"The fate of numerous Italian Americans was no different than that of other ethnic groups targeted by lynch mobs. The most infamous lynching of Italians occurred on March 14, 1891 in New Orleans. This event claimed eleven victims and was
one of the largest multiple lynchings in American history. The catalyst for this tragedy was the unsolved murder of popular city police superintendent David Hennessy.
Hennessy’s murder led to a roundup of the “usual suspects” -- in this case Italians. Those detained, immigrants from Sicily and the southern portions of Italy -- possessed swarthy complexions and were viewed with suspicion and contempt by the white protestant elite ruling New Orleans. Akin to Negroes, Italians were “not quite white” and subject to a racial prejudice only slightly subtler -- mingled with a baseless and deliberately orchestrated Mafia scare associating most Italian Americans with a vast criminal organization that did not exist in the New Orleans of that era."
"The morning of March 14 was bright and sunny. By ten o’clock,
a crowd of thousands was gathered by the Parish Jail, with many of them shouting, “Yes, yes, hang the dagoes!” The prison was soon attacked by a carefully selected band culled by the mobs’ leaders comprised of about twenty-five well-armed men. With battering rams ringing in their ears, the prisoners were both trapped and doomed. In the prison yard where several Italians were clustered together at one end, the hit squad of lynchers opened fire from about twenty feet away.
More than a hundred rifle shots and shotgun blasts were fired into six helpless men, tearing their bodies apart. When the firing stopped, the squad inspected their victims.
A man saw Pietro Monasterio’s hand twitch and yelled, “Hey, this one’s alive!” “Give him another load, “ another gunman answered. “Can’t, I ain’t got the heart.” Then
one of the men walked up to the body, aimed a shotgun point-blank, and literally blew the top of Monasterio’s head away. Someone laughed. There were two or three cheers. One or two men turned their faces away, looking sick."
So it went. Joseph P. Macheca, Antonio Scaffidi, and Antonio Marchesi were shot while turning to face their pursuers.
Marchesi was struck in the head by a bullet. As he raised his right hand to shield himself a shotgun charge blew off and went on to disintegrate the top of his skull. Yet he did not die until nine hours later, lying all the time where he fell.More gunmen found Manuel Polizzi. Sitting on the floor in a corner of a cell, muttering to himself.
Dragged by five men into a corridor he was shot two or three times while staring with wild eyes at nothing in particular. Antonio Bagnetto was found in another cell, pretending to be dead. He too was shot.
Several of the men’s corpses were displayed to the mob outside the prison and hung on lampposts for all to see. Witnesses said that the cheers were nearly deafening.http://www.americanlynching.com/infamous-old.html#1891 In the United States, Italian immigrants were subject to extreme prejudice, racism, and, in many cases, violence. During the 1800s and early 20th Century, Italian Americans, being seen as non-anglo and often times non-white, were the second most likely group to be lynched. One of the largest mass lynchings in American history involved the lynching of eleven Italians in the city of New Orleans. The Italians, who were thought to have assassinated police chief David Hennessey, were placed in a jail cell before being brutally murdered by a mob, with witnesses claiming that the cheers "were nearly deafening."
Reporting on the incident, one newspaper reported "The little jail was crowded with Sicilians, whose low, receding foreheads, dark skin, repulsive countenances and slovenly attire proclaimed their brutal nature." According to one historian in New Orleans: "Akin to Negroes, Italians were not white and subject to a racial prejudice only slightly subtler -- mingled with a baseless and deliberately orchestrated Mafia scare...." In fact, in many areas of the South, Italians were "semisegregated."
In the 1920s, two Italian anarchists, Sacco and Vanzetti, experienced prejudice and ultimately death due to their Italian ancestry and extreme political views. Though not lynched, Sacco and Vanzetti were subject to a mishandled trial, and most historians agree that the judge, jury, and prosecution were extremely biased against the Italian immigrants. Sacco and Vanzetti were eventually put to death,
convicted of a murder despite the lack of evidence against them.Violence against Italians has also taken place in Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as many other places where Italians have settled. Anti-Italianism in Switzerland is often attributed to the death of recent Italian immigrants such as Alfredo Zardini.
In Australia, anti-Italian riots have occurred on numerous occasions since Italian immigrants, or "wogs," first began coming to the country. Large riots against Italian immigrants have occurred in Gwalia, Leonora, Coolgardie, and other Australian cities.
Recently, in the 2005 Cronulla riots, Mediterranean immigrants, including Italians, but especially Middle-Easterners, were targeted by rioters.That's from Wikipedia. I didn't copy the link but you can do a search and read the rest of the relevant articles.
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