Joseph Petrosino, the able and fearless officer of New York
police who was murdered in Palermo while in the service of the
country of his adoption, was, while he lived, our greatest
guaranty of protection against the Italian criminal. But
Petrosino is gone. The fear of him no longer will deter
Italian ex-convicts from seeking asylum in the United States.
He once told the writer that there were five thousand Italian
ex-convicts in New York City alone, of whom he knew a large
proportion by sight and name.* Signor Ferrero, the noted
historian, is reported to have stated, on his recent visit to
America, that there were thirty thousand Italian criminals in
New York City. Whatever their actual number, there are quite
enough at all events.
*Petrosino is a national hero in Italy, where he was known as
"Il Sherlock Holmes d'Italia"--"the Italian Sherlock Holmes."
Many novels in which he figures as the central character have
a wide circulation there.
By far the greater portion of these criminals, whether
ex-convicts or novices, are the products or byproducts of the
influence of the two great secret societies of southern Italy.
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