Gene Kelly, as Columbo, returns from Italy as a grown man...
to seek vengeance, a concept up the alley of some Armenians

BLACK HAND opens with a scroll, informing us "At the turn of the century, there were more Italians living in New York than in Rome." Quickly making certain that the viewer understands not all Italians are "bad," we are accurately told that those such as DiMaggio and LaGuardia went on to become true Americans. Yet it was the struggle of the other good Italians who were up against the "Old World terror of the Black Hand" that our story will focus upon... the story of how the "Black Hand" (really, the forerunner of the Mafia) would be "purged from their ranks" to give "bright dignity to their people and to this nation."

Already we've got a big difference between the Italian-Americans and the Armenian-Americans. The Italians knew the Mafia was evil, and worked toward cutting their ties to the criminal organization. Yet to most Armenians, the Dashnak "Mafia" has been regarded as Armenian heroes. (Please refer to Dr. Lowry's excellent article. The Armenian community has never condemned their terrorists, from the Tehlirians of yesteryear to the Sassounians [Hampig, not Harut; not to say the latter's pen is necessarily less lethal than the former's gun] of today, but even reveres them.)

(It must be said, however, that at the beginnings of the secret societies, most Ottoman-Armenians had good lives and wanted no part of the fanatical terrorists. Only over a period of time did the masses accept and approve, not helped by the terrorists' making sure to drive the Turks and Armenians apart. [Armenians who still wanted no part of the terrorists were forced to choose them, as the situation deteriorated to tribalism.])

Anti-Dashnak Armenian patriot Arthur Derounian made the distinction clear; he wrote that not all Americans were alike. Eleanor Roosevelt, for example, was "good," and Al Capone was "bad." But when it comes to Armenians, the "Nationalism First" feature of the Armenian community knows to keep a tight lid on the "bad":

"Unfortunately, some timid souls are horrified at the exposure of Armenian prototypes of the Smiths, Capones, Buchalters. This attitude is based on the premise that our faults should remain unpublicized to 'outsiders.' Why? Are we not at least as human as our native-born American brethren who themselves claim no monopoly on virtues? Are we Armenians 'superior’ to all other ethnic groups? Are we a 'race' apart, free of weakness? Denying that self-analysis is a virtue, the timid souls would even deny that our frailties are common to humanity everywhere."

(The reluctance of Dashnak-minded Armenians to expose their own criminals has served them well to perpetuate their "Myth of Innocence." Once in a great while there have been slip-ups, as in "Men Are Like That", but for the most part, Armenians have abided by an "oath of silence," so as not to rat themselves out. Another disturbing "Mafia" analogy..!)

Derounian truly spelled it out: "... the questionable Armenians are hard at work. We believe their political chicaneries should be exposed. The cause of justice is best served by truth, and the cause of truth by the merciless exposure of those who, under the guise of patriotism, seek to pervert both truth and patriotism."

But "Truth" and the Dashnak Armenian remain at polar opposites. Why have the sensible voices in the Armenian community been drowned out? Here it is, in a nutshell, courtesy of a TRUE Armenian patriot (don't worry, genocide-lovers, he was a genocide believer as well!), Arthur Derounian:

The ARF emblem, as with the Black Hand title card (see above) features a dagger as well..!

"...[T]he ARF assumed the leadership by its more fanatic appeal, and its policy of liquidating by terror all opposition."

The ARF (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) is, of course, the Dashnaks. Derounian even made a case for the Dashnaks being little different from the Mafia:

"Another effected practice was the intimidation of prominent men in order to obtain financial support. Those who refused were 'put on the spot.' In fact, it was very similar to the underground methods of modern racketeering, except that its goal was noble."

And it is this parallel we will be observing. Whether that goal was "noble" remains highly debatable. Not when the greedy Armenian terrorist leaders didn't care about anyone but themselves, exposing the Armenian people to horrible danger and conditions (even after Armenia was established, through their corruption, creating a "land of death," verily, as Richard Hovannisian wrote in p. 133 of one of his books).

