Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-03-24
A CITY OF REFUGE

In the old Biblical days they used to have, scattered about the plains, walled tn "cities of refuge in which crimi- nal in danger of paying the penalties of his crime might hide and enjoy his freedom and immunity from punish .ment. The murder recently in Rome of the Italian police officer, Joseph Pet rosino, lends peculiar significance once more to tho oft-reiterated speculation as to whether tho United States has not become in sort ''city of refuge" for many of the criminals and wrong doers of the earth.
 Certainly there can be TO doubt that for great many years great many of the more dangerous agitators and out laws of Italy have sought refuge in this country, organized their Black Hand and other societies and have enjoyed a wonderful immunity from punishment. This, of course, has not been because the United States invites criminals, nal efactors and wrcngdoeTs to it's shores, but simply because we have been too careless and too indifferent. If VIC gre inclined to doubt this we can have or speculstions confirmed by Q recent re- pert made to the treasury department by an Italian expert, which report has been laid before the United States I'm migration commission. It is the expert s opinion based on the facts, that the one great reason why Italian and Sicilian bandits and outlaws make this country their haven of refuge is because of our lack of police syytcm, the ease with which crime may bs committed, and the greatly increased chances here of i'm niunity from punishment. The report of the Italian expert shows that in 1896 there were tried in the United States 10,662 persons for homicide, while in Italy, during the same period, the number of persons tried for this crime was 3,606. In Italy 62 per cent of the murderers trid were convicted, while the percentage of convictions in the United States was only Is per cent.
 Says the report:
 " Here the surveillance of the police is almost nil. Here it is easy to buy weapons and dynamite for criminal pur- poses. Here there is no penalty, as un- der the Italian law, for giving false name and address. It is easy to hide, partly because of the enormous extent of the American territory and partly because of the overcrouded condition of the larger cities and the different laws and regulations between state and state. All these render the prosecution long and sometimes fruitless. And the institution of bail being very easy to jump makes the escape from penalty s matter of small difficulty. '''
 Thus it will bs sssn thst to the gro fessional Italian criminal the United States must appear vary paradise for the Held of his operations. His chances to escape after committin. crims here are vsry rluch greater thAa they would be in Italy, and the commission of srime in this country is rsndsrsd Soubly easy by the facility with which the criminal may purchase weapons and the tools of his trade.
 It really is getting ts bo tina that the United states should cease to be the happy hunting ground for the rin- rah of Europe We can't stop the Ital- ian criminal CT members of the Black Hand merely by talking about it and ssprecating their crimes. It is neceS- ssry that vigorous aad msrcilsss meth oss should be employed. We have right ts guard ONT society against the inaRx of Tsalisn and othor mslofactors, and we should look to our authorities to take ths necessary steps.