In the late hours of October 15, 1890, New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy was ambushed and shot multiple times by a group of assailants as he walked home. The 32-year-old male chief of police, an Irish Catholic, reportedly whispered to a responding officer that 'dagos' were responsible before succumbing to his wounds the following day. His death, which occurred amidst a backdrop of tensions between rival Italian factions vying for control of the city's fruit-unloading docks, plunged New
Orleans into a state of outrage and suspicion.
The investigation into Hennessy's murder swiftly focused on the city's Italian immigrant community. In the ensuing days, dozens of Italians were arrested, and ultimately, nineteen men of Italian and Italian-American descent were indicted for the crime. The city's newspapers fueled public animosity towards the accused, portraying them as guilty members of the Mafia long before a trial could commence. The case against the men was largely built on circumstantial evidence, as no definitive proof was presented to link any of them directly to the assassination.
In mid-February 1891, the trial of nine of the indicted men began. Despite the prevailing public sentiment, the defense attorneys successfully established alibis for their clients. The jury ultimately acquitted six of the defendants and was deadlocked on the remaining three, resulting in a mistrial for them. This outcome was met with widespread disbelief and fury among many New Orleanians, who believed that the jury had been either bribed or intimidated by the Mafia.
The day after the acquittals, on March 14, 1891, a large mob, incensed by what they perceived as a miscarriage of justice, stormed the parish prison where the men were being held. The vigilantes forced their way into the jail and dragged out eleven of the nineteen men who had been indicted. These eleven men were then brutally beaten, shot, and hanged by the mob in what would become known as the largest mass lynching in United States history. In the aftermath, no one was ever held accountable for the lynching, and the event strained diplomatic relations between the United States and Italy.
