“Alien Smuggling Ring Centred In Montreal,” Toronto Star. September 10, 1931. Page 03. ---- Five Attorneys Among Leaders, Declare U. S. Officials ---- New York, Sept. 10. (UP). - The government to-day sought indictments against more than a store of persons in the hope of breaking up an alien smuggling ring operating ‘with the efficiency of a chain store system,’ and believed responsible for importing 8,000 foreigners to this country.
United States Attorney George E. Medalie, said five or six of those he hopes to indict are attorneys. Nineteen men already have been arrested.
The ring, Medalie revealed, is a large scale organization not unlike many rum-running rings. Headquarters were maintained in Montreal. Administrative ‘offices’ were established in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.
One group acted as ‘spotters,’ looking for aliens who wished to enter the United States. Another printed and forged entry permits. Still others members did the actual smuggling.
An alien first was forced to sign a contract, called for payment of $200 to $5,000. Authorities say they have seized three bound volumes containing between 5,000 aand 6,000 such contracts.
Then on some dark night the foreigner would be placed in a rowboat on the Canadian shore, near Buffalo or Detroit and rowed across. Or he was placed in an automobile and driven by one of the numerous roads across the border. Still another method was by aeroplane. Three aeroplanes used for this purpose recently were seized in Detroit, officials said.
