Saturday, March 31, 2007

"Infamia" Movie:"Vendetta", Largest Lynching in US took place in New Orleans of 11 Italian Americans

The ANNOTICO Report

 

On an Italian American Academic Site (AIHA), questions were raised as to the accuracy of the Movie "Vendetta",  which of course was the largest Lynching in US history, and ALL the Victims were Italians, and it occurred in New Orleans, which is also called the Crescent City, and this "Infamia" occurred in1891.

 

The Site was most fortunate to have Tom Smith (author of "The Crescent City Lynchings") respond. which appears below.

 

Vendetta: The Crescent City Lynchings occurred  March 14, 1891; 116 years and 17 days ago.

Why are there no Comemmerations on March 14th ??

 

If as reported, New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy was shot by someone "hired" by a City Tycoon because he would not cooperate in taking away "control" of the New Orleans docks from the "Italians"who were deeply enmeshed in the Produce business.

we could "commemorate both the "Lynching" and the courage of the Irish Police Chief, in conjunction with St Patrick's Day.

Especially since St Patrick was Italian.

 

While reading this Comment and following information, keep in mind. many of us have a distorted definition of "Lynching".

The definition is "Putting a person to death by mob action without due process of law, frequently by hanging"

The idea of Lynching SOLELY  by Hanging is so deeply ingrained in our mind by the Movies/Media, that Shooting,

Beheading, Stabbing to Death , etc is often overlooked, or considered an exaggeration by the reader.

 

Further details about the Book and the Movie "Vendetta"  are below, as is "The Crescent City Lynchings"

 

 

The Movie "Vendetta" ---

 

Despite a good cast and the best of intentions, the movie - as history - is deeply inaccurate. The casting director did a

great job, for the actors frequently bear an uncanny physical resemblance to the actual participants (e.g. the actor playing

the Semmes character is a dead ringer for attorney Lionel Adams, upon whom "Semmes" is based).

 

On both broader issues and the actual details of the events, however, Hollywood had its way with the facts.

 

Regarding the instance you cite, 19 men were indicted for killing Chief Hennessy.

 

To cut down on lengthy pretrial challenges, they were divided into two groups of defendants.

 

When the first nine were tried, two were acquitted immediately by order of the judge because no evidence had been offered

against them; the jury acquitted four others and deadlocked on the remaining three.

 

Instead of being freed on the spot, they were returned to the Orleans Parish prison that night because they still faced a conspiracy count, an essentially redundant charge which was expected to be dismissed.

 

The following morning, nine men were shot to death inside the prison.

 

Two others were hung outside. One had been beaten so badly that he may have been dead by the time he was hung, while the other was shot to death as he dangled from a lamp post.   Five of these eleven men had not been brought to trial yet.

 

The survivors, who had variously hidden from or been spared by the mob, were freed shortly afterwards, when the district attorney dismissed charges against them.

 

It'd be nice if a film better grounded in facts were made of this important  story, but with the HBO version existing, my guess is that producers may think "been there, done that." The missed opportunity is unfortunate because the victims in this story - not only the men killed at the prison, but the larger Italian and Italian American communities and even the chief - deserve better.

 

Tom Smith (author of "The Crescent City Lynchings")

 

 

Book: "VENDETTA"

 

A True Story of the Worst Lynching in America, the Mass Murder of Italian Americans in New Orleans in 1891, The vicious Motives behind it, The Tragic Repercussions that Linger today.

 

Book Description
Eleven Italian Americans were lynched in New Orleans on March 14, 1891. The lynching caused a crisis between the President and the Congress of the United States, between Washington and Rome. It also introduced a sinister word to America: Mafia. This book has become a HBO film starring Christopher Walken.

 

 Gambino makes one of the most heinous crimes in American history into a fine narrative. In some parts of the US, hatred of Italians was more pervasive than the animus directed at blacks and for decades Italians - specifically Southern Italians and Sicilians - were placed at the lowest rung of the social scale. This all came to a head when local, state and national officials all played a part in the worst mass lynching in US history. Even the president thought it "a good thing." There are lessons to be learned and Dr. Gambino delivers them in a fast-paced tale of the greed and hatred that resulted in a mass murder.

