SACCO & VANZETTI INDICTED FOR 1ST DEGREE MURDER
Braintree, Massachusetts (JFK+50) On September 11, 1920, a Norfolk County grand jury indicted Nicola Sacco* and Bartolomeo Vanzetti** for a South Braintree payroll robbery in which two guards were killed. The trial of Sacco & Vanzetti began in the Dedham Courthouse on May 31, 1921.
The robbery occurred on the evening of April 15, 1920 at the Slater & Morrill Shoe Factory in South Braintree. The guards carried $15,776.51 in cash when they were shot multiple times by two gunmen. The shooters made their escape in an automobile.
Authorities determined political radicals were responsible. Sacco & Vanzetti were arrested on May 5, 1920. Both men were armed at the time of their arrests.
A jury convicted Sacco & Vanzetti of 1st degree murder on July 14, 1921. They were sentenced to death. Anti-immigrant and anti-anarchist bias have been suspected as influencing the verdict.
*Nicola Sacco (1891-1927) was born in Southern Italy & arrived in the U.S. in 1908. He worked as a skilled craftsman at several shoe factories.
**Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888-1927) was born in Northern Italy & arrived in the U.S. in 1908. He held a series of menial jobs in NY, Connecticut & Massachusetts. BV worked as a fish peddler in Plymouth, MA.
SOURCE
"The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti,": www.mass.gov/
Bartolomeo Vanzetti & Nicola Sacco
Boston Public Library (1923)
PD-USGov
