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E MPIRE OF CAPITAL

V
EMPIRE OF CAPITAL
------------♦------------

ELLEN M E I K S I N S WOOD

V
VERSO
London • New York
 For George Comninel,
with thanks for many years o f conversation

First published by V erso 2003

© Ellen M eiksins W ood 2003
This paperback edition first published by Verso 2005
© Ellen M eiksins W ood 2005
All rights reserved

The m oral rights o f the author have been asserted

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Verso
U K : 6 M eard Street, London w if o eg

U SA : 180 V arick Street, N ew York, ny 10 0 14 -4 6 0 6

w ww.versobooks.com

Verso is the im print o f N ew Left Books

is b n 1-8 4 4 6 7 -5 18 -1

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

W ood, Ellen M eiksins
Em pire o f capital
1. Capitalism— H istory 2. Imperialism 3. Globalization 4. International
relations 5. Imperialism— History
I. Title
330.l'22

ISB N 1844675181

Library o f Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A Catalog record for this book is available from the Library o f Congress

Typeset by SetSystems Ltd, Saffron Walden, Essex

Printed by R. R. Donnelley & Son, U SA
 CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii

PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION ix

PREFACE XV

INTRODUCTION 1

1 THE DETACHMENT OF ECONOMIC POWER 9

2 THE EMPIRE OF PROPERTY 26

3 THE EMPIRE OF COMMERCE 44

4 A NEW KIND OF EMPIRE 73

5 THE OVERSEAS EXPANSION OF ECONOMIC IMPERATIVES 89

6 THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF CAPITALIST IMPERATIVES ll8

7 ‘SURPLUS IM P E R IA L IS M ’ , WAR WITHOUT END 14 3

NOTES 16 9

INDEX 177
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have been exceptionally fortunate over the years in having first-rate

post-graduate students, whose own work has inspired me and whose
friendship I have continued to enjoy long after they finished their
studies. One o f them is George Comninel. We have been carrying on
a conversation ever since, in 1978, he enrolled in a post-graduate
seminar that Neal W ood and I were teaching at York University in
Toronto on the Theory and Practice o f the State in Historical
Perspective, a course that George now teaches at York. I owe him
special thanks for his comments on this book and for his always
unstinting generosity with his insights and encouragement. So I’m
dedicating the book to him.
Another veteran o f the state course, Frances Abele, has given me
her characteristically lucid and fruitful suggestions on this book, as
she has often done before.
Sebastian Budgen at Verso gave me the benefit o f his typically
critical eye, while Elizabeth Dore and Aijaz Ahmad read one or
another chapter on subjects they know much better than I do, to
protect me from any egregious gaffes. Thanks, too, to Terry Byres,
Peter Gowan and Alfredo Saad-Filho for comments on earlier articles
related to this book. I’m also grateful to Tim Clark at Verso both for
his copy-editing and for guiding the book through the whole publi­
viii Acknowledgem ents

cation process. And, o f course, I am, as always, grateful to Neal, for

his unflagging support.
The usual disclaimers apply to all o f the above, who cannot be
held responsible for my mistakes or omissions.
 P R E F A C E TO THE
PAPERBACK EDITION

The first edition o f this book went to press before the US had
launched its attack on Iraq. But by that time, it had become clear
that the preferred policy o f the US, in case o f a war, would be to
follow victory with military occupation. I alluded to this in the book.1
Yet I believed then, as I do now, that the occupation o f Iraq is not
intended to establish the US as a colonial empire. I f anything, this is
confirmed by the mess the US has made o f the occupation. US
imperialism remains o f a different kind, something which I try to
explain in this book.
Critics o f the Bush administration typically insist that it repre­
sents a major rupture in US foreign policy since W orld War II. There
can be no denying the reckless, and even self-defeating, extremism o f
this regime; but a grand imperial vision has been the essence o f US
foreign policy since the War. The project o f global economic
hegemony, supported by massive military supremacy, formally began
when the US established its economic hegemony with the Bretton
Woods system, and its military supremacy with its atom bombs in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Bush administration is undoubtedly
more unilateralist and certainly more open about its intention to
maintain ‘full spectrum dominance’, with such massive military
superiority that no one, enemy or friend, would think o f challenging
x P r e f a c e to the P a p e r b a c k Edition

the US as a global or regional power. But surely global supremacy

has been the objective o f the US for the past half century.
Some commentators would say that, with the occupation o f Iraq,
the Bush administration is reverting to an older colonial imperialism,
which would indeed be a major departure. But this seems to me to
misunderstand the specific nature o f US imperialism, then and now,
and, indeed, to misunderstand the specificity o f capitalist empire.
The United States is the first, and so far the only, capitalist empire.
This is so not in the sense that it is the first capitalist power to possess
an empire but rather in the sense that it dominates the world largely
by manipulating the economic mechanisms o f capitalism. The British
Empire, which had hoped to exploit the commercial wealth o f India
without incurring the costs o f colonial rule, found itself creating a
tribute-extracting military despotism more akin to traditional impe­
rialisms than to a new mode o f capitalist hegemony. On the whole,
the preference, and the practice, o f the US has been to avoid direct
colonial rule wherever possible and to rely on economic hegemony,
which is less costly, less risky and more profitable.
It is probably safe to assume that the preference o f the US is still
to maintain economic hegemony without getting bogged down in
colonial rule. The occupation o f Iraq itself confirms that assumption.
It is now painfully obvious that military action was undertaken in
the vain hope that the regime could be decapitated, leaving the Iraqi
state largely intact but with a more amenable leadership. The imperial
power undoubtedly still hopes that it can extricate itself sooner rather
than later, establishing its economic hegemony, implanting US capi­
tal firmly in the economy and especially in the oil industry, and
allowing Iraq to replace Saudi Arabia as a military base, but without
an overt colonial presence.
Yet there is a fundamental contradiction here, and that contradic­
tion is a central theme o f this book: while the objective o f US
 P r e f a c e to t h e P a p e r b a c k Edition xi

imperialism is economic hegemony without colonial rule, global

capital still - in fact, more than ever - needs a closely regulated and
predictable social, political and legal order. We are constantly told -
not just by conventional theories o f ‘globalization’ but by fashionable
books like Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Empire - that the
nation state is in decline.2 But imperial hegemony relies now more
than ever on an orderly system o f many local states, and global
economic hegemony depends on keeping control o f the many states
that maintain the global economy. There is, o f course, nothing like
the kind o f global state that could guarantee the necessary order, in
the way the nation state has long done for national capital. N or is
such a state remotely conceivable. If anything, the territorial state has
become far more, rather than less, essential in organizing economic
circuits, through the medium o f inter-state relations.
The capitalist mode o f economic imperialism is the first im peri­
alism in history that does not depend simply on capturing this or
that bit o f territory, or dominating this or that subject people. It
needs to oversee the whole global system o f states and ensure that
imperial capital can safely and profitably navigate throughout that
global system. It has to deal not just with the problem o f ‘rogue’
states or ‘failed’ states. It also has to keep subordinate states vulner­
able to exploitation. Moreover, to be really effective, it has to establish
the military and political supremacy o f one power over all others,
because, if global capital needs an orderly system o f multiple states,
it is hard to see how it can tolerate a system in which military power
is more or less evenly distributed among various states.
So the first premise o f the current US military doctrine, with
roots that go back to the end o f W orld W ar II, is that the US must
have such massive military superiority that no other power, enemy
or friend, will seek to challenge or equal it as a global or regional
hegemon. The object is not simply to deter attack but to pre-empt
xii P r e f a c e to t h e P a p e r b a c k Edition

