Babe Paradise Admits He Is Narcotic King
Camden Courier-Post —
Babe Paradise Admits He Is Narcotic King
3 Others Held by Camden Police as Leaders in Dope Peddling Gang
OPERATIONS COVERED ALL OF SOUTH JERSEY
Tell of Making Buys With Auto Used as ‘Silent Salesman’
Captured after a lengthy investigation, Anthony “Babe” Paradise, of Camden has confessed to being the head of a narcotic ring operating throughout South Jersey, it was declared yesterday by Captain John Golden, head of the city detective bureau.
Paradise also admitted that he is a drug addict, Golden said, making the fact known when he became ill in his cell at the city jail and calling for Dr. W.G. Bailey, who has been treating him for the drug habit.
With three other men, who are accused as accomplices, Paradise is being held for a preliminary hearing in Police Court tomorrow morning. The four men, Golden said, will probably be held without bail pending grand jury action and be committed to the Camden County Jail. At the jail, detainers will be lodged against the quartette by Federal narcotics agents, who co-operated with city and county authorities in the investigation, which resulted in the arrests.
Golden declared that city detectives had purchased more than $500 worth of drugs from Paradise and his agents, in obtaining evidence against the ring, which authorities said reaches into Atlantic City and other South Jersey communities as well as Camden.
The three men arrested with Paradise are James Mucci, 18 years old, of 324 Stevens Street, Rocco DeCord, 21 years old, of 221 Spruce Street, and Andrew Hill, of Locust Street, near Kaighn Avenue. According to the detectives, the base of operations of the “ring” was in the Third Ward. Mucci and DeCord were arrested in a barbershop at Third and Locust streets, three blocks from the Wiley M. E. Church where the pastor, Rev. John S. Hackett, recently exposed vice conditions existing in the Third Ward and assailed the Department Public Safety for laxity. The arrest of Paradise and the others is believed to be a result of the result of the clergyman’s scathing sermons.
Golden declared that city detectives had purchased more than $500 worth of drugs from Paradise and his agents, in obtaining evidence against the ring, which authorities said reaches into Atlantic City and other South Jersey communities as well as Camden. Paradise and Hill were arrested several hours before the other two men. Fearing that they get word to other members of the “ring” police took the two men to Merchantville police headquarters, where Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Varbalow and Chief County Detective Lawrence T. Doran were waiting. Statements were obtained from the two, and meanwhile Mucci and DeCord were taken into custody. Paradise, who is 34 years old, served a year in State Prison five years ago for selling narcotics.
Detectives George Ward, Louis Shaw, and Thomas Cheeseman, of the city, and M.H. Shapiro and J.H. McFadden, of the federal office in Philadelphia, arranged the purchase of a “deck” of heroin from Paradise, and “caught him with the goods” when he met them at Nineteenth Street and River Road, near his home at 927 North Nineteenth Street.
Paradise was in his expensive automobile when arrested. It was the machine he had used to distribute narcotics to his agents and addicts during the past few years, the detectives said.
Peddling Scheme Bared
At a stated hour an agent or addict would approach the machine, take the “dope” inside, and leave money as payment. Paradise would return and collect the money received, it was said.
That the ring extended to Philadelphia, New York, and other large Eastern cities was indicated by the many times the automobile was parked at Camden bridge plaza for hours, when exchanges would be made, the detectives said.
‘Babe’ Denies Guilt
Camden Courier-Post —
‘Babe’ Denies Guilt
Anthony Paradise And Two Alleged Dope Peddling Aides Enter Not Guilty Pleas
Pleas of not guilty were entered by Anthony “Babe” Paradise and two of his alleged dope-running accomplices when they were arraigned in Criminal Court today. Judge Shay did not fix a date for the trial of the three defendants but it was said they would be tried at the present term of court.
Paradise, James Mucci and Rocco De Cord are charged with peddling dope in this city. The Grand Jury recently returned eleven indictments against Paradise, five against Mucci and six against De Cord.
The trio was arrested by federal narcotic agents and city detectives who late in December raided Paradise’s home in Cramer Hill. The U. S. agents claimed that Paradise was the “master mind” of a local dope ring. The men will be tried later on federal charges, it is said.
Colanduno Guilty of Dope Peddling
Camden Courier-Post —
Colanduno Guilty of Dope Peddling
Jury Out Less Than Hour; ‘Babe Paradise’ Up Next Week
Convicted by a Criminal Court jury of conspiracy and the possession and sale of narcotics, Joseph Colanduno, 29 years old, 431 Walnut Street, said by police to be a member of a powerful dope ring in Camden, will be sentenced by Judge Shay tomorrow morning.
The jury deliberated less than an hour before returning a verdict of guilty on seven indictments, marking the end of the first of a series of “dope” trials scheduled to be heard by Judge Shay. The most important hearing will be that of Anthony “Babe” Paradise, who has been indicted in eleven counts on narcotics charges, six of them true bills accusing Paradise and James Mucci with conspiracy to sell narcotic drugs. Another alleged member of the gang, Rocco DeCord, 221 Spruce Street, who recently pleaded guilty to six indictments and who turned state’s evidence at yesterday’s trial, will be sentenced later. Still another alleged “dope runner,” Alex Frumento, is being sought by police.
DeCord and three confessed addicts testified against Colanduno at the trial yesterday. DeCord said that he had been hired by the defendant and Frumento to sell small packages marked “H” and “C” to certain men who had been introduced to him. DeCord declared that he did not know what the packages contained, nor did he ever use dope.
The drug users, Nolan Clark, 28 years old who gave no address; George “Gyp” Haines, 29 years old, 527 Spruce Street, and Andrew Hill, 20 years, Locust Street and Kaighn Avenue, declared they had brought dope from Colanduno on various occasions.
