The Wichita daily eagle., 1903-05-03

I
owner of a vineyard or the proprietor Oh
a sulphur mining industry has to yield 70
the hidden authority, La Malta
~ know the freemasonry OK the poof''
remarked popular writer so anlohe
these poor peasants there is a subtle ooho
of sympathy and union; gueraon OF
defence originally a weapon OF DEFENSE
| Thus silent universal, relentless deter
inination to right private wrongs prlVale-
ly has come TO menace any community.
where the law is above the rights or
wrongs of the Individual
In its essence La Malta is a permanent
| conspiracy to set the laws at naught
Strong in the rural districts OF Sicily, II
| is in the cities that the organization has
its greatest strength. There it finds It's
local heads unknown, save TO the ini-
| tiated.
| 1t may come as surprise to those who
have not seen with their own eyes, but 1t
is an established fact that the armorers
shops in Palermo, Messina and Catania
| are amply supplied with the very latest
| American makes of revolvers.
In the Glornale de Sicilo of December.
1889, a famous leader describes the Maila
| in these terms
The Mafia is, in fact and above all.
an extra legal struggle for existence
| a paroxysm of self-esteen and an arbl-
| trary and violent application of individual
reason
To this must be added, says another
| writer, that trait of character for which
the English dictionary has no equivalent
word, the much talked of .'omenta. The
"ornenta'' is much the strongest strand IN
the bond that holds the Mafiosi together
It stands for the unwritten code of which
the first article is Thou shalt not bear
witness against thy neghbor."
Many obey for fear of consequences,
but the spirit of concealment, of resis-
tance TO legal inquiry, that insures i'm
munnity for the offender is fostered from
! infancy and rooted in the innermost
| nature of the Sicilian. This alone would
well nigh wholly account for the exis-
tence of that imperious force called La
Mafia.
1t has been stated that the Afafa is
| purely Sicilian-the Camorra of Southern
| Italian origin. Marion Crawford, like
some others, asserts that the origin of
| the Malta is not akin to the Neapolitan
Camorra, or Rogues' League, but the
social consequences work out in much the
same way and the enormous influx of
| Immigrants from Southern Italy, in which
are included the growing quota from
Sicily, bears its menace palpa6le to all
| men.
The social panorama is much the same
In the haunts of these people, no matter
whether the scene is Elizabeth street.
New York, or the various lounging points
| ,ba Ca
tania Why? At either place the same
picturesque groups of idle young men,
well clad for the most part. yet without
visible means of support, are TO be found
They eat and sup well and do nothing
for a livelihood. The explanation lies in
the subtle and insistent system of black
mail and terrorism of which they are
the intangible eXponents.
As an illustration of this phase it is
worth recalling the experience Of An
tonic Manntelcone, a shoe merchant, of
| New Orleans In 1891 he had a dispute
| with his hands about wages. He was
| threatened He communicated with the
| police and twenty arrests were made.
Mantelcone said he was tired of submit
ting to blackmail Suddenly the body Of
one of his loyal workmen was found in
the outskirts of the city, and as suddenly
Mantelcone underwent a change of heart
and refused to have anything to do with
the loyal police authorities.
| Once this menace of the Malta stirred
a whole people to activity. That was in
the autumn of 1920. when David Henessy,
Chief of Police of New Orleans, was muir
dered for his success in running down
Sicilian murders. When Henessy's ap-
parent murderers were apprehended the
! Inevitable failure to secure corroborative
| evidence against them resulted in the
usual failure Of justice, and in the March
following 5000 townspeOple of New Or
leans. headed by some of the best citizens,
stcrmed the parish jail, seized the pri-
soners. hanged two to lamp posts and
shot down nine others. For this Mafian
revenge on the Malta this country had
TO pay an indemnity TO the Italian gov
ernment.
It was the Illogical outcome of Anglo
Saxon administration of punishment for
Individual crime, but the impotence OF
the authorities under Anglo-Saxon law
to administer just punishment to un-
doubted offenders became intolerable.
That impotence is just as palpable here
as it is in New Orleans. according to the
testimony of police officials. Wilful,
wholesale perjury and sullen silence baf-
ie the police everywhere the shadow of
the Malta falls on a community.
New Orleans was at first the mecca OF
{ criminals by instinct and training who
| were driven out Of Italy and Sicily by
successive Italian governments. This in
= fux began with the arrival of Esposito
and his band in 1870. and its zenith was
marked by the uprising Of 1S9o-9l. Both
: the Mafia and the Camorra are believed
still to flourish IN New Orleans, hut New
York may be considered the pivotal point
of this sociological phase today
The parent societies still exist in Sicily
and Calabra today. but probably on re-
duced scale. The tremendous infus TO this
t country has weakened them. They have
: no control over the American groups. Il
: is believed. save on questions Of Italian
; politics. But the punishment Of one who
has escaped hither in the hope Of eluding
his fate. il the organization has marked
him for removal. is another tie cementing
the home groups with those here. Pro
: badly any one who was so designated
e would dispense with the Journey acros:
l the Atlantic if he realized how powerles:
a are the police authorities here to protect
him from the cruel vengeance Of the Ma.
: fas edict
r BY their own testimony. the New Yorh
{ police dread Malta murder They know
fun well it means days and nights Of dog
: ged endeavor against impossibility. with
I duplic;ty. perjury and inexorahle silenc'