144 years ago: Innocenti control the streets

144 years ago: Returning home from a meeting of Joseph Macheca's paramilitary Innocenti organization, a prominent member is shot to death by an unknown assailant. The Innocenti direct their anger at African American neighborhoods in New Orleans. They take over the streets around the Treme Market, pushing out police patrols. Federal officials later send two companies of soldiers to the area to restore order.

Innocenti raids begin

On this date in 1868...

Joseph P. Macheca, a native Louisianan engaged in importing and selling Central American produce, began (Oct. 24, 1868) leading a conservative, Democratic Party-aligned paramilitary group on violent anti-Republican marches through New Orleans.

The marches of the "Innocenti" organization were designed to suppress African American voter registration and election turnout for the then-liberal (often branded "radical") Republican Party. Repeated through several days, the marches led to bloody clashes in some of the Crescent City's African-American neighborhoods.

Macheca's role as director of the marches was screened somewhat by the Innocenti selection of Pascalis Labarre, a local official, as president of the organization. When later questioned, Labarre admitted knowing very little about the group's founding and purpose.