer is always hiding
in the distance with the greater bulk of the counterfeit bills for the
purpose of making a get-away if the passers get into trouble and are
arrested. The treasurer is supposed to rush away to the secret meeting
place of the Black-Hand Society, where a counsel is held to decide
just what plan to follow in the effort to get the members who have
been arrested out of their peril.
From the description given me of the Italian who made his get-away I
recognized him as a counterfeiter already registered in the files of
the Secret Service as Number Six. I was also able to identify
Crocervera and DePriema as members of the Corleone gang.
My next move was to bring the Yonkers officers to New York and place
them where they could have a good look at Number Six. The officers
identified the man without hesitation. Number Six was arrested,
therefore, on February 19, and gave the name of Giuseppe Giallambardo.
He got six years.
The Black-Handers were puzzled. They could not understand how it
happened that Giallambardo had come into the toils unless one of the
three men arrested had "squealed." And perhaps I should say right here
that the gang never realized they were ever under surveillance, and
that every move made by them individually was noted in the daily
reports of Secret Service sent to Washington.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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