BY NATHAN SANSARICQ
You might know that the Croton Dam, completed in the early 1900s, is one of the largest stone structures in the entire world. You might not know that is was built by exploited workers - Italian immigrants, who were paid starvation wages, and who were treated with violence and scorn. Some of them grew so desperate that they reached outside the law to make their living. On November 9, 1911, six men attempted to rob the property of a deceased wealthy farmer. However, when Mary Hall began to scream and fight back, things went badly wrong - Santo Sanza panicked and stabbed Mary over and over to shut her up. The men left bloodied and without their loot.
Lorenzo Cali, an Italian Immigrant who worked for less than $2 a day, heard of the passing of a wealthy farmer who had left his wealth and his large home for his wife. Cali rounded up five other Italian men, and the six of them planned on robbing the late farmer’s property. On November 8, 1911, the men arrived at the property and came to the realization that the promised wealth was instead only pennies. As the men escaped, they encountered a woman of wealthy status. The men screamed at her, wanting her to give them more money, but she began to cry and scream, and in the ensuing confusion, a terrible murder was committed. The men fled the scene, but were soon confronted by the police, who arrested four of the men. The other two men fled and were later found and arrested. The men were tried, with no Italian witnesses allowed, and the New York Times reported that “it is believed that Westchester County has established a new record in this State for quick action in homicide cases.” Despite the fact that only one of the six men committed a murder, all six were sentenced to death and executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison. It is possible that only three of the six men were aware of the murder, and one man claimed that he tried to prevent the murder from happening. All six men lost their lives, even when only one was at fault for murder. Clearly, it was a difficult time to be an Italian immigrant in Croton, and the next time you see the dam, you might remember its bloody history.