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Show MURDER THE COMMON RESORT OF THE MAFIA. An Arsenal of Arms Used by Mafia Murderers. The recent Mafia murder in New York city has aroused anew Interest in this much-dreaded Sicilian secret order. The Mafia is one of the oldest secret organizations in the world, and was started in Sicily with the purpose of fighting the Italian government. govern-ment. Headquarters of the society are at Palermo, but scarcely a village vil-lage on the island is without a branch. In this country nearly every large city has a branch of the order, and for many years New Orleans was Its center cen-ter in the United States. Originally the society did not resort re-sort to violent means, but gradually the members sought to gain their ends in any manner possible, and In recent times murder has been frequent fre-quent as the result of this vicious organisation. or-ganisation. The fact that members of the Mafia are bound together by the strongest oaths and fear of bringing bring-ing down the society's wrath makes the task of ferreting out and punishing punish-ing the crimes attributable to the order almost impossible. A decade ago New Orleans -was the scene of many violent disturbances because of the Mafia, and the trouble finally culminated In the murder of Chief of Police Hennessey In 1891. Sixteen men were arrested and' charged with the crime, but the jury failed to convict any of them. This so enraged the people that a mob secured se-cured eleven of the men whoso guilt Beemed Indisputable and summarily lynched them. This action caused a serious diplomatic altercation with tne Italian government, but sinrje that time New Orleans has been singularly singular-ly free from trouble with the Mafia. |