PRIEST SUED FOR DAMAGES. ~ Italian Doctor Says He Was Called Member of the Mafia.

October 29, 1909
PRIEST SUED FOR DAMAGES.

Italian Doctor Says He Was Called
Member of the Mafia.

Bendetto Tripi Rao, an Italian physician, filed suit in the circuit court yesterday to collect $10,000 damages from Charles Delbecchi, an Italian priest.

Dr. Rao sets up in his petition that he has a large practice among the Italians of the city and that on September 24, 1909, Father Delbecchi publicly charged Rao with being a member of the Mafia, said to be an Italian "black hand" society. According to the petition the priest also had a document, said to have borne a seal of the King of Italy, in which Dr. Rao was charged with being a quack and a swindler.