The actor might even star as Petrosino.

“For Italian-Americans it’s a terrific thing,” Petrosino’s grandnephew, also named Joseph Petrosino, said at a Friday news conference at the Italian American Museum in Little Italy.

“It goes against the stereotype that’s always portrayed of them being criminals and Mafia members.”

An immigrant from Palermo, Petrosino arrived in New York in 1874 and found work at the Sanitation Department, which was run by the NYPD at the time.

The ambitious Petrosino, after being selected to join the police department, quickly made a name for himself by infiltrating the infamous Black Hand gang.

The band of hoodlums, a precursor to the mob, preyed on Italian Americans with extortions, kidnappings and bombings.

Petrosino left for Italy in 1909 on a secret mission to gather intelligence on Black Hand members operating in the Big Apple.

Reporters had found out about the trip and published his plans, but Petrosino insisted on following through on the mission.

He was killed in an ambush outside a Palermo cafe on March 12 after being set up by an alleged informant.

The shocking slaying remained unsolved until 2014 when Italian cops arrested 95 suspected Mafia members, including a 29-year-old man who was heard on a wiretap bragging that his uncle, Paolo Palazzotto, killed Petrosino.

“The people who hated him in Italy assassinated him,” his grandnephew said. “The Mafia assassinated him.”

The film is being adapted from author Stephan Talty’s book about Petrosino, “The Black Hand.”

“He’s a legend amongst all police officers and certainly a hero in the NYPD,” Robert Fonti, co-chair of the Suffolk County Alliance of Chambers, said of Petrosino.

Source: NEW YORK DAILY NEWS – https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/dicaprio-company-making-film-nypd-slain-mafia-probe-article-1.3160512

A DiCaprio’s Production Company Making Film About NYPD Lieutenant S bejegyzés először Petrosino USA-én jelent meg.

Morganville, N.J.: Re Voicer Bob Petrosino’s letter about his great-great-uncle, Lt. Joe Petrosino, the NYPD detective murdered by the Black Hand in 1909 in Sicily: He was also my great-great-uncle and I would like to add a significant piece of history that is often overlooked.

My grandfather was Prospero Petrosino, who was 9 when his uncle was assassinated in Sicily. This event had such a profound influence on him that he went on to be a NYPD detective from 1924 to 1950 alongside his younger brother, Detective James Petrosino, from 1929 to 1955. Both were involved in famous cases of their time, which also had an influence on my generation of family members who currently are involved in law.

Anthony Petrosino, a great-great-nephew, is a leading criminologist with WestEd’s Justice and Prevention Research Center.

Paul Tepper was an undercover NYPD detective involved in gangs in the 1970s and 80s, and was given Lt. Joe Petrosino’s actual shield from my grandfather, Detective Prospero Petrosino.

Perry Perrone, a great-great-nephew, is currently the assistant district attorney and chief of the Homicide Department for the prosecutor’s office in Westchester County.

The inspiring story would be how a family was inspired by Lt. Joe Petrosino’s legacy to fight crime for over 100 years in New York City and throughout the United States. Mike Petrosino

A A Murdered Detective’s Legacy bejegyzés először Petrosino USA-én jelent meg.

I am the great-nephew of the good lieutenant. My father, Prospero Petrosino, was his eldest nephew by his only full-blooded brother, Vincenzo Petrosino. I encourage all family members to read the definitive biography of the lieutenant just published this past April and written by Stephan Talty, who previously wrote the book entitled “Captain Phillips,” which became a movie starring Tom Hanks.

This book is entitled “The Black Hand” and traces the detective’s history more accurately than any other publication. I was fortunate enough to be a consultant on this book and can attest to its accuracy. The author also used data and information supplied by my daughter, Courteney Michelle, who visited the hometown of Padula, Italy, and interviewed family members still living there.

The lieutenant was born August 30, 1860 in Padula, Italy, in the Provence of Salerno. He was the oldest child of Prospero Petrosino, known as “the tailor” after his profession and Giusseppina Arato, his first wife.

This marriage produced two other children: my grandfather, Vincenzo and a daughter, Catarina. The tailor married a second time after the death of his first wife, to Giusseppina Mugno. That union produced three more children, a daughter, Josephine, and two more sons, Michael and Anthony.

