The Sacco and Vanzetti case still has repercussions almost a century later

By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Author

BRAINTREE – When fishmonger Bartolomeo Vanzetti and shoemaker Nicola Sacco emigrated to the United States from their native Italy in 1908, it's hard to imagine they ever imagined they would be at the center of a groundbreaking court case. After all, the Statue of Liberty (the “Mother of Exiles”) had welcomed them and other weary, poor and huddled masses yearning for freedom. Yet less than 20 years later, the two would find themselves embroiled in a murder trial that garnered nearly worldwide attention, and their freedom would be short-lived.

Robbery at a shoe factory
In 1920, security guard Alessandro Berardelli and paymaster Frederick Parmenter were killed in an armed robbery at the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree. Sacco and Vanzetti were charged, arrested, tried and convicted for the murders. Academics and artists increasingly called for their pardon or a new trial. Harvard law professor and later Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter argued for their innocence in an article in the Atlantic Monthly.

Four months before her execution in August 1927, 97 years ago this month, Vanzetti made a statement in court:

“This is what I say: I would not wish on any dog ​​or snake, on any of the most vile and unfortunate creatures on earth, what I have suffered for things I have not committed. But I am convinced that I have suffered for things I have committed. I suffer because I am a radical, and I am indeed a radical. I have suffered because I was an Italian, and I am indeed an Italian. I have suffered more for my family and my mistress than for myself. But I am so convinced that I am right that if you could execute me twice, and if I could be reborn twice more, I would live again to do what I have already done.”

Unrest and controversy
Shortly after the executions, the Massachusetts Judicial Council cited the Sacco and Vanzetti case as evidence of “grave defects in our methods of justice.” Protests erupted in the United States and Europe. In retaliation, bombs exploded outside American embassies around the world, including in Paris, injuring the American ambassador's valet. More than 10,000 mourners reportedly came to view the bodies of Bartolomeo and Sacco at the Langone Funeral Home in Boston's North End.

Crime boss Frank “Butsey” Morelli and his brothers were long suspected of involvement in the robbery and murders, and in 1973 a former gangster released a confession from Frank's brother Joe: “We took them down, we killed those guys in the robbery. Those two sleazebags, Sacco and Vanzetti, took it easy.”

Opinions vary as to their guilt or innocence, and whether they were victims of a biased legal system and a botched trial. Some believe Sacco was guilty and Vanzetti innocent. Several historians believe that the two men should have been granted a second trial, given the significant flaws in their trial. On the 50thth On the one-year anniversary of the deaths of Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco, then-Governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation declaring that the men had not been treated fairly and that their names should not be associated with stigma or shame.

Despite the complex history of immigration, the nation was built on the backs of immigrants, their descendants, and slaves. Debates and policies regarding immigration remain heated and divisive. In some quarters, tension and discrimination against immigrants remain high, with some automatically targeted as criminals. Nearly a century later, the Sacco and Vanzetti case in Massachusetts continues to shine a spotlight on issues of injustice, due process, and the treatment of immigrants in the United States.

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