The legend of "The Axeman of New Orleans" is a brutal tale of savage murder and false accusations. It is also unresolved to this day.

The killings began in 1911 when three Italian grocers and their wives were slaughtered by an axe-weilding assassin. Then the killing seemed to stop until police discovered a message written on a sidewalk near the scene of another Italian grocery store owner's attack, reading, " Mrs. Maggio is going to sit up tonight just like Mrs. Toney." Toney was a reference to one of the earlier victims and Mrs. Magglio and her husband were the latest. Both had been struck once with an axe and had their throats slit.

The soap opera aspect of the slayings began in June of 1918 when Louis Besemer and his partner Harriet Lowe were attacked. Besemer survived but Lowe died, but not before she pinned the assault on Besemer despite the fact he was also seriously wounded. He was later acquitted on all charges. It must have been fairly obvious Besemer was innocent given the fact that on the same evening as Lowe's murder, The Axeman had struck again when he nearly killed a woman named Schneider, who was nearing the end of a pregnancy. She managed to survive and gave birth to a healthy baby girl soon afterwards.

On August 10, 1918, Joseph Romero was killed by The Axeman. As usual the perpetrator had chiseled out a door panel to gain entry and discarded his weapon immediately after leaving the residence. In March 1919, he struck again when Charles and Rosie Cortimiglia were attacked along with their infant daughter, The Axeman only managing to kill the small baby. In both the Romano and Cortimiglia incidents the murderer was seen, but descriptions led police no closer to a solid suspect.

Then Rosie Cortimiglia identified her assailant out of the blue. Her own neighbors Iorlando Jordano and his son Frank. Rosie's husband Charles disputed his wife's claim but the two men were found guilty anyway in May of 1919. Eventually, Mrs. Cotimiglia changed her mind in late 1920 and police grudgingly released the Jordano's. She admitted that she had lied simply because she bore a grudge against the two men.

By the time that debacle of justice was corrected The Axeman had already made it obvious he was still on the loose by severely injuring grocer Steve Boca and Sarah Laumann, 19, in seperate instances. His trademark method of entry and habit of leaving his bloody axe lying just outside after hacking his sleeping victims left little doubt that the he was still on the prowl for prey. His slaying's ended as quickly as they started, however, when he killed for the last time on October 27, 1919, splitting the head of a man named Mike Pepitone.

The Axeman seemingly disappeared after the Pepitone killing, but on December 2, 1920, a New Orleans man by the name of Joseph Mumfre was shot to death on a Los Angeles street by Pepitone's wife. She claimed that she had seen The Axeman flee after her husband's killing and had located him. That man was Mumfre, so the distraught widow tracked and killed him. Mumfre was in fact a career criminal who was in and out of jail throughout his adult life and was free during all The Axeman's attacks. There was reportedly some circumstantial evidence that led many to believe Mumfre did kill Pepitone, but he was never linked to any of the other murders, which remain unsolved to this day. Mrs. Pepitone served three years in jail for murder.