That article had an unsatisfactory and anti-climatic ending. It ended right when the Secret Service arrested the counterfeiter, where a normal reader would expect more discussion of how the Secret Service found the man and how they questioned the man after the arrest.
Did you read all three parts? They laid the groundwork by alerting local police and store owners about the counterfeiter probably living in that area of Manhattan and got lucky because the neighbor's apartment caught fire and the building owner threw out some of his burned possessions, including the plates and some counterfeit bills.
Oh thanks! I didn’t realize there are two more parts; the link to the other parts were at the top rather than the bottom of the page.