The Sacco and Vanzetti Case

The Sacco and Vanzetti Case The trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for the Braintree, Massachusetts, shoe factory robbery and murders is the most politically charged murder case in the history of America. On April 15,1920, a paymaster and his guard were carrying a factory payroll of $15,776 through the main street of South Braintree, Massachusetts. Two men standing by a fence suddenly pulled out guns and fired on them. The gunmen snatched up the cash …

…failed, Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced to death. Many observers believed that their conviction resulted from prejudice against them as Italian immigrants and because they held radical political beliefs. In 1925 Celestino Madeiros, a leader of a well-known gang, confessed to being a member of the gang that killed the two officers. He also named four other men who had taken part in the robbery. However, the authorities refused to investigate the confession made by Madeiros.