08/31/2026
If you’re ITALIAN…..✅🇮🇹
If you’re interested in HISTORY…..✅✅
If you want to know the TRUTH…..✅✅
💥💥💥💥💥💥 R E A D 💥💥💥💥💥💥
🇮🇹GO FUND ME SITE🇮🇹
https://www.gofundme.com/f/fund-the-film-uncovering-a-historic-tragedy
A NEW ORLEANS TRAGEDY
Preserving an Overlooked Chapter of Italian-American History
Cracking the Cold Case That Changed Italian-American History
A Documentary Film and Historical Preservation Project
In 1890, New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy was assassinated, setting into motion one of the most consequential and disturbing episodes in Italian-American history. Italian immigrants were swept up in the investigation and prosecution that followed. After the criminal proceedings failed to produce the convictions demanded by an inflamed public, a mob descended upon the New Orleans Parish Prison on March 14, 1891.
Eleven men were LYNCHED.
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The LYNCHINGS reverberated far beyond New Orleans. The Italian government protested vigorously, the United States government became directly involved, and the incident developed into a serious diplomatic confrontation between Italy and the United States.
Contemporary U.S. diplomatic records document the extraordinary international consequences of the tragedy, including Italy’s demands that the United States protect Italian subjects and punish those responsible.
More than 135 years later, this story remains enormously relevant, and the obvious question unanswered: Who killed Chief Hennessy?
Former federal prosecutor and author S.R. Perricone, after more than six years of research into the Hennessy murder and its aftermath, has developed a new evidentiary analysis identifying who he concludes was actually responsible for the murder of Chief Hennessy.Perricone’s investigation is incorporated into his book, Cobblestones: A New Orleans Tragedy, and an accompanying historical presentation.
Our goal is to preserve this work on film, do so in a complete and quality fashion, and to distribute the package as a historical documentary.
We seek financial support to professionally produce a documentary examining the Hennessy murder, Perricone’s investigation, the prosecution of Italian immigrants, the 1891 lynching, the resulting diplomatic crisis, and the enduring significance of these events in Italian-American and American history.
This is more than a film.
It is an effort to preserve history.
Our GO FUND ME SITE:
https://www.gofundme.com/manage/fund-the-film-uncovering-a-historic-tragedy
THE STORY
On October 15, 1890, New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy was mortally wounded in an ambush.Suspicion quickly centered upon members of New Orleans’ substantial Italian and Sicilian immigrant community. Arrests followed.
The reaction became so serious that the Italian government intervened even before the subsequent lynching. Official U.S. diplomatic correspondence records the Italian minister’s concern that innocent Italians had been arrested and that public statements were inflaming sentiment against the city’s Italian population.
The criminal proceedings did not produce the convictions many in New Orleans expected.
Then came March 14, 1891. A mob forced its way into the Parish Prison and killed eleven prisoners associated with the Hennessy prosecution.
The incident immediately became an international matter. The Italian government demanded action. President Benjamin Harrison’s administration became directly involved. Secretary of State James G. Blaine corresponded extensively concerning the killings, the citizenship of the victims, America’s treaty obligations to Italy, possible prosecutions, and potential compensation.
The diplomatic record provides extraordinary documentation of an episode in which the treatment of Italian immigrants in one American city became a matter of international relations.
Yet one fundamental question has remained:
Who actually killed David Hennessy?
A 135-YEAR-OLD COLD CASE
S.R. Perricone brings an unusual perspective to that question. A former New Orleans Police Officer, turned FBI Agent, an then Federal Prosecutor, Perricone spent more than six years examining unique historical records, testimony, transcripts, newspaper accounts and other evidence surrounding the murder. Rather than simply retelling the familiar history of the lynching, Perricone returned to the beginning. He investigated the murder itself as a cold case.
His work resulted in Cobblestones: A New Orleans Tragedy, which uses historical research and a narrative framework to examine the experience of Sicilian immigrants in New Orleans and the events surrounding the Hennessy killing. Perricone has developed an evidentiary theory identifying the person or persons he concludes were actually responsible for Hennessy’s murder.
Our documentary will allow Perricone to present that evidence to the public while historians, archival materials and contemporary records place his conclusions within the larger historical context.
The audience will be invited to examine the evidence.
WHY THIS HISTORY MATTERS
The documentary is not simply a murder mystery. It is a story about immigration, prejudice, citizenship, criminal justice, mob violence, diplomacy, journalism, political power and the struggle of immigrants to become accepted as Americans. The subject and information is as pertinent today as it was in 1891.
The events surrounding the Hennessy case offer an extraordinary lens through which to examine the treatment of Italian immigrants during one of America’s great periods of immigration. The federal government’s own historical records reveal the seriousness of the aftermath. The State Department’s Foreign Relations of the United States volumes contain extensive correspondence devoted specifically to the killing of prisoners in New Orleans on March 14, 1891.
The tragedy ultimately required negotiations between two nations. The story also belongs within the broader history of the development of Italian-American identity and America’s evolving relationship with its immigrant communities.
Our product will examine the historical relationship between the New Orleans tragedy, the subsequent U.S.–Italian diplomatic crisis, President Benjamin Harrison’s 1892 national Columbus commemoration, and the larger movement toward recognizing Italian immigrants as part of the American national community. We truly hope that it will shape the way to embrace future issues in a more thoughtful and peaceful manner including understanding, empathy, and tolerance.
Rather than treating these historical relationships as slogans, the documentary will examine the evidence and allow scholars and primary sources to explain their significance.
