The Washington Times published my review of Inspector Oldfield
and the Black Hand Society: America’s Original Gangsters and the Postal
Detective That Brought Them to Justice.
“On the night of
April 18, 1908, in the railroad town Bellefontaine, Ohio, eighteen-year-old
Charles Demar walked into the fruit shop he owned with his uncle, Salvatore
Cira, and put a bullet into his uncle’s head,” opens the story of a Post Office
inspector who investigated Black Hand
criminals — with a suitable bang.
When the police arrived, the victim appeared not to speak
English, which was not uncommon among the roughly six million Italian
immigrants across the United States at the time. Although the Italians were
preyed upon by the violent extortionists who called themselves “La Mano Nera,”
the Black Hand, the victims also feared and mistrusted the police.
The Bellefontaine police were glad to find two letters
written in Italian in the victim’s pocket, as they could now hand off the
murder case to the local Post Office
Inspector, who had jurisdiction due to the letters.
The police brought the letters to the U.S. Post Office in
Columbus and handed them to Inspector Frank Oldfield, a diminutive man in a
well-fitting suit, who was chomping on a cigar.
“Oldfield
pushed some papers and files aside and opened the letters. He made a quick
visual scan of the documents with his magnifying glass. A satisfied smile
appeared on his face.”
So begins “Inspector Oldfield
and the Black Hand Society: America’s Original Gangsters and the U.S. Postal
Detective That Brought Them to Justice.” The book was written by William
Oldfield, the great-grandson of the late Post Office
inspector, and journalist Victoria Bruce.
Mr. Oldfield
discovered a trunk of his great-grandfather’s, which offered documents, letters
and photos about his major Black Hand
case. Victoria Bruce mined modern digital tools and came up with additional
information about the case and the time.
The authors tell us that since arriving in Columbus in 1901,
40-year-old Inspector Frank Oldfield had become one of the most aggressive and
successful Post Office
inspectors in the service, According to the authors, “he’d run down
safecrackers, exposed a corruption ring between a U.S. Congressman and a New
York City assistant district attorney, and busted crooks on the railroads for
robbing the mail.”
But there was nothing Oldfield
wanted more than to “run to earth” what he believed was an international
organized crime ring spanning America all the way to Palermo, Sicily: Truly bad
guys whose members called themselves The Black Hand Society.’
You can read the rest of the review via the below link:
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