Maria Barbella was part of the Great Arrival of Italian immigrants to the United States. In 1892, Maria, age 22, and her family left their native Basilicata for New York City where they settled in Mulberry Bend, part of the infamous Five Points neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. Barbella, like many of her contemporaries, went to work in the sweat industry, toiling for a pittance to help her family make ends meet.

Each day, as she walked to work, Barbella passed the shoeshine booth of Domenico Cataldo, a fellow immigrant from Basilicata who had become quite successful in America. Cataldo began wooing Barbella, persuading her to see him before returning home to the watchful eyes of her parents.