Some Disreputable Maltese

By Loïck PORTELLI

According to La Bruyère, we are all descended from a king and a hanged man. While books and websites are devoted to famous Maltese genealogies, few mention potential ancestors who had run-ins with the law. It is true that the world of crimes and misdemeanours is far less likely to inspire the same appeal. Let us examine the cases of a few Maltese who made their mark in Malta or abroad.

Malta during the Hospitaller period (1530–1798)

Under the Order of Malta (1530–1798), one of the most common punishments was condemnation to the galleys, a means of always ensuring a sufficient complement of oarsmen.[1] Some prisoners managed to escape, as was the case with the thief Tomaso Tabone, a native of Żejtun. On 12 September 1746 a bando (proclamation) concerning him was read aloud by the banditore (public crier):

His Most Serene Highness the Grand Master [Manoel Pinto da Fonseca] hereby promises fifty scudi to anyone who captures and brings to prison Tomaso Tabone of Żejtun, who was serving a life sentence in the galleys. If Tabone offers resistance and is killed during his capture, his killer will nonetheless be awarded fifty scudi as well as immunity from any prosecution.

Said Tomaso committed thefts all over the island before finally being spotted on 12 November 1746 in Żejtun when he tried to obtain help from a relative. On 26 August 1647, Inquisitor Paolo Passionei noted in his foglietti di notizie (report to the Vatican): "The trial of the notorious thief who terrorised the whole island is over. He has been in prison for nine months. […] He will in all likelihood be condemned to the galleys for life, so numerous were his misdeeds and thefts and so obvious his responsibility for them." [2]

On 18 November 1758, the buonavoglia[3] from Ħaż-Żebbuġ, Lorenzo Gatt, aged thirty-six, was not condemned to the galleys but to death by hanging by judges Cumbo, Nataleo and Clinchant for the thefts he had committed. He was imprisoned in the cavalier[4] of Saint James (located near the Auberge de Castille and the Church of Our Lady of Victories), which served as a prison during the construction works at the Castellania. Lorenzo was given spiritual assistance by Father Giovanni Regnaud and received the viaticum at the hands of Brother Francesco Antonio del Castillo. He was hanged on 20 November and buried in the hanged men's cemetery at Floriana.

1. Giacomo Gatt x NN
1.1 Tomaso dit Masio Gatt x Marietta Attard
1.1.1 Vittorio Mro Gatt x (30 septembre 1644 Żebbuġ) Marietta Bonnici
1.1.1.1 Francesco Gatt x (2 juillet 1687 Żebbuġ) Anna Maria Zahra
1.1.1.1.1 Publio Gatt x (20 août 1713 Żebbuġ) Maria di Rinaldo
1.1.1 1.1.1 Lorenzo Gatt x (24 février 1748 La Valette) Teresa Pulis

Certain thefts were particularly shocking in a deeply religious Maltese society. Thus, when on 24 January 1663 it was discovered that the altar cloth and other objects, including the ciborium full of consecrated hosts, had been stolen from the parish church of Gudja, the indignation matched the gravity of the event. Grand Master Rafael Cotoner offered several substantial rewards, including the sum of three hundred scudi. He also excommunicated the culprit in absentia. Inquisitor Girolamo Casanate reported: "On 23 January a most horrible and sacrilegious theft took place […]. All the tribunals on the island are vigorously investigating the matter." [5] An anonymous note was found on the door of the conventual church of Saint John (the future co-cathedral): "Ille qui furavit pisside est in domo unius cavalieri" (he who stole the ciborium resides in the house of a knight). The ciborium was eventually found in the confessional of the Church of Saint James in Valletta, but the culprit was never identified.

Being in debt could also have dire consequences. On 7 June 1734 the Baron of Tabria, Isidoro Viani, was thrown into a cell in Fort Saint Elmo. He had served as treasurer of the Università (municipal assembly) of Valletta and had accumulated debts amounting to 50,000 scudi. His furniture, gold and silverware were confiscated. In July his possessions and his three houses in Valletta were auctioned off. One house sold for 500 scudi, another was sold to Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena for the sum of 2,100 scudi, and the last was sold for 1,500 scudi to the goldsmith G.B. Borg.[6] On 15 July 1734 the baron was sentenced to death. His children then sold all their possessions to save their father, who was released on 21 July.

