Roxie Allen Held as One of Gang in Dice Game Holdup


Camden Morning Post – December 8, 1930

Pugilist and Pal Identified as 2 of 4 bandits in Landisville Robbery

Players Lined Up, Relieved of $200

Robbers Flee in Stolen Car With Crippled Man at Wheel

Roxie Allen, Camden’s famed welterweight boxer, and one of his pals were arrested last night and Identified, according to police, as two of four men who held up a craps game early yesterday at Landisville. Loot is said to have totaled between $150 and $200.

Allen, whore real name is [Rocco] Auletto, and Carmen Passarella, 26, of 1227 Broadway, were arrested by City Detective Theodore Guthrie and Wilfred Dube and George Probert, state police investigators.

Nicholas Dandrea and Nicholas Yennitti, both of Landisville, identified Allen and Passarella at police headquarters. Police said Yennitti is the proprietor of the pool room in which the holdup was staged. It is known as “Poppy’s Place.”

A dozen men were backed to the wall when the four bandits entered. One carried a sawed-off shotgun while the other three brandished revolvers.

One of the bandits was crippled in both legs, according to the victims. They picked up the money laying on the table and then rifled the pockets of the players.

As they fled tho license number of their automobile was taken and turned over to Malaga state police. A check-up revealed the car had been stolen from the garage of Harry Whaland, real estate dealer, 1424 Mt. Ephraim Avenue. The license tags had been stolen from a disabled automobile of A. Baer, 611 Kaighn avenue. The state police declare the crippled man was driving the car.

Allen was recognized in the poolroom as the Camden boxer by the sportsmen gathered for the game, according to state police. Allen walks with a limp as a result of being shot August 2 at Third and Pine streets by Charles Areni, 699 Central avenue. Areni was found guilty in Criminal Court October 15. Allen and Passarella were taken to state police headquarters at Hammonton for further questioning. They will be turned over eventually to Cumberland county authorities.

Dube said charges of robbery and carrying deadly weapons will be lodged against the accused.

Allen gave his age as 21 and his address as 318 Spruce street. At one time he was rated as one of the best welterweights in the country. He and Passarella have peen close friends for years.

Two additional suspects were arrested by Camden police on information received from Hammonton state police.

Louls Bottino, 20, of 1440 South Fourth street, was arrested by Patrolman Joseph Lack at Broadway and Kaighn avenue.

Salvatore Passalacqua, 20, of 339 Clinton street, was arrested at his home by Detective Sergeant Rox Saponare.

Both men were arrested on susplclon and are being detained until today when an attempt will be made to identify them as the second pair of the four bandits.

When Newspapermen asked Guthrie what Allen said when he was arrested, Guthrie declared Allen had made no statement. A similar question at Hammonton State police headquarters brought forth a reply from Trooper Dube that “I am not making any statements right now, I am still working on the investigation, Don’t bother me for a couple of hours.”


Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.