Vendetta The True Story of the Largest Lynching in U.S. History

by Gambino, Richard

• ISBN13: 9781550711035
• ISBN10: 1550711032
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-06
• Publisher: Guernica Editions

Summary

The book on which the film with Christopher Walken was based. Eleven Italian Americans were lynched in New Orleans on 14 March 1891, by a mob of upwards of twenty thousand people. They had been called together by the city's political, business and labour elites a day after a jury acquitted six Italian Americans of the murder of the city's police chief. Those responsible for the lynching proudly took credit for it, but no one was charged or punished for it. The lynching caused a crisis between the President and Congress of the United States, between Washington and Rome. The lynching was used by lobbyists to further the building of the American Navy to achieve American status as a world power, and by nativists to restrict immigration and to repress immigrant populations. It also introduced a sinister word to America: MAFIA.

Author Biography

Richard Gambino is Professor Emeritus at Queens College of the City University of New York (CUNY), and holds a PhD in philosophy from New York University. He was appointed to the United States Bicentennial Commission by President Gerald Ford in 1975. He served, by appointment of Governor Mario Cuomo, on the New York State Council on the Humanities from 1984 to 1992. In 1988, he was awarded New York City' s Leonardo Da Vinci Award by Mayor Ed Koch. He was a full-time visiting professor at SUNY/Stony Brook for seven semesters in the mid-1990s. In 1999, HBO made a fictionalized feature film based on his non-fiction book, Vendetta, about the largest lynching in U.S. history, starring Christopher Walken, Ed Hermann and Bruce Davison. His play about Walt Whitman, Camerado, was performed in the Hamptons on Long Island, and his play, The Trial of Pius XII was performed there twice. Both plays were very well received by audiences. In 2009, the New York State Press Association gave Gambino a First Place Award for years of his special features newspaper writings. The citation with the award sums up what he attempts in all his writings: "In an age of instant messaging and short attention spans, this is a refreshing display of real writing, style, substance and organization. His dry, wry wit and universal commentary are engaging and educational."