The Barrel Mystery
Page 19
CHAPTER XIX
THE "BLACK-HAND" DOCTOR
There are characters in this story of Comito's of whom he never got aglimpse until the case came to trial. There are still others involvedof whom he never even heard; in fact, not a few big fish are in thenet of the Secret Service whose names will probably never be revealedto the public. This circumstance does not prevent me, however, fromsurrounding Comito's statement with certain additional facts that mayserve to illuminate the plan followed by Lupo and Morello in buildingup their sinister organization.
It often happens that disputes occur among the different elements ofthe Italian criminals in New York City and in other parts of thiscountry. For instance, the Neapolitan element deals almost exclusivelyin the traffic of women. Sometimes this business is invaded by ahostile group from among the Sicilian element. Invariably quarrelsresult and the disputes nearly always end in a shooting or a stabbingaffair.
It is well known to the Service that the quarrels of the Italiancriminals among themselves are settled without the help of the policewhenever this is at all possible. When a gang member is wounded,secrecy requires that no ambulance be called or a doctor summoned whois not a friend of the gang. This precaution is easily appreciatedwhen one comes to think that a call for an ambulance would require thepresence of a policeman and a public report being made of the affair.Again, should a doctor, who is not known to the gang, be called in, heis required to make a record of the occurrence and report anysuspicious injury to the police. If there is a death the coroner mustneeds be notified. To avoid entanglement and trouble with theauthorities the various gangs have impressed in their service aphysician or two who may be relied upon to bind up the wounds and keepthe affair a secret. Many murders are in this way covered up andescape the attention of the police and the public.
There was a man at the trial of the counterfeiters who was unknown toComito. Upon this man's testimony Morello expected to prove that hewas ill in the house during the period that he was actually out andaround and very active in the counterfeiting scheme.
Dr. Salvatore Romano is the man. The doctor perjured himself andtestified to please Morello, whose vengeance he feared.
After being indicted by the Federal Grand Jury, we were able to get astatement from Dr. Romano. Incidentally this statement disclosed themethod whereby Morello and Lupo gathered their first money by sending"Black-Hand" letters to countrymen who were suspected of having money,or who could in any way be coerced into being useful to the gang.
Dr. Romano's cross-examination follows:
Q. Tell us, doctor, from the beginning, how you happened to get mixedup; start from the time you knew Mr. Morello.
A. I met him in this country. He was living in East One Hundred andSeventh Street; we were living at East One Hundred and Sixth Street.He comes from the same town that my grandmother and mother hail fromin Sicily--Corleone--and while I was studying in my third year at theCollege of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia, my folks received aletter from a "Black-Hand" Society.
Q. Who received it?
A. My mother.
Q. She knew Morello how long previous to this?
A. She had known him on the other side; never had anything to do withhim here.
Q. About when was it she got this "Black-Hand" letter?
A. Seven years ago; I was a third-year student in the College ofPhysicians and Surgeons.
Q. What was the substance of the letter?
A. The substance of the letter was that unless a certain amount ofmoney was paid they would kill me. Naturally, my folks did not tell meanything at all about it for fear that I would get excited, neglect mystudies, and so fail in my examinations. The folks kept the thingquiet for a few days. The "Black-Handers" also said that if anythingwere told to the police authorities, _the murder would take placeanyway_--money or no money. You see, my father was not here. I was ayoung man, my brother was a small boy, and my family did not know whatto do at the time. My grandmother, though, knew this man Morello tobe mixed up with people of questionable character, and so she went tohim or he happened to meet her (I don't know which); anyway, sheconfided the thing to Morello. He said, "All right, don't get excited;they don't kill people off all at once. Wait until you get anotherletter. Then we will see if we can find out the party who writes thoseletters."
Finally, another letter was written. Then a third, and a fourth lettercame. _Morello always took the letters under the pretext of studyingthe handwriting and to find out the origin of the letter._ Eventually,he found out the origin of the letter, he said and--
Q. What was the origin?
A. Never found out. He just said that he had found out that they werewilling to settle for $1,000, but that he would pay $100 and that hewould make sure they returned the money to him after they found outwho he was; he said that we need not worry any more.
Q. Did you pay the $100?
A. No. Morello offered to pay the $100 himself and expected to get itback. He said: "I will pay and see that they return it to me."
Q. Who would return it?
A. Those people would return the money again to him.
Q. He said that he would pay the money and that he would get it backfrom the Black-Handers?
A. Yes. Then the whole thing quieted down and naturally my peoplethought they were under obligations to this man Morello. And then whenthe danger was over my folks told me about it and remarked about whata terrible thing we had escaped.
