Chief of Police David C. Hennessy

I am currently writng a book, after an exhaustive period of research, that seems to indicate that Hennessy was sacrificed by the Mayor and some of his close socialite friends. The power brokers of New Orleans wanted control of the docks and shipping at New Orleans, which was in the hands of three Italian families. That was intolerable to some. Immediately, the city police and mayor blamed literally every Italian in New Orleans and on the night of October 15, 1890. the police arrested 210 Italians and crammed them in to the city's police jail. Not long after that, a rigged Grand Jury indicted 19 Italians, including two prominent members of shipping and stevadore companies. They went to trial and 6 were acquitted and three were mistried. But the next morning, after exhortations by the press and the mayor, a lynch mob was formed and stormed the Orleans Parish Prison and lynched 11 Italians. The same Grand Jury that indicted the Italians found no wrong doing with the lynch mob. And the docks, soon after the lynchings, came under the control of the city's elite ruling class. There much more to this story.

Former Detective S.R, Perricone
New Orleans Police Department

October 16, 2019