Neumeyer went back to Petrillo and told him that he was afraid to do the killing himself, but that he could get a friend, who had just been released from jail in Newark, who would do it for a reasonable fee. He introduced agent Phillips as the "tough killer."
Discussion of the manner of the killing went on between Phillips and Petrillo, and then the subject was forgotten. In October, Neumeyer inquired of Petrillo when the job would be done, and Petrillo replied that "we fed him enough poison to kill a dozen men. He's in the hospital now. He'll croak, sure."
Neumeyer informed Landvoigt who reported to the Homicide Squad. Detectives found the embittered Ferdinand Alfonsi dying in a hospital, who told him he suspected his wife and Petrillo were lovers, and that the food his wife had fed him had tasted queer. Dr. Henry E. D'Alonzo, the attending physician, handed the detectives a report that showed Alfonsi was dying of arsenic poisoning. Herman Petrillo and Stella Alfonsi were arrested, charged with the murder of Ferdinand Alfonsi.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.