New-York tribune., 1904-08-21

- citizens are waking Up mornings 10 read
.p,s<E Hand" letters demanding extortionate sums
= money 10 be deposited in some out of the way
ea5ezvous or else pistol shot or dynamite bomb
Ii end their days. Some OF these letters have
tse- turned TO the police. but It is believed
raj not one-tenth OF them have been made public:
zesi5es such threats there have also been acts OF
.to,erce and even OF death. Boys have been kid
"a and held for ransom Homes have been
DaEr D,,as with dynamite on the failure OF their
ts 70 pay blackuail and not long ago an
,ran was murdered and his body thrust into
.-e1 and abandoned because he had aroused the
-a,rasnce Of q gang OF conspirHtOrs
H. irs efforts 10 grapple with these forms Of
the Police Department has shown itself
.-.e.isllv Incompetent officers make a series of
soo--raI arrests. only TO be compelled to let their
,.r,soners 60 Mysterious witnesses unearthed.
"a, after many dark hints. leave Police Head
,a-ters as mysteriously they went there. In
,be case OF the barrel murder. after the city had
,,a 10 great cost IN securing the East Side" in
,ssting alleged cutthroats' and in giving them
.Ae tbird degree Il was at last rsQuited by
,rr the whole gang go free. In much the same
-rsv the police allowed the kidnappers OF nine-year-
cid Antonio Mannino TO slip through their fingers
-bBe following clews which led moment a
,i+,ebrIrg sIum and the next 10 a Hoboken cave
.s the police have shown themselves more and
-s helpless the criminal Italian element has be
ooe uIder until the better class OF Italians have
,eear,e thoroughly alarmed Meetings have been
hetlN
zrns 70 devise some way of purging the italian
rsr,e of the obloquy with which certain vicious
-ner,bers OF their colony have DETAINED IT, and a
t have taken special personal precautions against
me kidna piping Of their children IN one instance
:, Italian banker sent all OF his children TO
-,oe mart OF this state. and has caused them even
here 70 be guarded by a corps OF nurses and de-
,ectves
The Italian Chamber OF Commerce. which num-
hers among fts members the most prominent ItaI-
%, merchants and fiuanciers of the city, has also
taken action
meeting was held last Thursday
Resolutions were adopted calling the Italian
.izans Of this city 70 lend the police every assist
pore in .lpprehendng and Furnishing the guilty
,,e-so1s In speeches made al the meeting the
-rar,tsrs Of the board showed taat they were most
tit-er against the blsckmailers- Some of them
favored hiring special detectives 10 gather evil
ser-a FOR me police. One Of the members also
Insisted for some time that the chamber should
beJd a mass meeting TO denounce the kdnappers
and blackmailers who have disgraced the Italian
name.
Among those Italians who head the movement 10
cfsc the present spirit OF lawIessness among their
eo-Bt-vnen there Is d strong belief that the polics
force is greatly 10 blame Some go SO far as 10
81 that the detective bureau is more or less
farce and that many Of its members have secured
posrions there not by merit. but BY political pull
They say that Giuseppe Petrosini has been for a
lonz tine the o-ir Italian detective al Headquar
te-s ana tkat he has shown skill and courage but
las been so overwhelmed with work that his efforts
have been seriously impaired
There should be more Italians the police
force" said James 5. March. the Republican leader
a. the Win, or Italian. District Al the present
tine nearly one-tenth OF the population OF the city
: IfzIEan and yet only one-ive-hundredth OF the
Police Department IS Italian Of the s.lsl police
nen, only seventeen are Italians"
Antonio yucca, president Of the Italian Chamber
- E the ha--a
greater suthorIt IN cleaning the sIum districts
-Ln Italy" he said. the police have the right
all idIers found In the streets after certain
hoGr night They may examine citizens at any
tine and learn what is their business. This land
hss too great liberty for the criminal class and
for that reason many md II easier to write black
mailing letters than 20 work
another prominent Italian said that Italian crime
oguld be stamped out until every immigrant
was compelled 70 show the Barge Office
"Fed-na Penale,' or moral passport, signed by the
pretect CT police Of the district from which lie
came.
The Italian problem Is peculiarly hard for the
American 10 solve because its roots go far deeper
than American soil. The crimes OF the Italian quar-
Ter have a character more in keeping with feudal
tines than the present age and they reflect certain
evH conditions in Italy at the present time which
have been inherited from a lawIess and seni-bar-
hsric past The barrel murder for instance haz
al the stamp Of the Maha and the kidnapping Of
the MannilO boy has the very thEmbmarks Of
tAe Csmorra-
of the four hundred thousand Italians who row
FORM part OF Ne8-Yorks four millions more than
tTee-fourths are from Southern Italy and Sicily.
Where the Italian government has been least able
u enforce law ana order In Sicily the Matia IS
Stronger to-day than in many a year, and IN the
Eums of Palermo the Mafosi still celebrating
uhe victory OF PaIizzolo their chief, in having
capped from a lifelong Imprisonment after he had
HA tried and convicted OF d notorious murder.
Al Italy knows that PaIizzolo is the head OF the
Asa n Sicily He was charged. more than ten
Yeas ago with killing tie Marquis Notarbartolo.
~a iislian senator. mayor OF Palermo. governor Of
ne BaIH o. Sicily, and OF the islands most
distinguished men. on becoming mayor Notarbar-
'o aroused the enmity OF Palizzolo by forcing him
y restore 10 the municipal treasury large OF
money which Palizzolo is said have stolen de-
A'erately while city treasurer. The mayor inves-
-saied stiIl further. and learned OF other frauds
sha iorgeries perpetrated By Pazzolo. and he per
severed, ia spite Of the letters ne continually
et-Feo threatening him with death AT length the
"'it tell. The marquis was murdered on i train
while on MS way 10 procure the papers in the
e4se- Palizzolo arrested. The State spent
nearly million lire in the prosecution. and al
sst obtained the conviction Of the Mahan chief
1at he Mafiosi brought pressure to bear Ger
14a officials. threatening them with death unless
IAAzzoo was released, and only the other day,
sae result Of third trial frightened jury found
Am not guilty
-'izabeth-st- between BFOOme and Spring sts..
: inhabited nearly wholly. by Sicilians. ana many
: mem at home were members Of the Malta In
eoipany with Italian detective Tribune
'F made d tour or this part OF the cit-', and
H@o tlat certain inhabitants OF the district
-' 1fe now storekecpcr8 liquor dealers
- only Mah0si the other side Of the Atlantic
- A@a committed various murders at the direc-
- III q tHat order No Jury, however. dared TO
fiet them
That undertaken over there" said the detective