The Black Hand was an extortion racket run by Sicilian and Italian gangsters in many cities in the US (including Scranton) during the period of 1890-1920. They would send threatening notes to well-to-do people and merchants which depicted a black hand or dagger and would extort money under threat of death or destruction of property. Tomasso Petto and Santo Caressi are early crime bosses in the Scranton area who began the practice of Black Hand extortion during this time period. (Petto had fled from NYC after being wanted for a murder there). This group was much later than the Molly Maguires and no relation to that group. Pam Packer Duignan Harrisburg (Williams, Reynolds, Davis, Lyons, Hughes, Jones families) ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour