ENORMOUS FRAUDS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7667, 28 March 1903, Page 4

ENORMOUS FRAUDS.

$. INSURANCE COMPANIES LOSE OVER ,£200,000. Astounding revelations have just been made concerning a series of frauds by which eight New York insurance- companies are reported to have lost, over £200,000, and perhaps a much larger sum. The frauds were committed during the past ten years by a gang of Italian swindlers, headed by one Trepani, an undertaker, and Cirino, a barber, both of whom, have been arrested. Two doctor?, named M'ticci and Locwit have also been taken into custody. Several other men are in custody. It appears that the gang defrauded the companies by hunting up old men and invalids, usually Italians, with only a, short time tt> live, in whose names they applied to the various companies for policies. The gang employed hundreds of men and women of all ages in robust health to act as substitutes for the porson» actually insured. These dummies were seen by the insurance agents and examined, by doctors, whose reports wei'o .so favourable that policies wore invariably issued. On the death of the person thus fraudulently insured the amount of the policies was collected, and the proceeds divided by the gang. Hundreds of people were insured in this way, the amounts of the policies ranging from £200 to £4000. Among the poor Italians Cirino had long been regarded as a great benefactor. He zoxlously sought out diseased and decrepit men and women, whom he secretly insured. He made their last hours pleasant, yndgave tliem free funerals, which Trepani conducted. Under the circumstances he had no -difficulty in persuading the relatives to give evasive answers if they were visited by inquisitive insurance agents. "Cirino employed hundreds of confederates, such as falso mourners and falce affidavit makers, <is minor assistants. grave Allegations. The man who made the confession declared that the physicians were in the plot, and issued, certificates certifying that they had attended the insured persons at their deatlibeds, thus enabling the policies to be collected. Each dummy received ten guineas for his services, the doctors^ it isstated, received from ten to forty, and the notaries two. The. families of the dead men usually got a small amount. Hundreds of bodies were buried in Cavalry Cemetery and elsewhere. The gang eventually became so bold that policies were actually collected in. cases where there were no deaths. On one occasion a wax figure was buried, while an Italian supposed to- bs dead attended the funeral as a mourner, amd thc-re was great merriment. Four thousand pounds was afterwards collected from various companies. The frauds were eventually discovered through several companies insuring a healthy Italian, yarned Trambalauno, aged forty-five, who was soon afterwards reported' to have died suddenly. A large premium had been, paid, and the companies became suspicious. They began an investigation, and opened the grave, where, instead of the supposed Trambalauno, the body of a man of' seventy was discovered. The police were notified, and the arrests speedily followed. ' The extent of the frauds is simply «n.ormous. Trepani alone cleared £50,000. Men are implicated who were never before suspected. "