Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1903 — MILLION FRAUD LOSS. [ARTICLE]

MILLION FRAUD LOSS.

Gigantic Swindle Charged by Life Insurance C< in >anicH. By an astounding series of frauds carried on for years a band of Italians in New York has swindled a dozen life insurance companies out of more than sl,000,000. One of the conspirators Is said to have received at least $250,000 as his share of the booty. Scores of men nnd women were involved in the plot, which was carried on for ten years under the noses of the insurance officials and was discovered only by accident. Perjury, forgery and perhaps murder were committed in this gigantic swindle. As many as twenty-three substitute bodies were passed off on a single insurance company, and it is possible 100 substitute bodies were used during the long series of frauds. It will lie necessary to open scores of graves in the process of unearthing the extent of the incredible swindles. Among the insurance companies said to have beett victimized by the swindlers are the John Hancock, the Union Central, the Washington Life, the Prudential, the Equitable, the Provident Life, the Tradesmen’s of Newark, the Mutual Life nnd the Metropolitan of Cincinnati.