David Hennessy

And there's one guy that plays a big role in our story.

Police chief David Hennessy stood in the middle of it all.

Even before his death, depending on who you ask, he was either a brave cop fighting against corruption or a dirty cop who served as a prime example of that corruption.

Not that easy for us today to separate the real man from the mythology that quickly grew around him.

What we know is that he was involved in some capacity in the clash between two Sicilian families.

And on October 15th, 1890, David Hennessy was gunned down.

Waiting for investigations to follow and for facts to emerge would have been the logical next step, but that's so boring.

People wanted answers and they wanted them now.

And if you listen to episode number 49, you'll remember how tragically that ends.

In 1891, Pietro is living in New Orleans, where he's swept up in the aftermath of the assassination of police chief David Hennessy.

Pietro is one of 19 Italian men indicted in connection with the murder, despite the case against many of them, especially Pietro, being extraordinarily questionable.

After the first trial ends without the convictions an angry public expects, a mob storms the parish prison.

That was what they were first called.

And in 1890, the first known mob hit in this country, the first contract killing, was the killing of a police superintendent by the name of Hennessy, David Hennessy.

A superintendent is the same as a chief of police.

He was on his way home, and he got gunned down.