The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1909-03-19
Murder of New York Sleuth in
Palermo Starts War of Ex.
termination.
Was KILLED IN COLD BLOOD
Petrosini Was Gathering Evidence
Against Criminals-Was Black
Hand Expert.

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years has so stirred the people gen
orally and the police in particular as
has the assassination of Lieut.. Joseph
Petrosini of the New York police
force in Palermo. Sicily.
BY many Petrosini is considered a
martyr. He had received numerous
threats that unless he ceased his eff
forts against the Black Hand, the
Camorra. the Malta and other italian
conspirators and criminals he would
meet his end. Petrosini, however,
was not deferred in the work he be-
ilization and humanity, though he
often prophesied to his friends the
fate that befell him Saturday.
Relentless War.
A relentless warfare has already
commenced here and in many other
American cities against the class of
criminals who brought about Petro-
sini's death. Instead of stopping in
v~estigation and prosecution, as they
had perhaps believed, the murder will
cause only added activity on the part
of the police all over the country. and
it is hoped that it will result In closer
cooperation between the italian gov
eminent and our own in barring these
criminals from the United States
ports and in deporting many that ace
now here.
The assassination was a most cold
l1-~I-I ~~~ 7 1<no1x@I l., th~
darkness at the corner of the desert
ed square by two men, who fired
three shots at him. Petrosini, though
mortally wounded. chung desperately
to life and showed at the very last
moment extraordinary courage and
GOODNESS. Though the blood was
streaming from him and he could feel
that death was near, he chung with
one hand to the grating of a nearby
window. He managed to draw his re-
volver and fire n shot and then fell
to the ground. His bullet missed its
mark, but the noise of the explosion
attracted several passers.
Terror to Criminals.
From papers found on him it ap-
pears that he had been gathering evil
dence with reference to Italian crimi
nails in the United States. There were
also notes concerning the Palermo
members of the Black Hand.
Joseph Petrosini was the Black
Hand expert of the New York police
department and a terror to Italian
criminals. 1t is said he had more con-
victions for murder to his credit than
any policeman connected with the de-
tective bureau. In his work it Is but
natural that he incurred the enmity
of all Italian criminals, and the report
of his death in Italy leads to the be-
those whom he had so relentlessly
prosecuted.
The Black Hand crimes had recel,
ly received much of his attention. and
his trip to Italy was in f%urtherance
of his idea to establish secret bureaus
there that would keep the police here
Informed when criminals emigrated to
this country, sc they could be kept
out.
Petrosini had been on his mission
about two months and was about to
return when he was assassinated.
Many Arrests Made.
Palermo, Sicily. March 16.-The as
sa%ssination of Lieut.. Petrosini has
stirred the police to unprecedented &C
tivity. Many arrests already have
been made and these include a num-
Der of Italians with criminal records
who lately have returned from the
United states.
Arrests in New York.
New York, March 16.-Lieut. Anto-
MO Vachris, chief assistant to Detec-
tive Joseph Notrosini, who was killed
by assassins in Sicily, arrested four
Italians in the Italian quarter of
Brooklyn last night. Vachris, who was
assisted by a half dozen men from
the Italian criminal squad, took the
men into custody only after one of
their number had fought desperately
to escape.
1t was intimated that Vachris has
reason to believe that the men had
knowledge of the plot to kill Petro.
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