any rivalry. On the whole, other capitalist powers have accepted this
arrangement. It is true that, especially since the disappearance o f the
Soviet Union, some major allies have not always been entirely
compliant. But, given the needs o f global capital, it is not surprising
that the principal allies o f the US - who have also been its principal
economic competitors - have generally agreed that the US should
have its huge military preponderance and have more or less conceded
their own military subordination.
Nevertheless, there remains something to be explained about the
behaviour o f the United States. It may not be hard to see why global
capital in general needs one preponderant military power to maintain
an orderly and congenial system o f multiple states, but it is not
always so clear how the hegemony o f the US benefits US capital in
particular. We can certainly see why US capital might be interested
in some direct imperial interventions like, say, involvement in Latin
America. But it is not so easy to find a direct connection between US
military supremacy and any specific advantage in global economic
competition.
What is easier to demonstrate is that, once this kind o f military
preponderance exists, it has a dynamic o f its own. This is especially
true when it has no specific and self-limiting objectives. And what I
am arguing here is that, by definition, the new militarism cannot
have such objectives, given its wide-ranging and non-specific func­
tions in policing the global state system.
With the kind o f unchallenged power it enjoys, we can hardly be
surprised that the US will use its huge military preponderance to
pursue what any given administration, at any given moment, takes
to be its interests, without any constraints - and particularly when
its economic supremacy is no longer as unchallenged as it used to be.
It only takes a George W. Bush to push this use o f power beyond all
limits. But what I am suggesting here is that military excesses are
 P r e f a c e to t h e P a p e r b a c k Edition xiii

inscribed in the mission o f global capital itself, with or without an

extremist administration in the United States.
Since even the massive power o f the US cannot by itself embrace
the globe, the next best thing is regular displays o f military force, if
only pour encourager les autres. War in Iraq, for instance, was probably
not so much a prelude to, say, an invasion o f Iran but, on the contrary,
an attempt to avoid such a risky venture. Iraq was a suitable target
not because it represented a threat to the US and its allies but, on the
contrary, because it represented no real threat at all. The US could
thus ‘shock and awe’ the whole region (and the world), with (or so
the geniuses in the White House thought) little risk to itself.
The fact that military theatre, or the ‘demonstration effect’, has
become a major element in US military policy makes it hard to
predict what will happen next. It was much easier to decipher the
pattern o f traditional imperialism, when the objectives really were
direct colonial rule and territorial expansion. US foreign policy is
much more unpredictable because military actions now tend to be
detached from any specific objectives. It is often more a matter o f
asserting dominance than achieving any particular goal.
It must remain a matter o f conjecture whether the fiasco in Iraq
will cause the US to change course in any significant way. I f a
primary objective is simply to exhibit the destructive effects o f US
military power, even this disaster has, in its way, been a success. At
any rate, the unseemly spectacle o f the US desperately seeking an exit
strategy from the debacle without forfeiting its imperial advantage in
the region is certainly no guarantee that things will change; and we
have, as yet, seen no sign o f an alternative to the imperial policy o f
endless war - not necessarily continuous war but war without end,
in purpose or time.
Ellen Meiksins Wood
London, March 2004
 PREFACE

As this book goes to press, the world is still waiting to learn whether the
US will really launch its threatened war against Iraq. The rhetoric is as
bellicose as ever, and the military build-up in the region goes on. It is not,
of course, impossible that the Bush administration is hoping for face-saving
developments - such as a coup in Iraq or the voluntary departure of Saddam
Hussein - that will permit it to extricate itself from an increasingly unpopu­
lar and potentially disastrous adventure, and that, contrary to appearances,
the White House welcomes the delays occasioned by UN inspections.
But, whatever the outcome of this alarming episode, the explicitly stated
policy of the Bush administration invites us to fear the worst, with its
emphasis on overwhelming military superiority designed to forestall any
possible challenge or rivalry, from friend and foe alike, and its insistence
on a unilateral right of ‘preemptive defense’ against any conceivable, or
inconceivable, threat.
Since this Bush Doctrine was clearly announced in September 2002, its
liberal critics have typically treated it as a sharp departure from the general
trend of US foreign policy since World War II. It is certainly true that an
overt commitment to preemptive attack is something different from a pol­
icy of containment and, at worst, retaliation, such as the US professed to
embrace throughout the Cold War and thereafter; and the inclinations of
the Bush regime have no doubt taken US unilateralism to new extremes. It
xvi Preface

is even possible to argue that the Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz-Perle axis

represents a distinctively sinister extremism, alien to the mainstream of US
politics - to say nothing of the very immediate and personal interest in oil
on the part of the administration’s principals.
Nor would it be unreasonable to interpret the Bush policy, especially
in the Middle East, as approaching the kind of outright colonial empire
that the US has generally preferred to avoid, if only because that old form
of imperialism has been too risky and expensive, and, indeed, unnecessary
for such an overwhelmingly dominant economic and military power. Cap­
italist imperialism, after all, seeks to impose its economic hegemony without
direct political domination wherever it can; and the Bush regime may be
closer than its predecessors to violating that practical rule.
But even if we look upon the Bush Doctrine as an anomalous historical
detour in the development of US foreign policy, even if we overlook all
previous military interventions by the US, even if we ignore the many ways
in which earlier administrations have stretched the principles of ‘liberal
imperialism’ to their utmost limits and beyond, the Bush phenomenon
cannot be understood except as an extension, however extreme and ulti­
mately self-defeating, of the logic inherent in US foreign policy at least since
World War II. And that foreign policy, in turn, makes no sense abstracted
from the more general logic o f the capitalist system, with its complex and
contradictory relations between economic and political/military power.
This book is both a political response to the current situation and an
analytic/historical exploration of capitalist imperialism in general, of what
drives it and has distinguished it from other imperial forms since its incep­
tion. What we are seeing today, as the Bush administration pursues its
reckless policies, may be a special kind of madness; but, if so, it is a madness
firmly rooted not only in the past half-century of US history but in the
systemic logic of capitalism.
Ellen Meiksins Wood
London, January 2003
 INTRODUCTION

Anyone who talks about US ‘imperialism’ is likely to be challenged

on the grounds that the US does not directly rule or occupy a single
country, anywhere in the world.1
And that, indeed, is the difficulty in characterizing the ‘new’
imperialism. While a few colonial pockets still exist, neither the US
nor any other major Western power is today a colonial empire in
direct command o f vast subject territories. Although the US has a
military presence in about 140 countries, it cannot even be said that
imperial power unambiguously imposes its rule through the medium
o f puppet regimes kept in place by imperial military power. Nor, for
that matter, is there anything today like the commercial empires that
once prevailed because they commanded trade routes by means o f
superior force or more advanced naval technology.
There was a time when not only colonial rule but economic
exploitation o f colonies by imperial powers was a fairly transparent
business. Anyone observing the Spanish in South America, or, later,
2 Empire of Capital

the Belgians in the Congo, would have had no difficulty understand­

ing the means by which the wealth o f the subject was being
transferred to the master. In that respect, traditional imperialism had
much in common with certain domestic class relations. Just as there
was nothing particularly opaque about the relationship between
feudal lords and the peasants whose labour services or rents they
appropriated, or between the absolutist state and the peasants whose
taxes it extracted, the relationship between colonial masters and their
subjects was reasonably clear: the one exerted the force, up to and
including genocide, that compelled the others to forfeit their wealth.
In modern capitalism, the class relation between capital and
labour is rather more difficult to decipher. Here, there is no direct
transfer o f surplus labour. The workers pay no rent, no tax or tribute,
to their employers. There is no obvious way o f distinguishing
between what workers keep for themselves and what they forfeit to
capital. In fact, far from extracting rent from workers, the employer
pays them, in the form o f a wage, and that payment appears to cover
all the work the worker performs: eight hours’ pay, for instance, for
eight hours’ work. It is not so easy to unravel how the workers create
the wealth o f capital by means o f labour for which they receive no
recompense, or, to put it another way, how capital derives more
benefit, in the form o f profit, from the workers’ labour than the
workers receive in exchange in the form o f a wage. It may be self-
evident to any reasonable person that capital accumulation could not
take place without a net transfer o f surplus labour from workers to
capitalists, but how this comes about is far less clear. The Marxist
theory o f surplus value is a persuasive account o f how this transfer
takes place, but the fact that such a complex theory is required to
explain what ought to be a fairly straightforward transaction testifies
to the opacity o f the relation between capital and labour.2 The
extraction o f rents or taxes from a peasant - where it is obvious that
 Introduction 3