About three or four months later, Morello came around and said to mymother:
Q. Did you hear him?
A. No. She told me.
(Continuing) "I have a notion to get married. I'm in with a woman whohas a baby as the result of our relations. Now that I want to getmarried, I want to break off this relation, and if it is notinconvenient to you I would like to bring this baby, this little girl,to your house until everything is arranged."
Q. That is the illegitimate child?
A. She could walk; was over one year old.
Q. Who was the woman?
A. I do not know.
Q. At that time he lived on Chrystie Street?
A. No. I understand he had a restaurant. Of course, my folks said thatit was no trouble for them. There were three or four women in thehousehold, and it would be no trouble for them to take care of thelittle child.
Q. All the time you thought that you were under obligations to him?
A. Yes; just for that thing.
Q. Don't you know who the woman was?
A. No; never saw her.
Q. Sure you didn't?
A. No.
Q. Do you know her?
A. No, she was a Sicilian. I don't know her personally.
Q. Is she living?
A. I imagine she is.
Q. What was her name? What was she called?
A. Didn't know at all. Probably my grandmother would know.
Q. Was this after or before the barrel murder?
A. I think the barrel murder was after that.
Q. He lived on Chrystie Street at that time?
A. Yes. And so the baby was brought to our house and we took care ofit, a nice little baby. Nothing happened at all--no disturbance. Theycame around to our house about once a week to see the baby. I kept onstudying; never bothered my head about anything at all. I went outearly in the morning and came back late; never bothered much with theaffairs of the family. That baby died. First it got the measles, thenbronchial pneumonia. It was a little over two years old when it died.
Q. Did Morello marry this woman?
A. The woman he married is his present wife. He had got her from theother side. The sister (Morello's) had gone to the other side andarranged for this marriage. So nothing happened until after I wasgraduated. Then these people began to call on me as a doctor.
Q. He then lived in East One Hundred and Seventh Street?
A. I think in East One Hundred and Seventh Street, and he began tocall on me; and then the brother-in-law and then cousin, etc., calle
d.
Q. Who is his brother-in-law?
A. He has three brothers-in-law, Lupo, Lima and Salima.
Q. Which one of his brothers-in-law did you treat?
A. I treated all three of them.
Q. Are Lima and Salima in this country now?
A. Yes, in New York City.
Q. And did you treat other relatives?
A. I treated all their relatives, and all free of charge. They wouldcall me; I would examine them, prescribe, etc., but I got no pay.
Q. Did you ever ask them for any?
A. No.
Q. Why not?
A. On account of the obligations; also the familiarity. Right from thestart I thought that I was doing a wise thing not to ask for money formy services.
Q. What did you know about Morello about that time?
A. My folks had told him all about those letters and he had fixed itall up; we had no disturbance because we were under his protection.
Q. Did you know that you were under his protection?
A. I knew as well as the family did.
Q. What protection did you think that he could give you?
A. Receiving no disturbance from the "Black-Handers."
Q. Did you know that he was connected with the "Black-Handers" then?
A. I did not know that he was a "Black-Hander," but I knew from thefact that he had arranged everything that he must have known somethingabout these people.
Thus I became the regular physician for these people and never got anypay. In the meantime I tried to get as much hospital experience as Icould and get out of New York, because, if a man goes out of New Yorkto a strange place without any experience--
Q. Why did you want to leave New York?
A. Not because I was afraid, not because they were doing anything tome, but because I was tired of doing work for nothing; I never couldput any money in the bank.
The whole number of relatives, babies and patients, amounted to aboutsixty. It would not be one day, but the next day, and all the timethey were on my hands. And I got no pay.
My mother was in the same position. My mother is a midwife. I tried toget hospital experience, and as soon as I was in the position to leaveNew York I departed, and I have never heard from him at all exceptwhen I received letters from my mother who told me that they kept onfrequenting the house.
Q. What was the interview you had with Commissioner Wood?[5] And whendid you have that interview?
A. That was four or five years before I left New York. The main thinghe wanted to know was whether I knew these people well enough to tellstories. Whether I could tell him that these people were"Black-Handers"?
I had read in the newspapers that they had been in trouble with thelaw; but they had treated me fairly well and I said nothing againstthese people. Commissioner Wood wanted to know about these letters,and naturally I did not tell.
Q. Did you treat Cecala?
A. No, I never treated him.
Q. Did you ever treat any of the defendants besides Morello?
A. No. Lupo, Morello and Palermo. Palermo was operated on forsomething. At the time I was called in to give the ether.
Q. What was Morello's business after he gave up the grocery?
A. Real estate; then they started the real estate deal, the IgnatzFlorio Association. The way they worked that was--I don't know howmany got together, about nine or ten, and they started in by buildinga house and selling it--they said, "We will build a house and sell itand in that way there will be a big profit and from that profit we getdividends." They got people to buy shares; the shares were payable, Ithink, $5 down and $2 per month. So they came to my mother and shebought one share for herself, one in the name of my brother, and onein my name. When they got enough money they bought a lot, built ahouse and sold it, and got a dividend of 40 per cent. You could theneither take the dividend, and put the money in your pocket, or leaveit and it would go on the share. So most of the people left theirmoney to go to their credit.
Q. Who got the money?
A. They claimed there was a big boom in real estate and they madeanother deal; they got 35 or 30 per cent. dividend. Then they startedto build eight tenement houses, four on One Hundred and Thirty-seventhStreet and four on One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street, near CyprusAvenue.
At the time they were building, the crash came.
They took advantage of the prices and said, "We have not enough moneyto keep on; the shareholders will have to come together and pay moremoney on each share."
I paid $10 extra on each share. At that time my mother had acquiredeight shares. She had bought another for herself. Then my cousin hadbought two for herself, which she did not want to keep, so my mothertold her she would buy them from her.
Q. Did Morello know anything about your going to see CommissionerWood; did you tell him?
A. Yes. I--
Q. What did you tell him?
A. I said that Commissioner Wood, when he found out that I would notgive the information he wanted, said that I was just like the rest ofthem and then told me that I might go.
Q. Did you tell Morello before you went down?
A. No.
Q. What did Morello say when you told him that you had been downthere?
A. He said that is the way you have to do everything.
Q. What do you know about the barrel murder?
A. Absolutely nothing at all.
Q. What do you know about Inzarillo?
A. He is considered of questionable character.
Q. Do you know the Terranova Brothers?
A. They are the stepbrothers of Morello.
Q. Do you know anything about them? Did you treat them?
A. Yes, quite a long while; they had a disease which required thatthey come to my house every day, both Morello and the Terranovas.
Q. When was that?
A. That went on for about two years.
Q. What two years?
A. The two years just preceding 1907 and 1908.
Q. Was Morello born with that deformed hand?
A. Yes. He was so much crippled that they called him "Little Finger."
Q. Then you did not treat Morello in 1909?
A. At the time that I stated I did see him at No. 107 East One Hundredand Thirty-eighth Street; also, I saw him in Rizzo's house, and hewould complain of pains; he was always complaining.
Q. He was not sick in bed?
A. No.
Q. You did not have any consultation with Dr. Brancato?
A. No. I think that I may have had one consultation with him when hewas at One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street.
Q. When?
A. I think it was before the time I covered. I think it was inDecember, 1908, also.
Q. That means January and February?
A. No.
Q. He was not treating Morello?
A. He was the family physician in a way.
Q. What do you think of him?
A. Dr. Brancato? I want to state the fact as honestly as if he were mybrother. I think he was a figurehead, too.
Q. Did he ever say about what he was going to testify?
A. He said we were up against a bad proposition. "Let us make ourtestimony as light as possible," he said. I asked him how we couldavoid a thing of that kind. They would get us into trouble and wewould have to stand for it.
Q. Who came to you and told you that you would have to testify?
A. Nobody; but this is the way it was done: They went to my mother andbegan to talk to her.
Q. Who?
A. Mrs. Morello and the mother of Morello and the brothers of Morello.So they went there and began to explain that they had got into veryserious trouble. They also said that the only way--
Q. Who?
A. That he could be possibly saved would be to produce an alibi. I wasto say that he was not out at any time he was accused of being out. Iwas to understand that he was the wrong man mentioned in court. Theyexplained to my mother that the police knew that Dr. Romano had b
eentheir physician. It would be only natural that they call me; I couldthen testify that I was treating Morello at the time and he was unableto get out when, the charges alleged, Morello was around and doingthings in the counterfeiting plant.
They explained to my mother that there was no other man that could becalled, because no other man would be trusted. The police knew I wasMorello's physician, they said.
And then my mother asked them not to call me, that it would be puttingme into trouble, and that I would have to abandon the business I hadstarted.
