The Barrel Mystery
Page 27
CHAPTER XXVII
THE WATCHWORD OF THE "BLACK-HANDERS"
"_Have no fear--I am not asleep--and I have not slept ever since thattime!_"
These ominous words were underscored in a letter written by Morello,the arch-bandit, to a friend in Palermo who had warned the chief to beon his guard against betrayal in his extensive criminal operations.The words "that time" undoubtedly refer back to the Corleone murdersthat made the chief change his habitat from the mountain haunts of theMafia to the by-ways of New York.
I have quoted Morello because in that ominous sentence he has spokenthe watchword of the "Black-Handers" in New York City. The criminalelement among the Italians here is not sleeping. At the time he pennedthese words Morello had advanced to the leadership of the worst andmost elusive band of criminals that ever slipped past the scrutiny ofthe Ellis Island officials.
In contrast to the criminal element, the honest Italians of New YorkCity, and other large centers of population in this country, arecertainly sleeping. It is a restless, fearful sleep in which they areindulging. A sleep from which they will be aroused sometimes by a bombat their door, or by the stealing of the smallest child in theirhousehold, or by a knife-thrust in the dark. The Italian, the honestItalian, the good citizen, knows that what I say is true.
But why does the honest Italian go back and sleep again when he knowsthat the same danger is imminent still?
The honest Italian is drugged with fear.
He fears to open his mouth and tell the police and the governmentofficials about the threats that have been sent to him by letter or bythose whom he knows are among the criminal element. His mouth isclosed with the drug of fear. He goes back to sleep in silence notrealizing that by so doing he invites another crime upon hishousehold.
The antidote for the drug of fear is courage.
Perhaps courage is not the correct word; I mean rather disregard ofthreats. If the honest Italians in this country would disregard thethreats of the very small number of criminals among them, the"Black-Hand" nuisance would be wiped out before the sun returned tothe meridian many times. If the honest Italian would help the policeauthorities by telling the facts when threatened there would be aswift ending of the "Black-Hand" gang.
The reason for the fear in the mind of the honest, and even the mostintelligent, Italians is born of the thought that such leaders asMorello and Lupo, were more than human in their craftiness, and haddark and mysterious ways of avoiding the best detectives in thiscountry, and that they could even commit murder and laugh in the teethof the police. The answer to such a thought is the sentences imposedon Morello, Lupo and the other members of the gang now confined in thefederal prison. If there are other leaders of less magnitude thanthese two, and who have caused any Italian fear through threat orotherwise, I invite such honest Italian to tell me what he knows.There are cells unoccupied in many prisons.
In conclusion I ask the honest Italian to disregard the idea that thecriminals of his race are infallible and may not be reached by thelaw. It is to honest Italians particularly that I send out this book.I repeat the words of Giuseppe Morello:
"HAVE NO FEAR, I AM NOT ASLEEP, AND HAVE NOT SLEPT EVER SINCE THATTIME."
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Transcriber's note:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Spelling and hyphenation variants were standardized to the mostfrequently used, as follows: Black Hand(er) to Black-Hand(er), calibreto caliber, getaway to get-away, maccaroni to macaroni, post-office topost office.
Chapter XXVI, p. 239: "Schiavi tells of leaving Rio de Janeiro aboutFebruary 23, 1909, on the steamship _Gunther_, and arriving in NewYork in the middle of February of the same year." This apparent errorin dates has been retained as in the original since it could not beresolved.