Old Report on The K&A Gang
The Kensington and Allegheny Avenue section of Philadelphia has spawned many major burglars. Many have been members of the K & A Gang. Among members of the original K & A Gang were Donald Abrams, Michael Leo Andrews, John Carlyle Berkery, Joseph Bloom, Hugh Francis Breslin, Edward Burkowski, Joseph Raymond Burns and Herman Charles Cable Jr. Over the years, the term K & A Gang member has been expanded to include just about any professional burglar from the Philadelphia area who has been associated with the group. Law enforcement authorities also indicate that they are active in gambling and loansharking. Many are members of the Local 30 Roofers Union and Local 107 of the Teamsters Union in Philadelphia. John C. Berkery is the most financially affluent and successful member of the original criminal group. His criminal career started in the 1950's and 1960's with several convictions on charges of attempted burglary, larceny and receiving stolen goods.
He is a very close associate of Philadelphia Cosa Nostra member Philip C. Testa, probable successor to crime boss Angelo Bruno, Frank Sindone, the crime family's principal loanshark, and Frank Narducci. Berkery has been involved in financial deals with the Grasso-D'Andrea group and other crime figures. While most burglars remain in their profession and show no obvious signs of wealth, some like Berkery use the proceeds from their crimes to finance legitimate businesses. Law enforcement sources indicate that Berkery has been involved in several firms. One of the businesses was Vend-A-Matic, 5233 Torresdale Avenue, Philadelphia, which was started in 1970. Berkery was listed as an officer. He sold his interest in the mid 1970's, and the business name was changed.
In 1976, Berkery disclosed in court records that his income from Thrifty Check Cashing CO. a firm at the site of the old Vend-A-Matic-and from gambling, totaled $200,000 for 1973 through 1975. Berkery also disclosed that he owed $145,000 to the Internal Revenue Service. He has since reduced the amount.
Berkery also owned the Molly Maguire Irish Pub, 3215 "H" Street, Philadelphia. Joseph Willse acted as front man. The bar was seized by the Internal Revenue Service in 1978 for non payment of taxes and is now inactive.
A Burglary in Houston
Bruce Thomas Agnew, Louis James Kripplebauer, known members of the K&A gang, and Thomas Frederick Seher were major burglars in the Philadelphia area. The three men and Marilynn Grace D'Ulisse, Kripplebauer's girlfriend, were in the Houston, Texas, area from January 7 to January 11 of 1976, where they had conducted several major burglaries. When they arrived January 11 at Philadelphia Airport, carrying no luggage, the group was searched and questioned by airport police and FBI agents, but no stolen property was found. The FBI checked freight arriving at Philadelphia Airport from Houston on January 11 and 12, and four footlockers and other pieces of luggage were discovered shipped to the four suspects under aliases.
The footlockers and luggage contained over $200,000 in fur coats, coins, stamps, jewelry, diamonds, silverware, quartz and crystal statues, and other items stolen from four different burglaries in an affluent Houston suburb. The four were arrested. Agnew, who had pleaded guilty in 1973 to firearms violations and was sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined $2,000, was sentenced to 5 years in jail; Seher to 6 years in jail; Kripplebauer to 7 1/2 years in prison and 5 years probation; and D'Ulisse to 6 months in prison and 4 1/2 years probation.
An Escape Falls
In April of 1977, Joseph P. Bloom, Dallas I. Custalow, Daniel A. Gundaker and William J. Shirk were stopped by FBI Agents on a highway in Yardley, Pennsylvania, after burglarizing a home in Edison, New Jersey. Shirk, Gundaker and Custalow were arrested but before Bloom could be taken from his car, he gunned the motor and escaped after nearly hitting one of the agents. Bloom was arrested a few hours later. The car he was driving was searched, and the loot taken during the burglary, worth about $100,000, was found in a pillowcase filled with jewelry, including diamond rings, broaches, cuff links, bracelets, and sterling silver place settings. The burglars' tools were also seized.
Bloom was sentenced to 7 years in jail and placed on probation for 3 years. Custalow was sentenced to 9 years, fined $2,500 and placed on probation for 5 years. Gundaker was sentenced to 7 years in jail and placed on probation for three years. Shirk was sentenced to 2 years in prison and 4 years probation.
Manufacturing Meth
In addition to burglary, Hugh Breslin, a member of the K & A Gang, and his brother, Daniel, have been active in manufacturing and dealing in methamphetamine. The brothers were arrested by the Pennsylvania State Police in November of 1977 in Tobyhanna Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania, in a building in which the drug was manufactured. In 1978, they were convicted of narcotics charges. Daniel Breslin was sentenced in March of 1980 to serve from 1 1/2 to 3 years in prison and fined $5,000. His brother, Hugh, was sentenced to serve from 2 to 5 years in prison and fined $5,000.
