SWINDLER DEAD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23686, 19 December 1938, Page 9

SWINDLER DEAD

SUICIDE OF MUSICA BROTHERS ALSO INVOLVED EXTENSIVE ARMS TRAFFIC DEALINGS WITH FOREIGN GOVERNMENT (United Press Association) (B.v Eleotrit relexiauh inD.vughti NEW YORK, Dec. 17. (Received Dec. 18, at 11 p.m.) Suffering from heart disease and after continuously throughout the night consulting attorneys in his palatial Connecticut home, Phillip Musica, alias Coster, this morning committed suicide with a pistol, adding another fantastic detail to the extraordinary portrait of America's No. 1 swindler. Suicide was apparently always at the back of Musica's mind, because he attempted to shoot himself after the hair swindle. It is now further revealed that two other officials of McKesson and Rubbins under indictment with Coster are his brothers, George and Arthur Musica. Recognised by Investigator Musica was unmasked because a sharp-eyed special investigator saw a picture in a newspaper and recognised him as " William Johnson," with whom he worked during the war investigating foreign spies. ' Robert Musica, a fourth brother, alias Robert Dietrich, to-night joined George and Arthur Musica in gaol. Arthur, alias George Vernard, was arrested dramatically at the point of a gun, after half an hour's siege in his Brooklyn home. It is revealed that faked birth certificates boldly inserted in the Health Department's records enabled the brothers to conceal their true identity. Purchased an Arsenal It is announced that the Government has conclusive evidence of an extensive arms traffic masked as McKesson and Robbins' foreign drug trade. It is reported that an entire Government arsenal was purchased several years ago. John Cantor testified that the firm offered to sell him 250,000 rifles. It is revealed that a Bridgeport bank was approached last spring with a proposal that it should represent the firm in the collection of 29,250,000 dollars from a foreign Government for arms supplied. Ten separate investigations are proceeding. Federal officers believe Musica was not the brains of the concern, and it is indicated that both Federal and State politicians are involved. The market value of the firm's securities has dropped by 35,000,000 dollars since the scandal broke. A message published on Saturday stated that a sensation was caused in New York on Friday, when the police identified F. Donald Coster, president of McKesson and Robbins, who had been arrested in connection with the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of 18,000,000 dollars from the firm's assets, as Philip Musica, the central figure in the famed " human hair" swindle of 25 years ago. McKesson and Robbins, one of the largest drug* and chemical firms in America, was recently declared bankrupt. Musica was convicted in 1913 of a 2,000,000-dollar swindle involving the United States Hair Company. He received suspended sentence after assisting the authorities in tracing the firm's losses. The similarity in the methods of Coster' and Musica caused the revelation and recalled incidents of one of the most amazing American swindle episides.