part o f what the peasant produces goes to pay landlords or states,

whether in kind, labour services or money - needs no such com pli­
cated theorization.
More particularly, in the absence o f direct coercive force exerted
by capital on labour, it is not immediately obvious what would
compel the worker to forfeit surplus labour. The purely economic
coercion that drives workers to sell their labour power for a wage is
very different from the direct political or military powers that enabled
lords or states in non-capitalist societies to exact rent, tax or tribute
from direct producers. To be sure, the propertyless worker has little
room for manoeuvre, when selling labour power in exchange for a
wage is the only way o f gaining access to the means o f subsistence,
even to the means o f labour itself. But that compulsion is
impersonal; and any coercion that operates here is, or so it appears,
imposed not by men but by markets. On the face o f it, that still
seems a matter o f choice, while the only formally acknowledged
relationship between capitalists and workers - in sharp contrast, for
example, to the juridically recognized relationship o f domination and
subordination between feudal lord and serf - is an exchange between
legally free and equal individuals.
This is not the place to go into the intricacies o f value theory or
the measurement o f the surplus value that represents the exploitation
o f labour by capital. The point here is simply that, whether or not
we acknowledge that what passes between the worker and the
capitalist is indeed exploitation, their relationship is not at all
transparent, and the means by which, rightly or wrongly, the capital­
ist appropriates what the labourer produces is by its very nature
obscure.
Much the same can be said about the nature o f capitalist
imperialism, and for much the same reasons. Today, it is harder than
it was in earlier colonial empires to detect the transfer o f wealth from
Other documents randomly have
different content
"'Many a mother's child he has ruined,' said Uncle Salvatore
(Palermo), 'and how many are still crying!'
"'What is more,' continued Lupo, 'I have given Michele, the
Calabrian, his fare to —— to go and see his family, which was
stricken by the earthquake.'
"'You have done well,' broke in Cecala, winking an evil eye and
making a peculiar motion. Doubtless this was a secret sign. He lifted
his glass and shouted: 'Let's drink our own health and to hell with
that Carogna!'[4]
"The 'table talk' now turned on other things, such as the exploding
of bombs by Sylvester, aided by his son and the step-brother of
Morello. It appeared that they had run away after the bomb had
been hurled when they were caught and brought before the judge,
where they pleaded innocence and so escaped the clutches of the
law. There was some talk of Lupo's business failure for a matter of
about $100,000; and mention was also made of the failure of a bank
in Elizabeth Street, which was controlled by Uncle Vincent.
"In spite of his business reverses Lupo was in good humor and sang
several songs for the company with the bravado of the born bandit.
By and by the lusty gang went to bed, occupying every bed in the
house. Caterina and I remained awake. At daylight, Cina, Sylvester
and Giglio left. The others remained to direct and help in the work.
"After three days of directing the work at the stone house, and
trying out the guns in the woods together with Uncle Salvatore, Lupo
and the latter departed. Salvatore remarking that he was going to
make his home at Cina's house. Their departure left Uncle Vincent,
Giglio, Bernardo and myself to do the work.
"About the twenty-third or the twenty-fourth of February, I am not
certain which, I gave to Cina and Cecala the completed work on the
two-dollar notes, that is: twenty thousand and four hundred dollars
in counterfeit money. The bills were put up in packages of one
hundred and bundled into a dress suit case. Then they started to
plan the route for distributing the bad money. Cecala said that he
preferred to go to Philadelphia first; then Baltimore, where he had
many friends; from Baltimore they would cover Pittsburgh, Buffalo
and Chicago. The counterfeit money, after being placed at each of
the centers, was to be placed in circulation on a given day, so that
the notes would appear simultaneously in all the cities.
"They made me take the plates off the press and hide them under a
plank in the floor together with some ink. Every piece of paper with
any printing on was burned. Before departing they assured Caterina
and I that they would return in a week and give us some good
money; also, they would then tell me whether to continue or
suspend the work.
"A very lonesome week in the dreary old stone house followed. On
the first Sunday in March, 1909, Cina's brother, Peppino, bobbed up.
He had come to take me to Cina's house where certain people from
New York wanted to talk with me. He took a boxful of the Canadian
five-dollar counterfeit bills. The visitors were to determine whether
the Canadian money was good enough to sell or whether it was to
be burned up, so he explained.
"Upon hearing this I had a presentiment that the day of my being
murdered had arrived. Without saying a word to Peppino and Cina, I
called Caterina aside and told her my fears. I showed her how to use
the rifle.
"'Caterina,' I said, 'in case I do not return and people come to you
with any excuse, no matter what, to get you, it is a sure sign that
they have assassinated me. Then shoot whoever comes after you, or
they will murder you!'
"The poor woman began to cry, and I had difficulty in composing
her. Unnoticed by Peppino I managed to steal Uncle Vincent's
revolver, and put it into my pocket."
 CHAPTER XIII
THE BLACK-HANDERS IN SESSION

