L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2025 L'Italo-Americano ings." Fluent in multiple Italian dialects, Petrosino used his linguistic skills to his advan- t a g e . A f t e r s e r v i n g a s a patrol officer, he earned a position in the investigative unit, eventually rising to the rank of sergeant-detective. Early on, his colleagues did- n't make it easy for him. His surname, Petrosino, was a dialectal version of prezze- molo (parsley) in southern Italy, a detail that became the butt of many jokes in the p r e c i n c t . H i s p h y s i c a l stature didn't help either — he wasn't particularly tall or athletic. But what he lacked in size, he more than made up for with intelligence, and that proved invaluable in his work. Taking down the Mafia — a t t h e t i m e s t i l l w i d e l y r e f e r r e d t o a s t h e M a n o N e r a — b e c a m e h i s l i f e ' s mission. The Italian-born o f f i c e r , k n o w n f o r h i s integrity and devotion to his f a m i l y — h e w a s m a r r i e d w i t h a y o u n g d a u g h t e r — even earned the respect of the President of the United States. In 1895, none other than Theodore Roosevelt, a close friend and admirer, appointed him Sergeant. A decade later, in 1905, when Petrosino was promoted to Lieutenant, he was placed in c o m m a n d o f t h e I t a l i a n Legion, a unit specifically a s s i g n e d t o c o m b a t t h e Mano Nera. Using disguis- es, undercover operations, and daring tactics, he man- aged to bring down criminal bosses previously consid- ered untouchable, elusive, and beyond the reach of jus- tice. He was also one of the first to recognize the deep ties between the American Mafia and its Sicilian coun- terpart. He believed that to t r u l y w e a k e n o r g a n i z e d crime in the U.S., the fight had to start in Sicily. That conviction led him to embark on a secret mission to Palermo, a trip financed b y p o w e r f u l b a n k e r s l i k e John D. Rockefeller and J . P . M o r g a n . P e t r o s i n o checked into the Hotel de France, located in the very square where he would later be assassinated. But secrecy form bore the number 285. A f t e r a b r i e f p e r i o d patrolling 13th Avenue, his sharp instincts, intelligence, and unwavering profession- alism earned him promo- t i o n s t o m o r e s i g n i f i c a n t roles. In the meantime, waves of Italian immigrants were arriving in growing num- bers. By early 1906, Joe Pet- rosino, now head of the Ital- i a n B r a n c h — a s p e c i a l police unit tasked with dis- mantling the extortion net- work known as the Mano Nera(Black Hand) — sub- mitted a report to the direc- tor of the New York Police Department. In it, he wrote: " T h e U n i t e d S t a t e s h a s become the dumping ground for all of Italy's criminals a n d b a n d i t s , p a r t i c u l a r l y from Sicily and Calabria… They now thrive here, living off extortion, robberies, and all manner of illicit deal- was short-lived. The New York Herald leaked the news of his journey —along with o t h e r s e n s i t i v e d e t a i l s — sealing his fate before he even set foot on Sicilian soil. Petrosino had warned the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, about a plot to assassinate him — an attack ultimately carried out by a young anar- chist on September 6, 1901, during the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. But his warning went u n h e e d e d . T h i s w a s t h e same Joe Petrosino who, in 1903, solved the infamous " B a r r e l M u r d e r " c a s e , s o named because the victim, B e n e d e t t o M a d o n i a , h a d been found dismembered and stuffed inside a barrel. T h e s a m e m a n w h o w a s r e c e i v e d b y I t a l y ' s P r i m e Minister, Giovanni Giolitti, who gifted him a gold watch i n a p p r e c i a t i o n . A n d t h e s a m e m a n w h o , a f t e r h i s official duties, made time to visit his brother Michele, w h o h a d l e f t A m e r i c a t o return to Italy. That same Joe Petrosino was ambushed in Palermo on March 12, 1909 — shot in the back by two assassins who disappeared into the night. His