Vanzetti

Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888–1927) was an Italian immigrant to the United States and a radical activist best known for his role in the Sacco and Vanzetti case, a highly controversial murder trial in Massachusetts during the 1920s. Born in Italy, he migrated to the United States in the early 20th century and settled in the Boston area, where he worked as a laborer and became active in anarchist circles. Vanzetti advocated anti-capitalist and anti-war views and was associated with the broader radical labor movement of the era.

In 1920, Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco were implicated in an armed robbery and the killings of a paymaster and a guard in South Braintree, Massachusetts. They were tried and convicted in a trial widely cited for alleged bias against immigrants and radicals, and both were sentenced to death. The case sparked extensive appeals and became a focal point for debates over the fairness of the American justice system, capital punishment, and civil liberties. Despite decades of activism and continuing disputes over the evidence, the convictions were upheld, and Vanzetti was executed by electric chair at Charlestown State Prison on August 23, 1927, alongside Sacco.

The Sacco and Vanzetti case left a lasting legacy in American cultural and political life. It is frequently cited in discussions of immigration, political trial fairness, and the death penalty, and it has inspired scholarly analysis, literary works, and advocacy campaigns that view the affair as a cautionary example of judicial process influenced by prejudice and fear.