Although the thousands of demonstrators outside gave the sense that the lynching was a spontaneous outburst, the killings were carried out by a relatively small, disciplined "execution squad" led by Parkerson and three other city leaders: Walter Denegre, lawyer; James D. Houston, politician and businessman; and John C. Wickliffe, editor of the New Delta newspaper. Other members of the lynch mob included John M. Parker, who was elected as Louisiana's 37th governor, and Walter C. Flower, who was elected as the 44th mayor of New Orleans.

The mentally ill Polizzi was hauled outside, hanged from a lamppost, and shot. Antonio Bagnetto, a fruit peddler, was hanged from a tree and shot. Nine others were shot or clubbed to death inside the prison. The bullet-riddled bodies of Polizzi and Bagnetto were left hanging for hours.

The incident strained relations between the U.S. and Italy. The Italian consul Pasquale Corte left New Orleans in late May 1891 and the New York Times published his statement accusing the city politicians of responsibility for the lynchings. The Italian government demanded that the lynch mob be brought to justice and that reparations be paid to the dead men's families.

Afterward, when federal district attorney William Grant looked into the case, he reported that the evidence against the men was "exceedingly unsatisfactory" and inconclusive. He could find no evidence linking any of the lynched men to the Mafia, or to any attempts to bribe the jury.

When the U.S. declined to prosecute the mob leaders, Italy recalled its ambassador from Washington in protest. The U.S. followed suit, recalling it's legation from Rome. Diplomatic relations remained at an impasse for over a year, and there were rumors of war. When President Benjamin Harrison agreed to pay a $25,000 indemnity to the victims' families, Congress tried unsuccessfully to intervene, accusing him of "unconstitutional executive usurpation of Congressional powers". The US paid $2,211.90 to each family of the eleven victims.

Shortly after the lynching, the city passed an ordinance giving control of all New Orleans dock work to the newly formed Louisiana Construction and Improvement Corporation, a business headed by James Houston and other lynch mob leaders. Italian waterfront merchants and workers, who had been making remarkable economic progress up to then, were thus eliminated as competitors. The City passed an ordinance prohibiting Italians from working on the docks.

James Houston had been acquitted in 1885 for killing George Osmond, the editor of The Mascot, who criticized his brother Judge W.T. Houston.


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