On June 17, 1894, one of the “most cold-blooded murders” occurred when Crecenzo “Frank” Merolo (Merola) took aim at his barber over a dispute on his unpaid debt. Merolo owed Emanuel Loro just fifteen cents – the price of three shaves. When Loro demanded he is paid for his past work, Merolo pulled out a revolver and fired at the barber.
The small town of Old Forge was rocked when the two Italians squared off. After striking Loro with the first two shots, Merolo stood over the victim. Loro covered his eyes and begged for mercy. Merolo, unwavering, fired three more shots into the man while witnesses watched in horror.
It was reported that this was the latest in a long series of “desperate deeds” that had taken place in the county over the last few years. There were at least thirty-seven murders in the county since it was broken off as a part of Luzerne County sixteen years ago in 1878.
Merolo, a native of Ariano, Italy, around Avellino in the Campania region, was a laborer who worked in the mines in Mudtown, a mining village near Hoover Street in Old Forge that was also known as Chittenden’s Mines. He was only around 22 years old at the time of the murder. Before settling in Old Forge, Merolo worked on the railroad near Ebensburg in Cambria County.
The Victim
Loro, about 45 years old and a Pennsylvania native, had his barber shop along Main St in Old Forge. He had just set up shop in the area a few months prior after arriving in town from Philadelphia.
Loro fled the big city to avoid paying a fine or serving time in jail for being open on Sundays – a violation of the blue laws of 1794 prohibiting Barber Shops to be open on Sundays.
Loro claimed he didn’t have the money to pay the $6.50 fine and agreed to jail time.
When law enforcement tried to apprehend him on August 5, 1889, he was nowhere to be found.
At the time of his death, Loro was said to be a sick and frail “old man,” making a meager living as a barber.
The Escape
Merolo took off after the shooting, fighting off those who tried to stop him. He passed through Joseph Salvi’s home and was gone by the time the police arrived at the scene. Several witnesses corroborated the story, and Merolo was surely going to have to face charges for the brutal first-degree murder.
Officials quickly blocked the access points in a three-mile radius, including the railroad and main thoroughfares, and felt they had him hemmed in within the area but to no avail. Attempts to capture the murderer were unsuccessful.
The Hunt
Days later, rumors swirled that Merolo had been captured by Campbell’s Ledge, just outside of Pittston. Sheriff Fahey received a tip that a man matching his description was seen eating dinner at a Pittston hotel. A search party was sent up into the woods to chase after the man.
As the posse closed in, their wagon broke down. Fortunately, they were close to a farmhouse in the area and hired a new wagon to continue the search. Before long, it was said they had their man.
Fahey, it was reported, was said to have captured Merolo in the brush and, after a hard fight, placed Merolo under arrest and transported him back to the Pittston jail. That detailed report, however, was inaccurate. The posse did not find the man. Fake news!
Five days after the murder, County Sheriff John Fahey implored government officials to offer a reward for the murderer and felt that if approved, his capture would be imminent. Fahey was quoted as saying he had already spent over $100 of his own personal money to track down the man, and he didn’t think he should have to pay anymore. County Commissioner Giles Roberts felt that law enforcement should be able to find Merolo without assistance from the commissioners and a bounty.
Finally, on June 27, 1894, the commissioners offer a $500 reward for Merolo. And the Old Forge officials added another $100, upping the total reward to $600.
The Inquest
During the coroner’s inquest, several witnesses testified that Merolo was the killer and that many had witnessed the brutal cold-blooded murder. The first man to give his account was Antonio Esytanya. He told investigators that he saw the two men about twenty feet apart when Merolo fired the final shots into Loro. Esytanya is said to live in Anthony Grecco’s boarding home, along with Merolo.
Grecco testified that Merolo did, in fact, own a revolver but could not confirm if he always carried it with him.
Salvi, also a barber whose home Merolo made the exit, also testified. His home was searched by Fahey on the day of the murder. Investigators believed that Salvi was holding something back from them. Salvi’s wife also testified that Merolo simply ran through their home on his way toward Sibley Mountain.
Another to testify was Angelo Scarlo. Scarlo said he saw Merolo come out of his home and walk toward Loro’s Barber Shop. He saw Loro ask Merolo, “Don’t you want to pay for those three shaves?” He heard Merolo reply, “It’s Sunday, Me no pay anybody (on Sundays).” To which Loro replied, “You must give me them, or I will make you.”
With that, Scarlo said he witnessed Merolo punch Loro, then immediately fired shots into the man.
Stephen Bega
On July 12, 1894, a constable from Clifford Township, Charles Lowry, reportedly captures Merolo at Abner Cobb’s farm near Newton Lake.
After Lowry made the trip to Scranton with the alleged murderer, he told the Scranton Police how, after a long and arduous search, he captured the young man who claimed to be Steve Baker. Captain Edwards simply smiled and said, “I’m afraid that you have got the wrong man.” Lowry’s hopes were pinned on a scar the man had that matched the description of Merolo.
Lowry left in a huff – aggravated that Scranton Police were so flippant with their response to his hard work. Most believed that Lowry was motivated by the reward money and was convinced he would capture the spoils. It turned out that the man he had captured was a Hungarian named Steven Bega. Bega denied any accusation and was said to be “cool as a cucumber.”
To confirm his story, police asked Bega if he knew a local Hungarian who was quite popular in the city, John Majernick, who owned a hotel on Wyoming Ave. Bega said he knew him well. Police arranged a meeting, and Majernick confirmed Bega’s identity.
The tables turned on Lowry, and he was now wanted for false imprisonment charges.
Back in Italy
In November 1894, after months of investigating and several false alarms, police report that Merolo is back in his native Italy.
At the time, there was no international treaty to extradite suspects, so an effort is made to transfer the charges over to Italy to have Merolo face the charges in his home country.
It later became known that the man they believed to be their suspect was not, in fact, their man. It was an ingenious plan by Merolo’s friends to throw investigators off his tail.
Investigators grow frustrated that they still haven’t been able to hold anyone accountable for the murder.
The Instigator
They turn their attention to Joseph Salvi, the man whose home Merolo passed through during his escape. A few weeks after the murder, Salvi left the country for nine months – allegedly to collect money that was willed to his wife.
It was learned that Loro and Salvi were bitter rivals as barbers. Salvi was the first barber in the area. Before long, Loro set up shop in the small mining town. Loro, in an effort to boost business, reduced his price of a shave to just five cents and a cut to ten cents. This aggravated Salvi to the point that it was believed that Salvi instigated the shooting.
Upon his return to the US, Salvi was arrested and charged on July 23, 1895, in connection with the murder. He was immediately released because the prosecutor failed to appear for the hearing.
Weeks later, on August 1, 1895, he was arrested again.
During the hearing, seven witnesses told investigators that they believed Salvi paid Merolo to kill Loro – to eliminate the competition. They also believed that Salvi paid to send Merolo back to Italy to avoid capture. The money, they believed, would come from the money that was bequeathed to his wife.
Another witness testified that he heard Merolo and Salvi negotiating the price of the deal. Merolo wanted $200, and Salvi was only willing to pay $50. They settled on $100 – half paid up front and half after the job was done.
Yet another witness testified that her cousin was a barber in town. Salvi told her that if the cousin didn’t move out of town, there would be an Italian barber to bury. The cousin took the threat seriously, left town, and set up shop in NYC.
Even with all of this, the Alderman wasn’t convinced and dropped the charges. Salvi claimed that he was run out of town and forced to set up his shop in Carbondale. He threatened to file false imprisonment charges against the State.
A Critical Mistake
With little movement in Italy, investigators are stymied – until…
Merolo makes a critical mistake. He was, in fact, living in Italy. But he moved back to the United States and settled in Boston in October 1895.
October 14, 1895
On October 13, 1895, a man matching Merolo’s description was arrested by Boston Police at the direction of William Bauer, a man working for Barring & McSweeney’s, a New York detective agency that was hired by the County Commissioners. Bauer is said to be originally from Scranton and was searching the area looking for Merolo with the help of an interpreter. The capture takes place on North Street in Boston’s North End, a notoriously seedy part of Boston through the years. It dates back to Paul Revere’s days and is now part of Boston’s Little Italy.
The man is found to have an immigration certificate bearing the name Vincenzo Locasale. It shows that the man left Naples on April 25, 1895, and arrived in New York on May 11. but he has in his possession a check for $200 and several letters addressed to Merolo – including one from a cousin living in Old Forge. Further complicating things, the man claims his name is Francesco LaBracca.
I found the ship’s manifest for that trip. It shows a group of four men who came to the US from Ariano, including a man named Francesco LaBracca (born in 1866) and another named Felice Antonio Locasale. Both men are said to be headed to Boston along with Antonio Consolante.
Bauer used an ingenious plot to ensnare Merolo. He created a fake employment agency that was hiring Italians for good-paying railroad work in the West. Merolo and several other men were brought into a room where an informant from Old Forge identified Merolo from the others.
It was believed that Bauer had received credible leads that Merolo was seen in Pittsburgh, South America, and California before capturing him in Boston.
