Luigi Lanzillo

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Charge:	Second Degree Murder
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	12
Year Crime:	1916
Year Convicted:	1918
Year Cleared:	1928
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Connecticut
County or Region of Crime:	New Haven
City of Crime:	West Haven
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Luigi Lanzillo was wrongly convicted in 1918 of second-degree murder in Connecticut. Lanzillo's prosecution was based on identification that it was his gun found near the scene of the robbery and murder of tailor Morris Goldstein on a road in West Haven in the autumn of 1916. Lanzillo insisted that his brother Carmine Lazillo had taken his gun without his permission. After his conviction by a jury Lanzillo was sentenced to life in prison. Lanzillo's brother Carmine and two other men, Carmine Pissaniello and Francesco Dusso were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Days before their executions in 1918, the three men, including Lanzillo's brother, provided written statements that Lanzillo was not involved in the crime. It was the first triple hanging in Connecticut history. It wasn't until ten years later that Lanzillo was pardoned based on the statements of his innocence, and he was released."
Conviction Caused By:
Innocence Proved By:	Pardoned by Connecticut's governor based on evidence by the perpetrators that he was innocent.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 138."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"Connecticut Has A Triple Hanging: Lanzillo, Pissaniello and Dusso Put to Death for Slaying Tailor, By Special Dispatch to The Sun, The Sun (New York, New York), June 17, 1918"
Information Location 2:	http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1918-06-17/ed-1/seq-12.pdf
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Luigi Lanzillo

Charge:

Second Degree Murder

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

12

Year Crime:

1916

Year Convicted:

1918

Year Cleared:

1928

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Connecticut

County or Region of Crime:

New Haven

City of Crime:

West Haven

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

Pardoned by Connecticut's governor based on evidence by the perpetrators that he was innocent.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 138."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"Connecticut Has A Triple Hanging: Lanzillo, Pissaniello and Dusso Put to Death for Slaying Tailor, By Special Dispatch to The Sun, The Sun (New York, New York), June 17, 1918"

Information Location 2:

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1918-06-17/ed-1/seq-12.pdf

Information Source 3:

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Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: