St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-25
Prof. Alesandro Ceptelli, of
st. Thomas Seminary,
Gives His Views. rs
Tessori Sehizzo Says the Band
Is Disorganized and Pow
erlesS. ssfs
Thugs Killed Hennessy = A
Sicilian View Of the Old /
Camopra.

couple of weeks. Italians have crossed
the bridges from all parts of the city to
be in attendance at these Fillmore ave-
hue gatherings, and whatever may have
been the subject of discussion. its treat
ment by the swarthy, brawny-throated
crew has been sufficiently vigorous.
Two weeks ago there were millions of
people in the United States who had
never heard of the Malta. nor dreamed
of the existence of such society, at
least IN America. Now the Sicifian
bugaboo is passed from mouth to mouth,
and the tales of the atrocities said to
have been committed at the instiga-
ton of the Malta lose nothing of their
horror at the retelling. With the
New Orleans murder still fresh in their
memories, it is little wonder that those
living near the Italian quarter should
look for an explanation of the tri-week-
ly gathering-the Malta is said to cover
the world; why not a section of the
assassin band in st. Paul? A repre-
sentative OF the GLOBE yesterday set
about discovering the object of these
meetings. Josef Bocigalup is one of the
oldest Italian residents, and proprietor
of fruit store at IS West Third street.
When asked il he knew of the meetings
being held by his cOuntrymen athwarJ
the stream, he replied that he did not.
IBID you ever hear of the Mafia2"
was asked.
Joseph locked out of the corners of
his eyes, smiled audibly, and replied
that he had heard about it, but did not
believe it. He was from the North of
Italy, and there was no Malta there. He
thought all the mlsdeedS of the Malta
had been committed prior to 1865. As
for the order having any existence in
America, he did not know of it, and be-
Ieved it was lie.
Have these West side meetings any
thing to do with the New Orleans trag-
edy?''
No. | know, now / come to think of
1t, what these meetings are for. 1t is
the Societa Uperaia CoIombo-all the
men who work forming new society.
In English suppose you call it work !
ers' association. 1t is only business
society. Don't you believe about the
Malta, it is all a lie that they tell. These
men i'll st. Paul are Italians and Sicil4
ianS from all parts of the island and
mainland, and l don't believe one in
fifty Of them ever heard of the Matia''
Prof. Alesandr0 Ceptelli, Greek in
structOr at st. thomas seminary, @ler;
liam Park, stated positively that the
Malta had no longer an existence, He
regarded the clIdrgln@.of the New Or
leans assassination TO the Malta as mis-
leading and harmful. The Malta he
said, had died natural death in Sicily!
1t was not true that the members had
been driven out of the cnuiItEy- 20
America. He had never heard of 1.-THE
re III nj, Il
discredited the Statements Inade in the
various papers regarding the alleged
order. The present government and
higher education since 1860 had done
away with murder and brigandage in
Sicily. He = was in weekly cor
respondence with friends in Pal
ermO, aud he knew that
the stories sometimes appearing in
American papers about brigands and
mountain bands were without founda-
ton. The country was perfectly tram
quill and very prosperous. The Malta
existed only in the imaginative minds
OF sensationalists. The island of Sicily
one would think was colony of the
United States, judging from the free
dom in discussing its affairs. The
American newspapers knew more about
the affairs of Ireland than the Irish did
themselves. IL was the same with
Sicily. The papers here print things
which are never heard of in Sicily,
concluded the professor. Tessori
Schlzzo is perhaps one of the most
thoroughly American Italians in the
Northwest, aud rumor says that he is
fairly well established financially.
us there section of the Malta in st.
Paul?" was asked him last night.
SchiZZo looked at the questiOner as
though to discover whether or not the
query had been serious, and then
laughed. He laughed so heartily and
continuously that he seemed in danger
from apUpleXy ere at last he calnIed
himself and became wonderfully seri-
Gus by contrast with his recent mood
"Wili you believe me-" he said. IF
tell YOU the truth about the Mafia?'
Having been assured that every word
he night utter would be regarded as
gospel, SCR. SchiZZo continued, raising
both hands as though calling heaven to
witness the truth as he spoke it:
'.The truth. then, by all the saints, is
this: There is no Malta. am not Ital
ian, am Sicilian-l come from Palermo.
In Sicily it was that the society OF The
Malta existed. 1t was very powerful,
and so strong were the ties that bound
its members together that the govern
ment was powerleSS to root it out. No
one knew who was in the Malta or who
was not. Ali hated it, and all feared it
even those who were deepest in the
plots for assassination and murder
which throve with its fostering
Yet it was the same with the
Malta as it has ever been with
similar bands. A man was killed in
MeSsina and another in Trapani, both
on the same night both deaths were
called the work of the Malta. On the
next day, perhaps. the provinces OF
Catania and Girgenti each had a cold
blooded murder to chronicle, and in
evitably came the story that the Malta
had been at work again. Thus it WAS
that the Malta got its reputation fOrsthe
preparation of frightfu atrocities
many OF which were not instigatedl BY
any movement of the society. 1t was
i'll 1860 that L left Palermo. Then the
Malta was terrible reality, now it is
only a memory Of the past. The present
government has proved too much for the
| Malta. Garibaldi and 1850 were the
beginning of the end so far as the Mahf
| in Sicily was concerned. The members
| OF that deadly organization have been
| driven all over the seven prefectures
and back again. Many of the men who
were members are still there, but they
have abandoned the principles which
J. formerly governed their actions. Thou
sands of those known to be connected
with the Mefia were driven from Sicily
and then from the mainland, and many
of them are now in America, but they
are disorganlzed and powerleSs. The
Malta is a dead letter in Sicily, and il
America it never existed as so
ciety. L know nothing of New Or
leans except what has been told
| me by friends there who write. They
say that society after the manner OF
the Camorfa of the Neapolitan provinces
exists there, but it is purely local, hav.
ing found its birth among the desperate
element of Italian Immigrants. and beer
sustained by the recognition of wealthy
and INSCRIPTIONS citizens of SiciliaI
and Italian extraction and birth. The
Camorra is still terror to the Italian
government. but the Malta is gone, |
think, forever. Hennessy was killet
by an organized band OF murderers, an6
it is perhaps true that theyswere Italians
who composed it, but If the police OF