"Upon entering the house, which was close by Cina's farmhouse, I

saw a table in a room on the ground floor and around this table
were seated the following bandits: Ignazio Lupo, Giuseppe Morello,
Antonio Cecala, Uncle Salvatore (Giuseppe Palermo), Uncle Vincent,
Vincenzio Giglio, Bernardo Perrone, Nicola Sylvester, besides a man
from Brooklyn whom the gang called Domenico and who was a
baker, and five other men whose names I did not know. Cina was
not there, being occupied with his family, where a birth was
expected momentarily.
"As I stepped in no one motioned to recognize me nor was my
greeting returned. Mechanically I took a seat. After about ten
minutes of sinister silence and ill-boding glances, Cina broke the
strain as he came rushing in with Peppino, his brother, both of them
laughing and shouting like madmen.
"'A boy! A boy!' they yelled.
"Cina received the congratulations of the gang. Silence once more
haunted the room. Then Lupo turned to me abruptly and said:
"'Don Antonio, your work is worthless. It is a rotten job; so much so
that none of it could be sold. Cina and Cecala have risked their lives
in trying to sell it. However, they have sold some four thousand
dollars of the counterfeit money, taking in, all in all, about one
thousand dollars in genuine money. They have expended about two
hundred dollars on their trip to different cities distributing our
product. Therefore, there remains about eight hundred dollars,
which will be divided among the ones that have advanced the first
money. If you had turned out a good job we could have taken in
more by selling it all. As it is about seven or eight thousand dollars
have been made for the stove.
"'The Canadian money is worthless and must be burned. It cannot
be put on the market. But this is no fault of yours, in this instance. It
is the fault of the one who made the plates.
"'Now you watch how the money is divided. If there is any left, you
get it. These men present will not accept a penny of the remainder
until those who advanced the money have been settled with.'
"'As my work did not turn out well,' I replied to Lupo, 'give me only
enough to return to New York.'
"'No,' broke in Morello, decisively. 'We don't know yet whether you
may return to New York or whether you are to continue the work in
company with another man.'
"'You want money?' asked Lupo. 'Who will give it to you? I have
spent two hundred dollars and now will take that amount. There will
then be but six hundred dollars to be divided.'
"'Don't do things all your own way, Ignazio,' Morello warned in his
husky voice. 'Let us deliberate and argue this thing out. There are
eight hundred dollars. You have spent two hundred dollars. You get
seventy-five dollars now. I have spent fifty dollars and will take it
now, as I need it very much, as you know. Fifty dollars we will give
to Cina, twenty dollars to Don Antonio, ten to Uncle Salvatore and
ten more to Uncle Vincent, five to Giglio and five to Bernardo; what
is left is needed for the continuation of the work with the other
plates.'
"'And the man who made the plates, don't you want to give him
anything?' inquired Cecala.
"'Yes,' was the reply in chorus.
"'Well,' turning to me, 'take these twenty dollars,' said Morello, 'and
return to the house. Await there the decision whether you are to
return to New York or not.'
"I accepted the money and tucked it into my pocket. Then I was
driven to the stone house in a carriage accompanied by Cina's
brother Peppino.
"During this session with the gang some of them got busy and
started to burn up the Canadian five-dollar notes, and a portion of
the two-dollar American notes. These were the notes returned as
worthless by the gang. While throwing the notes into the stove
Uncle Salvatore and Peppino exclaimed from time to time:
"'What a shame. They might all have been sold.'
"Once more at the stone house I explained to Caterina what had
happened. I told her that they had given me the twenty dollars and
that I was going to go to New York and not return; of course she
was to come along with me. But after thinking it over we resolved
that our appearance was so miserable that we had better remain a
while longer. There was also the ever-present danger that if we ran
away from this gang we would be murdered. We abandoned the
idea, therefore, and stayed at the stone house awaiting the orders of
the gang.
"We were not kept waiting long. Next morning, Salvatore Cina came
to the house in a very happy mood. He told me that I could not
return to New York because the work was to be continued with other
and better plates for the two-dollar notes. The five-dollar notes were
to be continued, and we were to print until five million dollars had
been struck off the press. This amount, he said, would make us all
rich. Then the work was to cease. He told me that it had been
decided to buy a horse and carriage for the exclusive use of the
stone house. I was to go to New York and meet Cecala who would
introduce me to the man who was to direct the work from now on. I
was to tell Cina the day I intended going to New York.
"After arranging that Giglio and Bernardo were to remain with
Caterina, while I was in New York and Uncle Vincent went to
Newburgh on business, I said that I would be ready for my trip in
two days. Then Cina left me after he had warned me not to tell any
of the secrets of the place, explaining how hard it was for the police
to discover the plant. He declared I must be happy in the thought of
future wealth.
"On March 7, 1909, Cina returned to the stone house with a
carriage, bringing Giglio and Bernardo to keep Caterina company. He
drove me to the Highland station, and I got aboard the 11 A. M.
train for New York. Arriving at the Grand Central station I was met
by Cecala, who took me to a house at No. 5 Jones Street. Not
finding the party he was seeking there, he told me to go to my
aunt's house and return to the Jones Street address at eight o'clock
that evening and ask for Don Peppe.
"That same evening at the appointed hour I went to the Jones
Street house and inquired in a grocery store on the street floor for
Don Peppe. A woman indicated to me the door where I knocked. A
bald-headed man, about forty-five years old, with a nice light brown
moustache opened the door.
"Cecala was there seated in a chair. He introduced me to the man
who opened the door saying that he was Giuseppe Calichio, a
lithograph engraver, alias Don Peppe. Cecala turned to Calichio and
said:
"'Don Peppe, we are in need of your work. This man (indicating me)
is a printer, but he is not capable of doing the work that we require.
You must go with him and continue this work. It is already started
and everything will go well. When we have printed two or three
million dollars' worth we will stop. We are in luck.'
"'Unless we are discovered by the police,' replied Calichio.
"'Have no such fear,' said Cecala. 'The place where the work is done
is very secure. No one would ever suspect that such a thing is going
there.'
"'Listen, Cecala,' said Calichio. 'If things happen as they did when I
did work for you before, then I refuse to go. I do not care to work
and risk my life and then get nothing for it.'
"'No, no,' said Cecala. 'You know that that work did not turn out at
all well.'
"'I know nothing other than that you caused me to sell my little
printing shop, and I am in terrible condition financially even now as
a result of it. If you want me to do the work you speak about in
company with brother Comito here, you must give me twenty dollars
a week and board. I have a family in Italy to look after, don't forget.
As long as you pay me what I want I am ready to work for you; but
I must be paid in advance. The first week that you fail to pay me in
advance I will cease to work and come home. And what is more, my
dear Cecala, I want good eating and must have wine every day; as
you know there is not a day that goes by without my drinking wine
that I do not get a headache. The wine gives me strength and
health.'
"Cecala's answer to this was characteristic:
"'Don Peppe, I will do all that is possible to get you twenty dollars a
week, but I must first talk with the others, my friends, as you know
that I am not alone in this undertaking. As to the eating, you will
have all that you want and there will be wine. I will have a barrel of
it shipped to Highland, direct to Cina, who will see that you get
some when you want it.'
"'Who is this Cina?' asked Calichio, suspiciously.
"'He is my godfather, whom you will know when you are in
Highland,' said Cecala.
"'Perhaps he is that farmer whom I saw in Don Piddu's (Morello's)
house last year?'
"'Precisely,' said Cecala.
"He continued: 'I will bring the first twenty dollars to-morrow. To-
morrow night you will leave with Comito?'
"'All right. But first, I must see the plates and examine them to see
whether they are good. If I am to do this work, it must be done
perfectly. You know that I do not do things by halves. I must see
whether the plates need retouching. I will bring my tools. If I am
unable to use them for this work then we will buy some before
leaving the city.'
"'Have no doubt,' continued Cecala. 'I will come to-morrow morning
and show the plates to you, and you can take them with you.'
"'Come to-morrow about 10 A. M. with Comito, and not before ten,
because I expect a person on some personal business and do not
want him to see you,' counselled Calichio.
"During all this talk I did not say a word. On my way with Cecala to
my aunt's house in Bleecker Street Cecala remarked:
"'Don Antonio, that man Calichio is the professor for the job. In Italy
he has printed for aristocratic families, who were in hard luck. He
printed for these aristocrats about three million dollars in fifty, one-
hundred, five-hundred and one-thousand lire notes. This money was
worked off in this country on people who were going to Italy on
trips. Don Peppe is capable of transferring to lithographic stones the
engraving on bank notes and then transfer the engraving from the
lithographic stones on to zinc plates, and in this way perfect the
plates that are necessary for our business.'
"'Is that how our plates were made?' I inquired.
"'No. Ours were made by photography and a lot of preparations are
necessary by that method. It is enough to say that I have spent over
a hundred dollars up-to-date for chemicals.'
"Suddenly Cecala turned on me a whispered: 'Don Antonio, what
have you told your aunt?'
"'Nothing—why?'
"'Did she ask where you are working?'
"'No. She knows that I am working in Philadelphia.'
"'Good! If she asks with whom you are working in Philadelphia say
that your employer is a priest, and his name is Bonaventure (——).'
"'Very well,' I replied. 'My aunt is not interested whether I am
working with a priest or with a monk. I have told her that I was
employed in a printing shop, nothing else.'
"'Good! You are an intelligent man, and that is why I and all my
friends like you Calabrians, because you are secretive and are never
corrupted. I knew a Calabrian who was arrested with counterfeit
notes on him, once, and the policemen made him all kinds of
promises and even punched him, in their effort to learn from him
who had given him the counterfeit money to exchange; but he never
told a word. He never squealed.'
"I made no reply; only shook Cecala's hand and went to my aunt's.
"The next morning, I forget whether it was the 9th or the 10th of
March, I went at the given hour to Calichio's house, where I found
Cecala examining the zinc plates for the two-dollar American notes,
of the check letter C, plate number 1110.
"Calichio carefully examined the plates with a magnifying glass. He
explained to us that the acids that were used for washing the plates
were too strong and had destroyed some fine lines and that it would
be necessary to retouch the plates and so raise the missing lines. He
would do it himself, Calichio said, if the proper tools were brought to
him. Cecala quickly answered that the tools would be bought
immediately and that we were to prepare to leave for Highland that
night. We then went to a hardware store on the Bowery, and
Calichio selected some chisels and other tools, for which Cecala paid.
As soon as we were out of the store Cecala gave Calichio his first
twenty dollars in advance. Turning to me, Cecala said:
"'Don Antonio, Don Peppe and I are going to buy some chemicals.
You can go away and be at Jones Street to-night at 10 P. M. ready to
leave. Buy what you need, because you will not return to New York
until the work is completed.'
"I went to a store and bought a pair of shoes for myself and a pair
for Caterina. I also bought some little delicacies of food for her.
"That night the three of us left on the 11 P. M. train for Highland.
Arriving there at 2 in the morning, we were met at the station by
Peppino Cina with a carriage. He told us that we must go directly to
the stone house and not stop at Cina's farm because a strange face
might arouse suspicion among the neighbors. We did not work that
day. We took a much-needed rest."
 CHAPTER XIV
PRINTING THE BAD MONEY

