[SimoneFlen']

The Philadelphia Poison Ring

The Philadelphia poison ring was a murder for hire gang led by Italian immigrant cousins, Herman and Paul Petrillo, in 1930s Philadelphia, US where the Italian community had grown from 76,734 in 1910 (the year the Petrillos came to the USA) to over 155,000 by 1930 - just before the murder ring began operations. The ring came to light in 1938 and the cousins were ultimately convicted of first degree murder(s) and executed by electric chair in 1941.

A Russian-Jewish immigrant gang member, Morris Bolber, known as 'Louie, the Rabbi', turned state's evidence. Gang members, associates and 'dupes' (many of them Italian-born, superstitious women, dubbed 'poison widows' by an excited press) were brought to trial and mostly convicted to death sentences (commuted) or varying prison sentences. One or two were found not guilty, notably the widow Stella Alfonsi, whose husband's 1938 death by poison brought the case to light, and who was successfully defended by advocate Raymond Pace Alexander.


History
Herman and Paul Petrillo were cousins. Herman was an expert counterfeiter and arsonist, with contacts in the criminal world, while Paul ran an insurance scam business from the back of his tailor's shop and aspired to a paid consultancy in 'la fattura', a magic believed in and resorted to by many in South Philadelphia's Italian community. The murders began in 1931, with Herman enlisting associate thugs to kill men he had arranged to insure, to collect on the double indemnity accident insurance.

Herman ruthlessly and euphemistically described this as "sending [them] to California". Two victims (Ralph Caruso, Joseph Arena) were drowned and bludgeoned on fishing trips, and a third (John Woloshyn) bludgeoned and run over repeatedly by a car. Meanwhile, Herman contrived to steer clear of repeated attempts by the authorities to bring him to justice for insurance fraud, arson and currency counterfeiting.

As the Depression deepened, the Petrillos headed an informal gang, now including Morris Bolber and other self-styled 'fattuchieri/e' (wise women, witches) such as Maria Carina Favato, Josephine Sedita and Rose Carina, who offered superstitious, unhappily married, murderous or merely gullible women incantations, powders and potions to adjust their lives. These 'love potions' etc. were usually arsenic, or antimony, and they were invariably accompanied by excessive insurance policies on the victims, often made out in favour of gang members rather than the supposed 'poison widow' beneficiaries.

The gang embraced insurance agents and made highly successful use of the period's widespread cheap insurance policies, often taken out without medical examination (not required for policies under $500) or the knowledge of the principal concerned, who would subsequently meet an agonising death by arsenic, engineered by the spouse, possibly with intent, possibly in superstitious ignorance of their actions. This went on from 1932 until 1938, when the death in hospital of Ferdinando Alfonsi brought matters into the open.

Vincent P. McDevitt was an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia. In early 1939, the District Attorney, Charles F. Kelley, assigned him to the homicide case of Ferdinando Alfonsi, who had died on 27 October 1938. McDevitt immediately had information from two undercover detectives, agents Landvoight and Phillips. From them, McDevitt had an informant, one George Meyer, who ran a local upholstery cleaning business.

Meyer encountered Herman Petrillo when he was trying to obtain money for his business. Petrillo had offered to provide him with a large sum of money, legal tender and counterfeit, if Meyer would perform the hit on Alfonsi. Landvoight and Meyer had played along with the murder plot, with Meyer hoping for an advance pay-out and Landvoight hoping to finally bust Petrillo's counterfeiting crimes. Working undercover, Landvoight helped Meyer "play along," as the Petrillos plotted the murder that they wanted Meyer to carry out.

Murder
The plan was to steal or buy a car, take Alfonsi out to a dark country road and hit him with the car, thus making the murder look accidental. Herman Petrillo preferred the idea to steal the car rather than buy one, but Landvoight and Phillips were hoping to convince Petrillo to give them money to buy a car for the murder, as it would give them the opportunity that Phillips had so long prayed for, to arrest him on counterfeit charges. In the end, Petrillo sold them some fake tender, ostensibly for buying a means of transportation to the planned crime scene.

The "play along" plan continued until Meyer, on a whim of curiosity and concern, decided to visit the intended murder victim. At the front door of the house where Alfonsi lived, Meyer learned from an old woman who had opened the door that Alfonsi was gravely ill. After notifying Phillips, he returned with Phillips and Landvoight to the Alfonsi house. They found Alfonsi to be bizarrely ill, suffering symptoms of bulging eyes, immobility, and being unable to speak. At their next meeting with Herman Petrillo, after Petrillo handed Phillips an envelope full of counterfeit bills, Phillips asked about the plan to murder Alfonsi. Petrillo replied that there was no reason to worry about it anymore; it was being handled, apparently.

