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Nicola Sacco (pronounced [niˈkɔːla ˈsakko]; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (pronounced [bartoloˈmɛːo vanˈtsetti, -ˈdzet-]; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrants and anarchists who were controversially convicted of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a guard and a paymaster, during the April 15, 1920, armed robbery of the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Seven years later, they were executed in the electric chair at Charlestown State Prison.
After a few hours' deliberation on July 14, 1921, the jury convicted Sacco and Vanzetti of first-degree murder and they were sentenced to death by the trial judge. Anti-Italianism, anti-immigrant, and anti-anarchist bias were suspected as having heavily influenced the verdict. A series of appeals followed, funded largely by the private Sacco and Vanzetti Defense Committee. The appeals were based on recanted testimony, conflicting ballistics evidence, a prejudicial pretrial statement by the jury foreman, and a confession by an alleged participant in the robbery. All appeals were denied by trial judge Webster Thayer and also later denied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. By 1926, the case had drawn worldwide attention. As details of the trial and the men's suspected innocence became known, Sacco and Vanzetti became the center of one of the largest causes célèbres in modern history. In 1927, protests on their behalf were held in every major city in North America and Europe, as well as in Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Dubai, Montevideo, Johannesburg, and Auckland.[1]
Celebrated writers, artists, and academics pleaded for their pardon or for a new trial. Harvard law professor and future Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter argued for their innocence in a widely read Atlantic Monthly article that was later published in book form.[2] Even the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was convinced of their innocence and attempted to pressure American authorities to have them released.[3][4] The two were scheduled to be executed in April 1927, accelerating the outcry. Responding to a massive influx of telegrams urging their pardon, Massachusetts governor Alvan T. Fuller appointed a three-man commission to investigate the case. After weeks of secret deliberation that included interviews with the judge, lawyers, and several witnesses, the commission upheld the verdict. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in the electric chair just after midnight on August 23, 1927.[5]
Investigations in the aftermath of the executions continued throughout the 1930s and '40s. The publication of the men's letters, containing eloquent professions of innocence, intensified the public's belief in their wrongful execution. However, a ballistic test performed in 1961 proved that the pistol found on Sacco was indeed used to commit the murders.[6] On August 23, 1977—the 50th anniversary of the executions—Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation that Sacco and Vanzetti had been unfairly tried and convicted and that "any disgrace should be forever removed from their names".[7][8]
- ^ Jornal Folha da Manhã, segunda-feira, 22 de agosto de 1927. ISBN 9781575888057
- ^ Frankfurter, Felix (1927). The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti : A Critical Analysis for Lawyers and Laymen. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
- ^ Cannistraro, Philip V.; Tibaldo, Lorenzo (2017). Mussolini e il caso Sacco-Vanzetti (in Italian). Claudiana. ISBN 9788868981204.
- ^ Cannistraro, Philip V. (1996). "Mussolini, Sacco-Vanzetti, and the Anarchists: The Transatlantic Context". The Journal of Modern History. 68 (1): 31–62. doi:10.1086/245285. ISSN 0022-2801. JSTOR 2124332. S2CID 143847291.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
nytexecutionwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Russell, Francis (June 1962). "Sacco Guilty, Vanzetti Innocent?". American Heritage. 13 (4): 110.
Making independent examinations, Jury and Weller both concluded that 'the bullet marked III was fired in Sacco's pistol and in no other.'
- ^ Douglas Walton (2005). Argumentation Methods for Artificial Intelligence in Law. Springer. p. 36. ISBN 9783540278818. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
- ^ (State), California. California. Supreme Court. Records and Briefs: S014605. p. 29. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2021.