◆ SpookStack

I ndiana It was last May when the residents| arms, | He Wee, out nearly Ralf 9 million wp. Ol y one time in recertspesms, One report has it that the Carrozzo empire will be graced by no less @ 10 personage than Al Capone mats himase|r when he finishes a one year term i the county jail after his release from Alcatraz penitentiary next year. . It is sald that Capone's friends, re- calling the good fortune Dillinger en-| joyed in Lake county, have long considered that district to be the saf- 2s {ot Hobart, Ind., {pop, 5,787] came t0/\", | ost possible haven for their leader { realize that there sy in crime. Dilinger made his fabu- _j were strange do ings in the coun- tryside, Sore one of great impor- tance — certainly one of great jous escape from the Lake county jail in Crown Point in 1834 to resume a life of outlawry. Meanwhile, crewa of workmen are renovating and fortifying Mr.. Car- rozzo’s country place, which Mike named Superior farms. - Wherever Mike goes on his preserves he is with- € jin sight of a number of hard faced, them. chunky little men. Some of them ere Large farms Py 0 beside him, others behind him and were being rwift- 2 e still others peer out from the“shrub- ly bought up for ly bery. cach —cash in lh “My Secretaries,” He Explains. $1,000 bills. A *s “My secretaries,” Mr. Carrozzo ex- total of $300,000 had been paid for land and $100,000 was being spent in modernizing five Veautiful farm residences, and in barn and outbuild- ing renovation and reconstruction, Track Laid Out. New barns the size of Zeppelin hangars were belng built, <A_ half mile dirt track had been laid oul and there were special stables for blooded horses and cattie. | Six foot cyclone fences topped with barbed. wire Inclosed the tract. A fortified empire had been created In the heart of Lake county—John Dil. linger’s favorite slamping grou. The owner, the people Jearned was a Mr. Carrozo; a Mr. Michael, Car- rozzo, if you please. It was something of a shock, hew- ‘Tever, when they found that their ‘leountry gentieman was and is none 4 other than the Carrozzo who has Jong ‘been known sire Mike, Capone henchman and r of the street la- ‘Tl borerg’ council in Chicago. His name thes been on many police blotters since 1916. Twice he was indicted for murder and often arrested for carry- ing concealed weapons, but he never |' was convicted on these charges. bject of Discussion. Crees locates Huperior \ | _|wealth-—had f .)come among Farms. a Just ;| sweeperBj chose the old Dillinger ter- ritory for, his fortified estate-and It | is fortified in the most modern man-|- ‘| ner—is a subject of much discussion -| both in Chicage and the Hobart oqun- tryside. y ‘| Carrozzo is wealthy, but those wip know him doubt that he could have Som rate e roe tive ow hy the king of the street - | ay | plains to his neighbors. But from the “'many workmen on the farm the, %.|meighbors have learned that each of the secretaries carries a large bore | Pistol on his hip. None speaks Eng- lish, + Carrozzo's appearance jn the area [was unheralded. He dropped in one day at the home of a farmer who was offering for $170,000 a 320 acre tract f thet had three residences on it and "|a number of barns. Mike laié down 145 $1,000 bills. It was a deal. Then he bought four adjoining farms, bringing to #00 acres his total f| holdings, The empire is on U. 8. . | highway No. 6 about fifty miles south- t| east of Chicago. Driving toward Su- perior Farms you roll along nearly a mile between the high fences—fences ordinarily geen only around pena! in- stitutions—before reaching the first y | #Toup of buildings. p Barrters Block Gateway. The gateway is blocked by heavy -j tron barriers. Behind them is a pretty tjwhite piliared farmhouse, roofed 4|with green alate. About 200 yards to ¥ tthe south stands one of the largest 3] barns in the central west—its length “|is about 300 feet. There are three ,| enormous silos and many smal] builld- _| ings and sheds, a!l painted a dazzling white. . ‘ There are signs on the fence at regular intervais, warning against trespassing. “But they haven't had ‘Jany trouble about trespassers since the folks heard about the secretaries,” one native remarked. Down the road is another pretty | white house, with an even heavier ; fence around it. You are struck by! the absolute bareness of. the grounds. There are no trees behind which any One could take cover. “They tell jas," remarked the guide, | “that Mike throw electrical cur- rent into the fence. That's the Car- - 34-/5747/- .;elothes, the men and women There : i | buttdings. Jaround siiey TOU, a, “}and tilesetters are stil) “Mike has a iot of marked the guide. . eavy, elding wire, © * anew e Uttle tether yo. slate eof, evo, fat tie with 'a} rest. the stuble ‘Is the - 1 are plenty tricky. But they say Mike ls not go hat. He tell : the other day.’ om hs horme;