Black Hand (blackmail)
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Black Hand () was a type of
extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...
racket, active in the United States from the early 20th century to the 1920s in Italian-American ghettos or neighborhoods, and committed mainly by criminal immigrants from southern Italy. The first reported use of the term "Black Hand" was in 1903 in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, but the practice gradually declined after 1915 and ceased to exist around the 1920s, during the period when the first Mafia families in the U.S. —more organized and structured— started to emerge.


History

The first reported use of the term "Black Hand" to describe extortion rackets among Italians in the United States was the Cappiello case of September 1903 in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, when Nicolo Cappiello, a wealthy contractor, received a letter signed by the “Mano Nera,” demanding $1,000 with the warning that his house would be otherwise dynamited. Black Hand activities were widespread in every American city with a sizable Italian community, with New York City serving as the primary hub. The label "Black Hand" quickly came to be applied to nearly any violent crime in Italian neighborhoods in New York,
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, and other cities. It became the preferred term in American newspapers for describing unsolved crimes involving the Italian community until the early 1920s. These activities gradually, though inconsistently, declined after 1915, persisting in some parts of Pennsylvania into the 1920s. In 1907, a Black Hand headquarters was discovered in
Hillsville, Pennsylvania Hillsville is an unincorporated community in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community is west of New Castle and east of the border between Pennsylvania and Ohio. It is on the south side of the Mahoning River at the top of a ...
, a village located a few miles west of
New Castle, Pennsylvania New Castle is a city in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Shenango River at the mouth of Neshannock Creek, it is northwest of Pittsburgh near the Pennsylvania–Ohio border, approximately so ...
. The Black Hand in Hillsville established a school to train members in the use of the
stiletto A stiletto (plural stilettos) is a specialized dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, primarily intended as a thrusting and stabbing weapon.Limburg, Peter R., ''What's In The Names Of Antique Weapons'', Coward, McCann & Geoghega ...
.Watkins, John, ''The Big Stunts of Great Detectives: The Scrapbook'', Vol. 4, No. 6, New York: Frank A. Munsey (December 1907), p. 1098 Another Black Hand headquarters was later discovered in
Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
. This headquarters, managed by Antonio Mirabito, allegedly operated from New England to as far south as New York City. Police were hopeful that Mirabito's arrest would assist in ending the practice of Black Hand, but it continued in the area for about another decade. More successful immigrants were usually targeted, although as many as 90% of Italian immigrants and workmen in New York and other communities were threatened with extortion. Typical Black Hand tactics involved sending a letter to a victim threatening bodily harm, kidnapping, arson, or murder. The letter demanded a specified amount of money to be delivered to a specific place. It was decorated with threatening symbols such as a smoking gun, hangman's noose, skull, or knife dripping with blood or piercing a human heart, and was frequently signed with a hand, "held up in the universal gesture of warning", imprinted or drawn in thick black ink. Author
Mike Dash Mike Dash is a Welsh writer, historian, and researcher. He has written books and articles about dramatic episodes in history. Biography Dash was born in London. He attended Peterhouse, Cambridge, a college particularly noted for teaching histo ...
states "it was this last feature that inspired a journalist writing for '' The New York Herald'' to refer to the communications as 'Black Hand' letters a name that stuck, and indeed, soon became synonymous with crime in
Little Italy Little Italy is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an Urban area, urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian cul ...
." The term "Black Hand" was readily adopted by the American press and generalized to the idea of an organized criminal conspiracy, which came to be known as "The Black Hand Society." American newspapers in the first half of the twentieth century sometimes made reference to an organized "Black Hand Society", a criminal enterprise composed of Italians, mainly Sicilian Neapolitan and Calabrian immigrants. However, many Sicilians disputed its existence and objected to the associated negative ethnic stereotype, but this was not the only viewpoint among Italian-Americans. ''Il Telegrafo: The Evening Telegraph'', a newspaper for the Italian American community in New York City, printed an editorial on 13 March 1909 in response to
Joseph Petrosino Joseph Petrosino (born Giuseppe Petrosino, ; August 30, 1860 – March 12, 1909) was an Italian-born New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer who was a pioneer in the fight against organized crime. Crime fighting techniques that Petrosino ...
's assassination, which read in part, "The assassination of Petrosino is an evil day for the Italians of America, and none of us can any longer deny that there is a Black Hand Society in the United States." Tenor
Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyric tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles that r ...
received a Black Hand letter on which were drawn a black hand and dagger, demanding $2,000. He decided to pay, "and, when this fact became public knowledge, was rewarded for his capitulation with 'a stack of threatening letters a foot high,' including another from the same gang for $15,000."Dash, ''The First Family'' (Chapter 3, page 26) He reported the incident to the police who arranged for him to drop off the money at a prearranged spot, then arrested two Italian businessmen who retrieved the money. The Black Hand rackets were the first type of organized crime operations by immigrant Sicilians in the United States. In some cases, gangsters involved in Black Hand operations were the predecessors of what would later become the
crime families A crime family is a unit of an organized crime syndicate, particularly in the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia, often operating within a specific geographic territory or a specific set of activities. In its strictest sense, a ''family'' ...
spread across the country. The Black Hand gangs lost strength in the early 20th century and ceased to exist around the 1920s, during the period when the first Mafia families in the U.S. —more organized and structured— started to emerge.


See also

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Black Hand (Chicago) Black Hand extortion was a criminal tactic used by gangsters based in major cities in the United States. In Chicago, Black Hand extortion began around 1900 and had all but faded away by 1920, replaced by the Mafia. The Mafia was initially organ ...


References


Sources

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External links


The Black Hand
article by Jon Black at ''GangRule.com''
The Black Hand
organized Crime in Queensland, Australia. {{DEFAULTSORT:Black Hand (Extortion) American Mafia Italian-American history