1 Claudio Viani x NN
1.1 Amadeo Viani x (19/5/1639 Vittoriosa) Anna Maria Gandolfo
1.1.1 Vincenzo Viani x (4/11/1663 Porto Salvo) Maddalena Pensa
1.1.1.1 Baron Isidoro Viani x (30/4/1702) Teodora Attard
1.1.1.1.1 Baron Gio Battista Viani x (19/4/1733 Porto Salvo) Maria Teresa Bonnici
1.1.1.1.1.1 Baronne Anna Viani x (25/4/1762 Vittoriosa) Marquis Mario Testaferrata
1.1.1.1.2 Margarita Viani
1.1.1.1.3 Angelica Viani
1.1.1.1.4 Olimpa Viani

The baron was not the only one to have suffered a reversal of fortune. Knights of Malta also amassed colossal debts. Inquisitor Giovanni Filippo Gallarati Scotti noted on 26 June 1790:

To the great astonishment of all, Knight Commander Damas owes the Treasury the considerable sum of 81,000 scudi, a debt he accumulated over his three years administering the Order's Public Treasury. This fraud has provoked the indignation of the entire Convent, especially given the Order's current financial difficulties and its revenues. Damas is being held at Fort Saint Elmo and his house is under guard.

Meanwhile, another knight has accumulated a debt of around 200,000 scudi, to which must be added a further 300,000 that he owes to private individuals, who are now demanding that the Order settle their claims.[7]

Certain death sentences provide information about the condemned person's family, which may help genealogists in their research. Here are a few examples that may be of use:

Malta as part of the British Empire (1800 to 1964)

After the brief French interlude (1798–1800), Malta became part of the British Empire. It was therefore British laws that applied throughout the archipelago. Let us look here at the Paolo Genuis affair.

On Saturday 2 February 1878, Paolo Genuis, Giuseppi Azzopardi (24 years old) and Manwel Dimech (17 years old) spent the evening together gambling. On Sunday morning Paolo made his way home, near the Bomba Gate at Floriana. He was joined along the way by his two gambling companions, who stabbed him in the chest and robbed him of his winnings. As he lay dying, Paolo called for help. Two passers-by, Nerik Zammit and his wife, heard him and alerted a nearby soldier on duty, who in turn called the police. Paolo was taken to the central hospital at Floriana, where he found the strength to give the names of his killers to Magistrate Falzon before dying. The two men were immediately arrested and charged with murder. On 1^st April 1878 their trial began. The following day Her Majesty's Criminal Court sentenced Giuseppi Azzopardi to death for the murder of Paolo. Manwel Dimech received twenty years in prison on account of his age.[8] On 10 April at six o'clock in the morning Giuseppi was led to the gallows erected close to Corradino Prison (Paola). This would be the last public execution in Malta.[9]

Crime exported

Maltese in Turkey

In the first half of the nineteenth century, a small Maltese community settled near the ports of Smyrna and Constantinople. While it included, like all others, its share of shady elements, it also counted in its ranks some most estimable members. One might mention, for example, Lewis Mizzi, who for nearly half a century was one of Istanbul's leading lawyers, or Count Amadeo Preziosi, a renowned Orientalist painter.

This was certainly not the case of Guiseppe Azzopardi. On 8 October 1839 Giuseppe, son of Francesco and Grazia, married Concetta Falzon at Vittoriosa. On 14 February 1842 he applied for a passport from the Maltese government and left for Smyrna (present-day Izmir, Turkey). There he found employment as an odd-job man at the home of Rosa Sluyk, a Dutch woman who had formerly managed a hotel near the city before the business failed. At five o'clock in the morning Giuseppe appeared at Rosa's house and demanded payment of the sum owed to him. The situation escalated and Giuseppe cut her throat with a razor. Arrested, Giuseppe was sent to London, where he was tried at the Central Criminal Court of the Old Bailey (London's criminal court). On 12 May 1843 the jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death.[10] The case was reported in the press and the Maltese lawyer Adrian Dingli, son of Sir Paolo Dingli, intervened on his behalf and obtained a commutation of the sentence to transportation for life on 3 July 1843. Azzopardi made the journey to Australia aboard the Maitland and arrived at Norfolk Island on 9 April 1844. He was then 24 years old.

