On March 14, 1891 eleven Italian-Americans were lynched in New Orleans by a mob waving the Confederate flag who had been whipped up into believing that New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessey had been murdered by "the dagoes." It is from this incident that the term "mafia" entered the American lexicon as the thugs who lynched these 11 men, who had been found not guilty of the crime by a jury not inclined to be sympathetic to Italians, used "fighting the mafia" as their excuse for their act of barbarity, portraying these 11 innocent men as "mobsters."

It is an albatross that Italian-Americans have had to live with ever since and it is about time that we stop having to live with it and the prejudice and discrimination it brings against our people. Before I continue I want to enter into the record the names of the 11 victims of the mob that day, who died for the simple "crime" of being Italian in America.