Highlighted crime
story of the week -
On August 23, 1927, despite worldwide demonstrations in
support of their innocence, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo
Vanzetti were executed for murder. On April 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe
company in South Braintree, Massachusetts, was shot and killed along with his
guard. The murderers, who were described as two Italian men, escaped with more
than $15,000. After going to a garage to claim a car that police said was
connected with the crime, Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested and charged with the
crime. Although both men carried guns and made false statements upon their
arrest, neither had a previous criminal record. On July 14, 1921, they were
convicted and sentenced to die.
Anti-radical sentiment was running high in America at the
time, and the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti was regarded by many as unlawfully
sensational. Authorities had failed to come up with any evidence of the stolen
money, and much of the other evidence against them was later discredited.
During the next few years, sporadic protests were held in Massachusetts and
around the world calling for their release, especially after Celestino
Madeiros, then under a sentence for murder, confessed in 1925 that he had
participated in the crime with the Joe Morelli gang. The state Supreme Court
refused to overturn the verdict, and Massachusetts Governor Alvan T. Fuller
denied the men clemency. In the days leading up to the execution, protests were
held in cities around the world, and bombs were set off in New York City and
Philadelphia.
In 1961, a test of Sacco’s gun using modern forensic
techniques apparently proved it was his gun that killed the guard, though
little evidence has been found to substantiate Vanzetti’s guilt. In 1977,
Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation vindicating Sacco
and Vanzetti, stating that they had been treated unjustly and that no stigma
should be associated with their names.
Check back every
Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”
Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author
of seven nonfiction books that includes In
the Company of Evil Thirty Years of California Crime 1950-1980. Visit
Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com
for more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the
following link:
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