autopsy, conducted by Dr. Giovanni Liguori on M a r c h 1 4 , c o n f i r m e d t h e c a u s e o f d e a t h : g u n s h o t w o u n d s . D e s p i t e a l a r g e bounty placed on his killers, they were never officially i d e n t i f i e d . P e t r o s i n o w a s h o n o r e d w i t h t w o s t a t e funerals, one in Palermo on March 19, and another in New York on April 12. It is said that around 250,000 people attended his funeral procession. A plaque in his memory stands in Palermo, affixed to the wrought-iron f e n c e s u r r o u n d i n g t h e Garibaldi Garden in Piazza Marina, the very spot where he fell to Mafia bullets. On the 150th anniversary of his birth, the Italian postal ser- vice issued a commemora- tive stamp in his honor. Fitting tributes to a man w h o r e m a i n s c e l e b r a t e d across two continents: Lieu- tenant Giuseppe Joe Petrosi- no, a hero never forgotten. States, enduring a 25-day voyage by ship before arriv- ing in New York. They set- tled in Little Italy, where young Giuseppe grew up. As the eldest child, he felt a strong responsibility not to burden his family financially but rather to contribute to their livelihood. Determined to adapt to his new country, he attend- ed evening classes to learn English while working vari- o u s j o b s . H e s t a r t e d a s a newsboy, selling newspa- p e r s o n t h e s t r e e t , t h e n shined shoes as a sciuscià (shoeshiner). By 1877, now going by the name Joe, he had obtained U.S. citizen- ship. The following year, he took a job as a street cleaner and quickly worked his way up to foreman. On October 19, 1883, Pet- rosino joined the New York Police Department. The sil- ver badge pinned to his uni- W ho knows what the w e a t h e r w a s l i k e a t 8 : 4 5 p.m. on that Friday, March 12, 1909, in Palermo? A few people stood at the tram ter- m i n u s i n P i a z z a M a r i n a when the sudden crack of four gunshots shattered the evening calm. Panic swept over them. Some ran, others froze in place. Only one man — a s a i l o r f r o m A n c o n a named Alberto Cardella, who had just disembarked from the Regina Nave Calabria — rushed toward Villa Garibal- di, the source of the shots. He arrived just in time to see a man collapse to the ground as two shadowy figures dis- appeared into the darkness. T h e b u l l e t s h a d s t r u c k their target with deadly pre- cision — one in the neck, two in the back, and a fatal shot to the head. There was no chance of survival. By the time help arrived, it was too late. The man lying on the ground was Joe Petrosino, a police officer— the first in law enforcement to be assas- sinated by the Mafia. He had been on a top-secret mission from the United States, but a press leak had led the New York Herald to publish all t h e d e t a i l s o f h i s t r i p . Despite the exposure, Pet- rosino believed that, just as in New York, the Mafia in Palermo wouldn't dare kill a police officer. Unfortunately, he was wrong. His mission to dismantle the Mano Nera — the criminal network he had c o r r e c t l y t r a c e d b a c k t o Palermo — came to a brutal end that night. He was just 49 years old. "Petrosino shot dead in t h e c i t y c e n t e r t o n i g h t . Assassins unknown. A mar- tyr has fallen." With these words, the American Consul i n P a l e r m o s e n t a t e l e g r a p h e d r e p o r t o f t h e Mafia execution to the U.S. government. G i u s e p p e P e t r o s i n o w a s b o r n o n A u g u s t 3 0 , 1860, in Padula, a town in Italy's Campania region, in the province of Salerno. His father, Prospero, was a tailor who managed to provide an education for his four sons — one of the few families in t o w n t o d o s o — w i t h t h e help of a private tutor. In 1873, the Petrosino family e m i g r a t e d t o t h e U n i t e d TERESA DI FRESCO Remembering Joe Petrosino, an Italian-American hero Italian-American hero Joe Petrosino (Photo: New York City Police Department - http://www.italophiles.com/petrosino.htm. Wikicommons/ Public Domain) HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS PEOPLE

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