The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-03-25
rzr MuR DIR OLE

ling Of the Malta and Its Sup
so1lS5..on By the Italian Government.
VIo7-- az vs,r Orleans Times Democrat.
-, brave Hennessy was killed the pa
- - filed with accounts Of the Malta,
pef9 edict none doubted that Hennessy
Dy I.in. From the accounts OF the Malta,
was - ,;r,e sent out, extracts are made to
at tDs- 80 the Malta was and is, and what
shoa .srIneed the state Of feeling in New
Orlss1S rr,~
ten pohtical organization, which
an l !. -Fa doctrine of assassination as
taasl' ~ -i eating rid of Objectionable per-
nls11ST ~ Ireveot treachery it became neces-
so1A biad its members together with the
slIl 80 oaths. and those who disclosed
sR'.-ls5-ots knew that they were sacrificing
t-ss -Srr, lives by doing so; that some one
tlsL bs chosen to kill them and that they
T- "a he tracked TO their death wherever
Tyl --ro,, and would find no place where
~ ,orIId conceal themselves. how many
~! 7Tare thus lost it IS Impossible 20 say,
w. ,ba frequent assassinations In Italy
ttt-+v wears ago show the activity OF the
Tass When the present kingdom Oh italy
A S- Srrolv established the government set
% W. -Tas onlv one way in which it could
in5to Inv great harshness, cruelty aud
uoI Srntslity. Thousands of lives were
"el even for the authorities showed no
~. So, ~ the Mafiaists. 1t was in 1860 that
the roov rur rypsr
IiAI'4 STEPS
Liking m the suppression of the band of
y. +bToets. and so effectual were Its efforts
= tbis direction that within one year the
T.sa as an organization, was extermln-
20 and IT does not exist in Italy or Sicily
90 There was no sentiment about the
eona;,rae taken there. Absolute extirpa-
s 4,VT'I was the object They began by arrest
;.T every man carrying concealed weapons
.nd avery suspicious character. These were
amt to prison for six months II no other eVl|
dence Of crlminality could be found at
once. A. ossoo.
ware required to continue to look TOT evil
sonoa AGAINST them, and if sufficient evil
S onc was collected they were at once either
,oLan ont and shot or sent to prison for
lie If at the end of the term no serious
crime could be charged against them they
were released, but were closely watched and
az soon as found in bad company were re-
crested and imprisoned for another term.
There we're no'unnecessary delays, Within
week after arrest the sentence was usually
carried into effect. The culprits were taken
out. stood in a line and
SHOT DOWN BY THE SCORE.
Several thousand of the members of the
Malta we're thus executed, and the result
was peace in Sicily. The government
finally succeeded in it's 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 Orleans,
where there was already large Italian
coloav.
la 1875 the Italian government took
4 brigandage in Sicily in hand, and by the
same harsh measure broke OF nearly broke
Eat up there The brigands found their pro-
#fe,sion too dangerous, aud quite number
eame ever to this country, among them the
8FAN0Us BRIGAND CHIEF, GIUSEPPE ES-
POsITO,
@creilted with over one hundred murders.
&Esposito settled in New Orleans and soon
gathered around him some forty members
Df the old band, with which he had ruled
almost as king over the mountainous dis
Frcts Of Naples and Sicily.
SToPAGHERRA OR sTILETTo SOCIETY.
4 Although generally called the "Mafia,"
tile New Orleans society is not really the
&pld Malta" which fourished in Italy, but
ia new association, founded on its princi-
#rles and known popularity by the name of
#St0Dagherra or Stiletto Society. Most of
pts members belonged one time or other TO
the Malta, know how it was managed,
and carry out its practices and ideas.
Of such society very little, of course, is
known, for Its secrets can only leak out by
frp0nbprU
8tFeachery is punished with death. The po-
lice have been Investigating 1t for twenty
Years, and have discovered practically
zaOthiDg about it. The late Chief Hen
Messy hit upon the very sensible idea Of
whiting to the Italian government and ask
Pig from its criminal department some
Ting about the men and methods of the
Aafa in Italy. He found in this way that
anumbsr of the Italians living in New Or
leans had been members of the Malta in
Sicily and Naples, and were unable to re-
turn home because of their crimes there
il Tue fact that he was making these inqui>
res leaked out in this way, and the Malta,
'G rather the Stopagherra, found it neces-
fary to order the assassination of Hen
lessy in order to prevent his going further
s1d 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
$50 until he found that one Of its chief
purposes was murder. lie drew back at the
S,ssI moment, but he got some slight idea of
lae ASSOCIATION. He leaked little to friend,
pat mas refused to say a word against the
nen who wanted him to Join.
Inc Stopagherra consists of a number OF
members, most of them Siclians with a
CRIMINAL record at home and in this coun-
ty' IL has no special meeting place, but
asse1n Dies anywhere at the house of one of
members, generally in q very retired
'rNon OF the city, and never twice at the
anne mouse, thus rendering it impossible for
le ponce TO follow it up. The great mass
Its members consists of ignorant "da-
Boes, but a half dozen men of education
ma standing, and even wealth, are al its
leaQ, acting as a council and directing its
fffairs -'
II tne police know little OF the inner
woEKlhgS OF this society, they know how it
II PeIa1eS ana they know its crimes. Chief
Il 5lIenanesSy is the thirtieth victim of the
kHaI I IN the last sixteen years, and in not a
EIlsie case have the aSsassins been punished
{or Chelr crimes All these thirty assassina-
klous nave gone altogether unavenged. and
! II t"o-thlfds of the cases the police have
S1ee1 without the slightest clew and have not
made single arrest.
A BLACKMAILING ASSOCIATION,
Inc Stopagherra protects its members.
!. tlhiIoi:g the lower class of Sicillaus, where
(. th9 SClleIto is SO frequently used, man likes
Love society at his back which protects
~ tL;h "1eh ne needs it or avenges him if he
n ntnea. Ihls the Stopagherra always does.
4 81, So IurCher, however. 1t is not simply a
tnu u1it society. but it has become a black
n ng association, a sort of Americanized