"Calichio was up at an early hour and set to work retouching the

two-dollar American note plates. He fixed the plates on wood blocks,
made the press ready and got the right impression, prepared the ink
and struck off proofs on several kinds of paper to see the effect of
the ink and get the correct shade. He also prepared some chemicals
with which to dampen the paper and give a darker shade. Having
succeeded in getting the right shade of green Calichio explained that
the color was the same as on the genuine notes and that all they
needed now was the paper.
"Cecala then said he would leave immediately and have the paper
shipped forthwith. Turning to me Cecala gave instructions for me to
be busy only at feeding the press. Don Peppe was to direct the job. I
to obey the latter in every detail. Cecala then took the proofs and
put them in his pocket, saying that he would show them to Ignazio
and Don Piddu (Lupo and Morello) and mark the difference between
this and the first job, which was mine.
"Two days later Nick Sylvester came and brought with him a suit-
case full of paper which he gave to Calichio saying:
"'To-morrow Ignazio will come to see how the work is going along.
In the meantime you can proceed with the work and print. I will
remain to help you.'
"When Lupo arrived the next morning in company with Cecala and
Cina they all came up to the work room. After examining the work
they praised Calichio, telling him that they ought to give him a gold
medal. As for me, I was deserved of a dirty, leather medal, the
bandits hinted.
"Turning to me Lupo said, 'This homely Calabrian doesn't even
deserve to be looked at. The work he did should have been burned
on his head.'
"I did not reply, but played the simpleton.
"After examining the work Lupo turned to Uncle Vincent and said:
"'Uncle Vic—guess what's happened?'
"'What?'
"'Petrosino was killed in Italy.'
"'Honestly?'
"'Honestly. The papers are talking about it.'
"'I said it,' continued Uncle Vincent, 'that if Petrosino went to Italy
they would kill him.'
"'Who was the hero? He deserves a medal,' said Cecala.
"'And where have they killed him?' continued Uncle Vincent.
"'In Palermo.'
"'Then it means that it was well done,' said Uncle Vincent,
significantly.
"'Certainly. The way it was done it could never fail,' said Lupo.
"'And——,' Cecala said. 'This was death becoming him. How many
sons of mothers he has condemned for nothing.'
"Hearing all this I asked:
"'Who is this Petrosino?'
"'He was the head of the secret police in New York,' replied Cecala.
'A homely man! Worse than the Bubonic Plague.'
"'I never heard of him.'
"'You will never meet him,' said Cecala dryly, the others grinning.
"'Then it was successful?' continued Uncle Vincent.
"'Certainly,' replied Lupo. 'It could not be successful in New York
because he guarded his hide. Here he toted a revolver in his coat
pocket and was guarded by two policemen a short distance behind
him.'
"'It is a good example for the policemen,' continued Uncle Vincent.
'No one will now dare to go to Palermo. There they will find only
sure death.'
"Cina did not talk any because he was intent on spreading the
counterfeit notes out on the garret floor. When he came downstairs
to the workroom, however, he said:
"'As soon as we can we must celebrate for joy; just now we will be
content with a glass of wine.'
"They all went downstairs and sat at a table conversing in low voices
and I could not understand what they said because the press made
a noise and interfered with my hearing.
"I and Uncle Vincent continued to work at the press under Calichio's
directions. Sylvester would take the notes as they were printed and
spread them out on the floor in the garret to dry. Bernardo was
stationed outside armed with rifle and revolver to guard the house
and to 'spot' any person who might pass or prowl about the
premises.
"In the afternoon of that day Lupo, Cecala, and Cina went outside
and had some sport trying out their revolvers against the trees.
When they returned Lupo asked Calichio how long it would take to
print the ten thousand two-dollar bills. About twenty days was
Calichio's estimate.
"Lupo then told Calichio that he would leave the plant, but would
return at the end of the month and bring plates for five-dollar
American notes. He addressed Calichio as 'dear Don Peppe' and told
him to be prepared for the work and to take particular pains with the
five-dollar notes, because he intended sending some of them to
Italy.
"'Have no doubts,' replied Calichio. 'I have never done any work that
was useless, and you know it. My work has always been perfect.'
"'Bravo, Don Peppe, we know that you are a professor at it,' said
Cecala.
"That same night about six P. M. Cecala, Lupo, and Cina went away,
leaving me with Calichio, Uncle Vincent, Sylvester, and Bernardo.
"During that month (March, 1909) we worked without interruption
printing the two-dollar notes. About the 27th, the first twenty
thousand dollars of the counterfeit two-dollar notes were ready and
were turned over to Cina and Sylvester, who were to bring them to
New York.
"After this first job of Calichio's workmanship had been turned over,
on the last Sunday in March Lupo returned in company with Cina,
Sylvester and Giglio, who brought the plates for the five-dollar notes
and about twenty thousand sheets of paper upon which to print the
additional money.
"Upon receiving the plates Calichio looked them over attentively and
said that they were copper plates and not zinc, and that there was
need of slight retouching. He detected several lines that were not
shown in the photograph on the face of the note. These lines
needed to be etched into the plates in the picture, which
represented a farmer and an old man with a woman and a dog.
"Lupo explained to Calichio that Cecala was on the road about New
York, Brooklyn and Hoboken, selling the two-dollar notes, but that as
soon as he finished up this work he would return to the stone house
and oversee the work there.
"Calichio prepared the press, fixed the inks, and printed the first
proofs for the green side of the five-dollar notes. These were
pronounced very good by Lupo and Uncle Vincent and they ordered
that fifteen or twenty thousand of them be printed. Whatever paper
was left was to be used for the two-dollar notes, which were very
good and easily disposed of.
"On the night of the 29th, or 30th of March, 1909, Lupo left in
company with Uncle Vincent and Cina. Before leaving, however,
instructions were given to Bernardo, Giglio and Sylvester to count
the notes printed daily so that none could be unaccounted for and
sold into circulation. The fear that cheating might be practiced was
evidently in Lupo's mind.
"We had been working about a week on the green side of the five-
dollar notes when on April 5th, or 6th, Cina came to the stone house
and told us to suspend the work and start in on the two-dollar notes,
because there was a large demand for them from Boston, Buffalo
and Chicago, where customers were anxiously awaiting a new
supply. Calichio immediately got the press ready to print another ten
thousand of the two-dollar notes.
"It was at this time that I decided not to continue the work and left
the press because I was not spoken to but ignored entirely. Even
Sylvester and Giglio called me by an obscene name and referred to
me in the most distasteful language, horrible to hear because of the
profanity. I told Cina I wanted him to write to Cecala and tell him to
send me sufficient money for my fare to New York. At this Cina
answered in the Sicilian dialect:
"'You are waiting for me to blow your brains out. Now that we are at
the point where we can earn some money, you get sassy. Here you
are dealing with gentlemen; otherwise, by this time you would be
dead. Go ahead and work. No more of this fussing.'
"Then turning to Sylvester and Giglio, Cina continued: '(Piciotti)
Boys, watch this Calabrian, and if he don't want to work, shoot him
and make a hole for him in the farm.'
"After hearing this I felt like a whipped dog and kept my mouth
closed. I went over to the press and started in to work. Calichio
came over to me and said:
"'Don Antonio, look out. Don't act this way with these people,
because they are all of the (Mala-vita) Mafia and will do you harm in
an instant. As long as you are among them you must obey orders,
as I do, using prudence.'
"Now it happened that for two weeks Calichio had not received his
weekly salary and he became nervous for this reason. One day,
when I did not want to print on wet paper, he dressed and went
away. I, thinking that he had just gone out, stopped working and
waited for him to return. But at night, when Sylvester, Giglio and
Bernardo saw that Calichio did not return, they threatened me with
death. Sylvester pointed a loaded revolver at me saying that he
would dig my eyes out; Giglio, taking an axe in his hand, said he
wanted to cut my head off, but Caterina intervened and the
threatening stopped. Sylvester left the stone house to carry the
news to New York.
"Three days went by without any work being done, then Calichio
returned in company with Sylvester and Cina. Cina handed me a
note from Cecala which informed me that I must obey Calichio's
order or suffer terrible consequences. I worked on against my will
under Calichio's orders."
 CHAPTER XV
SOME "AFTER-DINNER" CONFESSIONS

