title: The Crescent City Lynchings: The Murder of Chief Hennessy, the New Orleans "Mafia" Trials, and the Parish Prison Mob
author:  Tom Smith 
description: The court appearances of immigrant Italians for the 1890 murder of New Orleans police chief David Hennessy was the first organized crime trial to capture worldwide attention. Though it is now a household term, the word "mafia" wasn't a part of the American lexicon till the acquittal of half of the 19 defendants in the case that led to a mob lynching of 11 Italians, nine of whom had been found not guilty and two who had yet to be tried. The lynchingsthe largest mass lynching in American historynot only caused great tensions between Italy and the U.S., but the trial itself left a stigma on Italian-Americans that has lasted to the present day. Freelance reporter Smith digs deep into the Big Easy's murky past to uncover the underlying connections between the compromised police force, the battling Italian dockworkers' syndicates and the city's corrupt political factions that made New Orleans' legal system ineffective in the simplest of cases. Quoting heavily from newspaper accounts, Smith is able to bring a local and timely flavor to his otherwise straightforward account of Hennessy's life, the murder and its spiderweb of repercussions. The sensational nature of the case certainly lends itself to conspiracy theories, but Smith stays unbiased, allowing his readers to use the facts to come to their own conclusions. <i>(Jan.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  # Mob Rule in New Orleans
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Ida B. Wells-Barnett
  
  
  This page formatted 2004 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
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      Mob Rule in New Orleans
  
  
  Robert Charles and His Fight to Death, the Story of His Life, Burning
  
  
  Human Beings Alive, Other Lynching Statistics
  
  
  
  
      
  
  Produced by Suzanne Shell, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the Online
  
  
  Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgpd.net.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  MOB RULE IN NEW ORLEANS: ROBERT CHARLES AND HIS FIGHT TO DEATH, THE
  
  
  STORY OF HIS LIFE, BURNING HUMAN BEINGS ALIVE, OTHER LYNCHING
  
  
  STATISTICS
  
  
  BY
  
  
  IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT
  
  
  1900
  
  
  
  
  
  [Transcriber's Note: This pamphlet was first published in 1900 but
  
  
  was subsequently reprinted. It's not apparent if the curiosities in
  
  
  spelling date back to the original or were introduced later; they have
  
  
  been retained as found, and the reader is left to decide. Please verify
  
  
  with another source before quoting this material. Of 