THE DOCUMENTARY
Our project will transform Perricone’s investigation and historical presentation into a professionally produced documentary capable of surviving long after individual lectures and presentations have ended. Our hope and desire is to distribute the information to ALL sections of our country---people of different background, heritage and culture----for the purpose of not only clarity and understanding, but to engage in a dialogue meaningful enough to resolve our differences. We are the same.
Depending upon available funding, production may include:
• Professional filming of S.R. Perricone’s presentation and interviews;
• Archival photographs, newspapers and historical documents;
• Court records and trial materials;
• U.S. and Italian diplomatic correspondence;
• Historical maps and illustrations;
• Filming at relevant locations in New Orleans;
• Interviews with historians and Italian-American scholars;
• Commentary from legal and criminal-justice experts;
• Italian-American community perspectives;
• Professional narration;
• Original graphics and historical timelines;
• Professional editing, sound and post-production;
• Music licensing or original music;
• Archival preservation;
• Educational materials;
• Closed captioning and accessibility;
• Public screenings; and
• Digital distribution.
A short educational version could be produced for museums, schools, universities and Italian-American organizations.
With sufficient funding, the project could also be developed into an approximately one-hour broadcast-quality historical documentary suitable for submission to public television, documentary festivals and national humanities programs, and more.
EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE
The documentary will be created not simply to entertain but to educate.
Potential audiences include:
• Italian-American organizations and cultural institutions
• Museums and historical societies
• High schools and universities
• Italian-American studies programs
• Immigration-history programs
• Law schools and criminal-justice programs
• Civil-rights organizations
• Libraries and archives
• Public television audiences
• Documentary-film festivals
• The general public
Supporting educational material can encourage viewers to consider questions extending well beyond 1891:
• How does prejudice influence the administration of justice?
• How should society respond when public anger conflicts with the rule of law?
• What responsibilities does government have toward immigrant communities?
• How can journalism and political rhetoric influence public opinion?
• How do historical myths develop?
• What can we learn from examining injustice in the past teach us about preventing injustice in the future?
PRESERVING HISTORY
Time presents a special challenge to historical preservation. Researchers, witnesses to research, authors and community historians cannot present their work forever: documents can be scattered; Institutional memories disappear; Stories are forgotten.
Film allows this historical investigation to be preserved in a form that can reach audiences far beyond a single lecture hall. Our objective is therefore both documentary production and historical preservation.
We want future generations to be able to see the evidence, hear the analysis, understand what occurred in New Orleans and appreciate the consequences for generations of Italian Americans.
USE OF FUNDS
Grant and sponsorship funds will be dedicated to documentary production and preservation expenses, including:
• Research and archival acquisition
• Obtaining historical photographs, newspaper materials, court records, diplomatic documents and reproduction permissions.
• Production
• Professional camera crews, lighting, sound recording, interviews and location filming
• On-site New Orleans filming
• Recording historically significant locations and interviewing Louisiana historians, scholars and community representatives.
• Post-production
• Editing, sound mixing, graphics, animation, color correction, narration and music.
• Historical review
• Engaging qualified historians and scholars to review the documentary for historical context and accuracy.
• Archiving
• Creation and preservation of high-quality digital masters and supporting historical materials.
• Educational distribution
• Preparation of educational versions and materials for museums, schools, universities and cultural organizations.
• Public outreach
• Screenings, lectures, community discussions and documentary-festival submissions.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
We invite foundations, Italian-American organizations, humanities organizations, cultural institutions, corporations and individual benefactors to participate in preserving this important chapter of American history.
Support may take several forms:
• Lead Documentary Sponsor
• Presenting Sponsor
• Historical Preservation Sponsor
• Educational Sponsor
• Production Sponsor
• Archival Sponsor
• Community Sponsor
• Individual Benefactor
Organizations may also participate by providing archival materials, scholars, venues, promotional assistance or distribution opportunities.
All contributions will help ensure that this history is not confined to books, archives and individual presentations but is preserved visually and made accessible to future generations.
WHY SUPPORT THIS PROJECT?
The project occupies a remarkable intersection of subjects:
• Italian-American heritage
• American immigration
• New Orleans history
• Civil rights and ethnic prejudice
• The American criminal-justice system
• Mob violence and the rule of law
• U.S.–Italian diplomatic history
• Investigative historical research
• Documentary filmmaking
• Education and historical preservation
Few stories encompass so many dimensions of the American experience. At its center remains an extraordinary question that has survived for more than a century:
Who killed Chief David Hennessy?
S.R. Perricone believes the historical evidence now provides an answer.
We want to preserve his investigation, examine the evidence and place it before the public.
OUR APPEAL
History disappears when no one makes the effort to preserve it. The eleven men killed in New Orleans in 1891 cannot tell their story. The immigrants who lived through the fear and hostility of that period cannot tell us what they experienced.
But the historical record remains.
The documents remain.
The evidence remains.
And an investigation conducted more than a century later offers an opportunity to reopen one of the most consequential mysteries in Italian-American history.
We ask for your help in bringing that history to the screen.
Your contribution will help transform years of research into a permanent documentary record available to Italian Americans, students, historians and the public.
Because understanding what happened yesterday can help us understand one another today.
Understanding history is the platform for peace.
We respectfully request your financial support in preserving this story for generations to come.
My best ,
Mike
Michael A. Santo, Esq.
Michael A. Santo, P. C.
Cell: 516.551.5503
attySANTO@gmail
Cracking the Cold Case That Created Columbus Day S.R. Perricone, a… Michael Santo Esq needs your support for Fund the Film: Uncovering a Historic Tragedy