Investigation
Ferdinando Alfonsi died after being admitted to the National Stomach Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The cause of death was heavy metal poisoning. The autopsy revealed tremendous arsenic levels. The detectives assigned to the case were Michael Schwartz, Anthony Franchetti, and Samuel Riccardi. They instantly thought of the rumors, already well-developed, about a highly organized arsenic killing spree surging through the city. Indeed, there were distinct patterns. The victims tended to be Italian immigrants, as Alfonsi was, and to have high levels of arsenic in their bloodstreams.

Herman Petrillo and Mrs. Stella Alfonsi were both arrested. Mrs. Alfonsi had purchased a sizable life insurance policy for her husband, an immigrant who could not read English. He had been unaware of the policy, signing some documents with a cross while others bearing Alfonsi's signature were ineptly forged by Herman Petrillo. The Alfonsi case fitted a rapidly emerging common modus operandi in a lot of other homicide investigations. Most importantly, each case involved a fresh life insurance policy with a double indemnity clause and a nearly direct lead to one of the Petrillo cousins, and each cause of death was listed as some sort of violent accident.

Credit: Wikipedia

[SimoneFlen']

Rose Carina

FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 2): New York, May 18 – The elusive “kiss of death” woman, Mrs. Rose Carina, known to have had at least five husbands, three of whom died under mysterious circumstances, was arrested today by federal agents in connection with the Philadelphia investigation into a mass murder syndicate.

Dwight Brantley, F. B. I. agent in charge of the New York area, declined to disclose where she was taken into custody nor where his agents picked up the trail of the woman sometimes known as the “rose of death.”

’Professional Widow’
Philadelphia authorities have named her one of the principal actors in the bizarre crime drama. Police Captain James Kelly of Philadelphia described her as the “professional widow” used by the ring to trap prospective victims. She is wanted, he said, on a warrant charging conspiracy.

Twelve widows linked with the ring already are in custody. Some 59 deaths have been attributed to the “murder-for-insurance” conspirators and authorities conceded there might be many more, as almost unbelievable new ramifications are uncovered practically every day.

Besides scores of new leads developed through confessions of ring members in terror of the electric chair, the police have been greatly aided by anonymous letter writers. Police said checks have proved about 75 per cent of these tips to be accurate.


Five Times Wed
Rose Carina was sought specifically for questioning in the death of Pietro Stea, a grocer who died three years ago of what was then certified as “heart disease’’ and “diabetes.” Stea was her fourth husband.

Her first was Antonio Carbonaro, from whom she was divorced. Carbonaro now lives near New Sharon, N. J. Her second spouse was Dominick Carina, who died in 1931. Her third husband, prosper Antonio Lesi, died two years later. After Stea’s death in the fall of 1934, Rose married Isadore Tropea, now a semi-invalid, suffering from a stomach ailment.

[“Kiss Of Death Woman Nabbed In Poison Plot,” syndicated (AP), The Ogden Standard Examiner (Ut.), May 18, 1939, p. 2]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 2): Philadelphia, Dec. 4.— The second acquittal verdict in Philadelphia’s mass murder cases cleared Mrs. Rose Carina of one death but failed last night to give her freedom.

She still must stand trial in the killing of another man police say was among “scores” of victims of a ring that plotted deaths in eastern states for insurance.

Mrs. Carina cried “Oh, God bless them all” when a jury acquitted her last night of poisoning Pierto Stea, one of her five former husbands. Then she collapsed.

Another woman was freed by the first acquittal in the trials. Five of the other 23 defendants were convicted, eight pleaded guilty and eight await trial. Half of those to face a jury are women.

[“Woman Acquitted On Murder Charge,” The Daily Mail (Hagerstown, Md.), Dec. 4, 1939, p. 3]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 3): The bizarre arsenic murder-for insurance ring which preyed on almost 100 victims in Philadelphia early seven years ago was back in the limelight today with the surrender of the last of the accused group.

The defendant, Mrs. Josephine Adla, 43 of South Philadelphia, voluntarily gave up it the district attorney's office after being a fugitive from justice since her indictment in 1939.