"One night in the month of April (1909) I was sitting with the
bandits in the stone house and listening to their stories. Calichio,
Sylvester, Giglio and Bernardo were there. Among other exploits
Calichio remarked that he had once printed one million lire for a
baronial family residing at Naples in Italy. This was about fifteen
years back, he said, when his father was alive.
"Sylvester boasted that his first sentence was for five years in the
reformatory as a minor. He ran away from the reformatory in
company with several other boys and got into the horse-stealing
business. He was sentenced several times for small offenses and he
once was arrested for carrying concealed weapons.
"During his imprisonment he came to know a certain Terranova, who
was a half-brother of Morello, and they became fast friends. They
stole horses in New York and sold them in other cities at reduced
prices; or they would bring the horses to friends in the country
(Highland) and receive payment. He told of being arrested once
when with Morello's son and brother; they had thrown a bomb into a
store in Mott Street. They were let go because there were no
witnesses to the crime. In concluding his recitation Sylvester said:
"'One night I went with the Morello brothers and other friends into a
hall where a Jewish wedding was being celebrated. As we entered
the hall we recognized two policemen who had helped us before in
our jobs. Our idea was to steal watches. We succeeded in stealing
about fifteen watches when a Jew I was robbing got onto me. He
grabbed me by the coat and called the police. The policeman knew
me and took my part. He pushed the Jew aside and told him to go
away. The policeman said he knew me to be a fine young man for
more than ten years. The policeman told the Jew he was lying and
that if he said any more about the matter he would be put under
arrest. The Jew was crest-fallen, but went on dancing all the same.
As we came outside, I gave three watches to the policeman, two of
silver and one of gold. I disposed of the others in New Jersey. We
divided the proceeds equally among us.'
"Then Giglio made the boast that the police had never been able to
arrest him. He had been in great danger, though, he said. One night
in the winter of 1906 he went to Newburgh to steal a horse and
carriage. While running away with the stolen property he was shot at
twice. Neither bullet hit him, though, he said. Two months later the
same horse and carriage were sold in Poughkeepsie for one hundred
dollars.
"Bernardo had nothing to relate except the innocent amusement of
having stolen fruit in his native town. The others grinned.
"On April 26th or 27th the second lot of Calichio's two-dollar notes
were ready. They totalled fifteen thousand dollars and were wrapped
up in rags. Giglio and Sylvester took them to New York.
"Calichio and I then renewed work on the five-dollar notes, which
we figured on finishing about the middle of May, when a
communication from New York made us stop again on the five-dollar
notes, and we started on the third lot of Calichio's two-dollar notes.
During the month of May, I, Calichio, Sylvester, Giglio and Bernardo
all had a hand in the completion of this third lot of two-dollar notes,
which amounted to $10,000; then, too, we finished up by the end of
May $14,700 of the five-dollar notes. During this period Calichio
received his wages punctually, but he did not let on to me.
"When the work had been completed I called Caterina aside and told
her that I was going to New York and would not return to the stone
house, as I did not intend to continue at that sort of work. In fact, I
dismantled the press, piece by piece, took the genuine five-dollar
note that was used for comparison, it being the original from which
the plates were made, and said to Giglio:
"'Don Vincenzio, I am going to New York to seek rooms and will see
Cecala there; I am going because, counting this last batch, I have
printed about $60,000 and have received nothing for my labor.'
"'You deserve to have your head smashed on a rock,' was the
cheerful reply. 'If the money is not yet sold, who will you see to get
paid?'
"'Cecala.'
"'Cecala is not in New York. If he were, I certainly would bring him
this last batch of money. We must wait until my brother-in-law
comes.'
"'I don't care whether it is sold or not. I am in a miserable condition
and will not remain here.'
"'Do as you like, but look out, though, if you do any harm there will
not be a hair left of you.'
"'I want to go about my own business and do not care about others.'
Thereupon, I took a suit-case with a few rags that I had left and
went on foot to the Highland Railroad station where I changed the
five-dollar bill and bought a ticket to New York. Arriving in the city I
went directly to my aunt's, who was surprised to see me so poorly
clad and in such a miserable condition. I told her that I had had a
quarrel with my employer because he had not paid me.
"On June 2nd, while walking about my business, I met Cecala at
Bleecker and Carmine Streets. He laughed at me, shook my hand,
and inquired why I had not remained at the stone house in Highland
and continued the work.
"'I could not continue,' I replied, 'because I was treated too shabbily
there by the others. And why should I continue to work when no
word had come to us from New York for more than two weeks?'
"'Well, Don Antonio,' said Cecala, 'I will fix all your affairs so that
Caterina will remain in New York, for you and Don Peppe must
continue the work. The man who made the plates has been working
on another set of Canadian notes, not like the first that we printed,
but of the same denomination, five dollars.'
"'Write and let Caterina come now,' I said. 'As to my doing more
work for you, let's talk about that later.'
"'It is not necessary to write; I will telephone. Come with me.' From
a drug store at Carmine and Bleecker Streets Cecala telephoned to
Highland, or rather to Cina's house.
"Cina's wife said that her husband had gone with Ignazio (Lupo) to
Newburgh and that she would tell him when he returned. Coming
out of the drug store Cecala handed me ten dollars, saying:
"'Take this ten dollars and find rooms for yourself. I will provide for
the rest later when Caterina comes to-morrow or the next day. Your
things will arrive in a few days.' He told me to keep him advised. I
could meet him at a barber shop in Carmine Street, he said.
"Not seeing anything of Caterina, on June 4th I wrote a letter to
Cina at Highland, and requested him to send my things immediately
and to give Caterina the money for her fare to New York.
"Cina received my letter and got the impression from it that I was
going to tell the police, and he went right over to the stone house to
ship my furniture.
"On the fifth of June, in the evening, Don Peppe (Calichio) came to
my aunt's house and there told me that he had run away from the
stone house with Caterina because they had threatened to kill him.
He said that the threats were made by Sylvester, Giglio and
Bernardo. Hearing this I hastened out on the stoop and saw Caterina
all trembling. She said: 'I don't know how we escaped—Don Peppe
and me.'
"'Why?'
"'Bernardo, Sylvester and Giglio wanted to kill us; and Bernardo had
already got hold of a shovel to dig a hole.'
"'And who gave you the money for the fare?'
"'Lupo.'
"'How much did he give you?'
"'He gave ten dollars to Don Peppe in the presence of Cina, Uncle
Vincent, and the other men, whom I do not know, and he gave me
five dollars.'
"'Well,' I said, 'to-night you will sleep at my brother's home, and do
not tell him any stories nor let him understand the circumstances of
our trouble. To-morrow I will find a house. Cecala gave me ten
dollars the other day.'
"I thanked Calichio for getting Caterina out of the stone house to
New York, and then went away leaving Caterina at the home of my
brother."
 CHAPTER XVI
EVADING THE GANG IN VAIN

