New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-01-22
THREE KILLED IN A FEUD.
ITALIAN FAMILY DISPUTE LEADS TO
WHOLESALE SHOOTING.

Three italians were killed in a general fight
yesterday noon between members Of the Colletti
and Spinella families in front of No 43O East
Eleventh-st,, where several of the combatants
lived. The dead are:
CoLI-ETTI Antonio. hirtyeeven years old married.
ed He ts9 bsfd4s Gs' be yr2 shot The left lung
CoLLETTI, Caspar, nineteen years old a brother OF
and ded in BE Bss2@s Hosps shot in the "
sAhEtAIGE David forty years old of No 48O East
stomach, and died Bellevue Hospital
Yesterdays fight between the Colletti and
Spinella families was like riot and is one of
the worst affairs of the kind which the police of
this city have lately had to do with It began
with a dispute which arose about 1O:3O o'clock
on Saturday night between Joseph Collett and
Frank Spinella, the latter being the janitor of
No. 432 East EleYenth-st in the rear house at
which numbes Sc%eph Coletti lives with his
family. When Colletti got home at 1870 o'clock
on Saturday night he found the door locked He
was in company with friend and the two
kicked in panel of the door to effect an en-
trance despite the protests of the janitor
The trouble ended in a war of words there
being no hostile demonstrations on either side
The bitter feeling between the two families be-
came intensified, however yesterday, and termi-
mated in wholesale shooting The Colletti
family are well known among the Italian resi-
dents of that section of the town. They num-
Der eight brothers and six sisters. the brothers
being mostly engaged stonemasons. The
Spinellas not numerous but there are
three brothers and one son.
Young Frank Spinela son of Vincenzo Spi-
nella. of No. 424 East Thirteenth-st according
to the neighbors began yesterday mornings
trouble. He is only seventeen years old, but
armed with a club. he appeared in front of No
Saf0r
on the appearance of Antonio Colletti, it is al
legged, assaulted him. Colletti resented the at
tack and Joined by his brother, Caspar,
nineteen years old, who proposed to administer
punishment to the young offender.
At the same time the boys father. Vincenzo
Spnella, appeared on the scene, and several rel
atives of the Colletti family also made their ap-
pearance Then the riot became general. and
the street was filed with a shouting struggling
mob, and shouts and pistol shots filled the air.
Patrolman Henry Ebert was the first of the
police to arrive. He hastily summoned an am
bulance from Bellevue Hospital and informed
Captain Diamond, of the Fifth-st. station. The
captain, with his staff of detectives, was
soon on the scene. The fight was still go
ing on when the police arrived, but stopped
as soon as their presence known to
the mob. Three had then been shot Caspar
ColIetti, was was shot in the left breast, was
taken into drug store at No. 116 Avenue b.
whence he was taken to Bellevue Hospital by
Dr. Christian, the ambulance surgeon. Antonio
Coetti, who had been shot in the left lung, was
dead and David Salvatore, who was shot in the
stomach was also sent to the hospital where he
died at o'clock Caspar Coletti died in the
hospital few minutes after his arrival there
Vincenzo Spinela and his son, Frank. fed just
as the police arrived. Frank was captured in
VinCenZO fled to his home, No.
424 East Thirteenth ST., firing at his pursuers as
he ran. He was found by Detective Bissert and
Captain Diamond under bed in his rooms, on
the third floor of that house, and he and his son
were locked up in the Fffth-st station on the
charge of homicide. The other prisoner arrested
is Joseph Coletti, thirty-one years old. whose
forcible entrance into his home on Saturday
night started the trouble. Several spectators
were detained as witnesses.