I suspect that your previous writers, Voicers Mike and Bob Petrosino come from the family of Anthony Petrosino. I know my dad was proud of the fact that two of his first cousins were members of the NYPD. The lieutenant himself married late in life to Adelina Saulino, had one daughter, Adelina whose daughter, Susan, was his only grandchild. I hope this gives family members more information to go on.

Vincent Joseph Petrosino

A The True History Of A Great Cop bejegyzés először Petrosino USA-én jelent meg.

“The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History,” by Stephan Talty (HMH)

The Petrosinos had immigrated in 1873, when Joseph was 13. To help support his family, he left school after sixth grade to work full time as a shoeshine boy, earning about a quarter a day. At age 17 or 18, he was hired as a city street cleaner. Thanks to his work ethic, his obvious talent and the intercession of a mentor, he advanced to commander of a scow that dumped municipal garbage in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1883, despite being only 5 feet 3 inches tall, he was recruited by the police force of what already qualified as “the largest Italian city in the world.”

One of Petrosino’s motives in going after the Black Hand was a fear that authorities might eventually crack down on immigration from Italy. Yet he also sought to distance himself from his countrymen. In an almost unheard-of break with Old World tradition, Petrosino remained single and lived alone in a non-Italian part of town. (He finally married at age 47.) His superb memory for faces and his dogged pursuit of leads won him a promotion to detective, leadership of a small unit of Italian cops, and the nickname “the Italian Sherlock Holmes.” One of his star turns came when the Hand tried to extort $5,000 from the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. Impersonating Caruso, Petrosino kept the rendezvous and overpowered and arrested the extortionists. (One wonders if they could have blown “Caruso’s” cover by demanding a song.)

Despite his success, however, Petrosino faced discrimination within the NYPD just as his countrymen did outside it, and his operation remained woefully understaffed as the Black Hand expanded into other cities and states. All that changed, however, when a man without ties to the political machine known as Tammany Hall was appointed commissioner of police. This was Theodore Bingham, an ex-military engineer who may have sucked even more oxygen out of rooms than a dynamic predecessor in the police commissioner’s job, Theodore Roosevelt. At the heart of “The Black Hand” is Talty’s account of how Bingham was both the best and worst of bosses, making a favorite of Petrosino, giving him the support he needed, but foolishly sending him on an intelligence-gathering trip to Italy, where, thanks to Petrosino, so many Black Hand members were now living in sullen exile.

(Pictured to the Right, The author Stephan Talty (Natacha Vilceus/Natacha Vilceus))

Talty, himself the son of Irish immigrants, tells his story with flair. In addition to Caruso’s cameo, there is one by the young Al Capone, a Hand member who fled New York when things got too hot there and ended up at “the site of his future empire” — Chicago. Talty also gives us a peek at the leave-nothing-to-chance ethos of Tammany Hall. “It was said that [boss Big Tim Sullivan] perfumed the ballots on election day so that he could make sure his constituents had actually voted by sniffing out the scent on their hands.” And the Black Hand knew it had arrived when, in 1905, a newspaper serial featuring the famous lawman Bat Masterson kicked off with him “On the Trail of the Black Hand.”

I only wish the author had provided more detail on how the Black Hand was finally stopped. Once Petrosino is out of the picture, Talty seems to lose interest, covering the gang’s decline and fall in a mere three-and-a-half pages. On the whole, though, this is a valuable recounting of a lurid and little-known episode in American history.

Dennis Drabelle is a former mysteries editor of Book World.

A Stephan Talty’s Exhilarating History ‘The The Black Hand’ bejegyzés először Petrosino USA-én jelent meg.

By SAM ROBERTS MAY 9, 2017

Talk about ethnic profiling. Early in the 20th century, the New York City Police Department’s highest-ranking Italian-American officer estimated that perhaps one-fifth of his fellow countrymen in Manhattan were involved in criminal activity. And no one was more determined to reform the image of his fellow immigrants than he.

In “The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $28), Stephan Talty resurrects the engaging saga of Joseph Petrosino, who almost single-handedly battled prejudice within the department and suspicion from his countrymen, whom the Black Hand subjected to a reign of terror that the author likens to what black Americans faced from the Ku Klux Klan.

