Report of the committee of fifty citizens on the existence of secret societies in New Orleans.
To the honorable Mayor and Council of the City of New Orleans:
On the 18th of October last, under a resolution introduced to the council by the Hon. A. Brittin, which reads as follows: “That his honor the mayor be, and is hereby, requested to appoint a committee of fifty or more citizens, whose duty shall be to thoroughly investigate the matter of the existence of secret societies or bands of oath-bound assassins, which it is openly charged have life in our midst and have culminated in the assassination of the highest executive officer of the police department, and to devise necessary means and the most effectual and speedy measures for the uprooting and total annihilation of such hellborn associations, and also suggest needful remedies to prevent the introduction here of criminals or paupers from Europe”—the honorable mayor appointed this committee, known as “The Citizens Committee,” and urged that prompt action be taken by it to carry out the purposes of its appointment. The committee was convoked, immediately organized by the election of proper officers, adopted a policy and a line of action, and have pursued same consistently and vigorously. We beg leave herewith to briefly make you our report.
Upon its organization the committee deemed it wise that its deliberations should be secret. Its first step was to resolve that all of its actions and doings should be strictly within the pale of the law, and from the beginning this has been strictly adhered to. The emergency that suggested the appointment of this [Page 723] committee and called it into being as an auxiliary to the constituted legal authorities was, briefly, this:
The police and criminal records of the city of New Orleans during the past twenty years give evidence of scores of murders and assassinations committed in this city where the law has been powerless to bring the perpetrators to justice. At the request of this committee the chief of police has made an examination of his records, and we herewith append a copy of that report,* showing a number of murders and affrays (some ninety-four), nearly all shrouded in mystery, where the perpetrators have escaped just punishment. As a rule, these crimes have been committed under cover of darkness and surrounded by mystery, and all bear evidence of preconcerted assassinations. As a rule, the victims have been either Italians or Sicilians, and the surrounding circumstances indicate that their deaths were the result of deliberate concerted action. The police and municipal authorities have been powerless to expose and bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
Not only was it impossible to obtain evidence from the bystanders, but nothing could be obtained from the victim himself. There is not a case on record in this city where the dying man did not profess utter ignorance of the identity of his assailant. Whenever the accused was brought to the deathbed of his victim for identification, the result was always the same—the dying man would embrace him and assert that he was one of his best friends, incapable of doing him an injury.
Arrests were made, and, although the State secured, in many instances, the strongest evidence of the guilt of the suspects, the accused invariably escaped through perjury or the medium of the convenient alibi. Whenever an Italian was murdered or wounded, no witness could be found to identify the assassin. He was equally safe whether he did the work in secret or in the presence of any number of his countrymen. All that he had to be careful of was that no man of any other nationality was present. The police always met with the same response—no one could indentify the assassin or give a description of him. Time and again the police have arrested the man they were morally certain had committed the crime, and time and again the accused has escaped for want of evidence, only to perish himself by the hands of the dead man’s friends, and thus vindicate the judgment of the police in making the arrest.
The people fretted at the frequency of these crimes. As a rule, the assassinations were confined to one race, and they were Rome with as long as they were bearable. On the ______ day of May last a wagon, containing a number of Sicilian laborers returning from their work at the fruit wharves, was waylaid on one of the most prominent streets in the city of New Orleans, in the glare of the electric lights, and fired into by a number of armed men. Numerous arrests followed, and the men accused of the attempted assassination were brought to trial. All were eventually acquitted. The people smarted under this new failure of the law to protect society from organized lawlessness, and, though they realized the growth of danger, this offense was passed by and condoned. On the 15th of October last the chief of police of the city of New Orleans, who was the very embodiment of the law itself, while returning from his office to his residence, was waylaid and shot to death on his own doorstep by a band of midnight assassins. The shots came from the opposite side of the street and directly in front of a shanty occupied by a Sicilian. The last words of the chief of police were: “The Dagoes did it.”
A number of guns with which the deed was committed were found in the gutter, where the fleeing assassins had thrown them. They were folding shotguns—villainous weapons—devised and used only for purposes of assassination. A number of Sicilians and Italians were arrested and brought to trial for the murder, and the mayor appointed this committee to act in concert with and aid the authorities in bringing the perpetrators of the foul deed to justice. The committee pledged itself, and was pledged, not to go outside of the law or legal methods in, their coöperation with the constituted authorities. They employed the best detective skill, they contributed liberally from their own means, and succeeded in collecting a large amount of money, with which they employed the best legal talent.
