MAFIA'S THREATS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3217, 15 June 1909, Page 7

MAFIA'S THREATS.

The shcoting of the famous New York detective, Lieutenant Petrosinu. in Palermo, by emissaries of the notorious "Black Hand," as detailed some time ago, shows the far-reach : ing nature of the dealings of the society. Not content with what it has already done, Mr Bishop, who is the United States consul at Palermo, has received letters from the Mafia, Italy's most dreaded secret society, saying that if he does not mind hia own business the fate of Lieutenant Petrosine will overtake him also. The letters add that they will punish him more severely than they did IPetrosino, if he continues to prosecute the Sicilian criminals who find refuge in New York. Mr Bishop has handeu these letters to the police, who have taken adequate measures to protect his person and the Consulate. The agent of shipping company with whom Mr Bishop had made arrangements for the transportation of Lieutenant Petrosino's body to America went back to Mr Bishop and threw up the contract, fearing the revenge of the Mafia, from whom he had received a secret warning. As showing the great power of jhf Mafia, Mr Wil'iam Le Queux, the famous navelist, has written to the London "Daily Mirror," giving his experience of the dreaded society< My first actual experience of the Mafia was when I took up my residence in Italy some 15 years ago. To my house in Leghorn there one day came a respectably dressed tradesman, presenting a bill for nearly £4O for furniture, of which 1 | had never heard. I behaved rather rudely, and told my man to put him outside. He went, but he pestered me by calling every day with the same demand. At last one morning my servant came to me looking rather worried, and asking whether I had not better J consult the "Questere," or chief of police, as he did not like the stranger's threats. That afternoon I called and had a chat with the chief of police, and showed him my alleged "account." When he had heard the circumstances he inquired: "De you intend to remain in Italy long? If so," he added, "pay, and you will avoid a ' great deal of trouble." Next day, I when the stranger called, I paid, received a formal receipt, and for a good many years seemed to be exempt, from extortion.

I. however, by means which I have never discovered, tell foul of the Mafia very badly while living at my villa at Signa, above the Arno. One afternoon my faithful man-ser- • vant urged me to fly from Italy at once. There was a plot by which the house was to be attacked that night, and 1 was to be killed! I resolved to go into Florence, 14 miles distant, and seek the protec tion of the authorities At the Quenton I was shown every courtesy bv the Chevalier Luigi Frosali, an expert police officer, who told me that a most desperate plot was no doubt prepared, and that he should come himself in secret to my house 1 and bring eight of his detectives 1 also in secret to guard me. > I returned home, and through the evening, one stranger after another ' arrived, until there were nine of r them. For nine days I was thus > closely guarded, when suddenly it was discovered that sentence of * death had been withdrawn, and my \ guards left me with two attendants \ only. . The day they left, however, a * poor contadino was shot dead by an unknown hand at dark just outside my gate, and I have often wondered hether that bullet was really intended for me.

Only a year ago a rich Italian family, named Gondi, came from New York to spend the winter in Palermo. The father was being pressed by the Black Hand, and because he refused to pay the sum demanded, his little son, aged ten, disappeared. Next day he was found near the Villa ligea, but both the poor little fellow's eyes had been burned out!