Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-05-06
The Black Hand Problem.

ne Black ndno FrOptc"s
Arthur Woods. one of the deputy po-
lice commissioners of New York City
discusses the Black Hand problem In
all article which he contributes to the
May number OF McClure's. This prob
lem has become one of the most press
ing and troublesome of recent years
for the police authorities of several
of our states, especially those where
the great cities are located and the
foreign element is herded in colonies
The Black Hand schemes. which are
usually forms of blackmail, have be-
come unpleasantly familiar to the pub
lie through the kidnapping OF children,
the extortion of money, the destruction
of property and, not infrequently, the
killing of victims, which are all in
cluded in the general scheme of ter
rorization Almost always the Black
Hand criminals, whether working as
an organized body or individuals, are
Italians, and Deputy Commissioner
Woods explains in his article why
Italian criminals find the United States
such an inviting field for operations
He gives the Italian immigrants, upon
the whole, the credit that is justly due
them of being respectable, industrious
and self-supporting. But with the
large inflow of honest people there
comes thin stream of individuals who
have left criminal records behind them
the so-called Black Handlers. He de-
clares that in New York it has been
found in almost every case that man
arrested for Black Hand crime has
been convicted of crime in Italy. The
Black Hand operators are simply par
asites fattening off the industrious and
thrifty of their countrymen Given a
number of Italians with money and
two or three cx-convicts, you have all
the elements necessary for first-rate
Black Hand campaign"
Why they come here is easily enough
explained. One reason is that this is
a richer field for exploitation; the in
dustrious and thrifty Italians accumu-
late here in four or five years more
wealth than they could get together
in their native land in lifetime. They
are thus put into inviting shape for
the spoilers But the main reason why
the matchmaking brigands from South
ern Italy flock to the United States is
to be found in the fact that they find
glo-Saxon theory of the administration
of law-that the innocent man must
at all hazards be protected-than under
the statutory system of their native
land, by which the suspect is always
kept under surveillance, and which,
when he has been arraigned upon
charges, does not act altogether upon
the theory that he is innocent until he
has been proven guilty. The New
York Commissioner points out that
our legal system frequently fails in
dealing with the Black Hand cases
because we are trying to handle them
by legal and judicial system that has
not heretofore been called upon to meet
this sort CT situation.
He is not so happy in suggesting the
remedy as in diagnosing the ill. 1t
is declared that I'VE do not want in
this country system of universal
registry on the Italian plan any more
than we want a change from Anglo
Saxon to Latin prodecure." But, fol-
lowing this, it is asked. "Should we not
apply some such system to immigrants
who have not yet become citlZens?"