Editing Enrico Caruso (section)

=== Extortion by Black Hand ===
Caruso's success in the Metropolitan Opera drew the attention of [[Black Hand (extortion)|Black Hand]] extortionists.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2017/04/23/the-black-hand-the-epic-war-between-a-brilliant-detective-and-the-deadliest-secret-society-in-american-history-book-review/100373672/|title=Before the Mafia, there was the terrifying 'Black Hand'|last=Holahan |first= David|website=[[USA Today]]|date= 23 April 2017|access-date=5 November 2017 |quote=Before the Mafia captured the American crime spotlight in the 1920s, there was the Society of the Black Hand, which made ends meet by terrorizing and extorting fellow Italians, mainly, among them tenor Enrico Caruso and Italian-American business owners}}</ref> They threatened to injure his throat with lye or harm him and his family if he did not pay them money.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/terrorismin20thc0000nash |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/terrorismin20thc0000nash/page/21 21] |title=Terrorism in the 20th Century: A Narrative Encyclopedia From the Anarchists |last=Nash |first=Jay |date=1998 |publisher=M Evans and Company |isbn=9780871318558 |access-date=5 November 2017 |quote=The note stated that lye or other corrosive agents would be slipped into Caruso's wine or tea.}}</ref> He initially paid their extortion fee of $2,000 (US${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|2000|1912|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{Inflation-fn|US}}) expecting the matter to be settled, but his willingness to pay made them more brazen. They subsequently demanded an even larger sum of $15,000 (US${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|15000|1912|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{Inflation-fn|US}})."<ref>{{cite book |last=Dash |first=Mike |date=2009 |title=The First Family: Terror, Extortion and the Birth of the American Mafia |publisher= [[Simon & Schuster]] |page= 26|isbn= 978-1-84737-173-7|author-link=Mike Dash}}</ref> He was aided by New York City police detective [[Joseph Petrosino]]<ref name="Raab, p. 19-20">[[Selwyn Raab|Raab, Selwyn]]. ''Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires.'' London: Robson Books, 2006. {{ISBN|1-86105-952-3}}. p. 19.</ref> who, impersonating Caruso, captured the extortionists.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/04/29/526157993/inside-the-black-hand-crime-wave-a-century-ago |title=Inside 'The Black Hand' Crime Wave A Century Ago |website=[[NPR]] |date=29 April 2017 |access-date= 5 November 2017}}</ref> Two Italian men, Antonio Misiano and Antonio Cincotto, would be later specifically accused of the crime.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.hrvh.org/veridian/cgi-bin/senylrc?a=d&d=firv19100520.1.5# |title= Prominent People|date= 20 May 1910 |publisher=The Irvington Gazette |access-date= 5 November 2017|quote=Enrico Caruso accused Antonio Misiano with trying to obtain $15,000 from him by Black hand methods.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/02/05/archives/caruso-blackmailer-gone-italian-who-sought-5000-from-singer-jumps.html |title= Caruso Blackmailer Gone: Italian Who Sought $5,000 from Singer Jumps His Bail| author=<!--Not stated--> |date=5 February 1912 |work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=8 March 2018 }}
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