"On June 6th I rented some rooms at No. 171 Thompson Street and
paid for a month in advance. I then went to the barber shop to find
Cecala. I told him of hiring the rooms and that I needed a deposit to
have the gas turned on. He told me that he would look out for
everything in a day or so when he had the time. He showed a
receipt for my goods, which had been shipped from Highland the
day before and which would soon arrive, he said. He gave me five
dollars with which to pay the charges on my furniture when it would
arrive. When I asked him how I was to get food, he handed me a
card and said that I was to go to the address and say that he sent
me and that provisions would be furnished me. On the card was D.
Milone, No. 235 East Ninety-seventh Street.
"'Will I get what I want there?'
"'Certainly,' Cecala said. 'Just mention my name and all will be well
with you there.'
"After arranging with an express company to have my goods taken
from the dock to the Thompson Street rooms, I went to the Milone
address and asked for Cecala.
"'Who is this Cecala?' inquired a short man of ruddy complexion and
stout face.
"'Why, don't you know him?' I asked. 'He gave me this address
where I was to come and buy groceries.'
"'Have you inquired in the bank downstairs?'
"'No.'
"'Go and see.'
"I went down to the bank of one De Luca and found a barrel
containing groceries addressed to Luigi Cosentino. This I had
brought to my rooms in Thompson Street.
"'You must pay sixty cents,' said the banker, 'right away.' And Cecala
paid the money for me.
"Going upstairs again Cecala said in the presence of Giglio and
Sylvester:
"'Don Antonio, we must continue the work. Not in that place (the
stone house), but in another farm that has been rented by Giglio
and that is very far from Highland. We will not work any more with
the same press because it is not very good as to impression. We
must buy a new press, which Calichio is negotiating for now, a new
model.'
"'I will not come again,' I replied, 'because I have found work as a
compositor and I am to go to work to-morrow.'
"'Don't begin to make trouble. You know all our secrets now and we
can't let you go.'
"'But why don't you let Calichio continue the work?'
"'Calichio is no good at the press. You know of what he is capable.'
"'I cannot go,' I repeated.
"'Listen, Don Antonio, I promise you that you will not work much.
Print at least the other ten-thousand sheets of paper for two-dollar
notes and the work will be completed. Then we will suspend
operations for the summer, and will begin again in the Fall.'
"'Mr. Cecala, I will return to print the paper that is left, but you must
give me, at the beginning of August, $400 because I want to return
to Italy; then I will come back to New York in November. Are you
satisfied?'
"'Have no doubts as to that. By the first two weeks of August I will
give you $500 and not $400, because by that time I will have sold all
the money. But will you return to America?'
"'Yes, because I am going to Italy only to arrange family affairs.'
"Calichio now arrived and said that he had found the party who
wanted to sell the press, and he suggested that I go and see the
man. At this juncture Giglio interrupted to say that the press, which
we had been using, had been broken up and thrown into the woods
on the farm that had just been rented in his name for the new
location of the plant.
"'But,' put in Calichio, 'is that farm a place that is at all likely to be
suspected?'
"'Certainly not,' said Giglio, 'it is far from Highland, about three hours
over the road, and is situated on the Hudson River. It is a frame
house standing by itself so that in working there will be no noise
heard by neighbors. And there is no road where people pass by the
house.'
"'You mean,' Cecala interrupted, 'that you can work without fear of
being disturbed?'
"'Not even the flies will disturb us.'
"'Good,' said Cecala, turning to me. 'Go and see this Riso (the
pressman) and see if he really wants to sell the press.'
"'Why should I go and not some one else?'
"'You are of the trade and know whether there are any defects.'
"'And if he asks me who I am, what shall I answer?'
"'Tell him you are Cosentino and have a shop on One Hundred and
Fortieth Street.'
"'Why don't you come with me?'
"'No,' said Cecala, 'I will wait here.'
"'It would be better that you come along. Two heads are better than
one.'
"Cecala was persuaded and together we went to the printing shop to
look over the presses. Riso, the pressman, said that he wanted to
sell the press because he had not enough work to keep it occupied
and was short fifty dollars to pay off the mortgage. He explained
that in order to sell it he must first get permission from the factory
people, who held the mortgage. He bought it about eight months
previously.
"A price of $85 was agreed to.
"'But,' queried Riso, 'what do you need the press for?'
"'For a printing shop,' I replied.
"'And have you a shop now?'
"'Yes.'
"'Where?'
"I gave him the One Hundred and Fortieth Street address suggested
by Cecala before we entered the printing shop.
"Riso assured me that the press was first class and would turn out
fine work.
"On June 10th, the next day, the press was paid for and carted off in
a covered wagon. I had taken the press apart without arousing
suspicion that it was to be taken on a long journey. The parts were
taken off because of the danger of leaving them on the press body
while in shipment. On the sides of the closed wagon was the name
of Antonio Armato, Bakery. The man who drove it was introduced to
me by Giglio as his godfather. Giglio explained that the press was to
be carted on godfather's wagon because he had been unable to get
an express wagon at the moment.
"In order to keep up the bluff before Riso I said to Giglio:
"'Well, it is just as well. You know where my shop is and can have
this man take the press there. I will remain downtown and attend to
other matters while you take the press uptown.' Cecala squinted at
me admiringly.
"On the 13th of June Cecala informed me that I was to be ready to
go to Highland at six o'clock the next morning. I was to go to Cina's
house and remain there a day, he said, and then I would be taken to
the new farm. He told me that the press had been shipped and
taken to the house by Sylvester, who had returned to New York.
Cecala also said that he had given Calichio ten dollars with which to
pay the fares and that I was to meet Don Peppe (Calichio) at his
Jones Street house early the next morning and then board the train
in company with him. Money would be forwarded to me as soon as I
reached Highland; Cecala had none with him at the present.
"'I hope you will not treat me as you did before,' I said. 'Promise to
pay and not pay.'
"'Have no doubt. I will take in $200 to-night from a man in Brooklyn,
and will send you ten dollars by Giglio.'
"Cecala said Giglio was in New York then at the house of his
(Giglio's) brother-in-law in Jackson Street. This brother-in-law had
married one of Cina's sisters, but he knew nothing about the
counterfeiting scheme.
"At five o'clock in the morning of June 14th I went to Calichio's
house and found him packing a suit-case with inks and plates. One
of the sets I remember was the Bank of Montreal design with a baby
on the green side, marvelously clear zinc plates. Calichio told me
they were to be used for making the new Canadian five-dollar notes.
"'When are they to be printed?' I asked.
"'When we get to the new farm.'
"I told Calichio that I certainly would not print any of them at this
season and he suggested that they probably were to be printed in
November. He said:
"'They will probably be printed in November, at the beginning of the
winter season, for now the waters are troubled. The police is making
arrests daily.'
"He placed the plates in the suit-case and together we went to
Weehawken Ferry and arrived in Highland at 11 A. M. There found
Peppino waiting for us at the station with a carriage. He drove to his
brother's house (Cina's). There we found Uncle Vincent and
Bernardo, the others having gone to Poughkeepsie on business and
left word that they would return by evening. After lunch I played
with Cina's children while Calichio, Uncle Vincent, Bernardo and
Peppino locked themselves into a room for a conference. About 8
P. M. Salvatore Cina returned from Poughkeepsie with Sylvester and
immediately ordered his brother to prepare the horse and carriage
and take us to the 'Third' farm."
 CHAPTER XVII
CAUGHT AGAIN!