She is charged with being a participant in the arsenic slaying of Pietro Pirolli, 53, who died April 21, 1935. His body was exhumed four years later and chemists said it contained sufficient arsenic even then kill two persons.

Mrs. Sadita, mother of five, said she had been working on a farm in Virginia since she fled jurisdiction. She was indicted in the Pirolli slayng along with Mrs. Grace Gioventta and Mrs. Rose Carina, known as “The Kiss of Death.”

Mrs. Giovanetta originally was convicted by a jury with the death penalty, but was granted a new trial and pleaded guilty to second degree murder. She was given a five to 10 year sentence and since as been released from prison. Mrs. Carina was acquitted.

Eleven men and 14 women were indicted as participants in the ring.

[“Woman Gives Up In Poison Case,” Chester Times (Pa.), Chester Times (Pa.), Jul. 13, 1945, p. 14]

Husbands:
#1 – Antonio Carbonaro, divorced.
#2 – Dominick Carina, died in 1931.
#3 – Antonio Lesi, died 1933.
#4 – Stea’s, died fall of 1934.
#5 – Isadore Tropea, semi-invalid, suffering from a stomach ailment.

Credit: http://unknownmisandry.blogspot.com/...se-carina.html

[SimoneFlen']

Carina Favato

Carina Favato was a ringleader in Philadelphia’s “Arsenic Incorporated” murder syndicate. She pled guilty to poisoning three men, Charles Ingrao, Philip Ingrao, and Guiseppi DiMartino, at her trial on April 21, 1939. She may have murdered Antonio Romualdo as well. She was sentenced to life imprisonment.

***

FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 6): Mrs. Carina Favato, 45, of Bouvier st., near Wingoshocking, was held without bail yesterday as the third person the police accuse in an alleged “poison murder syndicate.”

Mrs. Favato was charged with with having knowledge of the death of Philip Ingrao, son of her common-law husband, by poisoining, in what police said was a killing for insurance.

The others previously held are Herman Petrillo, of Langhorne, and Mrs. Stella Alfonsi, 29, of Ann st., near Belgrade, who were charged with the poison murder of Mrs. Alfonsi’s husband, Ferdinand.

TO DISINTER BODY
Meanwhile, police prepared to seek the disinterment today of the body of Charles Ingrao, Philip’s father, and said to have been Mrs. Favato’s common-law husband, to determine whether his death in August, 1935, was caused by poisoning.

Mrs. Favato was arraigned before Magistrate Beifel in City Hall, where she denied the charges in full. When police told the Magistrate, however, that she had $6700 in life insurance on Philip when he died, Beifel held her without bail.

She is charged by police with having collected some $8000 in insurance on the life of Charles Ingrao. At present, detectives said, she carries $2000 on the life of Michael Ingrao, brother of Philip, and an examination of him will be made to determine whether any arsenic has been given him.

Mrs. Favato was arrested after an autopsy of the body of Philip Ingrao, who died last June 25, disclosed arsenic in his liver and stomach.

Detectives’ attention was directed to his case when it became known that Ingrao had been friendly with Petrillo, already held in Alfonsi’s death.

Lieutenant James Kelly, of the homicide squad, testified at the hearing that Petrillo had also been friendly with Mrs. Favato, boarding at her home at the time Philip died.

CITES EVIDENCE
Kelly said the woman made fraudulent statements in obtaining insurance on the boys, and made false and misleading statements to detectives.

City Councilman Edward A. Kelly, representing Mrs. Favato, said there was no evidence that she had administered the poison.

“We don’t charge her with administering poison,” Lieutenant Kelly replied. “We do charge that poison was administered with her full knowledge and consent.”

Petrillo and Mrs. Alfonsi were held without bail last Thursday [Nov. 3, 1938]. Petrillo was accused of wooing Mrs. Alfonsi and enlisting her aid in causing the death of her husband to collect $2000 in insurance.

[“3d Suspect Held In Death Syndicate – Police Prepare to Disinter More Bodies For Evidence,” The Philadelphia Inquirer (Pa.), Nov. 4, 1938, p. 2]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 6): Philadelphia, April 21 – Mrs. Carina Favato, 44, boarding house keeper charged with poisoning her stepson to collect his life insurance, interrupted her trial today to plead guilty to three murders.

Mrs. Favato was faced with testimony by an insurance salesman that she had invited him to join in a wide-spread poisoning scheme to collect insurance, and by Mrs. Susie di Martino, a co-defendant who turned State’s witness, that Mrs. Favato collected $1,979 insurance after poisoning Guiseppe di Martino, her husband.

