The New Orleans axe said he would forgive anyone who played jazz on a specific night. Here’s why the serial killer was never caught

NEED TO KNOW

• Between 1918 and 1919, an unknown assailant nicknamed Axeman terrorized the city of New Orleans.

• At least five murders and more than a dozen attacks can be attributed to the axe, which earned its name by using axes as a murder weapon.

• Although many people were suspected, all were eventually acquitted and the Axeman was never captured.

It’s been over a century since the Axeman brutally murdered at least five people and attacked more than a dozen others in New Orleans. But aside from a supposed love of jazz music, the identity of The Big Easy’s most infamous criminal remains unknown.

From May 1918 to October 1919, an unknown serial killer broke into homes throughout the city and attacked victims while they slept, often with their own axes. Since valuables were rarely taken, the police could not find a clear motive for the murders.

Fear swept through the city as the attacks continued, reaching its peak on March 19, 1919, after the Times-Picayune posted a letter days before supposedly from the Axeman. In it, the killer threatened to attack again on March 19 “at 12:15 (Earth time)”, but promised not to enter any house playing jazz.

“If everyone has a jazz band, then all the better for the people,” Axeman allegedly wrote, according to Rural Roads Magazine. “One thing is for sure and that is that some of those people who don’t have fun on that specific Tuesday night (if there is one) will be fired.”

Here’s everything you need to know about the Axeman of New Orleans and why they were never captured.

Who was the axeman of New Orleans?

The Axeman of New Orleans was a serial killer who was active between the years 1918 and 1919. Police believe the unidentified killer was responsible for at least five murders and up to 17 attacks.

Described by survivors as a white working-class man in his 30s, the serial killer managed to enter their homes by removing a small panel from the door. According SmithsonianThe axe used a railroad shoe pin, leading police to believe the killer was an experienced thief.

Although many attributed the March 1919 letter to the serial killer, Miriam Davis, historian and author of the 2017 book. The New Orleans Axe: The True Storyargued the opposite.

“When you read the letter, this is an educated person; it has a classic allusion to Tartarus,” he said. Rural Roads Magazine in September 2022. “And the person who is Axeman, based on the description we have of him, is a working man… I just don’t think a working class person at that time would have been educated enough to write that letter.”

Davis believed that local jazz musician Joseph John Davilla was the most likely culprit behind the note. The day that Times-Picayune published the letter, which caused the entire city of New Orleans to blast jazz music all night, he wrote “The Axman’s Jazz (Don’t Scare Me)”, which has long been associated with the killing spree.

How many people did the Axeman kill?

The ax was responsible for killing at least five people – Italian grocer Joseph Maggio and his wife Catherine, barber Joe Romano, grocer Mike Pepitone and 2-year-old Mary Cortimiglia – and attacking up to 17 more people.

In May 2018, the Maggios were murdered while they slept in their apartment. The killer slashed Catherine’s throat with a razor so severely that her head was nearly severed before hitting them both with an axe, according to the Times-Picayune.

Three months later, Romano was fatally hit in the head with an ax and found bloodied next to his bed, according to Rural Roads Magazine.

In March 2019, a week before the letter was published, Axeman attacked the Cortimiglia family, hitting grocery store owner Charlie and his wife Rosie with an axe. They survived, but their young daughter, Mary, was found dead.

Pepitone’s attack in October 1919 marked the last of Axeman’s alleged attacks. Like the other victims, Pepitone was found dead in his bedroom after suffering a blow to the head.

Because most of the victims were Italian and Sicilian shopkeepers, Davis believed they may have been the target of his success.

The author also argued that the Axeman attacks may have begun as early as 1910, as a series of similar crimes during that period were attributed to an unknown murderer named “The Cleaver.”

Who was suspected of being the Axeman?

Although no one was suspected of all of the Axeman attacks and murders, several people were arrested (and nearly convicted) for some of the individual attacks.

According Rural Roads MagazineJoseph Maggio’s brother, Andrew, was arrested as the main suspect after police learned he was the one who discovered the bodies. But he was finally released.

In the attack on Cortimiglia on March 8, 1919, the police suspected rival shopkeepers and neighbors of the family. Detectives even allegedly forced Rosie to sign a document implicating Frank Jordano and his father, Iorlando Jordano.

They remained imprisoned for a year before Rosie confessed that she had wrongly accused them and that she did not know the identity of her attacker.

But perhaps the most popular Axeman suspect was Joseph Manfre, also known by the names Mumfre or Monfre. He was a known criminal who had been arrested for attempting to bomb an Italian grocery store in 1907, according to Rural Roads Magazine. Pepitone’s wife, Esther, claimed that Manfre admitted to killing her husband.

The widow shot and killed Manfre after claiming he entered her home and demanded cash or he would kill her like “he did to (her) husband.”

Why was the Axeman never caught?

During the crime spree, police were reportedly reluctant to believe that the murders and attacks were related. Davis told the Chicago Review Press in March 2017 that at the time people were simply “not as familiar with the concept of serial killer.”

“The idea of ​​a murderer who acted without an obvious motive was contradictory,” the author said. “Believing that the Jordanos attacked the Cortimiglias over a business dispute made more sense to people at the time and fit their (to some extent deserved) stereotype of Italian vendettas.”

Additionally, there were no reliable eyewitness accounts to point to and a lack of evidence at the crime scenes.

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