 As the Depression deepened, the Petrillos headed an informal gang, now including Morris Bolber and other self-styled 'fattuchieri/e' (wise women, witches) such as Maria Carina Favato, Josephine Sedita and Rose Carina, who offered superstitious, unhappily married, murderous or merely gullible women incantations, powders and potions to adjust their lives.These 'love potions' etc were usually arsenic, or antimony, and they were invariably accompanied by excessive insurance policies on the victims, often made out in favour of gang members rather than the supposed 'poison widow' beneficiaries.The gang embraced insurance agents and made highly successful use of the period's widespread cheap insurance policies, often taken out without medical examination (not required for policies under $500) or the knowledge of the principal concerned, who would subsequently meet an agonising death by arsenic, engineered by the spouse, possibly with intent, possibly in superstitious ignorance of their actions.