100 years ago in The Record

Wednesday, March 14, 1917

A preliminary hearing in the case of accused murderer Angelo “Jimmie the Toss” Latasso focuses on a description of murder victim Frank Fragola, The Record reports.

Latasso, an Albany café owner and supposed leader of the shadowy “Black Hand” organization, is accused of strangling Fragola, who was seeing Latasso’s wife, on February 15. Fragola’s body was found inside a partially burned barrel in a Watervliet brickyard the following night. Latasso was arrested last week but only charged with murder yesterday, in order to avoid a habeus corpus hearing.

“All through the proceedings Latasso seemed quite calm,” our reporter writes from Albany, “From time to time he fingered the front of his shirt, but otherwise made no motions.

“Mrs. Latasso sat right behind him, but not once did they converse. Virtually the only emotion shown by Latasso was when he was first brought into headquarters from the jail. Mrs. Latasso visited him in headquarters and later his little boy ran into the room. On the sight of the child, the mother and father began to cry, but when they reached the court room they were calm.”

Corner’s physician James E. McDonald of Cohoes testifies that Fragola, also known as Frank Fiori, died by strangulation. That’s been his opinion since he first saw the body on February 16. “No marks on were found on the body other than marks on the throat made before death occurred,” he explains.

Giuseppe Molanari works at the Retallick brickyard where the body and barrel were dumped. Through an interpreter, he tells the court that he was asleep in a shack on the premises at the time the barrel was set on fire. By the time a cat woke him up, firefighters were already at the scene.

William H. Boyland of Watervliet drove past the brickyard on February 16 and saw a car parked no more than 150 feet from the brickyard, as well as two men walking away from the yard. He was driving too fast to get a good look at the men, but tells the court that one was of medium height, the other “a great deal shorter.”

PRELUDE TO WAR

In international news, word reaches Washington today that an American steamship, the Algonquin, was shelled and sunk by a German submarine two days ago. The entire crew is believed to have survived.

The Algonquin left New York before President Wilson’s order ordering merchant ships to arm and defend themselves against German subs. Survivors claim the ship was attacked without warning, in keeping with the German policy that has brought the two countries to the brink of war.