Evening star., 1922-06-25
BY PROSPER BURANELLI.
Illustrated By Charles Safka.

II Uccu 81 CIOuucu uOuUI dHO To-
nance as the Sicilian vendetta
| crimes that have claimed q thousand
victims. first and last. The words Black
Hand, Camorra and Mafia have brought
| their dread insinuations into the Ian
guage within the generation and sur
prised our northern populations. We
have not understood the motives and the
minds of these Latin tribesmen. who
kill each other at a word of COM
mand. forgetting all ties Of blood and
friendship. staying the near and the
dear with the stranger and the enemy,
for reasons beyond the Nordic COM
prehension. 8.
The police were long unable to
cope with the Sicilian situation and
1t was only after men Of their own
blood had been taken into the detec-
tive forces that much progress was
| made in the repression OF these frat
| ricidal assasslnations. In this article
the present head Of the Italian police
| in New York tells of the solving Of
| several Of these strange pushes Of
death. He tells intimately how and
why men were killed by these out
| they were traced and brought to pun
| ishment.
On December 26. 1917. Patrolman
Richards of Akron, Ohio, while on
post was shot and killed by unknown
person or persons. .h
On January 10, 1918. Patrolman
Norris of Akron. Ohio. while on post.
| was shot and killed by unknown per-
, son or persons.
On February 15, 1918. Patrofmen
Costigan and Hunt. while on post.
! were shot and killed by unknown
person or persons.
This terse, ugly memorandum
chronicles one of the most extraordi-
nary murder mysteries Of recent
years.
49,
DEHIND his desk at New York
police headquarters Detective
Sergeant Michael Fiaschetti. head of
the Italian squad and direct successor
to the legendary Petrosino. smoked
black cigar and related strange sto-
ries Of crime. He told of the running
down of the band that had begun a
massacre of the police force Of the
large and wealthy rubber city" of
Akron. 1t was he whs caught the
criminals"
1T was the toughest case have
ever been on" he said. but in the
end we had the murderers.
Here was all the Information
available" he continued. pointing to
a brief memorandum pasted in the
scrapbook. Each of the policemen
| had been killed in a bad section of
the town, and in each case the mur-
| derer stole up behind his victim,
| placed a magazine pistol against his
back and fired. No description of the
| criminal was to be had. 1 have never
encountered a case so perfectly de-
void of any clue. We Of the New
York police were given the meager
reports Of the killings and kept on
| the lookout for any word about the
affair that might be available in this
city. Pretty soon I got some infor-
nation about a fellow in town who
knew something about some killings
! out in Akron"
i This Information" that Fiaschetti
/ got was the vital clue OF the case.
| How he got the Information" he dis
creetly refrained from explaining. In
detective stories the deciding clue is
discovered in some striking. spectac-
ular fashion. In actual police cases
! the detectives almost always got
some information" The police have
secret springs of knowledge that are
hidden from the eyes of the multi
tude. At any rate, Sergt. Fiaschetti
got a bit of informa ton about fell
! low in New York who knew some-
thing about killings in Akron.
.rHE fellow was Tony Manfredi-
/ here is his picture-he was one
of those who went to the chair"
Fiaschetti pointed to one Of six bad
| looking faces pasted rogues-gallery-
wise in the scrapbook. Manfred.
| he continued, was hanging out over
| on the East Side. having come from
Akron a few days before. l was pret-
1 ty sure that he was one OF the gang
that had done the killings. SO picked
him up in a saloon and brought him
| to headquarters. He, of course. de-
! MED any connection with the crime.
We were in a bit of a quardary about
him. We had no evidence whatever
against him, and we wouldn't be able
to extradite him to Ohio If we started
formal proceedings. At the same time
he wasn't the type you could bully
into a confession. But he was an
| ignorant, foolish sort OF thug. and
! thought 1 could manage him.
'Manfredi,' said, I don't want to
| be nasty with you, but I want you to
come over to Akron with me. VIII
you go peacefully"
".Au right he said. II he had
| known anything or had had sense
enough to see a lawyer, he would
have> refused to go. and we would
have been against a wall again. But
Il he was very ignorant.
I'VE got on train and started for
Akron. When had him on the scene,
| what then: His manner indicated
that he had no fear of our uncover
ing anything in Akron. decided
that I would try to loose his tongue
by getting him into good humor.
by treating him well and telling him
what a fine fellow he was.
| ..Manfredi and had great time
on the train," Fiaschetti said. I'VE
played cards all the time and got
| him drinks. He became, very friendly
and boastful. By the time we were
halfway to Akron ne informed me
Iconfidentially that he could tell me a
lot of things that I would be. inter-
ested to know. I continued jollyihg