Giuseppe's wife, having heard nothing from her husband, made repeated efforts to obtain information about him. On 9 May 1857, she wrote to the Chief Secretary of the Government of Malta, Victor Houlton:

Not having been able to learn whether my husband Giuseppe Azzopardi, a native of Malta, unfortunately sentenced and transported to Australia around the year 1843, is still alive, and in what part of Australia he may, if still living, be found, and as this information is of great importance to my pecuniary interests affecting the means of my subsistence, may I humbly beg you to be so good as to make such inquiry in England as may reveal the information for which I sincerely pray.[11]

A notice was published for Giuseppe's attention in the Victoria Government Gazette on 8 December 1857.

AZZOPARDI, JOSEPH, supposed to be at Castlemaine, is requested to address or forward his address to the Honourable Chief Secretary in Melbourne.

Concetta's efforts went unanswered, and for good reason. On 2 January 1858, Giuseppe, now going by the name of Joseph, married Rose Nugent at Castlemaine, (Victoria). On 18 January 1859, Marie Azzopardi, daughter of Joseph and Rosa, was baptised at the church of Castlemaine.

Maltese in Australia

The first Maltese to travel to Australia in the early nineteenth century were convicts who had deserted from their British regiments. In 1839 Antonio Azzopardi, a native of Żejtun and son of Angelo Azzopardi and Euphemia Cachia, arrived in Australia in his turn. Unlike the transported convicts, he travelled of his own accord. He was the first Maltese immigrant. In 1846 he married a Scottish woman in Melbourne, Margaret Sandeman. Traces of several Maltese who fought in the Australian army during the First World War can also be found.

In 1919, one of the first "Maltese criminals" was the subject of an article in the local Sydney press:

A LEPER AT LARGE.

A Maltese escapes from the Lazaret.

A leper named Joseph Portelli escaped from the lazaret at Coast Hospital (Sydney) last Saturday. Portelli, who is Maltese, had been detained at the lazaret for seven months.[12]

Another Portelli attracted press coverage a few years later:

ILLICIT STILL
Charge against a Maltese
CASE DISMISSED
SYDNEY. Wednesday [1st March 1933].

At the Parramatta Police Court today, Anthony Portelli, 27, a Maltese market gardener, was charged with being in possession of an illicit still and six gallons of white brandy.

A customs officer stated that he had found four bottles of alcohol in a room occupied by two of Portelli's employees at Pendle Hill, and other bottles of spirits in various locations. He found parts of the still hidden in corn and scrub in the market garden, while a 40-gallon case of muscat wine was situated 10 metres from the house door, but on another individual's property. Portelli, who denied any knowledge of the still and the alcohol, stated that the wine belonged to a neighbour named Baiada.

After further evidence was heard, the case was dismissed.[13]

The respite was to be short-lived, as Anthony was fined £30 in November 1937 for selling alcohol without a licence.[14] Three years later, Anthony Portelli's business was in the news again:

MALTESE IN TROUBLE

On Friday, at the Parramatta court, a Maltese man, Charles Agius, accused a compatriot, Bendetta Said, of assault. Said did not appear. Agius, who lives at Old Prospect Road, Wentworthville, stated that he was cleaning the windows of Portelli's shop at Pendle Hill when he was attacked. "He tied me up with a dog lead and knocked me out," he said. "I was taken to hospital." When asked by the magistrate whether they had quarrelled, Agius shook his head. "I asked him why he was insulting me," he said, "and he told me to go to the devil." The case was adjourned to ensure Said's attendance.[15]

Other cases were more serious. In 1938 a 32-year-old Maltese man, Joe Camilleri, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempting to poison his wife Mary (née Camenzuli) with arsenic.[16]

