Tom Smith was kind enough to spend some time discussing his latest book The Crescent City Lynchings. This is a factual account of New Orleans in the 1890s, a city where violence and corruption were the way of life. Forget the Wild West, the Wild South is much more entertaining!
When did you start this project, and where did you get the inspiration from?
I started the research at the very beginning of 1989 after a friend who knew how much I love New Orleans remarked that I should write something about the city. When I replied that I couldn’t imagine what episode in local history hadn’t already been covered, he asked me what I was reading right now for fun. It happened to be Nicholas Pileggi’s Wiseguy, so he suggested I write a crime story. On the way home I wondered what the most notorious crime in the history of the city might be?
I remembered the Hennessy case from a 1936 book, The French Quarter by Herbert Asbury, who is best known for stories about the gangs of New York. I started poking around, spent a few weeks in the New Orleans public library, came home with a suitcase stuffed with photocopied newspapers, and completed the first draft about two years later.
With the amount of detail and research that you have committed to this book it is almost as if you have a personal interest. Is one of your ancestors somehow involved?
I have no personal connection to any of the participants, but I wanted to get the story right. I was amazed at how many retellings of the case were based on myths and misinformed earlier versions. After a while, this stuff took on the weight of truth.
There was such a gulf between the writers who saw the men killed at the parish prison as villains versus victims. It was clear that I’d have to start from scratch. I read everything I possibly could about the case, and then ignored it. I went back to the primary sources to do my own investigating.
This is a wonderful book, but it obviously is a niche subject; was it difficult to find a publisher?
It took about 15 years and was harder than I had expected, given the public fascination with organized crime, New Orleans, notorious murders, and other threads in the book. It’s just as well though, for it turned to be a better book because of the delay. It’s certainly shorter than the original version!
How are early sales going?
Actually I have no idea. I’m just happy to have it out of the house. I’ll be pleased if the book itself does well. But it’s also an important story more people deserve to know about, particularly Italian Americans. I am very pleased about that.
Article comments
1 - Steve
I was wondering how Mr Smith arrived at the conclusion that the Macheca ships flew the Italian flag. I have seen several Antonio Jacobsen paintings of the Macheca ships and they are all flying the American flag and a Maltese Cross flag. They even had the Maltese Cross painted on the stacks.
This is not meant to be an attack but an inquiry about something I would like to know because I have done a study on these Italian men myself.
S
2 - Simon Barrett
That is a great question. Tom Smith is a very approachable guy, I will ask him if he would like to respond in person, or at least through me.
Simon
3 - Tom Smith
Hi Steve,
You're right, the Machecas were of Maltese origin. Joseph, the brother accused in the Hennessy case, was an orphan adopted by the family. The Macheca shipping business remained intact after his death at the parish prison. This is in the book. I didn't conclude or write that the steamships flew Italian colors. After Joseph's indictment and because of his business and social relationships with some of them, however, he became one of the suspects collectively spoken of as "the Italians," regardless of their ethnicity or citizenship status (in the end, only 3 of the lynching victims were found to be Italian subjects - the rest were technically American citizens).
If you have any other questions, I'll be happy to try to answer them.
By the way, Mafia researcher Thomas Hunt recently published a book about the lynching called Deep Water. I haven't read it yet, but a Macheca descendant is listed as co-author.
Tom Smith