The Axeman of New Orleans Said He'd Spare Anyone Who Played Jazz on a Specific Night. Here's Why the Serial Killer Was Never Caught By Emily Blackwood

It’s been over a century since the Axeman brutally murdered at least five people and attacked over a dozen others in New Orleans. But other than an alleged love for jazz music, the identity of The Big Easy’s most infamous criminal remains unknown.

From May 1918 to October 1919, an unknown serial killer broke into homes across the city and attacked victims in their sleep, often with their own axes. Because they rarely took valuables, police couldn’t find a clear motive for the murders.

Fear ran through the city as the attacks continued, reaching a height on March 19, 1919, after the Times-Picayune published a letter days earlier allegedly from the Axeman. In it, the killer threatened to attack again on March 19 “at 12:15 o’clock (earthly time)” but promised not to enter any homes playing jazz.

“If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for the people,” the Axeman allegedly wrote, per Country Roads Magazine. “One thing is certain and that is some of those persons who do not jazz it out on that specific Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.”

Here’s everything to know about the Axeman of New Orleans and why they were never caught.

Who was the Axeman of New Orleans?

The Axeman of New Orleans was a serial killer who was active between the years of 1918 and 1919. Police believe the unidentified murderer was responsible for at least five murders and up to 17 attacks.

Described by survivors as a White, working-class male in his 30s, the serial killer gained entry into their homes by removing a small door panel. According to Smithsonian, the Axeman used a railroad shoe pin, which led police to believe the murderer was an experienced burglar.

Though many attributed the March 1919 letter to the serial killer, Miriam Davis, historian and author of the 2017 book The Axeman of New Orleans: The True Story, argued otherwise.

“When you read the letter, this is a person who’s an educated person — he has a classical allusion to Tartarus,” she told Country Roads Magazine in September 2022. “And the person who is the Axeman, from the description we’ve got of him, he’s a working man … I just don’t think a working class person at that time would have been educated enough to write that letter.”

Davis believed that local jazz musician Joseph John Davilla was the more likely culprit behind the note. The day the Times-Picayune published the letter — which prompted the entire city of New Orleans to blast jazz music throughout the night — he wrote “The Axman’s Jazz (Don’t Scare Me),” which has long been associated with the killer’s spree.

How many people did the Axeman kill?

The Axeman was responsible for killing at least five people — Italian grocer Joseph Maggio and his wife Catherine, barber Joe Romano, grocer Mike Pepitone and 2-year-old Mary Cortimiglia — and attacking up to 17 others.

In May 2018, the Maggios were killed while they were sleeping in their apartment. The killer slit Catherine’s throat with a razor so severely that her head was nearly severed before striking them both with an axe, per the Times-Picayune.

Three months later, Romano was fatally beaten in the head with an axe, which was found bloodied by his bedside, per Country Roads Magazine.

In March 2019, a week before the letter was published, the Axeman attacked the Cortimiglia family, beating grocery owner Charlie and his wife Rosie with an axe. They survived, but their toddler daughter, Mary, was found dead.

Pepitone’s attack in October 1919 marked the last of the alleged Axeman assaults. Like the other victims, Pepitone was found dead in his bedroom after being struck in the head.

Because the majority of the victims were Italian and Sicilian grocers, Davis believed they could have been targeted for their success.

The author also argued that the Axeman’s attacks may have started as early as 1910, as a spree of similar crimes during that period were attributed to an unknown killer called “The Cleaver.”

Who was suspected of being the Axeman?

Though no one was suspected of all of the Axeman attacks and murders, several people were arrested — and almost convicted — of some of the individual attacks.

According to Country Roads Magazine, Joseph Maggio’s brother, Andrew, was arrested as a primary suspect after police learned he was the one who discovered the bodies. But he was eventually released.

In the Cortimiglia attack on March 8, 1919, police suspected rival grocers and neighbors of the family. Detectives even allegedly coerced Rosie into signing a document implicating Frank Jordano and his father, Iorlando Jordano. 

They remained incarcerated for a year before Rosie confessed that she had wrongfully accused them and did not know the identity of her attacker.

But perhaps the most popular Axeman suspect was Joseph Manfre, who was also known by the names Mumfre or Monfre. He was a known criminal who had been arrested for attempting to bomb an Italian grocery store in 1907, per Country Roads Magazine. Pepitone’s wife, Esther, claimed that Manfre admitted to killing her husband.

The widow shot and killed Manfre after she claimed he walked into her home and demanded cash or he would kill her like he “did [her] husband.”

Why was the Axeman never caught?

During the crime spree, police were allegedly reluctant to believe that the murders and attacks were related. Davis told the Chicago Review Press in March 2017 that at the time, people just “weren’t that familiar with the concept of a serial killer.”

“The idea of a murderer who acted without an obvious motive was counterintuitive,” the author said. “Believing that the Jordanos attacked the Cortimiglias over a business dispute made more sense to people at the time and fit into their (to some extent deserved) stereotype of Italian vendettas.”

Further, there were no reliable eyewitness accounts to point to and a lack of evidence at the crime scenes.