Extradited to Scranton
Within a week, Merolo was extradited back to Pennsylvania to face charges. On October 20, 1895, he’s back in Scranton, where he maintains his innocence and claims it’s a case of mistaken identity. Investigators claim that it’s “an old Italian trick to deny their identity,” and they are ready for it. During his hearing, seven credible witnesses identified the man as Merolo. It’s now apparent that they truly do have their man. He’s placed in the Lackawanna County Prison in a cell in what’s called “Murderer’s Row” along with other murders Frank Bezek, Leonardi Rosa, Pasquale Peretto, John Wisniski, and Joseph Boschino.
One week later, still awaiting trial, not a single visitor comes to visit Merolo in prison. This is very strange and has investigators a little concerned. On one hand, they realize that Merolo would not want anyone visiting him in jail because it would crush his defense of mistaken identity. But if it’s not him, and it’s truly someone else, why have none of that man’s friends come to visit him and come to his defense? Investigators believe the latter is further evidence that they have their man.
While in jail, Merolo, still acting as Frank LaBracca, is visited by a Scranton Times reporter. He maintains his innocence and claims that a lawyer in Boston took all his money but didn’t provide any assistance. Cashless, he can’t prove his innocence. He claims he is from Ariano di Puglia (today known as Ariano Irpino), Avellino, Italy. Coincidently, that’s the same hometown as the real Merolo.
He says his father, Otto LaBracca, is very poor and doesn’t have money to help him. He sent him a letter and is waiting for a reply to prove his identity.
LaBracca claims it will take 30 days between the time he mails the letter and the time he gets a letter in return. In the meantime, his Grand Jury trial is just days away.
Just days after that visit with the reporter, on November 7, 1895, the Grand Jury indicts Crescenzo Merolo for the murder of Emmanuel Loro.
Trial Begins
The trial starts on Monday, December 2, 1895. Merolo pleads not guilty with the hope that he can prove that he is not the man prosecutors think he is – even in the face of countless witnesses who have positively identified him.
Witness after witness testified that the defendant was, in fact, Crescenzo Merolo. During the testimony, Angelo Pelosi said Joseph Salvi paid money to Merolo to kill Loro. He heard the two men talking about the details. This was critical to the prosecution’s claim that the murder was premeditated and planned.
Salvi is supposedly ill and could not attend the trial; otherwise, he’d be a witness for the prosecution.
When Merolo took the stand, he continued his ruse, professing that he was Francesco La Bracca. He reminisced about his boyhood days in Italy. He talked about his father and that his mother had passed. His father had remarried, and he has a brother and three sisters living. He said he was married in the village and named the priest that married them along with their witnesses. He said that he was poor and had no friends – in other words, no one who would come to his defense to identify him.
It got to the point that DA Jones, upon cross-examination, asked him to step down from the stand because he didn’t want him to add perjury to his murder charges. The Judge was not amused and reprimanded Jones.
In their five-hour closing argument, the defense did not dispute that Emanuel Loro was ruthlessly murdered that day. In fact, they said that Crescenzo Merolo should be hanged for the offense – but the man on the stand was NOT Merolo. They maintained their position of mistaken identity.
DA Jones’ statement was short and to the point. He claimed the evidence was clear, and if they believed the thirty-five credible witnesses that said the man on the stand IS Merolo, there can be no question of the verdict – murder in the first degree. And with that, it was handed to the jury.
The Verdict
Within an hour, a verdict was reached – Murder of the First Degree.
“Gentlemen of the jury, hearken unto your verdict as the court hath recorded it: in the case of the commonwealth against Crezenzo Merolo, you say you find the defendant guilty of murder of the first degree, so say you all.”
Deputy Prothonotary, Myron Kasson
Even after the verdict was read, Merolo maintained his innocence and announced that his father and siblings will come from Italy to prove his identity.
The defense immediately filed a motion for a new trial. The prosecution fought back, arguing that the defense did not put a single witness on the stand from Old Forge to testify that it was NOT Merolo – even though Merolo worked in Old Forge for over two years. Clearly, someone would come to his defense.
The Final Nail
While Merolo sits in jail waiting on the decision for his retrial, in late January 1896, District Attorney Jones received a letter from the Italian Consul’s Office in Philadelphia. In it, they stated that Merolo’s father, Domenico Merolo, received a letter from his son in November through a pharmacist in town named Nicola Del Giacomo. It was the letter that Merolo has written from prison. The consul said that Merolo was using the alias Francesco LaBracca, who is also an acquaintance of Merolo and lives in Ariano. The letter urged the father to contact the mayor of Ariano to get him to send a certificate showing that he (acting as LaBracca) lived in Ariano at the time of the murder. Case closed.
