File:1891 New Orleans Lynchings.jpg

The 1891 New Orleans lynchings were the murders of 11 Italian Americans and Italian immigrants in New Orleans by a mob for their alleged role in the murder of police chief David Hennessy after some of them had been acquitted at trial. It was the largest single mass lynching in American history.[2][3][note 1] Most of the lynching victims accused in the murder had been rounded up and charged due to their Italian ethnicity.

Victims

The following people were lynched:

• Antonio Bagnetto, fruit peddler: Tried and acquitted.
• James Caruso, stevedore: Not tried.
• Loreto Comitis, tinsmith: Not tried.
• Rocco Geraci, stevedore: Not tried.
• Joseph Macheca, American-born former blockade runner, fruit importer, and political boss of the New Orleans Italian-American community for the Regular Democratic Organization: Tried and acquitted.
• Antonio Marchesi, fruit peddler: Tried and acquitted.
• Pietro Monasterio, cobbler: Mistrial.
• Emmanuele Polizzi, street vendor: Mistrial.
• Frank Romero, ward heeler for the Regular Democratic Organization: Not tried.
• Antonio Scaffidi, fruit peddler: Mistrial.
• Charles Traina, rice plantation laborer: Not tried.

The following people managed to escape lynching by hiding inside the prison:

• John Caruso, stevedore: Not tried.
• Bastian Incardona, laborer: Tried and acquitted.
• Gaspare Marchesi, 14, son of Antonio Marchesi: Tried and acquitted.
• Charles Mantranga, labor manager: Tried and acquitted.
• Peter Natali, laborer: Not tried.
• Charles Pietza (or Pietzo), grocer: Not tried.
• Charles Patorno, merchant: Not tried.
• Salvatore Sinceri, stevedore: Not tried.

The court and district attorney set the survivors free after the lynching, and dropped the charges against the men who had not yet been tried.