Let's provide a notorious example that is on a par with the Black Hand's style of indiscriminate killing, as related by Isabella. It's from "The Armenian Review," Vol. 10, No. 2-38, June 1957, an article entitled DRO, by James Mandalian.

Pertaining to, as the article tells us, "the Armeno-Tatar clashes of 1904-06, and interracial war instigated by the Tsar's government to liquidate the Armenians of the Caucasus" (This would be Russia, Armenia's great "friend," perpetrating — if we accept the "liquidation" charge — a forgotten "first genocide of the 20th century" upon the Armenians. The Tsar's agent during this period, Golitsyn, was said to have boasted ‘In a short time there will be no Armenians left in the Caucasus, save a few specimens for the museum’), Dro, "the avenging angel of the tormentors of the Armenian people, the executioner of justice," was assigned to take out "the infamous Prince Nakashidze, the Governor of Baku," in 1905. Dro had already gotten his feet wet with "the liquidation of Boghoslavski, the Armenophobe monster who was governor of Igdir."

Christopher Walker ("ARMENIA: The Survival of a Nation") described Prince Nakashidze as the "main executant" of Prince Golitsyn's "anti-Armenian policy." The "Armenian Review" article specifies Nakashidze's crime: "Blood was flowing freely on both sides and yet the government did not lift a finger to stop the carnage... Nakashidze silently stood by and watched the slaughter. Meanwhile, Nakashidze secretly aided the Tatars to destroy the Armenians." (This was hardly a conflict of equals. As Ohanus Appressian related in p. 23 of "Men Are Like That": "In the Armenian-Tartar War of 1905 the Armenians had much the better of the fighting. Many of our men had served in the Russian Army, and were trained soldiers. We Armenians were rich and possessed arms. The Tartars had never received military training. They were poor, and possessed few arms beyond knives." )

"The revolutionary court sentenced Nakashidze to death as the instigator and author of the Baku massacres." (A court Judge Roy Bean would have been proud of. Similar "courts" also decided the fates of innocent Ottoman officials such as Jemal Pasha.) "On May 11, at 3 P.M., as the Governor's carriage was racing along the central boulevard of thecity, a bomb shattered the carriage, instantly disfiguing the body of Nakashidze and mortally wounding the Turkish driver, Nakashidze's aide and a Turkish fruit vendor near by."

Nothing new there. One of Armenia's greatest heroes was one of the most successful murderers of all time. But here is the part I got a real kick out of; it turns out Dro, the "humble" hero as the article tells us elsewhere, gave his version of the assassination to Vahan Afrikian, as related in Hairenik Daily (April 22, 1956), "which throws a characteristic light on Dro's humanitarian trait."

A Turkish fruit vendor

Dro had a severe belly ache, and then saw the Turkish fruit vendor, seated nearby. He walked over to him, said something, then retraced his steps. The Governor in his carriage, escorted by mounted guards, approached. "Instantly I straightened up, forgot my pain, and as the carriage passed by me I threw the bomb. It was a bull's eye. At the terrific explosion and the ensuing panic I assumed my former pitiful appearance and silently got away."

Later, Dro leisurely made his way back and "saw the ravages of the bomb — the shattered bodies of the dead and the splinters of the carriage. My only regret was that the Turkish vendor had been blown to bits."

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is an example of Dro, who thought of his path as "holy," showing what a great "humanitarian" he was. Can you believe the psychotic logic of the extremist Armenians?

Moriani (Maurice Samuels) is suspicious of the stranger in the bar

Back to BLACK HAND: Johnny then visits the one eyewitness who might be able to finger the criminals who wronged his family. He pays a vist to the fellow (Mr. Moriani) who is now a bartender. But the walls have ears, and the criminals quickly make a stiff of the stiff drink server before his private meeting with Johnny comes to pass.

As Dr. Lowry wrote, citing Gerard Libaridian, "56 of the 105 individuals assassinated by Armenian terrorists between 1904-1906 were murdered as 'informers', the message which the terrorists intended to convey had clearly gotten through to them. Anyone who speaks up against one of their members will die."

(Two out of three victims of Armenian terrorism between 1904-1906 were fellow Armenians. "Its purpose, then as now, was nothing more or less than intimidation. The conscious attempt to frighten the overwhelming majority of peaceful Armenians into silence as regards the activities of the terrorists.")

