A NEFARIOUS GANG OF BLACKMAILERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 December 1916, Page 7

A NEFARIOUS GANG OF BLACKMAILERS.

A great, sensation was caused in. Nine York and Chicago when it became known m those cities that five men and three women, who are believed to Jiave been associated witii a band of polished swindlers, wer,i in the hands' of t»\e Federal police on charges of mailing. The New York contitigent are said to have fleeced their vict'nis o f over £IOO,OOO. This band also operated "m Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well as Chicago. The beauty of the women members and the fascinating powers of their male companions were used to mulct wealthy men and women who fell into their clutches. From a New Yorxer, distinguished alike in the Church, in society, and in the business world, the band are'said to If.ve obtained ,€BOOO in cash at one haul, and by threats to expose an affair with a handsome member of the gang tbey frightened a Philadelphia woman of great wealth and social distinction into giving them £7OOO. The organisation have worked as a whole since the beginnong of this year, and In that short't'ini-3 the police believe they have managed to clean up over £200,000. The police officials arc frank enough to admit that for each known victim of the blackmailers there are probably twenty unknown. Among the victims in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York 15 are sAI to be of the highest social standing, including several millionaires. Out of the many known victims in the United States only three coul(j be induced to aid the police in bringing the gang to -justice. One of these is a Mrs. Clifford, the other is Mrs. Bolton, one of the leaders of Philadelphia society. The members of this criminal trust »u> all well educated, polished in manners, and extremely good-looking. They dressed in the very height of fashion. The' wardrobes found in their possession would have caused envy in a cotillon leader or in a society band. "Every man in'the bunch," said Sergeant-detec-tive Crot, who made the arrests, ''had a dozen pairs of shoes, as many pairs of gloves, and what seemed to me like n fortune in neckties. I never saw so many fine clothes in all my life!" Thrca of those arrested are Helen Evers (single), Mrs. Edward Donohue, and Mrs. Frances Chapman alias Allen. All are young and pretty, and have been the lures by which their male comrade.-; brought wealthy men into their clutches. Their favorite hunting-grounds in Chicago were Peacock Alley, the Pompeiian room at the Congress Hotel, and the dancing saloon of the Biackstone Hotel. The men arretted gave their names as Henry Russell, Edward Donohue, James Christian, Frank Crocker, and George Bland.

Tin' blackmailing operations of this gang were, first disclosed last Januarv, after William Butler (out on £3OOO bail) was charged with attempting to extort .flOOt) from Mrs. Susan Wimpenny, of Philadelphia, by posing to her as an agent of the Department of Justice, and threatening to prosecute one of her sons on a charge of white slavery How daringly their operations were conducted may be gauged by the fact that they kidnapped an important police witness (Mrs. Regina Clifford) and abducted her to Ctin?.da, but the police ultimately got on the trail of one Garbarino. an'' sn brought the woman back to Pintado] phia. The police of Chicago hnve, since th'above arrests were made, been supplied with the details of a scheme whereby r wcalthv lowan was compelled to disgorge ,€3ooo'to a band of Mann Act blackmailers. It is averred that the lowan was introduced to one of the "lures" by a client in his borne town, who said that she was the girl's aunt. Later he went to C'hicoga alone, and visited the apartment at which the girl he had met in lowa lived with another girl. While the girls were showing him their flat the bell rang, and in going to answer it one of the girls locked the lowan and the other girl in a bedroom. The visitors, two men. proclaimed themselves lawyer and detective respectively, and accused the lowan of violation df the Kami Act. Under the combined pressur? of the girls and the two men —the former pleading that he must save them from shame and the latter threatening publicity—the lowas paid'*.* men £IOO down on the spot Joflowod to bis home town, and again threatened with "exposure," the victim paid the gang £OSO more in cash and £2OOO in bills. To celebrate their success tlie "lures" and their accomplices took a trip to California, and on their return from the ; r "joy- ride" wore betrayed to the Federal authorities by the abandoned wife of one of the gang. Following upon these disclosures, Eude Goodman was arrested and lodged in prison, having failed to obtain bail for £SOOO. ,