By Rick Geary (NBM/Comics Lit)
ISBN: 978-1-56163-605-1
Master cartoon criminologist Rick Geary returns with another compelling carnival of corruption from his series of graphic novel true-murder mystery reconstructions, combining a superlative talent for laconic prose, incisive observation and forensically detailed pictorial extrapolation with his formidable fascination for the darker aspects of human history.
Geary’s unblinking eye periodically scours the last hundred years or so for his Treasury of XXth Century Murder series, and here exposes one of the greatest and most painful travesties of American justice – a case which took the entire world by storm.
In 1920 a payroll robbery and double homicide in Eastern Massachusetts led to the arrest of two Italian anarchists who were either cunning, ruthless enemies of society, haplessly innocent victims of political scaremongering and judicial bigotry or – just maybe – a little of both….
Another superb black and white hardcover thriller, this captivating capsule history opens as always with a selection of detailed maps of pertinent locales before ‘The Crime’ details how a bloody wages snatch in South Braintree, Massachusetts took place on April 15th 1920. The events are dissected with meticulous care, rich in enticing extra data the local police ignored when picking up two ideal suspects: immigrant left wing activists Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco.
‘The Accused’ details their personal histories, involvement with Anarchist and Socialist groups and their version of the events which led to their arrest on May 5th after which their deeply flawed trial is deconstructed in ‘The Case For the Commonwealth’: paying particular attention to the illegal manner in which the jury was convened, the nature of the witnesses and the prejudices of presiding judge and prominent anti-immigrant advocate Webster Thayer, who declared before, during and after the trial how he was going to “get those Bolshevicki bastards good and proper†and “get those guys hangedâ€â€¦
The farcical days in court, in which the defendants found themselves as much at the mercy of their own lawyer’s political agenda as the prosecution’s and public’s assumptions and fabrications, is detailed in ‘The Case For the Defense’ and inevitably led to a guilty verdict and death sentences for both on July 14th 1921.
‘The Legal Jungle’ follows the numerous appeals, delays, public campaigns for clemency and stays of execution – paying particularly mordant attention to the unfortunate and peculiar legal procedure of Massachusetts Law which dictated that all appeals in a case must be heard by the judge in the original case – meaning that Web Thayer was “compelled†to rule on his own judgements and directions in the case. Not surprisingly, all appeals were over-ruled…
He even threw out a confession by a professional gangster who came forward and admitted to committing the crime, calling him a “robber, crook, liar and thief†with no credibility whatsoever…
The account closes with ‘A Global Cause’ as the case caught world attention, sparking a massive movement to re-examine the case; its subsequent co-opting as a cause celebre by both fascist and communist national leaders and violent anti-American protest, even riots and bombings in the streets of many countries.
Sacco and Vanzetti, who had always proclaimed their total innocence, were executed on August 23rd 1927, and this stirring chronicle concludes with the events, further facts and arguments that have continued to surface to this day regarding what is still a huge unfinished drama…
Geary presents facts and theories with chilling pictorial precision, captivating clarity and devastating wit and this still broadly unresolved mystery is every bit as compelling as his other homicidal forays: a perfect example of how graphic narrative can be so much more than simple fantasy entertainment. This merrily morbid series of murder masterpieces should be mandatory reading for all comic fans, mystery addicts and crime collectors.
© 2011 Rick Geary. All Rights Reserved.