One of the famous alleged informers was Harootyoun Mugurditchian (Artin Mugerditchian); Soghoman Tehlirian, the Dashnak assassin of Talat Pasha, simply on the word of a fellow terrorist (a Hunchak, Yeranouhi Danielian), decided to take out Mugurditchian; the latter was suspected of providing the list of two to three hundred Armenian cultural leaders to be arrested on April 24, in Istanbul. The author of an article about Tehlirian in The Armenian Review (Nov. 1960), Sarkis Atamian, described Mugurditchian as an "unconscionable traitor," and justified Tehlirian's murderous ways in the following fanatical manner: "without retribution, justice, is merely a word."

Danetta (Mario Siletti) has his back to the wall while his wife sobs

Johnny and Isabella next team up in order to combat the Black Hand. They try to round up a "citizen's league," realizing there is strength in numbers. They visit a tailor (Danetta) hoping to get him to join, but he and his wife give the cold shoulder. In short time, it becomes apparent their son, Francesco, has been kidnapped.

"If we tell anybody, they'd kill him... he's just a little child, ten years old," Danetta explains, adding the money demanded for Francesco's return is not ransom. "It's money they say I owe them... three, four months ago, they came around and they say, from then on, double. Double the amount every week. Double. I got mad and say no." That's what got them to take their child. "They win, Johnny, they always win."

Pantikyan, an Armenian famed for playing a great role in the armistice, is reported to have told M. Sifir: "The committeemen robbed the Istanbul Armenians... pitilessly. They put several wealthy persons into a penniless situation."

Lorelli, at right, has good news for the couple.

The sympathetic cop, Lt. Louis Lorelli (played by J. Carroll Naish), gets word that Johnny and Isabella managed to scrounge up six brave citizens to come to their first meeting of the citizen's league. With their wives, that would make twelve, the detective figures. He offers to jack up the numbers with fourteen new members, and their wives. He explains that he even managed to get the church to agree to set up the meeting place.

On the fateful night, the organizers wait for Johnny to appear, but he is delayed. The detective begins to bide time by explaining what the Black Hand is about. "Neighborhood gangs, that's all they are. They all have criminal records back in Italy. (Such as) the Mafia in Sicily. They come over here, nobody knows them."

(Just as with the beginnings of the Armenian secret societies in the Ottoman Empire, before they developed into a homegrown network. The criminals all came from outside, mainly from Russia and Iran. Prof. McCarthy explains: "Dashnaks from Russia were the leaders of rebellion. They were the organizers and the 'enforcers' who turned the Armenians of Anatolia into rebel soldiers. This was not an easy task, because at first most of the Ottoman Armenians had no wish to rebel. They preferred peace and security and disapproved of the atheistic, socialist revolutionaries. A feeling of separatism and even superiority among the Armenians helped the revolutionaries, but the main weapon that turned the Armenians of the East into rebels was terrorism. The prime cause that united the Armenians against their government was fear.")

Finally, the door opens and Johnny falls down, unconscious and with his leg mangled. The gathered people quickly and nervously filter out the door. The police chief who was also in attendance tells Louis that this spells the end of the league, and they didn't even go so far as a murder.

Johnny comes crashing down

The Armenian terrorists also made an example of what they considered a threat, in plain view, inside a church. But they even out performed the murderous Black Hand, as the crime was committed in front of everyone. Dr. Lowry tells us (providing an example of terrorism performed in "Black Hand" territory, New York City):

"On September 24, 1933, the then primate of the Armenian Church of America, Archbishop Leon Touranian was assassinated by Armenian terrorists as he prepared to celebrate mass in the Armenian Cathedral of New York City. As he walked up the aisle in plain sight of several hundred waiting parishioners, a group of men blocked his path, knives flashed, and he fell dead on the floor."

Sabballera (Frank Puglia) is feisty with the D.A., at first

The across-the-neck gesture: KKK-KK!