They told her that it was an absolute necessity that I come down fromRochester and testify. If I did not come, they said, Morello would besentenced surely. "Naturally," they said, "we think if the doctorwould come down, Morello will be free."
So my mother wrote to me. "This is the last proposition they are goingto give you," she said. "I think you cannot avoid coming down."
Q. She wrote and told you about it? Have you got that letter?
A. No. Naturally I would not keep a letter of that kind. I thought thematter over. I knew the character of the men I had to deal with. Iknew that if I refused and Morello got a big sentence they would putthe whole thing up to me. I thought of my mother down here going outand in at night, and I had something to fear. Probably if it had beenfor myself only I would not have considered it; I would have looked atit differently. It seemed that I had no alternative in a case of thiskind. They telegraphed me.
Q. Who?
A. The brothers Terranova.
Q. What did they say?
A. Be in New York to-morrow to appear in Court for the testimony of mybrother.
Q. When was that sent to you? When did you get the telegram? Was it aday or two before you came down?
A. Yes, but I came down at once. The first time I came I remained heretwo days. Not being called, and not being able to leave my businessfor such a long period, I rushed back to Rochester.
Q. When did you come down again?
A. One week later at the time the detectives were testifying.
Q. And you came down later? Did you go to your mother's house?
A. Yes.
Q. Whom did you see there?
A. Terranova, Nick Terranova.
Q. What did he say to you?
A. "I am very sorry to trouble you. I know what you are losing. I knowthat you are doing this for us, but it is absolutely necessary. Youare in no danger at all"--he was all the time in the house--"therewill be no danger for you; you will be all right."
Q. Did he tell you what you had to say?
A. He said, "How many times a week do you want to say that you sawhim?" I answered once a week. "I want to make my testimony as lightas possible," I told him, "so as not to get into trouble with theCourt." He said that once a week was probably too little; "make ittwice a week," he said. And I said, if I remember rightly, I saw himtwice a week.
Q. Did he tell you the time and the period?
A. He told me the period from the latter part of December to the earlypart of March. Of course I could not testify further than that.
Q. Was Dr. Brancato there?
A. I was all alone.
Terranova said to me that when his brother (Morello) comes out of theTombs I was to tell him just what I was going to testify to in Court.This in order to keep Morello from getting mixed up in his testimony,and also for the additional purpose of keeping Morello's mind at easein the courtroom. Terranova told me to come along with him, and hemade me stand in the corner there until he (Morello) came out, and Iwas to say he had rheumatism.
Q. He said that; did Terranova tell Morello you were going to testify?
A. We had arranged that.
Q. When did you first see him?
A. When they were bringing him down from the Tombs to the courtroom.
Q. Did Terranova speak to Morello?
A. Yes. He first spoke to Morello.
Q. And he told him that you were willing to testify for that period?
A. Yes.
Q. Then what did you say to Morello?
A. "I am going to testify for you, that you had rheumatism for thatperiod, from the latter part of December to the first part of March."
Q. Up to the time you left for Rochester?
A. Yes. He said, "Don't fear; we are out; there is no danger at all;you need not fear, and I tell you that I was not out of the house atall; nobody saw me and nobody will know the difference, because I wasas pale as a ghost at the time."
Q. They did not know we had eight men watching them at the time--
A. I came the first time, was here two days and was not called; I hungaround the Court and finally had to go back to Rochester and lookafter my business.
Q. When did you first see Dr. Brancato?
A. The second time I came down to New York.
Q. Did you know that he was going to testify too?
A. Terranova told me--
Q. What did he say?
A. "He is going to testify that you were in consultation." Terranovatook me from the courthouse here to Dr. Brancato.
Q. That is Nick Terranova?
A. Yes.
Q. What did you do down in Brancato's office?
A. We simply agreed as to what we were going to say; that is the timeDr. Brancato told me "we are up against it."
Q. On the quiet?
A. On the quiet.
Q. Was Terranova there?
A. He was in the outside room.
Q. Did he tell you how you would fix it up--he did not treat Morello?
A. No. Morello was not sick; he had no rheumatism, but complained allthe time of pains.
Q. Did Dr. Brancato tell you he had not treated him?
A. We did not argue about that. It was understood.
Q. It was understood that you had to swear falsely?
A. _Because we could not do otherwise!_ So they came to me principallybecause I was his regular physician and they got Dr. Brancato--
