1891 New Orleans lynchings
| 1891 New Orleans lynchings | |
|---|---|
Rioters breaking into parish prison, as illustrated in History of the United States (1912, Scribner) | |
| Location | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Date | March 14, 1891 |
| Target | Italian American suspects of the murder of David Hennessy |
Attack type | Xenophobic attack |
| Deaths | 11 |
| Perpetrators | Leaders: William Parkerson, Walter Denegre, James D. Houston, and John C. Wickliffe; participants included John M. Parker and Walter C. Flower |
| Motive | Italophobia, Anti-Catholicism, Anglo-Saxonism, Xenophobia |
The 1891 New Orleans lynchings were the murders of 11 Italian Americans and Italian immigrants in New Orleans by a mob for their alleged role in the murder of police chief David Hennessy after some of them had been acquitted at trial. It was the largest single mass lynching in American history. Most of the lynching victims accused in the murder had been rounded up and charged due to their Italian ethnicity.
The lynching took place on March 14, the day after the trial of nine of the nineteen men indicted in Hennessy's murder. Six of these defendants were acquitted, and a mistrial was declared for the remaining three because the jury failed to agree on their verdicts. There was a widespread belief in the city that Italian-American organized crime was responsible for the killing of the police chief, in a period of anti-Italian sentiment and rising crime. Italian-American voters were also known to prefer the scandal plagued city political machine to the new Reform Democrat Mayor, whose own role in inciting the violence that followed may well have been an attempt to misuse government power for the repression of his political opponents.
Believing the jury had been fixed, a mob broke into the jail where the men were being held and killed eleven of the prisoners, most by shooting. The mob outside the jail numbered in the thousands and included some of the city's most prominent citizens. American press coverage of the event was largely congratulatory, and those responsible for the lynching were never charged.
The incident had serious national repercussions. The Italian consul Pasquale Corte in New Orleans registered a protest and left the city in May 1891 at his government's direction. The New York Times published his lengthy statement charging city politicians with responsibility for the lynching of the Italians. Italy cut off diplomatic relations with the United States, sparking rumors of war. Increased anti-Italian sentiment led to calls for restrictions on immigration. The word "Mafia" entered the American lexicon, and the awareness of the Italian mafioso became established in the popular imagination of Americans.
The lynchings were the subject of the 1999 HBO film Vendetta, starring Christopher Walken. The film is based on a 1977 history book of the same name by Richard Gambino.