Mrs. Favato’s decision to plead guilty took the case from the jury and left her punishment to the decision of three judges.

Herman Petrillo, first to go on trial, was convicted by a jury of first degree murder for which a death sentence is mandatory.

At the conclusion of the summation of the testimony for the court, Trial Judge Edwin G. Lewis announced:

“I am sure the other judges will agree with me that we will take into consideration Mrs. Favato’s attitude and what co-operation she gives the district attorney’s office whether the punishment will be the electric chair or life imprisonment.”

Collected $25,000
Besides the poisoning of her stepson, Philip Ingrao, 17, a year ago, Mrs. Favato pleaded guilty to charges she pleaded guilty to charges she poisoned his father, Charles Favato, four years ago, and Guiseppe di Martino in 1937.

Mrs. Favato also pleaded guilty to defrauding insurance companies of about $28,000 on the lives of the three, and to a charge of conspiring with others to murder.

Police have ordered more than a dozen bodies exhumed in their investigation. Mrs. Di Martino and Paul Petrillo, uncle of Herman Petrillo, are awaiting trial.

[“Woman Pleads Guilty to Killing 3 – Got $28,000 In Insurance,” The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.), Apr. 22, 1939, p. 3]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 6):Philadelphia – Additional precautions were taken last night to guard a confessed woman principal in a widespread insurance-poison ring who twice attempted suicide while shouting “witches” were chasing her.

High police officials said no official report had been made, but guards declared on one occasion they found Mrs. Carina Favato with a handkerchief knotted around her neck. Several hours later, they said, she plunged a safety pin into her arteries.

The two suicide attempts occurred during a hysteria, the guards said, in which the 200-pound confessed poisoner screamed repeatedly from her cell:

“They’re coming in here. There’s no use keeping the door closed. They’re coming.”

To a guard’s question she replied:

“I mean the witches.”

The widow’s confession during her trial two weeks ago that she killed her step-son, her common-law husband, and another man led to the arrest of several others.

Eleven in all have been taken into custody on charges of homicide in connection with the murder of possibly 100 persons in several eastern states by a gang that collected an untold amount of insurance. Two others were sought.

Herman Petrillo, convicted and facing a sentence to the electric chair, has been quoted by District Attorney Charles F. Kelly as saying he sold “witch’s brew” – a solution of poison which sold at $300 a pint – to other members of the ring.

The district attorney said the 40-year-old Petrillo and Rafaele Poselli, 55, taken into custody Friday [Apr. 28], admitted they had a part in the vpoisoning of 11 persons.

Poison has been found in five bodies, four of which were exhumed months after burial. Other graves will be opened this week.

One of the two fugitives is known as “Louie the Rabbi.” Investigators believe he was a ringleader. The second is a “professional widow” who, detectives say, poisoned several husbands.

[“Guard Doubled Over Woman Who Confessed Poisonings,” Democrat Chronicle (Rochester, N. Y.), Apr. 30, 1939, p. 17A]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 6): Philadelphia, Sept. 13 – A steak and chicken “breakfast of death” for four, including coffee containing a “witch doctor’s” potion, was described by a 200-pound woman today at the trial of Cesare “Jumbo” Valenti, alleged “strongarm man” for Philadelphia’s insurance-murder ring.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mrs. Carina Favato, who has pleaded guilty to three poisonings, said the “guest of honor” was her common-law husband, Charles.

Valenti, Mrs. Favato testified, brought the “portion” and poured it into her husband’s coffee.

Favato died nine days later.

Asked what else was served at the breakfast, Mrs. Favato said:

“Two gallons of wine, scrambled eggs, five pounds of steak, three Spring chickens and salad and hot peppers.”

The dry-eyed witness said Valenti promised her if she would also drink some of the coffee “no one or any witch doctor could harm me.”

“He told me,” she said, “not to worry, that it would make my husband good or die.”

Mrs. Favato named the fourth breakfast guest as Randall Polsell self-styled “errand boy” for the murder ring, who pleaded guilt to one poisoning.

Favato’s death was one of the first ascribed to the murder ring, now blamed by investigators for 50 to 100 deaths. Mrs. Favato pleaded guilty the past April to poisoning her husband, his son by another marriage and a third man.

As Valenti’s trial went to the third day, another defendant was placed on trial in another courtroom. He is Paul Petrillo, 45-year-old South Philadelphia tailor who, detectives say, dabbled in the “black arts” and courted women whose husbands later were poisoned.

