The Black Hand was an underworld society of Italians that thrived in Sicily in the late 19th century. Reading newspaper articles from that time, it appears they terrorized cities across the nation. After the great migration, immigrants of the group settled in West Virginia and sought to extort money from other Italian immigrants to the area. Several members of the Black Hand were successfully prosecuted for murder and extortion in the early 20th century.
Date: 1909/03/27
Contributor: Bain News Service, publisher
Source: https://www.loc.gov/item/2014683240/
Beckley Post-Herald
Beckley, West Virginia
12 Apr 1974, Fri • Page 4
Newspaper Articles From WV (and surrounding states) on The Black Hand:
Starting in 1900 and continuing for decades, there are articles in the WV papers about The Black Hand and their dealings in various states. Many articles on the Pennsylvania Black Hand targeting mining bosses. For the sake of this blog, I tried to stay local to WV on what is included.
I cannot help but wonder if, between 1900-1930, it would have been easy to get away with murder by just leaving a note on the doorstep stating it was the deed of The Black Hand?
The Fairmont West Virginian
Fairmont, West Virginia
13 Aug 1904, Sat • Page 6
The Weekly Register
Point Pleasant, West Virginia
01 Feb 1905, Wed • Page 1
The Fairmont West Virginian
Fairmont, West Virginia
05 Oct 1905, Thu • Page 3
The Daily Telegram
Clarksburg, West Virginia
21 Jan 1907, Mon • Page 1
The Clarksburg Telegram
Clarksburg, West Virginia
06 Oct 1905, Fri • Page 7
The Fairmont West Virginian
Fairmont, West Virginia
05 Apr 1906, Thu • Page 4
The Wheeling Intelligencer
Wheeling, West Virginia
17 Jan 1921, Mon • Page 1
The Fairmont West Virginian
Fairmont, West Virginia
18 Apr 1922, Tue • Page 1
The West Virginian
Fairmont, West Virginia
28 Apr 1922, Fri • Page 1
The Charleston Daily Mail
Charleston, West Virginia
25 May 1922, Thu • Page 4
The West Virginian
Fairmont, West Virginia
23 May 1922, Tue • Page 1
The Fairmont West Virginian
Fairmont, West Virginia
02 Jun 1922, Fri • Page 1
The Charleston Daily Mail
Charleston, West Virginia
13 Jul 1922, Thu • Page 1
Hinton Daily News
Hinton, West Virginia
15 Feb 1923, Thu • Page 1
The Wheeling Intelligencer
Wheeling, West Virginia
16 Oct 1922, Mon • Page 9
Thoughts and Ponderances 
So sorry for the delay in responding. Life has gotten in the way of my enjoying writing this blog. I would love to help piece together things for you. Have you used the genealogy websites? If you could give me a little more info I could dig into the archives I have access to. Do you have a birth or death date for Big Joe?
Hello,
My name is Joe and my great grandfather was “big Joe” Cenite my father and I have been compiling any and all information about him in hopes we can learn more about him and ultimately fulfill my Dads dream of finding a photo of him. If you are open to it I would love to exchange information and hopefully we can both learn more about this part of west Virginia history and my great grandfather’s role in it.