Maltese in Egypt

The Maltese community in Egypt took shape in the early nineteenth century but remained limited in size. One may surmise that after the defeat at Aboukir in August 1798 some members of the Maltese Legion[17] settled there, but no evidence supports this theory. In 1882 a significant proportion of the Maltese left Egypt owing to the Urabi revolt. A 1917 census counted 7,761 individuals present in the country.[18]

Among the disreputable elements, the Tabone family features prominently, so numerous were their brushes with the law. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Giuseppe Tabone worked in Port Said selling food to passing sailors. On 21 September 1883 he was imprisoned for 21 days for having attacked Michele Ellul. It had all started with a kick Giuseppe delivered to Michele's dog: when the latter asked the reason for such an act, Giuseppe struck him in the face. On 17 July 1899 he was arrested — not without difficulty — in a bar, probably while drunk. He reoffended the very next day. British Consul Cameron wrote: "Giuseppe Tabone is less violent than yesterday but still difficult to manage. He is a man of dubious character, quarrelsome, and described as such by other persons of his station."[19] On 27 April 1900 Giuseppe attacked a coastguard, earning him 7 days in prison.

Giuseppe's children, Carmelo and Emmanuele, followed in their father's footsteps and were regularly involved in brawls, threats, thefts and other offences. In 1905 Carmelo, who was born in Cospicua and was about 24 years old, was deported to Malta. He nonetheless returned clandestinely to Egypt aboard the SS City Of Lucknow.[20] On 5 September 1906 Carmelo was arrested again and deported once more.

Some altercations were more violent than others. On 30 August 1887, Antonio Cordina and Alfredo Matrenza exchanged gunfire in the rue des Sœurs in Alexandria. Alfredo, who was unfavourably known to the police, died after being struck by three bullets.

Maltese in London

The beginnings of Maltese emigration to the United Kingdom are closely linked to the history of the island of Corfu. In 1800, the Maltese archipelago came under British rule following the defeat of the Napoleonic troops who had seized it two years earlier. Fourteen years later the British occupied the Ionian Islands under the Treaty of Paris. A number of Maltese then decided to emigrate to Corfu, where they founded a small community. In 1864, the United Kingdom withdrew from the Ionian Islands, which were united with Greece. Some Maltese families chose to leave Corfu and settled in Wales, at Cardiff. After the First World War, several Maltese families made their way to the United Kingdom and sought work at the London docks. The end of the Second World War in turn triggered a major wave of redundancies in Malta, where many jobs had been tied to the war effort. Many Maltese left for the United Kingdom. From 1949 onward, a shift in how the British press perceived the Maltese community became apparent. Having praised the courage of the archipelago, which had earned it the George Cross in 1942,[21] the press now began to highlight the emergence of criminal activities to which some Maltese had turned.[22] [23]

Among these disreputable individuals was one Amabile Ricca, born on 6 November 1909 in Sliema. In 1930 he married Giorgia Borg. The couple had several children: Antonia (1931), Carmelo (1932), Amabile (1933), Nazzareno (1935), Carolina (1936) and Giuseppa (1938).

On 17 May 1932 the Maltese court sentenced him to 4 months in prison for manslaughter. He had accidentally shot one of his friends while handling a loaded pistol. The following year Amabile left Malta with his wife and eldest son to settle in England. After a brief stint in the army he left his wife and took up with a certain Louisa, from Kent, with whom he had four more children.

In 1947, he was sentenced to three months in prison for stealing food ration coupons and to eighteen months for assault. His criminal record showed forty-seven convictions, half of them for drunken brawling. His reputation earned him nicknames such as "the Maltese barber", "Ricky the Malt" and "the Terror of London".

Amabile's behaviour would lead to his tragic end. In November 1945 he harassed and threatened to kill a certain Philipp Farrugia and his wife Olive at the Maltese Club, a bar located at 3 Carlisle Street which, as its name suggests, was frequented mainly by Maltese.