By all legitimate methods known to them they secured all the testimony possible bearing upon the case. The testimony against the accused, either as to conspiracy or actual complicity in the murder, was strong—as to some of the accused it was conclusive.
[Page 724]Vast sums of money were raised and expended in behalf of the accused in a legitimate and illegitimate way to free them from just punishment under the law. A tribute was levied, and money in small quantities poured in to swell the fund used to enable them to escape. A lengthy trial was had, but, as in the past, the law was powerless to punish, and the people stood aghast at this new miscarriage of justice. Evidence developed itself that the jury in this case, as in previous ones, had been tampered with. This evidence has been laid before the grand jury and has been made the basis of their report. The result of this trial demonstrated to the people that no one was safe from the mysterious band that had placed itself, and was operating, outside of and regardless of the law. It was only when this fear grew into absolute conviction that the people themselves rose in their might, took the law into their own hands, and then followed the events of the 14th of March.
With the occurrences of that day in the parish prison this committee had no connection, and of the contemplated vengeance of an outraged people they had no knowledge. The acts of that day were the inevitable outcome of the existing conditions detailed above, and followed as the night the day, and have been approved by this community and the entire country.
So careful was this committee to keep strictly within the letter of the law while prosecuting the work that it had been appointed to do, we remind your honors that during the trial of the accused for the assassination of the late chief of police public feeling and indignation ran high; and, it coming to the knowledge of this committee that some attempt might be made upon the lives of the prisoners while being transported from the parish prison to the court-house, the committee resolved upon calling the people together in mass meeting to reassure them that the law was strong enough, and would vindicate this outrage upon its dignity, and give the people that protection of life designed in their enactment. The Italian consul of this city was admitted to the counsels of the body and approved of its course in convoking the mass meeting. The two addresses delivered at that meeting and the resolutions adopted counseled submission to the law, and were models of moderation, and had the effect intended. The people listened and were calmed, and quietly dispersed and waited for the law’s vindication through the courts. How the law was vindicated; how the people were paralyzed by the outcome of the trial; how they rose en masse and vindicated the law, are matters familiar to all and have passed into history. The testimony of corruption and the influences brought to bear upon the jury in the Hennessy case during the trial were all well known to this committee. The grand jury had this testimony before it during its recent deliberations, and its findings are known to the world. It is therefore unnecessary, after that masterly document, for this committee to enter into any details as to the evidence that induced that report.
We have been instructed to thoroughly investigate the matter of the existence in our midst of secret, oath-bound societies, with assassination as one of their objects. Our investigations convince us that these societies do exist in the city of New Orleans. We have it on the authority of the different chiefs of police of the city. Gen. Badger and Col. Boylan, former chiefs of police of this city; Gaster, the present chief of police; Malone, present chief of detectives, connected with the detective force for the past forty years—all attest its existance; and so did Hennessv, who was credited with a deeper knowledge of this Mafia and its methods than any other detective. Every man who has ever held a high position in police circles and every committing magistrate who has ever sat upon the bench in this city are convinced of its existence.
Ben Onorato, an Italian, and once a leading auctioneer in this city, called upon the present mayor during his former term and communicated to him the numerous moneyed demands upon him by the Mafia and threats of bodily harm in case he did not comply. Onorato lived in terror of the Mafia, until recently his reason gave way under the strain, and he is now confined in one of the insane asylums of this city.
Messina, another Italian, having accumulated some means, was repeatedly made to pay tribute to the Mafia, until life became a burden to him, and he died miserably several years ago. Messina refused at one time to comply with these exactions, and immediately his life was attempted, a lucky accident alone saving him.
These are only two of the very many cases within our knowledge.
Frank Romero, one of the men shot in the parish prison, boasted upon several occasions that he had but to lift his finger to command the services or many men ready to do his bidding, whatever it might be.
[Page 725]That portion of the Italian population identified with these affairs is divided into two factions, the Provenzanos and Matrangas. Leading men from each of these factions have called upon the mayor, communicated to him threats against their lives made by unknown persons, and asked protection against the opposite faction, who, they asserted, composed the Mafia and had condemned them to death.
For years the Mafia has terrorized the Italian population of this city and levied tribute upon those of them who did not belong to the society. When money was desired, a written demand was made for it, and a refusal meant death.