Days later, a decision is made that there will be no new trial. Merolo is sentenced to death as the papers say he will swing from the “Gibbet.” I’ll be honest, I never heard of this term. So here’s an article that outlines the practice.
“You will be taken to the place of execution within the walls or yard of said prison and there to be hanged by the neck till you are dead. And may God have mercy upon your soul.”
Judge Edwards to Merolo
For your reference, a Gibbett is a cage from which the corpse will hang for display. It was meant to be a deterrent for any other criminals.
Salvi Disappears
While Merolo awaits his fate, Joseph Salvi disappears. His wife said she awoke one morning, and he was gone. Nearly broke, she says her husband left her and took all her valuables with him. She said he convinced her to take off her rings the night before and place them in a drawer – obviously planning his heist and escape. She later discovered that he had withdrawn almost $500 from their bank account at Merchant’ and Mechanics’ Bank.
It was generally believed that Salvi was worried that Merolo would try to make a plea deal to implicate Salvi in the murder. There were rumors that Salvi was part of a secret Italian society (possibly the early days of the Black Hand), and he wanted to get rid of the competition, so he hired Merolo to take out Loro.
Two months later, Salvi, feeling remorseful, writes to his wife from Italy and tells her where she can find the $450 he took from her when he snuck out on her.
The Day is Set
On April 8, 1896, the day is set for the execution of Merolo, May 26th – less than two months away. When asked about it, Merolo replies, “Why the ____ they keep it off so long?”
Officials tried to get him to confirm his real identity by getting him to sign for his final paycheck of $14.50 due from his mining job. He refuses and risks forfeiting his money.
May 26th promises to be a big day in the city with two parades and a hanging. Both the Knights Templar and the Barnum Circus plan parades in the city.
Lucky(?) for him, the Knights, a Christian organization, petitioned to move the date of his death since it conflicted with their opening of the state conclave that day. The new date is now set for July 1, 1896. We wouldn’t want a hanging to rain on our parade, right?
Finally, on June 15th, he signs for his paycheck, essentially admitting that he is, in fact, Crescenzo “Frank” Merolo. He assigns the wages over to his attorney, John T. Marin, and promises to make a full confession the day before he is executed. No word on whether he plains to implicate Salvi, or anyone else, in the murder.
Final Confession
With Father Peruzzi consoling him and offering him communion, Merolo tells his side of the story. He claims he had no intention to kill Loro, but his “heart was bad when I met him.” He said the two men had issues with each other, and Salvi told him that Loro was set to kill him. He claims he was drunk the day he shot him and that five minutes later, “I would give anything to undo the deed.”
He continued that it was Salvi who “egged him on” – that Loro was a bad man that killed a man in Italy and was forced to leave Philly for another crime. Salvi painted a nasty picture of how Loro would slice his victims with a razor. Merolo became paranoid that Loro was set to kill him.
Before he saw him on that fateful day, he and another friend were drinking at the Salvi home. The man told Merolo the same stories and piled on. The man made sure that Merolo left the house that day with a revolver – just in case he ran into Loro.
After the murder, he fled to Pittsburgh to earn some money before heading to New York City, then back to Italy. He never said he went to California or South America. Once back in Italy, the police were on to him, and he said he would rather face justice in the US than in Italy – even though his maximum penalty in Italy would have been 21 years in prison.
He and his good friend Francesco LaBracca looked alike, so Francesco gave him his passport to use to gain passage to America.
If you recall, Francesco LaBracca was listed on the passenger list on May 11. Based on this confession, this was actually Crescenzo Merolo.
After his cathartic release, he was ready to face his destiny. He was photographed, one alone and one with his priests, and asked that the priest write a letter and send it along with both photos to his family in Italy.
It’s reported that his family is wealthy and that he has two brothers and five sisters. He asks to be buried with a rosary around his neck and with a crucifix on his breast.
First Hanging
It’s reported that there were already 50 murders in the 18-year-old county, but Merolo is set to become the infamous first person ever to be hanged in Lackawanna County.
After talking with his spiritual advisors, Merolo was calm and at peace. He was not afraid to die. He walked out on the scaffold and waited a brief moment before the platform disappeared beneath him. He dropped five feet, the sudden stop breaking his neck. Within a few painful seconds, he had paid his price.
Merolo was laid to rest at the Cathedral Cemetery in West Scranton. Not a single friend attended the funeral.
The Real Francesco LaBracca?
As a side note, it appears that another Francesco LaBracca, also born in 1866 and who lived in Ariano, immigrated to the US in 1901. Records show that he was married to Anna Locasale. Anna’s mother? Maria Merolo. It’s likely that Francesco and Crescenzo are first cousins.
Exploring historical crimes in NEPA 