Colanduno, who until last December operated the Primrose Inn at Barrington with Frumento as his partner, denied that he ever possessed drugs or hired DeCord. His arrest, he said, was a “frame-up” engineered by his “enemies.” His wife Hazel and his wife’s grandmother, Mrs. Laura Brakeman, who lives with Mrs. Colanduno, both testified that they never had seen DeCord or the three addicts buying drugs at the inn, as they declared on the witness stand.
James Gatti, 18 years old, of Philadelphia, who is serving a six-month term in the county jail for robbery, took the stand on Colanduno’s behalf. He testified that DeCord had told him in the jail that the confessed dope peddler’s statement implicating Colanduno had been forced from him by police.
Assistant Prosecutor Joseph A. Varbalow stated that the Paradise case probably would be disposed of next week with the return from Florida of Samuel P. Orlando, attorney for the alleged “Dope King of Camden.”
Bail Is Denied Roxie Allen in Robbery of 15 in Craps Game
Camden Evening Courier —
Bail Is Denied Roxie Allen in Robbery of 15 in Craps Game
Three Pals of Camden Boxer Also Jailed at Shore for Grand Jury
QUARTET IDENTIFIED BY POOLROOM OWNER
Limp Betrays Fighter at Landisville—Says He Did Not Aid Holdup
Identified as four of the five bandits who held up and robbed 15 men at a craps game in a Landisville poolroom yesterday, Roxie Allen, well-known South Jersey boxer, and three other South Camden youths are under arrest today.
The suspects, charged with obtaining money and watches worth $175, are Rocco Auletto, Allen’s real name, 21, of 318 Spruce street; Carmen Passarella, 26, of 1227 Broadway; Salvatore Passalacqua, 20, of 339 Clinton street, and Rocco De Corda, 23, of 221 Spruce street.
Two of the suspects, Passarella and Passalacqua, have made a full confession, according to Captain William J. Carter, Troop “A” commander, of the Hammonton State Police barracks.
Allen and De Corda have denied implication in the holdup. The welterweight pugilist admitted that he drove the holdup car but remained behind the wheel during the robbing, unaware of the intentions of his companions.
A fifth man, said to be colored, is being sought in Camden by the State Police and Camden detectives.
All four captives, arrested in this city and positively identified by the proprietor of the robbed place as well as by some of the victims, were held without bail pending action by the Atlantic county grand jury on charges of weapons. They were arraigned before Justice of the Peace Peter Capizola, of Luena. Prior to that, they were “booked” at the Atlantic county jail in Mays Landing, and then photographed and fingerprinted at the Malaga state police barracks. They are now in the jail at Mays Landing.
Allen’s Limp Seen, Claim
All four were recognized by the proprietor, Nicholas Yennitti, owner of “Poppy’s Place,” it is alleged. Yennitti said he knew the three white men who entered unmasked, and recognized Allen in the automobile after seeing him limp when he got out. Allen did not enter the place, nor could Yennitti see whether Allen had a gun.
It was at 2:10 p. m. yesterday that four men, three carrying revolvers and the other a sawed-off shotgun, ran into the poolroom and commanded the patrons to put up their hands. The 15 men inside were lined against a wall and their pockets were looted. The money on the table was picked up by one of the bandits. The total cash stolen amounted to only $75, while the watches and rings taken from the victims were worth about $100.
Captain Carter and other investigators heard reports that if the holdup had been staged 10 minutes later, a richer reward would have fallen into the hands of the bandits. The rumors were to the effect that the “banker” for the place arrived there from Atlantic City 10 minutes after the holdup, with two or three thousand dollars.
Nicholas Dandrea and Yennitti recognized the three white men, and then saw Allen, they said, in the car outside. Allen and Passarella had been in the place Saturday afternoon, the former losing about $15 at pool, according to Yennitti.
The license numbers of the car were observed by several of the victims, and the affair was reported to the state police. Troopers George Probert and Howard Maliff of the Malaga barracks, and Wilfred Dube, state police plainclothesman, were assigned to the investigation. They immediately sped to Camden, where they obtained the aid of Detective Theodore Guthrie.
Allen and Passarella were arrested last evening by the troopers and Guthrie. Passalacqua was arrested at his home last night by Sergeant Rox Saponare, of the Camden detective bureau. De Corda was arrested 4 a. m. today on suspicion and was later identified.
Holdup Car Found
The holdup car was found at Third and Pine streets today and was impounded by the Camden police for Atlantic county authorities. It bore the license plates C25899, but this license was issued, according to the state motor vehicle bureau at Trenton, to Harry Whaland, 1424 Mt. Ephraim avenue, Camden. An investigation proved that the tags had been stolen from Whaland’s car yesterday. Moreover, Whaland had a car different in make than the one impounded.
In his confession, Passarella declared that the seized car was his and that it was used in the holdup. The plates, he is said to have confessed, were stolen from Whaland.
However, a checkup at the Trenton bureau revealed that the license number C22859, issued for the car claimed by Passarella, had been issued to a Frank Passarella, of 327 Washington street, Camden.
Passarella, the man under arrest, is a nephew of Frank Passarella, also known as Passeralli, 31, of 212 Catherine street, Philadelphia, one of the two Atco National Bank bandits who were convicted here last month and received heavy jail sentences.
Louis Bottina, 20, of 1440 South Fourth street, was also arrested last night on suspicion, but was released when he proved an alibi and when the victims could not identify him.
The limp which betrayed Allen was the result of a bullet wound inflicted on him August 2 by Charles Areni, 699 Central avenue, who later was convicted and sent to state’s prison.