A Look at Organized Crime in Ohio and Pennsylvania

Organized crime is a hot topic for many in the Mahoning Valley. There are stories about the hold that the mafia had on the area during the 1900’s, but the idea of organized crime started long before that. Many immigrants to the United States in the 1800’s were threatened by a very dark, and terrifying secret group known as “the Black Hand” that extorted people for money. People would often receive a threatening letter with a black hand imprinted on it, some were kidnapped, others would lose their home or business to arson, and many were murdered all at the hands of this group.

Join the Mahoning Valley Historical Society for Bites and Bits of History on Thursday, February 15 at noon, when author and historian, Sean Posey will be discussing, “Beware the Black Hand: A History of Early Organized Crime in Ohio and Pennsylvania.”

Posey will be exploring the beginnings of organized crime, and tracing the evolution of the dreaded Black Hand secret society and its reign of terror in Ohio and Pennsylvania during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Bring your lunch to the Tyler History Center’s Thomas Ballroom for this free educational event. Bites and Bits of History Lunchtime programs are sponsored by the John and Loretta Hynes Foundation.