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This web site is under construction and
obviously a work in progress.
However, this research project has been in the works for
over 30 years. Because of the horrific nature of my
great grandfather's death his children rarely spoke of the
event and details where difficult to extract. Together
with newspaper reports, family interviews and additional
sources, I will try to piece together all information on
this site.
On Saturday,
April 10, 1909
Giuseppe Ficarrotta was gunned down as he arrived home
around 8 o'clock in the evening. The family had always
claimed the murder was the result of an attempted extortion
for money. Giuseppe Ficarrotta was described as a
wealthy wholesale and grocery owner and served as a member
of the West Tampa City Council. There was a possible
connection to an earlier murder of B. LaBella. The
accused murderer of that case was Orniferio Chiarmante, who
was believed to have gone to Giuseppe Ficarrotta for money
to defend him or bribe officials which he was refused, so my
great grandfather's assassination was arranged.
The funeral was
held the day after the murder on Easter Sunday and was
reported in the newspaper as the largest the city had ever
seen. Read some of the condolences letters sent to the
family here.
His murder was
never solved, however our uncles had always told me that
Angelo Albano and Castrenze Ficarrotta, the two men
lynched on September 1910 were involved. My great
grandmother Maria Nicolina Pirello Ficarrotta had blamed
herself, thinking she aided the assassins by turning on the
porch light as her husband Giuseppe arrived home. She
was so distraught that she remain in her room for over a
year in mourning and also she always wore black until the
day of her death.
Additional
information and comments are welcomed, please
email me.
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