Inside the prison, as the mob is…

Inside the prison, as the mob is breaking down the door with a battering ram, prison warden Lemuel Davis lets the nineteen Italian prisoners out of their cells and tells them to hide as best they can.

Although the thousands of demonstrators outside give the sense that the lynching is a spontaneous outburst, the killings are 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 include John M. Parker, who will be elected as Louisiana's 37th governor, and  Walter C. Flowere, who will be elected as the 44th mayor of New Orleans

The mentally ill Polizzi is hauled outside, hanged from a lamppost, and shot.

Antonio Bagnetto, a fruit peddler, is hanged from a tree and shot.

Nine others are shot or clubbed to death inside the prison.

The bullet-riddled bodies of Polizzi and Bagnetto are left hanging for hours.