The Inner Circle

J. Jiquel Lanoe is a rich Italian, with a nice house and Mary Pickford for a daughter. A secret organization sends a note that unless he puts $1000 under the rose bush in his front yard, both are at risk. He goes to the police, and they put a guard on their house. While they are pursuing another man, Adolph Lestina sneaks onto the property and lights a bomb under the house. Little does he know that his own daughter, who was struck by a speeding car, has been carried into the house, where its occupants are comforting her.

We're talking about La Cosa Nostra, the Black Hand, the Mafia... whatever you choose to call it. Because these movies were popular among the poor Italian emigrants, the organization had to be given a false name.... but everyone knew what they were talking about.

Lanoe was a member of Griffith's stock company, almost invariably in bit parts. This was a rare opportunity for him to take a larger role. Although little of his work survives, he was a painter, who had been in Tahiti in the 1890s, where he may have met Gaugin. A few of his surviving canvases show Gaugin's influence.