FANTASTIC ROGUE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 December 1938, Page 7

FANTASTIC ROGUE

MUSICA BURIED IN SILVER COFFIN BANKED WITH EXOTIC BLOOMS ALCOHOL & ARMS-RUNNING TRAFFIC. PROMINENT PEOPLE SAID TO BE INVOLVED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. NEW YORK. December 19. Even in death as fantastic as in life, the swindler Philip Musica was buried today in a solid silver coffin, banked with thousands of dollars' worth of the most exotic flowers. The mourners, however, numbered a scant dozen, chief among them being Musica’s three indicted brothers. The continuous stream of revelations of Musica’s activities exposed by lhe investigations of Government experts almost surpasses belief. An official of the drug manufacturing firm of McKesson and Robbins, of which Musica was president, frankly admitted that he was the largest withdrawer of alcohol both before and after prohibition, and that his rumrunning activities exceeded those of Al Capone. A witness said that “big shots” in Wall Street and in the underworld were involved with Musica in an illegal alcohol business, the ramifications of which are expected to disclose that a wide circle’of prominent people were all making fabulous profits from it. The arms-running business appears to be even more serious, officials declaring that it involved widespread violations of the neutrality laws, and is likely to incriminate many other individuals. Musica obtained control of an arsenal owned by the United States of America Government in Canada during the war. and from it arranged to deliver 2,000,000 Enfield rifles to British ports for and on account, it is alleged, of the British Petroleum Company. The Canadian authorities are also now investigating the alleged sale by Musica of five aeroplanes to Turkey which were designed ultimately for Spain.