Sacco-Vanzetti << SAK oh van ZEHT ee, >> case, was a controversial murder trial held in Massachusetts in 1921. The defendants were two Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco, a shoemaker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a fish peddler. They were both executed.
The case, which attracted worldwide attention, began after two custodians of a shoe company payroll were robbed and murdered in South Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1920. Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested and charged with the crime. Both were carrying pistols when they were arrested, and Sacco’s gun was of the same caliber as that used to kill one of the murder victims. Both defendants also strongly supported a political philosophy known as anarchism, which called for the overthrow of all systems of government (see Anarchism ). Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted and sentenced to die. After passing sentence, Judge Webster Thayer indicated that he shared the views of many people who assumed the pair’s guilt because they were anarchists.
But many other people believed there was not enough evidence to prove Sacco and Vanzetti were guilty. Their supporters also argued that Sacco and Vanzetti had been convicted mainly because they approved of anarchism. Appeals and other legal reviews lasted six years. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in August 1927. Widespread public protest followed the execution.
Today, many historians believe that Sacco may have been guilty, and that Vanzetti was probably innocent. But in either event, it is thought that the evidence was insufficient to support conviction. In 1977, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts signed a proclamation that recognized the faults of the trial and cleared the names of Sacco and Vanzetti.