"About two o'clock in the morning we arrived, Calichio, Bernardo,

Sylvester, Peppino and Cina, at the 'Third' farm. Peppino returned
immediately from the 'Third' farm to Cina's house. The four of us
who remained slept on straw, there being no mattresses. About
three o'clock the next afternoon Cina brought us some mattresses,
pillows and covers; some food-stuffs and ten quarts of wine. Cina
remarked that this was a splendid place, and that no one could
disturb us there. He gave the following orders:
"Calichio and I were to remain in the house and work. Uncle Vincent
would watch along the railroad track to see if any strangers came
near. About noontime, Uncle Vincent would come in and do the
cooking; then Bernardo, armed with revolver and rifle, was to do his
turn and guard the farm. He was to be helped in this by Giglio and
Sylvester whenever they were about. Cina said that if Calichio or I
wanted to have our mail addressed to us we must tell our folks and
friends to send it to 20 Duane Street, Poughkeepsie, where Uncle
Turi (the well-dressed man referred to before in this story) had
opened a grocery store. Cina assured me that news would be
brought to us daily from the outside and that a horse and carriage
had been brought for the express purpose of going to and from
Poughkeepsie and bringing groceries.
"Calichio made the press ready and we began work on the fourth
batch of the two-dollar notes. There was no interruption all that day
but, on the next morning, June 17th (1909), Calichio declared he
wanted to leave for New York because he had had a bad dream
during the night and there was news from his family.
"Bernardo accompanied Calichio to the station and I and Uncle
Vincent remained alone, walking about the grounds in front of the
house.
"About 11 A. M. Uncle Vincent was preparing macaroni for the
noonday lunch when two well-dressed men and prosperous
appearing, driving a horse and carriage, stopped in front of the
house. One man was about fifty, the other about thirty. They tied the
horse to a tree and came over to me, addressing me in English.
"'Are you Italian?'
"'Yes,' I replied.
"'Have you rented this farm?'
"'No.'
"'Who is the owner?'
"'A man named Giglio.'
"'Where can I see this Giglio?'
"'In New York. His wife is sick,' replied Uncle Vincent.
"'When does he return?'
"'We don't know.'
"'We had come to buy this farm and would like to look inside. Will
you permit us to enter and see?'
"'No,' was Uncle Vincent's instant answer. 'We are not the proprietors
and are here to guard the fruit. Return some other day when Giglio
is here and he will give you permission.'
"The men assured us that they would get the permission to enter
the house and drove away. When they were gone Uncle Vincent with
a pale face said to me:
"'Don Antonio, I feel sure these men are detectives. Should they
return there will be others with them and they will arrest us. In case
we fall like mice in a trap don't say who you know. Otherwise we are
all ruined. If they find the press we must insist that we found it in
the house, and don't know to whom it belongs. Let us go and burn
what was printed yesterday in order to avoid suspicion.'
"'I am not going back,' I answered. 'I am going through the woods
to the railroad tracks to the station and then back to New York.'
"'If you go away I will not let any one come near the house. And if
those two men return I will kill them.'
"'Do as you like,' I replied. So saying I took my hat and jumper and
walked along the railroad tracks for about an hour until I came to
the Highland station.
"I was peacefully at home in Thompson Street on June 20th when
Cecala, Cina and Sylvester arrived. As soon as Cecala saw me he
said:
"'You were very much afraid. You must not be so frightened. The
people who came to the farm were men of a good sort and not
detectives. But you did well in not letting them enter the house.'
"'Since I am away,' I replied to Cecala, 'do not talk of continuing the
work. I will not return. I don't care to fall into a trap alone, and you
all out of it.'
"'Better if we remain out. We can help you.'
"'Bother the help. Leave me in peace. I want to attend to my own
affairs and be at rest.'
"'No. Now that we have started to print we must finish the paper
that is left unprinted.'
"'I will not return to the farm. Make Calichio continue the work.'
"'You must return and complete the work,' said Cina with arrogance.
"After about five minutes of silence Cina again did the talking. He
said:
"'Very well, we will not return to that farm but in order to have you
content we will draw up a contract and you will appear as Luigi
Cosentino, the proprietor of the second farm. Then you may return
and continue the work without danger. I will telephone to-night and
have the press brought to the stone house. The people nearby the
stone house have seen you before, and when I tell them that the
place is now yours they will not have any suspicion.'
"'I want to find work here in the city. I have worked for you for
seven months and have received only forty dollars in all for it.'
"'Well,' said Cecala, 'but I will give you five hundred dollars as soon
as you have finished this last job. Is that satisfactory?'
"'Surely.'
"I figured that if I got the five hundred dollars I could return to Italy
and not have any more bother, and so I consented to go back and
complete the work. Cecala and Cina went with me to a notary public
in Elizabeth Street and a contract or lease of the second farm was
drawn up. I appeared and signed as Luigi Cosentino. The person
from whom I rented the farm was one whom I had never seen
before. He was called Salvatore Galasso. The notary gave a copy of
the paper to me and another to Galasso, and Cecala paid the
charges.
"On June 24th (1909) I and Calichio began work anew on the
second farm, at the stone house, and continued until we had
finished $13,500 more of the two-dollar notes. When this amount
was printed, Calichio went to New York and left me with Uncle
Vincent, Bernardo and Giglio to cut to regular size the two-dollar
notes and count them and pack them in bundles of 100 each. This
work was done during the month of July.
"On the 28th or the 29th of July Cina arrived and stopped all the
work, saying that operations were suspended for the summer. The
last lot printed, he said, was to be divided among fifteen of us.
Cecala had left about twenty days before, and as no word had been
received from him it was supposed that he had been arrested.
Turning to me Cina said:
"'You, Don Antonio, divide up the money for fifteen persons, and see
what will come to each. Each can sell for himself or exchange them.'
"'I will not take any of them, that is certain,' I replied, 'because I
have no friends to whom I can sell them. And what is more, I will
risk imprisonment.'
"'That means that you will leave your portion to me, and in time I
will sell it for you,' said Cina.
"'I don't want to know whether it is left to you or somebody else.
Only, you will bear in mind that together with Cecala you have
promised $500 with which I was to go to Italy when this work was
completed.'
"'Well, if Cecala returns and brings good money, you will be given
what was promised you. In the meantime, dismantle the press and
give me the plates, for I must save them. Put them in a box together
with the ink that was not used.'
"Without losing any time I took some boards and made a box and
put into it the plates for the two-dollar notes, check letter 'C,' plate
number 1110; also the five-dollar copper plates, and the second
Canadian note plates, which had not been used, and some cans of
ink. I nailed a cover over the box, and in the presence of Uncle
Vincent, Bernardo, Giglio and Cina, I gave the box to Cina and he
said:
"'We hope to open this box in November if things go well.'
"The first Canadian plates—those that had been used together with
the first two-dollar note plates, Check letter 'A,' plate number 1111—
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