Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1890-10-26
A MURDER SOCIETY
THE NEW ORLEANS MAFIA, AN 0RGANIZA-
TON OF ASSASSINS.
How 1t Was Organized and How it Operates The
Numerous Grimes Committed By ii Which Have
Gone Unpunishsd- Killing Of Chief
HenneSsey, of New Orleans.
Special Correspondence Of the Sunday Register.
NEw ORLEANS, October 23, lS9O

Special Correspondence Of the Sunday Register
New ORLEANS, October %, 1890.
''The Dagoes did it," were almost the
last words that Dave Hennessey, the New
Orleans Chief of Police uttered, as friends
rushed TO his assistance the other night to
tind him lying mortally wounded within a
few feet of his home, shot down by assas-
sins in the very heart Of New Orleans, and
in one OF the most densely populated por-
tons of the city
The dread Malta, the Italian murder so
ciety, which kills whomsoever gets in its
way, whose members are bound by an oath
which forfeits their lives should they be-
tray it's secaets, had removed the New Or
leans Chief of Police for meddling in its
affairs and prying into its secrets.
1t had as usual, warned him TO deslst,
but he was too brave man to DO so, and
persisting, was skilled just aas so many
others have been killed in New Orleans by
this Society of Assassins.
The Malta was originally an italian po-
litical organization, which taught the doc
trine of assassination as a means for getting
rid of Objectionable persons. To prevent
treachery, it became necessary TO bind the
members together with the strongest oaths,
anu lUOSc WHO ulStlOStu lnt SCIItlo hltN
that they were sacrificing their own lives
by doing so, that some one would be chosen
TO kill them, and that they would be track
ed to their death, wherever they went, and
would find no place where they could con-
ceal themselves. How many lives were
thus lost it is impossible TO say, but the
frequent assassinations in Italy thirty
years ago show the activity of the Malta.
When the present Kingdom of Italy
wat firmly established the government
set to work to suppress the murder society.
There was only one way in which it
could be dOne--by great harshness,
cruelty and even brutality. Thousands OF
| lives were sacrificed, for the authorities
showed no mercy TO the Mafiaists. They
finally succeeded in their great task, and
many of the members of the society, finding
Italy too hot TO hold them, came TO this
country, most of them settling in New Or
leans, where there was already large
Italian colony.
oFFsHOOT OF BRlGANDAGE.
In 1873, the Italian government took brig
andage in Sicily in hand and by the same
harsh measures broke or nearly broke il up
there. The brigands found their protes-
sion too dangerous. and quite number
came over to this country, among them the
famous brigand chief, Giuseppe Esposito,
credited with over a hundred murders.
| Esposito settled in New Orleans, and soon
gathered around him. some forty members
of the old baud, with which he had ruled
almost as king over the mountainous dis
tricts of Naples and Sicily.
The energy of the Italian government
explains the transfer of this murder socie-
ty to America. Although generally called
| the Malta" the New Orleans society is
N ssNTnfiaff (which fioppiC haI
| in Italy but a new association founded on
/ its principles, and known popularity by the
name of the StOpagherra or Stiletto socle-
tv. Most of its members belonged at one
/ time or other to the Malta" know how il
was managed, and carry out its practices
and ideas.
OF such a society, very little, of course, is
! known; for its secrets can only leak out by
the treachery of member, and that treach
cry is punished with death. The police
have been investigating it for twenty
years and have discovered practically moth
ing about it, The late Chief Hennessey hit
upon the very sensible idea OF writing To
the Italian government, ana asking from
the criminal department something about
the men and methods of the Malta in Italy.
He found, in this way, that number OF
Italians living in New Orleans had been
members of the Malta in Sicily and Naples,
and were unable TO return home because OF
their crimes there The fact that he was
making these inquiries leaked out in some
way. and the Malta, or rather the Stopa
pherra. found il necessary to order the
assassination of Hennessey in order to pre-
vent his going further and endangering the
lives of its members.
The only information about the Stopa-
gherra is the testimony of an Italian, that
he was asked to join the society and agreed
TO do so until he found that one of its chief
purposes was murder. He drew back at
the last moment. but he got some slightldea
of the association. He leaked little to q
friend. but has refused to say word
against the men who wanted him TO join
the Stopagherra.
The Stopagherra consists of number Of
members. most of them Sicilians with :
criminal record at home and in this coun
try. 1t has no special meeting place, but
assemblies anywhere at the house of one oil
its members, generally in very retired
portion Of the city, and never twice at the
/ same house, thus rendering 1t Impossible
for the police to follow it up. The great
mass of its members consist OF Ignorant
.'dagoes." but a half a dozen men of educa-
ton and standing, and even wealth are al
its head. acting as council and directing
its affairs.
If the police know little of the inner
working of this society, they know how II
operates. and they know its crimes. Chief
/ Hennessey is the thirtieth victim of the Ma
| fla in the last sixteen years and In not sin
/ plecase have the aSsassins been punished fol
| their crimes. All these thirty assassina-
tions have gone altogether unavenged, and
| in two-thirds of the cases the police have
/ been without the slightest clew and have
not made a single arrest. Their records
read simply:
g.. dagO found dead: no clue TO the
murderer: killed by a VENDETTA"
The Stopagherra protects its members.
Among the lower class of Sicilans, where
the stilletto is so frequently used man
likes to have society at his back, which
will protect him if he needs it or avenge
him if he is killed. This the Stopagherra
always does 1t goes further however. 1t
is not simply a murder society, but IT has
become Il blackmaillng association, sort
of Americanized brigand club 1t Is not
possible for the brigands TO capture VIC
tim as they do in Sicily, carry nm on 10
the mountains and keep him concealed IN a
cave until a big ransom is paid; but they
can do their work just as effectually with
out the cave a victim-a wealthy Italian,
is chosen TO operate on-for they have
I
lieving that other natiOnalities, unaccus-
toned to brigandage, might raise trouble
with the police The victim receives a
note from the Stillettos, telling him that he
must contribute 81 900, 5000 or whatever
sum may be fixed on. He is to bring the
money in bag to some secluded spot and
leaveit there. If he shows the note to any
one or refuses to obey the order, the penalty
is death.
BLOODY BLACkMAIL
AS many as three letters are often sent If
the victim proves recalctrant, when some
overt act is committed that convinces him
that the society is no mere joke He finds
snsnicious looking men lurking around his
dwelling. They follow him home at night,
track him wherever he goes, evidently wait
ING for a favorable opportunity to strike the
blow. and they make his life so utterly mis-
o,.nhln mai he finally surrenders and gives