One of the Black Hand hoods is finally hauled into the courtroom, thanks to a thin lead left behind from one of his bombing attacks. (The proprietor of the store, Sabballera, refused to give the thousand dollars the hood had demanded.) Sabballera is called to the witness stand and enthusiastically tells the story. Suddenly, he catches sight of someone in the courtroom who gestures the "sign of death" across the throat. That shuts the witness up immediately.

Det. Louis jumps up from his seat and tries to drum up the courage of the witness. He explains the immigrant psychology to the judge:

"Your honor, I can't prove he's been intimidated. I don't know who gave him the sign, but somebody did. Your honor, you said to Sabballera the protection of the law. But you have to understand how different it is for Sabballera, for all these people. He don't believe we can protect him. And that's why he can be intimidated. To lots of them, a cop means a tax collector, or being dragged into the army... they got used to policemen being foreigners, enemies, oppressors, you might say. What I mean, your honor, is that they don't know."

Sabballera is spooked

That sort of reasoning probably applied to the Armenians of New York City, as well. Dr. Lowry continues with the murdered priest story:

"Not one individual in the crowd was able to identify a single one of the assailants. The New York District Attorney who prosecuted the subsequent trial of the nine man Dashnak cell responsible for the assassination, had the following to say in regard to the failure of a single Armenian present in the Church to testify against the assailants:

'The detectives faced a wall of reticence which did not auger well for a solution of the mysterious killing. Either these Armenians wished to settle the feuds in their own way by murderous counterplots; or they were too much in fear for their own safety to disclose what they know.' [Spectator, December 7, 1983]"

Varandian: History of the Dashnagtzoutune

Dashnak historian M. Varandian: "...Perhaps there has never been a revolutionary party—not even the Russian Narodovoletz, or the Italian Carbonaris—with such experiences on the road of terroristic acts, as the A.R. Federation..." Anti-Dashnak historian K. Papazian (who liberally used Varandian's classic 1932 work): "One of the most unfortunate results of these terroristic methods was the gradual development of a class of terrorists, who used their bullets and dagger indiscriminately... This class of terrorists enjoyed a place of honor within the society... They killed Mihran in 1909. They shot and stabbed to death Abbot Arsen Vartabed of the Akhtamar Monastery (near Van) and his secretary Mihram in 1904. They then dismembered their bodies and threw them into Lake Van..." (More)

 

These terrorist criminals didn't care about their own people, as long as their own selfish and greedy needs were met. British consul (from Erzurum) Robert Graves shed light on the aims of the terrorists, in his 1933 memoirs ("Storm Centres of the Near East"):

"They were quite cynical when remonstrated with on the wickedness of deliberately provoking the massacre of their unfortunate fellow-countrymen, with all its attendant horrors, without any assurance that the lot of the survivors would be any happier, saying calmly that the sacrifice was a necessary one and the victims would be 'Martyrs to the National Cause.'"

Imagine the callous way in which these criminals turned their own people to the wolves! (George Hepworth elaborated in "Through Armenia on Horseback": "the revolutionists are doing what they can to make fresh outrages possible. That is their avowed purpose. They reason that if they can induce the Turks to kill more of the Armenians, themselves excepted, Europe will be forced to intervene.")

(Of course, these immoral killers, employing their typical "end justifies the means" tactics, in what Sir Mark Sykes termed their "disgraceful ruffianism," did not stop at massacring Muslims, in order to get the results they sought. On several occasions, they have actually targeted Western consuls or missionaries, so that the Turks would be blamed for the murders, in order to get the imperialists to come in, and do the Armenians' fighting for them. For example, Sir Mark Sykes, Dar-ul-Islam: "It is also a fact that the Armenians have an extraordinary habit of running into danger without possessing the courage to face it, and the revolutionists from abroad were always prepared to provoke a massacre in order to induce the Powers to assist them. I have good reason to know that these wretches actually schemed to murder American missionaries, hoping America would declare war on the supposition that the Turks were the criminals.")

If we may point to the "genocide" (the Armenians' synonym for "relocation"), no less an authority than Armenia's first Prime Minister, Hovhannes Katchaznouni reported as a terrible fact that if it weren't for the committees, the Armenians would not have suffered their fate.