Chicago 50 - No. 8 - Sabella Nitti (Hunyak)

Sabella in the Cook County Jail

Sabella Nitti was an Italian immigrant living outside Chicago in the early 1920s whose story became one of the most striking examples of injustice in American criminal history. When her husband, Francesco Nitti, disappeared from their farm in 1922, Sabella, and a younger farmhand Crudelle were accused of murdering him. With no evidence, they were released.

But when her husband's decomposed body was found a year later in a drainage ditch, Sabella was convicted of his murder and sentenced to hang—the first woman in Cook County, Illinois, to receive a death sentence. The case drew enormous public attention, but not because of strong evidence; reporters instead focused on Sabella’s appearance, poverty, and immigrant background. Unable to speak English, she was painted in the press as “ugly,” “greasy,” and “animal-like,” words that reflected the xenophobia and class prejudice of the time.

Of the guilty verdict, Chicago Tribune's Genevieve Forbes wrote, 'the death penalty to the dumb, crouching animal-like Italian peasant.' Even worse, no one was willing or capable of explaining the decision to Sabella until the following day. An execution date was soon set--to which Sabella responded, 'They chokes me? They chokes me?'

(left) Son, Charles, daughter Mary, and daughter Philomenda with Sabella

(right) Sabella, son Charles, and lover Crudelle in the courtroom

Sabella with daughters Philomena (6) and Mary (4)

"Sabella yearned for her daughters and was concerned for their well-being. On July 28, 1923, her attorney filed a petition for the recovery of her two daughters, who were in the custody of neighbors who testified against Sabella during her trial. During an impassioned custody hearing, Sabella clutched her four-year-old daughter, Mary, as she rose from the witness chair and shouted in Italian, 'If I've got to stay in jail, they stay with me; if I got to die, they die with me.'

Her defense attorney was later described by the Illinois Supreme Court as incompetent and ignorant of basic courtroom procedure. After the conviction, a new legal team led by attorney Helen Cirese took on her case, arguing that she had received ineffective counsel. Part of their strategy included transforming Sabella’s public image. With new clothes, a neat haircut, and lessons in English, the woman once mocked as a “beast” was reintroduced to the press as dignified and gentle. The Illinois Supreme Court eventually overturned her conviction, ruling that her first trial had been deeply flawed, and Sabella was released from prison.

"It would take an Illinois Supreme Court opinion to bring justice to Sabella. Unlike the Hunyak character based on the Italian immigrant in the musical Chicago, Sabella would live to see her name cleared and go on to live a long, happy life--maybe the most inspiring ending of all women housed on Cook County's Murderess Row.

--He Had It Coming: Four Murerous Women and the Reporter Who Immortalized Their Stories by Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather