The Legacy of Sacco & Vanzetti

Filmmaker Peter Miller

Some infamous crimes may never be resolved, and while the case of Sacco and Vanzetti might not be the most important such case in America (as this new documentary suggests), it's certainly worth another look, if only to remind us of how fear can derail justice. Filmmaker Peter Miller uses images and experts to recreate the crime, trial, protest, and execution, and for anyone not familiar with the events, it's the best introduction now available. Those who do know the story will appreciate this approach, although the forensic demonstrations become mere background to the politics.

Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco

Nicola Sacco, 29, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, 32, were anarchists as well as members of the much-maligned Italian community. Thus, there were two strikes against them from the start. During the 1920s, America was a land steeped in prejudice and xenophobia, with a tendency to target specific racial groups for scapegoating. The courts were no different, despite the American ideal of justice for all.

The crime in 1920 involved the shooting of a shoe factory paymaster and his guard who were delivering a payroll in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Two men killed them in broad daylight and witnesses said that at least one of them was "Italian-looking." Investigators at the murder scene recovered six ejected shell casings and traced them to three manufacturers: Remington, Winchester, and Peters. They soon arrested Sacco and Vanzetti, in virtue of their association with more notorious figures. Both men were in possession of pistols and Sacco's was the right calibera .32-caliber Colt automaticto be one of the murder weapons (albeit a very common weapon in those days). Sacco also had two dozen bullets on his person, some of which had been made by the three manufacturers of the crime scene shells. Based on this evidence, along with their political association and philosophies, they went to trial.