Kronoka ta’ Ġrajjiet Kriminali f’Malta 1800-2020 
by Edward Attard, Malta 2020, €15.

Crime and criminals have always held a certain fascination for the common law-abiding person, perhaps because they offer vicarious thrills and sensations. The evergreen popularity of the topic in both books and films attests to this, when there is often the added joy of satisfaction of seeing a crime solved and a criminal justly punished, which does not, alas, always happen in real life.

Edward Attard has established himself as Malta’s crime historian. Since 1997 he has written over 30 books covering all sorts of crime both local and international, as well as Delitti u Misteri in part-works. His Delitti f’Malta of 2001 was a runaway bestseller and went into a number of editions and updates.

Moreover, he is the expert de rigeur that local news houses turn to when some unusual crime is committed. His wide-ranging reading and his excellent memory are always readily available to propose interesting facts and statistics.

His latest book, Kronoka ta’ Ġrajjiet Kriminali f’Malta 1800-2020, will certainly not displease his many readers, who know exactly what to expect from his books. In this case he goes far beyond Delitti to list hundreds of felonies and misdemeanours committed since the start of British rule and, as can be expected, a varied mix they are.

Besides the obvious murders in their infinite permutations, there are robberies, sexual assaults, prostitution, violence, blackmail, crimes of passion, a handful of assassinations (all, save one hopefully, canonically unsolved), espionage, break-ins, sacrilege, fraud, sacrilege, counterfeiting, smuggling, melees, adultery and sodomy (when the latter two were still crimes until the 1970s), and so on. One might say here lie the devil’s plenty; not so bad for two little islands.

While murders are recorded up to the date of publication (the latest one being the Santa Luċija murder of Victor McKeon in March this year), the cut-off date for the other crimes is 2000.               One point that emerges from reading about all these murders is the high percentage of those that have remained unsolved over the years.

The first part consists of an account of the legal changes brought about in Malta following the island’s taking over by the British, one of the principal changes being the removal of ecclesiastical immunity and introduction of the jury system in 1829. The first trial by jury for murder took place one year later. The trial lasted 11 days and three of the accused were found guilty and executed.

One other significant change introduced by the British was a new criminal code that replaced the old Rohan code. Among its reforms were the abolition of the death penalty for violent robbers (but not if a murder took place) and the penalty of exile.

Robberies, sexual assaults, prostitution, violence, blackmail, crimes of passion, a handful of assassinations (...) espionage, break-ins, sacrilege, fraud, sacrilege, counterfeiting, smuggling, melees, adultery and sodomy

The book obviously includes the cases in Delitti. The major murder cases are still there, treated at some length. Incidentally, the account of the notorious case of Ruzar Mizzi, known as il-Lajs, includes some more information than that published in Delitti. Mizzi was found guilty of the murder of Wenzu Bonanno in 1888, but an entire folk tradition has been built around the belief that he was innocent of the crime and wrongly hanged. The belief persists to this day – was there a gross miscarriage?

As can be expected, such a book is rich in anecdotes and historical data which make it a mine of information for lovers of Melitensia and also all those interested in legal matters.

The law could be hard even in ‘little’ cases. In 1909, two men were sentenced to one year and 15 months’ imprisonment respectively for stealing a couple of goats.

Attard is also useful at pointing out a series of firsts after 1800. The first murder in the British era took place in Żebbuġ on December 20, 1800, with the murderer remaining unknown.

The first man to kill his wife took place in 1830 in Floriana,, while the first prostitute to be murdered in Senglea was in 1832. One of her murderers, 18-year-old Giovanni Fedele, became the youngest person ever to be executed locally.

A strange incident that people were quick to label as divine justice was that of the Neapolitan Francesco Mariano who, while in prison for the theft of a sanctuary lamp from Floriana in 1802, offered to take up the duties of an executioner on the promise of freedom. Having duly carried out his duty, he was awaiting the British officer to deliver the coup de grace, but the officer’s gun went off, hitting Mariano in the head and killing him instantly.

In 1856, Giuseppa Buttigieg was the first woman to be condemned to be executed, which sentence was commuted because she was pregnant. No women have been executed since the 18th century.

The soldier Samuel Hiscos became the first person to commit suicide in Corradino prisons in 1860, while in 1862 there took place the notorious Peppi tat-Tuttu robbery and murder case.

The first attempt to determine whether the blood on a crime scene was human or not took place in 1869, while the earliest exhumation in a murder trial occurred in 1870.

Maria Schembri was the first transgender person to be condemned to life in prison in 1878 and was eventually transferred to the men’s section. In the crimi­nal annals there is only one case of a man caught in flagrante – Attard tells his story. Then there is the notorious case of the bankruptcy of the Bank taċ-Ċawla¸ that survives in popular folklore.

The first bomb explosion took place in Mdina in 1899 when Rabat was arguing to be made a separate parish, while the first murder of the 20th century took place at Safi. The first fatal car bomb, however, occurred in 1969.

The first jury in which the Maltese language was used took place in 1931, while the first sentence for the abuse of drugs was delivered in 1936 for possession of morphine.

There is the case of a notorious safe-breaker who was taken from prison in the dead of night in 1936 to break open the Italian consul’s safe in Valletta and photograph his papers. He did this successfully and was freed, only to fall foul again of the law a short time later.

Even the war years saw no let-up in criminal activities, with the most outstanding case being that of Carmelo Borg Pisani, who was executed in 1942. Eight months later, the Zammit brothers became the last people to be hanged in Malta.

Many readers today will be shocked to learn that in 1960 some bar owners were fined 50s for allowing Domenico Modugno’s Nuda to be played on the juke-boxes in their premises.

Well, one could go on and on. The book, which will provide hours of curious browsing, such as looking for crimes perpetrated in one’s location. Budding authors will find countless ideas for plots for short stories.

Statistics show that between 1800 and 2020, the month you stand the greatest chance of being murdered in is February, and the safest month is January.