It's kind of like Tony Blair apologising for the famine genocide 128 years after that happened.

The damage has been done!

Did these people kill Hennessy or were they wrongfully accused?

The article doesn't make it very clear.

Victims
Edit
The following people were lynched:[48]

Antonio Bagnetto, fruit peddler: Tried and acquitted.
James Caruso, stevedore: Not tried.
Loreto Comitis, tinsmith: Not tried.
Rocco Geraci, stevedore: Not tried.
Joseph P. Macheca, fruit importer: Tried and acquitted.
Antonio Marchesi, fruit peddler: Tried and acquitted.
Pietro Monasterio, cobbler: Mistrial.
Emmanuele Polizzi, street vendor: Mistrial.
Frank Romero, ward politician: Not tried.
Antonio Scaffidi, fruit peddler: Mistrial.
Charles Traina, rice plantation laborer: Not tried.
The following people managed to escape lynching by hiding inside the prison:

John Caruso, stevedore: Not tried.
Bastian Incardona, laborer: Tried and acquitted.
Gaspare Marchesi, 14, son of Antonio Marchesi: Tried and acquitted.
Charles Mantranga, labor manager: Tried and acquitted.
Peter Natali, laborer: Not tried.
Charles Pietza (or Pietzo), grocer: Not tried.
Charles Patorno, merchant: Not tried.
Salvatore Sinceri, stevedore: Not tried.
The court and district attorney set the survivors free after the lynching, and dropped the charges against the men who had not yet been tried.[49]

One of the victims, Polizzi, had a police record in the U.S., having reportedly cut a man with a knife in Austin, Texas, several years earlier. Two others had police records in Italy: Geraci had been accused of murder and had fled before he could be tried, and Comitz had been convicted of theft.[50] Incardona was wanted in Italy as a petty criminal.[51]

Three of the men—Comitz, Monasterio, and Traina—had not applied for U.S. citizenship and could still be considered Italian subjects.[52]

On the evening of October 15, 1890, Hennessy was shot by several gunmen as he walked home from work. Hennessy returned fire and chased his attackers before collapsing. When asked who had shot him, Hennessy reportedly whispered to Captain William O'Connor: "Dagoes." Hennessy was awake in the hospital for several hours after the shooting and spoke to friends but did not name the shooters. The next day, complications set in and he died.

There had been an ongoing feud between the Provenzano and Mantranga families, who were business rivals on the New Orleans waterfront. Hennessy had put several of the Provenzanos in prison, and their appeal trial was coming up. According to some reports, Hennessy had been planning to offer new evidence at the trial to clear the Provenzanos and implicate the Mantrangas. That would mean that the Mantrangas, not the Provenzanos, had a motive for the murder.A policeman, a friend of Hennessy, later testified that Hennessy had told him he had no such plans.In any case, it was widely believed that Hennessy's killers were Italian. Local papers such as the Times-Democrat and the Daily Picayune freely blamed "Dagoes" for the murder.

For me Hennessy was killed by one of his much enemies that used the Matranga-Provenzano war to get away with murder,the fact that Hennessy told his killers "Dagos" doesn't mean nothing,he for sure know that the italian mafia wanted him dead and thinked that the dagoes shoot him.At the end 11 innocent men died because of the bigoted sons of bitches.

Thank you, Furio.

The "irony" is that in 1891 the italians because had a skin more dark than the white wasps was equiparated to the blacks and was lynched because there wasn't considerated white but a race between the whites and the blacks.

That's interesting because people who're ethnically Italian are considered as white as anybody nowadays.

Irish people, despite sharing the same pigmentation as WASPS, weren't really considered white by the same bigots back in those days. They were often portrayed as "simian" and "ape" like in contemporary political cartoons, much the same way blacks would be; considered a lower race than WASPS.

Irish people were also called "white ni**ers" sometimes and blacks were called "smoked Irish".

Check the verse in the song "Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello referring to British occupation in Northern Ireland.



Kind of a shared history Irish and Italians have in that regard, having entered the US in droves at the same time and encountered the same suspicion and hostility.

Yes Moe but the italians was treated worst because like I said had dark skin,don't speak the english (like the irishs) but various dialects and until the WWII the italians prefer to stay in the little italies;in louisiana in 1928 an italian woman can testify because the judge wanted to understand if she was white or not,even Nixon said that the italians "had a different smell" and there was an irish president,son of white collar criminal,elected thanks to the mob when when there will be a POTUS with an italian ancestry?

LoL, equiparated. You just introduce a new word to the english dictionary.

BlackFamily the english isnt my first language and I confused equiparati (equated) con equiparated. I hope that
despite the grammatical error, you understood what I wanted to say.

I know Furio and it was new to me. Had to look it up later and alot of social / culture conflicts went on in that timeframe.

Hey black, respect that you recognize that Italians were discriminated against. My wish is that we are not lumped in with other ethnicities and considered white. That our Latin heritage would be acknowledged by America and our base language is over 50% of English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and many more.

This is America. Ever since the introduction of 'Race' as a social/cultural identity construct , it's been broad and mischewed. This country won't ever let it go and acknowledge ethnicity instead which is ( imo) more accurate reflection of a cultural group.

You are right. Too broad. But I think we are starting to identify ethnicities more and when we value things we all have in common instead of our differences we will be better Americans. Take care of yourself Black. And your neighbor's.

The boss Charlie Matranga, born in 1857, was very lucky first tried and acquitted then escaping the massacre. Died in his 80s..