"Black Hand” Leaders in Toils
March 24, 1906
Summary
Two men are identified and arrested as bank robbers and “leaders of the “Black Hand” in this region.”
Transcription
“Black Hand” Leaders in Toils
Two Italians Held in $18,000 Bail for Dynamite Outrage
Sure Case Against Them
Scranton, Pa. March, 21. -- Paul Trapi and Giuseppi Cagliano, the two Italians arrested while being handed marked money by Giovanni Fazio, a macaroni manufacturer, who, it is alleges, they had repeatedly threatened and whose store was dynamited New Years Ever, supposedly by these two, were given another hearing before Alderman Kasson and put under $10,000 additional bail, making $18,000 bail for each man.
At the hearing the young daughter of Fazio swore that Trapi is the man whom she saw throw the bomb which wrecked her father’s store. She was looking cut of a window on the second floor, where the family lived, when she noticed three men on the opposite side of the street. While she was watching them, one of them, who she identifies positively as Trapi, came across hurriedly and threw something on the porch of the store. Immediately there was an explosion, and the lower front of the building was wrecked Fazio himself swore positively that Trapi and Cagliano were the men who came to his store no less than 12 times after the explosion, demanding money to use their influence to prevent further explosions and the death of him and his family. According to Fazio’s daughter, they represented on one of their visits that they had been hired to “put him out of business” by a rival macaroni manufacturer, who is one of Scranton’s leafing and wealthiest citizens.
The purpose of the authorities in demanding such heavy bail is to prevent the possibility of a repetition of the experience in the JOhn Costa case. Costa was the leader of the Carbondale “Black Hand” and the police has a sure case against him. He got a trust company to go on his bail in the sum of $4000 and got out of jail. He at once fled to Italy.
Trapi, who has a number of aliases among them Pellegrino Niccoli, is said by the local police and Captain Walsh of the United States secret service, to be one of the men implicated in the “barrel mystery” in New York, in which it will be remembered a wealthy Buffalo Italian was wobber and murdered and his dismembered body put into a barrel. It is also said that he is wanted in Italy to serve 25 years for attempted murder and 15 years for felonious assault on a girl. He lived with his wife and children in Raymond court under the name of Trapi, but got his mail at 214 Linden street under the name of Pellegrino Quiero.
Both Trap and Cagliano are intelligent and prosperous looking. It is claimed by the police that they are the leaders of the “Black Hand” in this region and that between them they have extorted between $15,000 and $20,000 from Italian hereabouts.
Two Italians Held in $18,000 Bail for Dynamite Outrage
Sure Case Against Them
Scranton, Pa. March, 21. -- Paul Trapi and Giuseppi Cagliano, the two Italians arrested while being handed marked money by Giovanni Fazio, a macaroni manufacturer, who, it is alleges, they had repeatedly threatened and whose store was dynamited New Years Ever, supposedly by these two, were given another hearing before Alderman Kasson and put under $10,000 additional bail, making $18,000 bail for each man.
At the hearing the young daughter of Fazio swore that Trapi is the man whom she saw throw the bomb which wrecked her father’s store. She was looking cut of a window on the second floor, where the family lived, when she noticed three men on the opposite side of the street. While she was watching them, one of them, who she identifies positively as Trapi, came across hurriedly and threw something on the porch of the store. Immediately there was an explosion, and the lower front of the building was wrecked Fazio himself swore positively that Trapi and Cagliano were the men who came to his store no less than 12 times after the explosion, demanding money to use their influence to prevent further explosions and the death of him and his family. According to Fazio’s daughter, they represented on one of their visits that they had been hired to “put him out of business” by a rival macaroni manufacturer, who is one of Scranton’s leafing and wealthiest citizens.
The purpose of the authorities in demanding such heavy bail is to prevent the possibility of a repetition of the experience in the JOhn Costa case. Costa was the leader of the Carbondale “Black Hand” and the police has a sure case against him. He got a trust company to go on his bail in the sum of $4000 and got out of jail. He at once fled to Italy.
Trapi, who has a number of aliases among them Pellegrino Niccoli, is said by the local police and Captain Walsh of the United States secret service, to be one of the men implicated in the “barrel mystery” in New York, in which it will be remembered a wealthy Buffalo Italian was wobber and murdered and his dismembered body put into a barrel. It is also said that he is wanted in Italy to serve 25 years for attempted murder and 15 years for felonious assault on a girl. He lived with his wife and children in Raymond court under the name of Trapi, but got his mail at 214 Linden street under the name of Pellegrino Quiero.
Both Trap and Cagliano are intelligent and prosperous looking. It is claimed by the police that they are the leaders of the “Black Hand” in this region and that between them they have extorted between $15,000 and $20,000 from Italian hereabouts.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Right Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Emma Roberts
Citation
“"Black Hand” Leaders in Toils,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed April 24, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/409.