Q. To come in after you went to Rochester?
A. I do not know what Dr. Brancato said.
Q. Do you know Maria Capellano; she is no relation to you?
A. Who?
Q. The trained nurse who said she treated him?
A. No.
Q. Do you know Gasparo Candido, the druggist on One Hundred andForty-ninth Street, now at No. 23 New Bowery?
A. No.
Q. Did you ever have any conversation with Mrs. Morello?
A. No--the only conversation I had with her was--"Please do that forthe love of the children; try and help my husband."
Q. Where did you have that conversation?
A. She came to my house.
Q. You fixed the whole thing up with the Terranova boys?
A. With Nick.
Q. What happened after you got through testifying?
A. I rushed back to Rochester.
Q. Have you heard from them since you have been indicted?
A. My mother told the whole crowd that she would have nothing to dowith them; didn't care what the consequences would be. She said: "Youhave ruined my son; the last good thing you have done for us." Theysaid to her, "Don't worry, everything will be all right."
She said: "I don't care how it goes; I don't want to see you anymore."
Q. Did you hear anything about the alibi that you were going toestablish for Cecala?
A. I heard something when I was in the lawyer's office.
Q. Were you down in the lawyer's office at all?
A. Twice. He said: "What is your testimony to be?" I told him, and hesaid all right.
Q. The only lawyer you ever saw?
A. Yes.
Q. Terranova was the one who had all the conversation?
A. Nick, yes. He did the telegraphing.
Q. How did he sign the telegram?
A. Terranova.
Q. Did not sign Nicholas?
A. No, I don't think he did.
Q. He was down in Towns'[6] office?
A. He was; he never left me a
minute.
Q. What conversation did you have with Ponticelli?
A. Only that I got there before he did. I was introduced to him here.
Q. By whom?
A. I do not recall.
Q. He is a friend of Morello's?
A. I think he was; lived downtown; they were neighbors.
Q. Did you not have a store up there? [Rochester.]
A. No. I went away from New York with a druggist.
Q. His name?
A. Bisconti. He went out there [Rochester] for the purpose of settingup a drug store, and I to set up an office. Naturally, I would bedoing business with him. If I had any patients he would fill out theprescriptions. We proposed to help one another. We could not set upthe drug store right away, so I rented my office to him and kept somemedicines there; and I wrote my prescriptions and told the patientsthat if they wanted they could have the prescriptions filled out rightin the house. That thing did not work because people would pay onedollar for the visit to me and sixty or seventy cents for themedicine, and they thought it was a scheme. I told Bisconti that as wehad come to Rochester together I would help him all I could to set upa drug store there. This was when we parted.
Q. How long have you known Bisconti?
A. About three months.
Q. Did any of the crowd ever give you checks to present at the bank?
A. No. Ponticelli has a store with three or four men working. He cameto me and asked if I could do him a favor. I had been there only twoor three months. He said that he was doing much business and that as Iwas not doing very much he requested me to go and cash a check forhim. It was for $300 made out by Ponticelli himself.
Q. Did they ever discuss the counterfeit operations with you in anyway?
A. No.
Q. The only thing you know about them is that they made you come downhere and testify?
A. Yes.
Q. Did they threaten your mother?
A. No.
For making this statement, which shows up the methods whereby the"Black-Handers" operated and tried to escape the punishment of thecourt for the offenses with which they were charged, Dr. Romano wasallowed to go free after sentence was suspended.
Dr. Brancato, the other physician, was tried twice, once the jurydisagreeing and the second time he was found not guilty.
I have no criticism of the action of the jury in Dr. Brancato's case.It is simply in line with the "fortunes of war" that the governmentwas unable to land Dr. Brancato.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] Commissioner Wood was at the time referred to here the DeputyCommissioner of Police in charge of the Detective Bureau of New Yorkunder Theodore Bingham. It was Wood who sent Lieutenant JosephPetrosino to Italy on the mission, in the carrying out of which theLieutenant was assassinated. In reference to this murdering ofPetrosino, who was the man who went to Sing Sing and got informationfrom DePriema, which led to the identifying of the man murdered andfound in the barrel, I wish to refer the reader back to that part ofComito's statement where Comito tells of his visit to Morello's housein East One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street, and especially to takenote of the reference there made by Comito to "Michele, theCalabrian," and the conversation that took place between Morello andCecala concerning the Calabrian. Then couple this with the referencemade again to the Calabrian by Lupo (Page 113) in paying Michele'sfare to Italy.
[6] Mirabeau L. Towns, attorney for the gang.