When the brigand Exposito was arrested by Hennessy and carried to New York, the fact was developed that a large number of Sicilian banditti, driven out of Italy by the vigorous measures of the present King and his father, had sought refuge here in New Orleans, where they assumed the disguise of innocent fruit-venders and keepers of fruit stands. Beyond the fact that a number had come to this city, nothing more could be learned. Aliases were as familiar to these people as air, and not a syllable of information could be obtained from their countrymen.
On the 12th day of August, 1890, Hennessy wrote to L. Bertin, the chief of police of Rome, asking him the names, records, arid photographs of the members of the band of Exposito, the noted bandit, whom he arrested and carried to New York. His letter stated that he had reason to believe that many of the band were in this city.
On the 1st day of September, 1890, Mr. Bertin replied that he would be pleased to comply with Hennessy’s request and would shortly send him the information.
Very soon after the receipt of this letter from Mr. Bertin, Heiinessy became aware that the fact of his having written to Mr. Bertin and the subject of his letter were known in this city, though he had mentioned it to no one.
The information desired was never sent by Mr. Bertin. He was murdered before he could send it, and his correspondent, Hennessy, followed after a very short interval of time.
After Hennessy’s death, and after the arrest of the guilty parties, there was found amongst his effects an anonymous letter, dated July 23, 1890, informing him that his life had been sworn away by the Mafia, and naming some of the men afterwards concerned in his murder.
Finally, we have the statement of the present resident Italian consul.
In the New York Tribune of March 18 there appeared a lengthy interview between a representative of that journal and Signor Pasquale Corte, Italian consul at New Orleans, in which, among other things, the consul said: “This does not exclude the fact that among the number of worthy Italians residing in New Orleans there are among them about one hundred criminals escaped from Italian prisons,” etc. This statement was copied and appeared in the public prints of this city, and was brought to the attention of this body, and a committee was appointed, consisting of its chairman and Gen. A. W. Crandell, to call upon the consul and ask that he furnish us with the names and all information in his possession relating to these escaped criminals. The committee was received and explained the object of its call. A lengthy interview followed, in which all parties spoke freely and openly. The committee explained fully that the only object in the appointment of the citizens’ committee by the mayor and council and the only purpose of that body was to legally rid the community of criminals and give greater security of life and property to all its citizens of whatever nationality. The consul stated that he was satisfied of this and was ready to cooperate with us to this end, and he would immediately prepare and send us a report containing all the information in his possession. He stated that he was convinced of the existence of the Mafia in this city, and brought out the registration papers of Bagnetto, and pointed out the imprint of a seal, which, he informed us, was the seal of the Mafia. He said he had strong suspicions, which amounted to conviction in his mind, as to who were the leaders of the society in this city, and he furnished the committee with the names. He stated that prior to the Hennessy assassination he had in some way unconsciously incurred the displeasure of a coterie composed principally of the men who met their death at the parish prison on the 14th of March; that they had invited him to supper, and, although he partook sparingly of oyster soup only, when he returned home he was taken desperately ill, suffering intensely all night, and his symptoms bore all the evidence of poisoning, and he was satisfied that his life had been attempted. The written information promised your committee never came. The consul sent word, first, that he had telegraphed to Washington for authority to give it to us, and afterwards notified the committee that, it being “an extrajudicial body,” he did not feel warranted in giving us the promised information. [Page 726] During the interview had with the consul your committee called his attention to the published statement in the New York Tribune to the effect that “the mayor had appointed an extrajudicial body, which had held a mass meeting in October last, having in view the same object as that of ‘last Saturday’ (at Clay statue), but its object was frustrated, owing to his earnest protests and the opportune intervention of Mr. Blaine.” We reminded him that he and prominent Italian citizens had called on the committee before the mass meeting was held, and, when the object of the meeting was explained, he approved the pacific course (justified in the sequel), and asked him how he reconciled his published statements with this. His reply was that the statements he had made to the New York Tribune had been made by Corte “as an individual,” not Corte “as consul,” and that the reporter had greatly exaggerated his statements.
In the resolution of appointment this committee was requested to suggest needful remedies. It only remains for us, therefore, to point out the remedy, if possible. In our opinion the remedy is—
- First. The regulation of immigration.
- Second. Reform in the criminal laws and administration of criminal justice.
- Third. A law recognizing the existence of a bar association and endowing it with full power to try and disbar any attorney whose evil practices render him unworthy of being an officer of court.