A simple, if not scholarly, account of a mass murder perpetrated on a number of helpless innocents. This would be a fine True Crime book, but Richard Gambino does not want to simply tell a story America forgot. He delivers the details of the heinous crime set in the intrigue of the New Orleans political scene. And gives insight, with historical perspective, to the diplomatic backlash and the response of an apathetic America. A must read for Italian-Americans, who crave a little righteous rage  This book is a reminder of one of a series of pass sins committed by a "multi-cultural conscious" society.

About the Author
Richard Gambino holds a PhD. in philosophy from New York University. He is the author of "Blood of my Blood."

 

http://www.amazon.com/Vendetta-lynching-Italian-

Americans-motivations-repercussions/dp/

038512273X/ref=sr_1_11/103-3800441-8379840?ie

=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175384871&sr=1-11

 

Movie : "VENDETTA"

While history books often use the 1921 Sacco and Vanzetti case as an example of justice falling victim to the bigotry of the times, this HBO movie--based on a turn-of-the-century New Orleans trial--provides a far more sobering example. Vendetta  opens with a montage of black-and-white photos of immigrants arriving in the U.S., accompanied by an audio track of anti-immigrant invective that sets the tone for the rest of the movie.

 

Christopher Walken lends his always unsettling presence as the city's largest cotton exporter and mastermind of a plot to take over the docks from the Italian immigrants who run them. When police chief David Hennessy (Clancy Brown) refuses to go along with the plan, he's shot and killed, and a random group of Italian produce merchants are accused of the murder. The trial and its appalling aftermath are portrayed with a realistic vehemence that may make some viewers flinch. .

This true story is a strong testament to the slimy underside of the 'land of opportunity'. The combination of the poisonous weeds of the greed of finance capital and bigotry proves a deadly one as a handful of Italians, including Walken's key business rivals, are rounded up for the murder of the Chief. An excellent courtroom drama. The "establishment" enraged by  their targets being found innocent, and their "plot" unraveling, set a spark to enflame a mob to "Lynch" 11 Italian Americans.    

http://www.amazon.com/Vendetta-Christopher-

Walken/dp/0783117140/ref=pd_bbs_sr_

3/103-3800441-8379840?ie=UTF8&s

=dvd&qid=1175381332&sr=1-3   

 

Book: "THE CRESCENT CITY LYNCHINGS" By Tom Smith

 

[Preface: RAA: I get the idea that Being Non Italian, Tom Smith wants us all to take a WIDER view of New Orleans at that time.

Smith wants us to understand the prevailing, pervasive corruption at all levels of Government.

My Response is two fold:

(1) When recounting the Holocaust, little is justifiably explored about the Whys? Likewise here, we are not interested in excuses.

(2) Corruption in any City does Not Exist Unless the City's ELITE Permit or Promote it! (AND PROFIT FROM IT) !! Now Point the Finger!]

 

The lynchingsthe largest mass lynching in American historynot only caused great tensions between Italy and the U.S., but the trial itself left a stigma on Italian-Americans that has lasted to the present day. Freelance reporter Smith digs deep into the Big Easy's murky past to uncover the underlying connections between the compromised police force, the battling Italian dockworkers' syndicates and the city's corrupt political factions that made New Orleans' legal system ineffective in the simplest of cases. Quoting heavily from newspaper accounts, Smith is able to bring a local and timely flavor to his otherwise straightforward account of Hennessy's life, the murder and its spiderweb of repercussions. The sensational nature of the case certainly lends itself to conspiracy theories, but Smith stays unbiased, allowing his readers to use the facts to come to their own conclusions.

 

Myth has it that an upstanding Irish police chief was killed in a conflict between rival Italian gangs, and that when the murderers were acquitted amid allegations of jury tampering, a righteously  indignant barrister orated a mob into a frenzy that culminated in the acquitted being yanked from the Orleans Parish Prison and lynched. The incident mushroomed into the recalling of the Italian ambassador to the U.S. Smith discloses a much more complicated story of interconnected, international events followed by promulgation of a sugarcoated version of what happened that glossed over massive political and police corruption for generations. And this in New Orleans! In telling the story of Chief Hennessy's murder, Smith reveals the history that paved the way for Huey Long, Carlos Marcello, Edwin Edwards, and associates in Louisiana's piquant political culture. A rich, insightful slice of Americana.

 

 

 

 

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