From April 3, 1910
BLACK HAND MANACLED AT LAST: How Chief Wilkie’s Secret Service Men Drew a Net Around the Leaders of the Most Dangerous Band of Foreign Criminals Ever Known in This Country (PDF)
Another fascinating true crime story. The man in the middle of that photomontage is John Wilkie, chief of the United States Secret Service from 1898 – 1911. This article tells the story of how he finally caught an international gang of criminals known as the Black Hand. The website GangRule.com is all about organized crime during the turn of the last century, and they have a lot of background information about the Black Hand including biographies of all the members. This article describes the detective work that brought them down.
Possibly related articles:
- Outbreak Of The “Gang” Terror In New York City
- Secret Service Methods In New York’s Police System
- “Enchantress” Bewitches All At Murder Trial
There is an excellent book, called “The First Family” that tells the story of the ‘Black Hand” gang, and one of the murders they committed, called “The Barrel murder”. Did you know their leader, was called “Clutch Hand” because he only had one finger on his left hand? Fascinating!
Annette
29 Apr 10 at 4:59 PM