About a month later the child
was recovered, but not, according to reliable information,
until Mr. Sabello had handed over $2,500.
Pending the recovery of the Sabello boy, a third child was
stolen from the top floor of a house at 119 Elizabeth Street.
The father, Leonardo Quartiano, reported the disappearance,
and in answer to questions stated that he had received no
letters or telephone messages. "Why should I?" he inquired,
with uplifted hands and the most guileless demeanor. "I am
poor! I am a humble fishmonger." In point of fact, Quartiano
at the time had a pocketful of blackmail letters, and after
four weeks paid a good ransom and got back his boy.
It is impossible to estimate correctly the number of Italian
criminals in America or their influence upon our police
statistics; but in several classes of crime the Italians
furnish from fifteen to fifty per cent of those convicted. In
murder, assault with intent to kill, blackmail, and extortion
they head the list, as well as in certain other offences
unnecessary to describe more fully but prevalent in Naples and
the South.
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