The Axeman of New Orleans

Jake and Andrew Maggio discovered their wounded brother Joseph on the bed with the body of his wife, Catherine. By the time police arrived on the scene, Joseph expired. A search of the crime scene revealed a hastily washed axe in the bathroom.

Pauline and Mary Bruno were asleep in bed. When Pauline stirred because of noises she sat up and saw a dark figure looming next to the bed. She shrieked, and the intruder bolted from the house.

Mrs. Rosie Cortimiglia holds her dead child in her arms, while her husband's body lays on the floor behind her. She said that the family was attacked while they slept.

A sketch of the supposed likeness of Jack the Ripper, attacking a young woman. The Ripper's story was legend by the time that the Axeman was named by the press, and some drew similarities between the two cases.

In the 1890s, it was believed that a group of Mafia assassins had been hired to kill Police Chief David Hennessey for arresting a Mafia leader. Some said that the Axeman murders had a link to the Mafia case, as there were striking similarities between the Mafia murders and the Axeman case.

Canal Street in New Orleans. A busy area in the early part of the century. People went about their business, unaware that a killer would soon bring fear to the community.

New Orleans, Louisiana. The Axeman spread terror throughout the region. Rumors gave way to legend, and the Axeman remained at large.