Found this New York Times Article from 1906.

So desperate have the members of the Black Hand become in robbing, assaulting, and even killing foreigners who refuse to contribute to their treasury that Sheriff Merritt of Westchester County has decided to send two posses of deputies throughout the northern part of the county in search of them, and also to protect the hundreds of Italians employed on the New York City watershed, the State roads, and other
improvements.

Full article


http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F10710FA345A12738DDDA00994D0405B868CF1D3