THE BLACK HAND.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 497, 3 May 1909, Page 9

THE BLACK HAND.

. NEW YORK DETECTIVE SHOT DEAD. ' SECRET SOCIETY'S SWIFT VENGEANCE. s ■ "A dastardly daylight assassination has > taken place at Palermo, revealing 1 tho tcr- : riblo influence of a poworful international secret socioty. Tho victim is an American ; detective named Joseph Petrosino, who mado f himself feared by tho members of tho "Black ■ Hand," an organisation of the "Oamorra" l ' in Now York. 1 It was in connection with his special dut- ' ies to trace tho "Black Hand" to its source ' that ho was in Sicily, but although his inis- ' sion was secret tho members of the society ' seem to havo been informed by their comrades in America, and death was swiftly • meted out to him. A number of arrests havo been made, and in America indignation is '. to be marked by a relentless raid on Italians [ suspected of being connected with the so- , ciety. '•■■''" ''•'•■ , ■• Tho Story of tho Crime. Rome, March 13. • A telegram from Palermo to tho ' 'Messag- • gero" announces that-a murder was oom- ■■ mitted there yesterday ovening which is likely i to load to sonsational developments. Four i revolver shots were heard in the direction of 1 the Piazza Marina near the electric tramway - station. Thoro was a moment of panic; but i soon a number of persons ran up and found i on the ground a body, which the police and : carabineers had already token under their ■ charge. The Publio Prosecutor was sumi moned, and proceeded to establish the ideni tity of the victim, who is alleged to be Joseph i Petrosino, a well-known American police of- . ficer, described as; the terror of tho "Black . Hand" organisation in New- York.. ; Petrosino had lately come to Italy, i Several documents were found on tho body > rolativo to some well-known ex-convicts of • Palermo and Sicily. It is supposed that the murdered man was waiting for a tram at i tho\Piazza Marina in order to return to hia . hotel when ho was attacked..- One chamber ■ of his'revolver had been fired, probably at . his assailants. ■ . ■ ■ ■■' i A Palermo telegram to the "Tribnna" ; states 'that. Mr. Petrosino. was carrying a ! ; letter' and several •postcards addressed, to •' Adolina Petrosino, New York, a metal diso bearing tho number 285, and several docu- ■ ments in English, which seemed to indicato , that-he had .some work still-to. do. Mr. i Petrosino had recently been •in -Tunis; and Trapani. • . : - ■•■ Mr. Petrosino had assisted the Italian police in 'arresting a man - named Erricono, who was concerned, in the Cuocolo affair at ~ Naples, and he had come to Palermo to work with the; police in unearthing several Italian criminals from tho United States. It appears that he-was-instructed to form a corps to ] assist, tho American police in discovering '.■ criminals who attempted to emigrate. • The following further telegram from Pal-, exmo regarding tho murder is published by: the "Messaggero":—. "Tho search.for tho murderers of the detective Petrosino is continuing actively. Several arrests. have been made of formerconvicts who have come here from America, ,' and on.whom some suspicion appears to rest. Two.individuals in particular Kayo attracted the attention of the police. One. of these is an. international thief, and tho other a man |- with a very, bad reputation, who, after being -~concerned -in -a-geiics : of -crimes in Now -York, . were-compelled ito:-leavo the country'owing ; tb-Petrosino's efforts to arrest them. ■■■Tho ,' police' are.-not divulging tho namos of their: prisoners.- -The Hotel do France and several other* hotels frequented-,- by- emigrants havo 1 boon searched by tho police, but up to the present no. concrete results appear to have been obtained.". , _ Mr. Petrosino was in Italy en'a secret mis- '• sion. Ho had been a week in Palermo, and .was staying at tho Hotel do France. .Tho people who hurried to the assistance of the dying man saw. two figures disappear hastily, ' into ;-an-alloys;-On thobody tho authorities found' several, oheques and banknotes' and - ; a.-jiumber,'bf.--ipapers relating to well-known. Sicilian,criminals. Tho news of'-the murder has made a great stir here.—Reuter. . ",; , ':■'}'■ A •■•terror, to Crimfnal - • ■'•''. ;• Now York; March 14. ■.' '.The assassination in Palermo of Joseph , Potrosino, tho famous lieutenant iii the New, York police force, who has done more J .han any other officer to track the criminals : in the Italian secret society of the Black' Hand, has stirred the American public as no. other of the many crimes engineered by this organiaa- . tionhaa over done. To-day tho dangerous ramifications of the Black. Hand among the foreign population of America are being dismissed with, greater interest oven than the new tariff, which will ;be announced to- , morrow. ■"...■. >;. :■;;■' . i Originally-Potrosino was in -the'-'Strectr . Cleaning- Department,' but on joining •'-.- the :' ■ detective": forco: ho. ■' speedily, showed special aptitude>ior : worming, out-the secrets of .tho : guilty'enterprises to which-the Society-of the Black Hand lent itself. He became tho terror of criminal Italians on this side of the . water, and from 1 President i Roosevelt, downward,all authorities realised that in him the chief hope lay of; rooting outan organisation '■ that was becoming a menace to authority in every American city .'with". • ah' extensive • foreignelement. : ; ; "- • Within-the, past two-years orimes connected with tho Black Hand havo bean innumerable, especially in Chicago and New ■ York. Incendiarism, blackmail, and murder .have all been practised, and „ usually with success. In the cases dotoctcd, Lieutenant Petrosino was the chief sleuth hound, but he and his superiors havo for the past year been convinced that tho secret society must bo stopped at its source, if anything effective .. was;to be dono to check it. Accordingly, less than a month ago, Police Commissioner Bingham established a special service of picked men to- track; Black Hand members, and Petrosino was appointed to bo its head. Ho-set out seoretly for Italy, and Sicily recently to ferret: out the.' Meditcr- , ranean nerve centres of this vicious organisation.;'. ■ •■' ■■■ ' ,: He knew." long>ago that'the assassins .were waiting to avenge themselves, upon him, but he gloried in tho excitement of the conflict of. dotectivo acumen against' criminal plotting,' and he, never lost'■ his nerve,' even though ho was convinced that' one day he would meet his match; - Apparently the Black Hand followed him.to Palermo, "and'there' struck at an unguarded moment. Potrosino trusted entirely to- himself, and did not even secure the official-protection of the Italian police. - Ho preferred, he said, to play " a lone hand."'.;, ;.; When the news arrived here of his assassination there was a 'great sensation. At police headquarters tho'greatest grief was expressed, but Commissioner Bingham declared that efforts to smash tho Black Hand gang would bo redoubled. .'., . Raids on criminal Italians in'all American cities'have been ordered; and it is likely that the law will bo forthwith made more stringent, so as to permit of more general deportation.' '•■'■'■'. . , A conference of the special service, of police exports has,been cnlled to draw up a comprehensive plan for the extermination of tho society., and already detectives .are volunteering to go to Palermo to assist in tracking tho assassins of Petrosino. - ,