It’s been more than 60 years since Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed Yet, when Gov. Michael Dukakis pardoned them in 1977 — with the words, “ any stigma and disgrace should be forever removed from the names of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti” — most Italian Americans felt a sense of gratitude and relief. Indeed, the Sacco Vanzetti case is one of the most divisive in the history of the United States.

The murders for which Sacco and Vanzetti were executed took place on April 15, 1920, in South Braintree. In the process of stealing the $15,776 payroll of the Slater and Morrill shoe factory, the robbers shot and killed paymaster Frederick Parmenter and guard Alessandro Beradelli. The crime took place in broad daylight before dozens of eyewitnesses who gave police a description of what they saw with their own eyes and what the criminals looked like.