Philipp Farrugia was the eldest of a fraternity of three Maltese brothers from Żebbuġ. Their mother was a farmer and their father a stonecutter. Born in 1912, Phillip went to London and lived at 34 D'Arblay Street in Soho. He was head chef at the Melita restaurant on Oxford Street.

His brother Giuseppe, born in 1919, had first worked as a docker at Valletta harbour before also trying his luck in London in 1946. He settled with a prostitute named Cecilia Courtney at 17 St Luke's Road in Notting Hill and worked as a waiter at the Premiere Restaurant on Oxford Street.

His younger brother Francesco, born in 1926, lodged at 66 Frith Street and became a cook on Oxford Street.[24]

All these individuals living in the same neighbourhood, encounters and altercations with Amabile Ricca recurred, until that Tuesday 15 June 1948. At around 6 p.m., Giuseppe and Francesco Farrugia went to "The Tulip", located at 56 Greek Street, for a cup of tea. Giuseppe left the restaurant and left his brother behind. At 10 p.m. Amabile Ricca pushed the door open and entered the establishment. Spotting Francesco, he went up to him and said "I am going to chase you out of town, I am going to kill you." Francesco then left the Tulip and went to the Maltese Club. Besides his brother, he found the regulars of the place playing billiards or gin rummy: the owner of the establishment "Big George" Mifsud, as well as the forger Harry Arduino, Nicholas "the Malt" Borg, Nikola Farrugia alias Nicky the Butcher, John Borg "Ħanżira", Ċikku "the Meat" Portelli, Ġanni "l-Għawdxi" and Frank Buhagiar "il-Ġurdien".

At 10:15 p.m. Amabile Ricca arrived in his turn. He spotted the presence of Francesco and Giovanni and shouted at them "I am going to kill you, I am going to kill you both." The situation escalated and at 10:29 p.m. Giuseppe drew a .32 calibre Walther pistol and fired twice. Ricca lay dying in a pool of blood and spoke his last words in Maltese: "They have killed me, they have shot me." At 10:55 p.m. Amabile was taken to Charing Cross Hospital where his death was confirmed. The police investigation began and despite the witnesses' reluctance to talk, Giuseppe and Francesco were identified. They were tried on 16 July 1948 at the Old Bailey in London. Francesco was given a six-month prison sentence for complicity and Giuseppe a five-year sentence, later reduced to 3 years.

Characters like Amabile Ricca were, despite the reputation surrounding them, far from rivalling the genuine Maltese mafia organisations such as that of the "Messina Brothers", a gang that ran an entire prostitution network in London in the mid-twentieth century. As Matthew Vella writes, "Ricca's murder — supposedly the one that would have disposed of the most feared Maltese of all — was just the beginning, and it captures only part of the petri dish of violence that […] in those austere post-war days, would test the last vestiges of Edwardian morality in the decade to come."[25]

Conclusion

This brief survey has shone a spotlight on a few Maltese who had dealings with the law. Behind them lie many other individuals who, whether through vice or driven by necessity and hunger, were compelled to break the law.

And you — from which hanged man do you descend?

1. Economic life in Malta in the 18th century, Aurore Verié
2. Foreigners in Malta (late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), Anne Brogini
3. The Maltese language, a linguistic crossroads, Martine VANHOVE
4. The Jews in Malta, Aurore Verié
5. The French in Algeria from 1830 to today (excerpts), Jeannine VERDES-LEROUX
6. The emigration of Maltese in Algeria in the nineteenth century, Marc DONATO
7. Malta in "A Winter in Egypt" (excerpts), Eugène Poitou
8. The Maltese in Tunisia before the Protectorate (excerpts), Andrea L. SMITH
9. The population of Malta in the seventeenth century, a reflection of modernity (excerpts), Anne Brogini
10. The fear of the French Revolution in Malta, Frans CIAPPARA
11. The Siege of Malta by Napoleon Bonaparte (excerpts)
12. Malte, frontière de chrétienté (1530-1670), de Anne BROGINI
13. L'esclavage au quotidien à Malte au xvie siècle, de Anne BROGINI
14. Noblesse maltaise et généalogie, de Loïck PORTELLI
15. Some Disreputable Maltese, by Loïck PORTELLI