The only radical remedy which suggests itself to us is the entire prohibition of immigration from Sicily and lower Italy. It was found necessary to prohibit Chinese immigration, and Congress passed the necessary law. The danger to California from the Chinese was no greater than the danger to this State from the Sicilians and southern Italians. We have had long experience with these people, and that experience has been a sad one; they are undesirable citizens, and there is no reason why they should be permitted to participate in the blessings of a freedom and civilization which they are not only unable to appreciate, but which they refuse to understand or accept.
We further suggest that Congress be petitioned to pass a law requiring every immigrant from a foreign port to produce a certificate from the United States consul certifying that he has investigated his antecedents and considers him a desirable emigrant. Immigrants should be compelled to furnish satisfactory proof to the United States consul of their whole past life and character.
Second. We urgently advise your honorable body to petition the legislature to so amend the jury laws that jurors shall only be compelled to serve for two weeks at a time, service during two weeks to exempt from further jury duty for two years, unless summoned as a talesman; that the jury be paid $2 per day; that no man under the age of 25 years be qualified as juror; and that no person who has been convicted of any crime or misdemeanor be allowed to sit upon a jury.
The Hennessy trial shows the necessity of fixing such a period of service as will enable all citizens to serve upon a jury without any material detriment to their private interests. If citizens understood that they could only be made to serve for two weeks in two years, we do not believe that any would refuse to perform jury duty, and think the result would be that the very best juries could be secured without trouble. The large number of men in the city of New Orleans subject to jury duty makes this short term of service perfectly feasible.
The law should also be amended so as to make it an offense not only to bribe a juror, but to approach anyone summoned to do jury duty, either as talesman or as one of the regular panel, with the view of influencing his verdict in any manner.
The number of peremptory challenges allowed the State should be as great as the number allowed the accused.
A constitutional amendment should be proposed allowing a majority verdict in a criminal case, or, at least, allowing nine men to find a verdict, as in civil cases.
The ruling of the judges on the competency of a juror, when examined on his voir dire, should be final. They see the jurors upon the witness stand, and can better judge whether they are competent or not than the supreme court, acting simply upon the written record, without the advantage of seeing the jurors.
Here, again, the Hennessy trial demonstrates the necessity for the wisdom of this change. Any number of jurors were challenged for cause in that case who were perfectly competent and whom everybody who heard them testify considered to be competent. Their statements were somewhat exaggerated by their desire to escape jury duty, but made little or no impression upon those who heard them, though, when written out, their objections seemed serious.
The law appointing the jury commissioners and providing for the drawing of [Page 727] the jury should be amended so as to vest the power of appointing the jury commissioners in the judges of the criminal district court. This is the law throughout the State of Louisiana, with the exception of the parish of Orleans.
If the power of appointing the jury commissioners was vested in the judges of the criminal district court, they would have some control over the jury commissioners and be responsible for the proper discharge of their duties. As it is at present, they have no control whatsoever over them. The office of jury commissioner should be made a nonpolitical one, and such qualifications required as would secure good men.
The names of all deputy sheriffs appointed by the criminal sheriff should be submitted to the two judges of the criminal district court, and it should be made the duty of the judges to investigate thoroughly the character of the men, so that the responsibility for the appointment of bad men should be upon the court as well as upon the criminal sheriff. The Hennessy trial and the great power which the criminal sheriff and his deputies have over juries make it of the highest importance that only thoroughly tried and honest men should be appointed. The character of no official in the city of New Orleans is as important to the people as the character of these criminal sheriffs. We suggest that before their appointment and the judges confirm them, some public notice should be given, so that if there be any objection the judges may be thoroughly informed before they confirm the appointment.
We suggest that your honorable body petition the legislature to pass a law recognizing the existence of a bar association, endowing it with the power to try, disbar, and revoke the license of any attorney whose evil practices render him unworthy to remain an officer of the court. This, we understand, is the New York law, and recent events in this city have demonstrated the absolute necessity of some protection against unscrupulous attorneys.
We have said nothing with regard to detective agencies, because your honorable body passed an ordinance recently placing these dangerous agencies under the supervision of the authorities. The necessity for the ordinance has been amply demonstrated, but we suggest that the law should provide in some way for the protection of the community against men whose whole lives are devoted to evil, and who seem to have no redeeming traits. There should be some method of driving them out of the community.
We respectfully submit this report and beg to be discharged.
Chairman.