Murder in South Braintree

Murder in South Braintree

The Background

By the early 1920s most Americans had become weary and fearful of radicals. For the previous forty years--starting with the infamous Haymarket bomb explosions in Chicago--a series of anarchists bombings dotted the historic landscape. One anarchist, Johann Most, had even written a detailed manual, Science of Revolutionary Warfare, instructing the making and use of bombs, dynamite, and other destructive devices. Emma Goldman, or Red Emma, preached for the violent overthrow of the government. Big Bill Haywood, and his Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), advocated and took part in a series of assassination plots and explosions. Haywood would eventually be buried at the Kremlin wall in Moscow. The Bolshevik take over of Russia produced a "Red Scare" in America after World War I that merely fanned smoldering xenophobia into hysterias.

Throughout the Progressive era the ethnic group singled out as the greatest threat to America was the Italian. Such ethnic labeling of criminals was quite common in America going back to the Irish fears in the 1840s and 1850s. The assassination of the New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy in the 1890s, for example, almost caused an international incident when eleven Italians acquitted for the crime were lynched. Thereafter words like Mafia (criminal groups originating in Sicily) and Cammora (those coming from Naples) began to enter the American vocabulary. Various "Black Hand" extortionist gangs had been made up largely with Italians. In addition, large numbers of poor working class Italians had gravitated to anarchism. Such fears, whether based on reality or imagination, pushed the justice system to its limits. Into such an environment came a crime that remained a debate for over seventy years.

The Crime

On April 15th, 1920 in South Braintree, Massachusetts--a quiet hoe manufacturing town about ten miles from Boston--a payroll robbery occurred in which a paymaster (Frank Parmenter) and his guard (Alex Berdardelli) were shot and killed. The shooting occurred as the two men walked down Pearl Street toward the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company carrying two metal boxes containing $15,000. Two men--described by numerous witnesses as dark, short, and wearing caps common to working class ethnics--jumped the victims in broad daylight. One of the men pulled a gun from under his overcoat and fired several bullets into Berardelli. Parmenter fled but was quickly cut down as well. An automobile--a Buick touring car--with three passengers sped up to the gunmen. The money was loaded into the car. Then another member of the party jumped out and fired again into Berardelli finally killing him. The desire to make sure that the two victims were "good and dead" lead some to think that the killers were familiar enough to them and that they feared being identified. The car, with five people in it, raced off shooting randomly into the windows of nearby buildings to keep possible witnesses from having a good look at the goings-on. Nonetheless, over 30 witnesses saw the members of the car. A few days later, the car was found abandoned in a wooded area about 12 miles from South Braintree.

The Evidence

Evidence was both sparse and inconclusive.

First, over thirty witnesses claimed to have seen the car and its passengers. While they were vague over most of the bandits, witnesses did think that the driver was blond and pale in appearance. As for the others, they seemed to be dark and swarthy looking wearing mustaches. Second, shortly before he died Parmenter said that the shooters did not look familiar to him. No one knows what Berardelli would have said, however, because he was dead on the scene.

Third, the Buick found in the woods had a Rhode Island license plate.

Fourth, the bullets taken from the victim's bodies provided some ballistic evidence. The comparison microscope had not been invented as yet, it will appear in the latter part of the decade, so ballistics was in its infancy. But it appeared that the bullets taken from the dead guard--labeled I, II, III--and two from the paymaster were fired from a .38 caliber Harrington & Richardson. Bullet III, the fatal one that killed the guard, was of particular interest and controversy later on because many thought it had been substituted to incriminate an innocent person. All of the bullets had a distinct "right-twist" in their grove pattern. Fifth, a discarded cap from one of the shooters was left behind on the scene.

The Suspects

One of the earliest suspects were the various Boston and Providence robbery outlaw gangs taking advantage of the unsettled time immediately after the World War. One such group was the Morelli gang of Providence, Rhode Island that had specialized earlier in the robbing of railroad freight cars. While most of the gang were Portuguese and Italian there were some Anglo members. Many years later, Frank Morelli--then head of the Mafia in New England--claimed that "we whacked them out, we killed those guys in the robbery." Of course, Frank Morelli was known for braggadocio.

One William Dodson, a professional car thief, was reported by his estranged wife to have bragged about taking part in the robbery. Much of his activity took place around Needham and Newton, the area that both the Buick and the license plates used in the South Braintree robbery had been taken.

Celistino Madeiros, a condemned prisoner in jail for the robbery and killing of a bank cashier, in 1925 confessed to being in a car with a bunch of Italian during the robbery. Although he never named people the implication was that he was with the Morelli gang. Shortly after he was executed and most believe that his revelations were just an attempt to cheat the executioner. Ferruccio Coacci was a radical anarchist in Quincy, Mass. where he had a dramatics society--Il Filodrammatica de Quincy--devoted to anarchist productions and propaganda. In addition, his collection of radical books were available to all. He was on the government's list of future deportees. He openly wanted to return to Italy but declared he was "waiting for a free ride" from the government. In January, 1920, he, with his pregnant wife and their two children, moved into a ramshackled old house occupied by a close friend, Mike Boda.

Boda, a short man with a sharp aquiline nose, a hairline mustache, and deep-set hazel eyes, was a snappy dresser. Also, he had settled into a life of crime by being a bootlegger, an occupation that gained in criminality and profitability due to the recently instituted Prohibition laws. Boda owned a 1914 Overland, a large touring car that was beyond the means of most of his cohorts in the Italian community. Upon inspection, however, the Overland was not in his garage. Supposedly it was being worked on in South Braintree, a short distance away. Many in the neighborhood claimed they saw him recently driving a Buick, perhaps a loaner while his Overland was being repaired. Upon questioning it was revealed that he owned and carried a 32. caliber automatic pistol. It was learned later that he had purchased the gun from a friend named Ricardo Orciani.

Orciani, another ardent anarchist, had taken Boda on his motorcycle to pick up the Overland after it was repaired. Some witnesses were pretty sure that they saw Orciani as one of the shooters. Orciani and Boda were to be met by two friends at the repair garage and the four were then to plan the next anarchist meeting.

Nicola Sacco, a married man with two children, was a skilled leather stitcher and worked fairly regularly in the various shoe factories of southeastern Mass. He was so trusted by one plant manager that he was given keys to the factory to light the furnaces in the morning. Because he was fearful being out in the darkness of early morning he carried a pistol, a .32 caliber Colt automatic. When WW.I broke out--fearing he would be drafted--he and a friend (Vanzetti) fled to Mexico City where they stayed a short time. Upon his return Sacco got steady work in various shoe factories. On April 15th, Sacco and Vanzetti were to meet Boda in South Braintree to pick up the car. While Boda went on Orciani's motorcycle Sacco and Vanzetti took the trolley. He had his gun with him and in addition his pockets were filled with over thirty bullets.

Bartolomeo Vanzetti was the academic scholarly member of the Mass. anarchists. He spoke very little English and could not drive a car. After years of poverty he turned to anarchism and was blacklisted by many factory owners in the region. Unlike his new acquaintance, Sacco, after returning from Mexico City Vanzetti roamed throughout Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. He got a measure of independence by becoming a fish peddler. Several Itlians saw him peddling fish the day of the hold-up. Sacco had announced that he was going to return to Italy and Vanzetti went to say goodbye on April 15th. But, first, together they got on a trolley car to meet two friends in South Braintree. Like his friend, Sacco, Vanzetti carried a gun illegally; it was a .38 caliber.

Now began the investigation and trial of the century.

Questions to Ponder

1. Who committed the murders in South Braintree?

2. Use the DOPE analysis.

3. How does ethnicity enter into this case?