Charged with six poison deaths, he was on trial charged specifically with killing Luigi La Vecchio in 1932.

[“Husband’s ‘Death Supper’ Described By Widow,” Pottsdown Mercury (Pa.), Sep. 14, 1939, p. 13]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 5 of 6): Philadelphia, Oct. 3. – Herman Padillo, erstwhile Langhoene spaghetti salesaman, today was doomed to death in the electric chair, and Mrs. Carina Favato, self-confessed slayer of three arsenic victims, must spend her life in prison for their roles in the notorious Philadelphia murder-for-insurance conspiracy.

Petrillo was found guilty at separate trials for the murders of Ferdinand Alfonsi, slain by arsenic after his life had been heavily insured, and the drowning of Rafaele Garuso, a cripple, who was shoved into the Schutlkill River.

Mrs. Favato pleased guilty to slaying her husband, Charles Ingrao; her stepson, Philip, and a neighbor, Guiseppe De Martino. The court granted her leniency because her cooperation with authorities aided in trapping other members of the ring, which killed upwards of 100 persons for profit.

Petrillo is a cousin of Paul Petrillo, dapper South Philadelphia, dapper South Philadelphia tailor and reputed brains of the conspiracy, who was sentenced to death last February for the arsenic death of Luigi La Vecchio.

[“Petrillo Doomed To Death Chair,” The Evening News (Harrisburg (Pa.), Oct. 3, 1940, p. 34]

***

FULL TEXT (Article 6 of 6): Early on in the proceedings, Mrs. Carina Favato, a 45-year-old housewife, stopped her trial by dramatically pleading guilty on the witness stand to killing her husband, her stepson and a husband’s friend by feeding them arsenic at breakfast.

“I might as well get this over with. Let them send me to the chair. What have I got to live for? She told the stunned courtroom.

She was later sentenced to life imprisonment.

[Coleen Dee Berry, “Recalling the last ‘Tylenol’ case,” Asbury Park Press (N. J.), Nov. 7, 1982, p. 1]

***

Trial testimony
Raymond Pace Alexander, attorney for accused husband-killer, Stella Alfonsi : “Isn’t fattura really a love potion?”

Carina Favato, convicted murderess: “Yes it is, but it gives death. All those who took it died.”

[George Cooper, Poison Widows: A True Story of Witchcraft, Arsenic and Murder, 1999, St. Martin’s, Press, p. 180]

***

Aug. 1935 – Charles Ingrao dies.
1937 – Guiseppe di Martino dies; Favato collected $1,979 insurance; co-conspirator Mrs. Susie di Martino (indicted Mar. 30, 1939).
Jun. 25, 1938 – Philip Ingrao, 17, dies.
1938 – Acting Lieutenant Samuel Riccardi investigated her [CF’s] “charges that another woman had tried to defraud her by witchcraft.” [Philadelphia Inquirer (Pa.), Oct. 20, 1957, B26]
Nov. 2, 1938 – Favato held without bail in suspected murder of Philip Ingrao, common law step-son.
Nov. 23, 1938 – Internment of corpse of Charles Ingrao, CF’s common law husband.
Dec. 13, 1938 – arsenic found in corpse of P. I.
Apr. 21, 1939 – Favato interrupts trial to plead guilty.
Apr. 24-25, 1939 – Favato makes full confession to police.
Sep. 13, 1939 – Favato testifies.
Oct. 3, 1940 – Favato sentence to life in prison (rather than electric chair; leniency for cooperation with investigation).

Credit: http://unknownmisandry.blogspot.com/...adelphias.html

[kellyhound]

very interesting, never heard of this.
top a+ post

those hats really made them look gangster and without, just the average loser.

[SimoneFlen']

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

very interesting, never heard of this.
top a+ post

those hats really made them look gangster and without, just the average loser.

Thank you, Mister.

[K53]

Thanks for the detailed background on these crime families now long dead and forgotten.

[gringo1965]

Those are some hard core motherfuckers .

[William May]

Absolutely AWESOME POST, Simone!
I am awarding you TWENTY CORNS!:cor n:cor n

Only problem I have now is I am compulsively driven to find out where all these yokels wound up buried. That's all YOUR fault, too!!!

[William May]

I don't know why some of the corns didn't print.

Perhaps they were poisoned by Italian widows!

[raspbr2017]