The Black Hand was a precursor to the mafia in the United States, and they primarily targeted the Italian immigrant population. Although they committed violent crimes, such as murder, bombings and kidnapping; these actions were all just moves in a larger game, which was intended to keep the Italian communities living in fear of retribution.
They extorted money from hardworking laborers, as well as business owners who were in fear of something happening to their familes if they did not comply. The Black Hand primarily existed from the early 1900’s to the beginning of Prohibition, when it evolved into another form of organized crime.
There were two events I recently researched that were associated with the Black Hand. In 1917, there was a murder in Battle Creek within an Italian immigrant neighborhood near Oak Hill Cemetery of a stoker at the gas plant named Guiseppi Aiello, who was known in the community as Joseph Ellen. He was brutally murdered with an axe for no apparent reason to the police not far from his home.
The other incident was the bombing of the Casparelli Fruit Store over in Hillsdale, Michigan in 1923. The Italian owner refused to pay money to the Black Hand, and a bomb was set off on the roof of his store blowing out windows for blocks in the downtown village. The history of these two incidents are explored in my latest podcast episode on Tales of Southwest Michigan’s Past.
