Neither of us is wrong, Mick. Some Neapolitan gangs and individuals in NYC may have used the "black hand" symbol before the Sicilian Mafia put down roots in NYC (the US Mafia started in New Orleans). The "White Hand" was a nickname some anti-Italian Irish gangs used in response to the news media characterizing every Italian criminal as a "black-hander." It was a form of bigotry: "Hey, look, our hands are clean [sic]." Frankie Yale arranged for Al Capone to leave Brooklyn for Chicago around 1919 one step ahead of some Irish "white handers" who were after his blood in retaliation for a beating or killing he put on one of their members.