Where can I hear The Mysterious Axeman’s Jazz (Don’t Scare Me Papa) (1919) by Joseph John Davilla?
Dunno, but scope this out–
Yep. I read about the Axeman every few years when a friend mentions him. It’s amazing that more people don’t know about it, especially since the case may have been connected to the largest mass lynching in the U.S. (in 1891).
Could you elaborate on that connection Johnny ?
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/weird/axeman/index.html
It wasn’t long before people in the Italian community began to talk about a possible connection with the Mafia. These people had been Italian, and perhaps they had not paid their “dues.” Perhaps they’d borrowed money and then failed to meet their obligations. The Mafia was known to teach people lessons for such perceived effrontery. A few Italian citizens of New Orleans requested police protection. Some whispered about an organization called “The Black Hand,” a Mafia splinter group believed in 1911 to have been responsible for that spate of killings.
There was a time in New Orleans when organized crime was a dominant force, to the point where much blood had been shed. In 1890, a group of Mafia assassins were believed to have gunned down Police Chief David Hennessy, as described in Gumbo Ya Ya , just steps from his home. Supposedly he’d arrested a Mafia leader and had threatened to expose the criminal records of others at an approaching trial. They could not allow him to testify. Suspects were arrested, but at their trials jury members were threatened and bribed, so one by one each of the men got off. The citizens of New Orleans were incensed at the outcome. They formed a mob, marched on the prison to find those who were left inside, and lynched 11 men that they believed were responsible for the crime.