1675-1 Wofford Rites f . : - - • sop.,�i , lite
• 1 EricksowHad
t`l� s�t� i
Jilve : Wofford Share offord t • morrow 2
Services for It was remodeled and reopened Papers Reveal
4iami Beach so . _ that year as the Wofford Beach
ialite Olive •
u Hotel. BY DON PETIT
Vofford will be s �- i • s Miami Daily News Staff Writer
t 2 p.m. tomor : Mrs. Wofford's Miami Beach s
ow in Michigan • mansion at 4221 Pine Tree Dr. Was Gambler Frank Erickson held
he died Monday �K Y the site of a sensational robbery at- o an interest ino the mob-controlled
t North Miami , :, tempt in 1968. Jack (Murph the n Wofford hdtel at Miami Beach
eneral Hospital Surf) Murphy and three others tent Hotel Associat
Mrs. Wof ford , were apprehended in a daring hold- t wastion revealedeedt Abe Alin pap, s
nd her husband Wofford up attempt in which Mrs. Wofford today in papers
An Wofford was held at gunpoint and a maid which were from
son. Mt
'ere the former owners of the and a niece were bound with cord. I Records s ze n the
g
/of ford Beach Hotel in Miami Mrs. Wofford alerted police with a f bier's New York headquarters
each. silent alarm and the four were ap- 5 revealed that Allenberg reported
prehended after a wild chase along regularly to Erickson about
In 1,940,•the Wofford Hotel was Indian Creek. Erickson's end of a partnership
.ased to Neal Lang and Thomas She was a member of the La in the Wofford.
assara, but in 1948, Mrs. Wof ford Gorce Country Club, the Surf B I The Erickson-Allenberg tieup
aimed the hotel had become a Club and the Church-By-The-Sea. ; in the Wofford operation was re-
ambling front and sued to reclaim She was born in Cassopolis, Mich., recordsealed today in the inventory of
Police investigations at the time and had resided here for the past 50 seized May 2 by the New
iowed that New York gambler years. York district attorney's office.
rank Erickson and organized
ime figures Anthony Carfano and Mrs. Wofford is survived byher Assistant New York District
ion Angersola did hold interests in niece, Jill Henderson,of Miam ,and Attorney Vincent of the
said here today that some of the
;e hotel and Mrs. Wofford finally an uncle,Lo Lewis Simpson of, Cas- items in the inventory which had
.gained control in 1950. sopolis. been released earlier in New
York showed Erickson's partner-
.... ship in the Colonial inn and other
enterprises.
The records today revealed
that Allenberg not only reported
to Erickson on the operation of
the Wofford but supplied Erick-
• son with copies of his own fed-
eral income tax returns for the
off ord .Hotel years 1936 through 1943 as well.
The inventory shows that
Erickson held an interest in the
hotel in the same years that Lit-
To Be Renamed tie Augie Pisano and John
Angersola, alias John King, no-
torious mobsters, moved in on
the place.
Seeking to rid the(Wofford o- Pisano is a big-time racket
teioNsf the stigma aRtached boss in Brooklyn, N.Y., and
the name because of its long con- Angersola is a member of the
trol by racketeers, Mrs. Olive Cleveland mob.
Wofford will call the hotel the
Wofford Beach hotel when it re- A letter was found in the files
opens Nov. 1 after extensive al- addressed to Erickson from Al.l„tf') terations. lenberg reporting on the finan-
C Mrs. Wofford fought in the cial condition of the hotel for
courts to seize the hotel from 1943.
4 the unsavory characters who A second letter is Iisted in the
" ! had taken control and had made inventory from M. G. Furman,
1., •, the hotel a hoodlum hangout, but a certified public accountant at
N was unsuccessful in her at- Miami Beach. '
tempts to break a 10-year lease The letter read: "As you prob-
executed in 1940. ably know the fiscal year of the
Testimony about the Wofford, partnership which operates the
which is at Collins ave. and 24th ; hotel is Oct. 31. As nearly as
st., figured in the Kefauver hear- • we can figure at this time the
ings in Miami. At one time total net profit for the year will
Frank Erickson, convicted New
York bookie, had a "piece" of See Erickson: Page 4A, Col. 4
the lease.