Sacco and Vanzetti, Italian anarchists, were falsely accused and convicted of a double murder in 1921. Despite public outcry and later evidence suggesting their innocence, they were executed in 1927. The case highlighted bias against anarchists and continues to be discussed and explored in various media.
Sacco and Vanzetti were two Italian men who were tried and convicted in 1921 of a double murder that occurred in 1920. Later evidence suggested that the men were in fact falsely accused, and the case attracted much attention in the 1920s. Unfortunately, the two men were executed before they could be cleared, despite numerous public outcry. The Sacco and Vanzetti case has been historically important in the United States for a variety of reasons, and it continues to be widely discussed and cited today.
Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were both factory workers, and were involved in the anarchist community of the 1920s. Critics of the case have suggested that the men were likely framed due to their association with leading Italian anarchists of the time. In the 1920s many Americans were concerned about Italian anarchists and the threat of bombings and other acts of violence, and this fear was exploited to great advantage by the prosecution in the Sacco and Vanzetti trial; the jury deliberated for only three hours, despite the fact that the evidence was far from perfect.
The crime the two men were accused of was an armed robbery gone wrong. On April 15, 1920, two employees of the Slater-Morrill Shoe Company were traveling with approximately US$17,000 to South Braintree, Massachusetts. The two men were interrupted by armed robbers along their way; the robbers shot them, stole the cash, and fled with three other men in a car believed to have been stolen. The two victims of the attack later died, and witnesses indicated that the robbers were Italians; Sacco and Vanzetti had the misfortune of falling into a police trap which involved them in the crime.
The two men were tried for the murder in 1921, after Vanzetti was tried and convicted of the robbery in 1920. During the trial, many prominent Americans spoke about what they considered a frame-up, and when the jury returned a guilty verdict, riots and demonstrations for the cause took place around the world. After a series of failed appeals, the men were executed by electrocution in 1927; great public uproar also accompanied their execution.
Legal historians widely believe that the judicial system failed Sacco and Vanzetti and that the case illustrated the bias against members of the anarchist community. For anarchist historians, the Sacco and Vanzetti case is historically very important, because many mainstream Americans reacted with disbelief to the case and its outcome, suggesting that the anarchist cause may have had sympathy in surprising places during the 1920s. The case continues to be explored and reworked in films and books, many of which are by leading historians, authors and filmmakers.
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