Mobsters, Madams & Murder in Steubenville, Ohio by Susan M. Guy

Author:Susan M. Guy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2014-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

Grave marker of William J. Snider, Mingo Junction police lieutenant, murdered by Vincent Caparra. Located in Union Cemetery, Steubenville, Ohio. Photo by Susan Guy.

The man known as Vincenzo Campano was actually Vincenzo Caparra, a good-looking, dark-haired, thirty-two-year-old man who walked with a limp. He evaded law enforcement for a few months, until he was captured in Buffalo, New York. Authorities transported him back to the Ohio Valley, where he went to trial on March 11, 1924. On March 15, Prosecutor Enoch Stanton Pearce was making his final argument in the case, addressing the number of shots that the defendant fired. Pearce walked toward the jury and then suddenly spun on his heel, as he reached the table where Caparra was seated. “How many shots where there?” He belted out, looking directly at the defendant. “I shot him three times!” Caparra screamed, as his attorneys grabbed his shoulders and tried to shut him up. The prosecution rested their case as the entire courtroom gasped. The judge gave final instructions to the jury, and they were escorted to the jury room. After twenty minutes and two ballots, they returned with a guilty verdict and recommended the death penalty. The judge pronounced that Vincenzo Caparra would die in the electric chair.

On June 24, 1924, that sentence was carried out in Columbus, at the Ohio State Penitentiary. Vincenzo Caparra was escorted to the death chamber at 1:02 a.m., accompanied by a Roman Catholic priest. He sat down for the last time in the electric chair and said, “Goodbye, everybody.” As the switch was flipped, his dry lips mumbled a prayer, “Dear God, please forgive me for…” At 1:06 a.m., Vincenzo Caparra, the rumrunning cop-killer, was pronounced dead.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.