Mr. Talty, an author of narrative nonfiction and psychological thrillers, transforms would could have been another rehashed biography into an absorbing exploration of one man’s obsession to redeem his heritage amid familiar fears of foreigners.

Mr. Petrosino immigrated to the United States with his father in 1873 when he was 13; managed to apprentice himself to Clubber Williams, the notoriously tough cop from Manhattan’s Tenderloin district; graduated from the White Wings corps of street sweepers to the police force; became the first Italian-American detective sergeant; and insinuated himself into the thankless job of eradicating the Black Hand, the gang of kidnappers and extortionists who preyed on vulnerable Italian immigrants.

The tactics of his Italian Squad would have failed most First Amendment tests, but they got results. Mr. Petrosino, a master of disguises, even impersonated Enrico Caruso to recover his down payment for protection.

His policing strategy would eventually lead to the creation of the Bomb Squad, to gun control legislation, to (spoiler alert) his death abroad in 1909 on what turned out to be a not-so-secret mission, and to a concerted assault by the criminal justice system that finally washed the city of the Black Hand.

An estimated 250,000 New Yorkers lined the route from Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Little Italy to the cemetery in Woodside, Queens, more than would mourn Rudolph Valentino almost two decades later.

“A day comes when a man dies under circumstances so striking and dramatic that the brooding soul of the city is touched and its distracted attention riveted,” The New York American wrote. “The Italian citizens of New York entered yesterday into a new sense of fellowship in the all-embracing household of the civic life.”

In reviewing “Broken Scales: Reflections on Injustice” by Joel Cohen with Dale J. Degenshein (American Bar Association, $29.95), Sol Wachtler, a former New York chief judge, recalled how Chelm, the legendary city of fools, decided to cope with its criminal population.

Chelm’s mayor conducted a tour of various prisons, Mr. Wachtler wrote in The New York Law Journal, and found that half the inmates admitted their guilt, while the other half pronounced themselves not guilty. “So here in Chelm,” the mayor concluded, “we should build two prisons — one for those who are guilty, and one for those who are innocent.”

Judge Wachtler’s point was that, unlike Chelm’s citizens, most Americans believe that people who don’t commit crimes are either acquitted or aren’t charged in the first place. But as Mr. Cohen found in his 2014 “Blindfolds Off: Judges on How They Decide,” interviews with actual participants in the system reveal frightening imperfections.

Among the victims of injustice profiled in “Broken Scales” are Steven Pagones, the assistant prosecutor who is still awaiting an admission from the Rev. Al Sharpton that he was wrongly accused in the 1987 Tawana Brawley case; Abdallah Higazy, in whose hotel room across from the World Trade Center a transceiver was found after 9/11, but who had nothing to do with the attack; and Miriam Moskowitz, who was convicted of conspiring to lie to a grand jury during the Red Scare in a run-up to the Rosenberg atomic spy case on the basis of what appears to have been perjured testimony against her.

“When you look at how they handled their circumstances,” Mr. Cohen, a lawyer at Stroock, writes, “ask what you would have done in the same situation.”

A New York’s Early Supercop bejegyzés először Petrosino USA-én jelent meg.

First of all, I wanted to thank all of you for the continued support. It’s been about a week since the report was released from the Mayor’s Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments and Markers. I hope everyone had an opportunity to review it.

As most of you know, the report calls for the Christopher Columbus statue to remain at Columbus Circle. We should commend Governor Cuomo for his support on this, and thank the commission members who, rightly so, voted for this outcome. Unfortunately, it’s not all good news.

The commission report also recommends placing new historical markers in or around Columbus Circle explaining the history of Columbus and of the monument itself. This is unacceptable, and we need to tell our elected leaders that we will not allow the Columbus statue to be altered, modified, or disgraced in any way.

That’s why we are beginning a campaign to generate support and influence for our cause.
We have begun:

• Researching all tactics at our disposal, including legal action, to stop the historical markers.
• Creating a coalition of supporters – there is always strength in numbers.
• Working with media so that our story is told.

We need your help.

We have created a website, www.columbusheritagecoalition.com, where you can send petitions to city and state lawmakers to make sure they know: Don’t disrespect the Columbus statue.

Please visit the site today and make your voice heard. You can send an email, Tweet or write a Facebook message. If you have other family, friends, or colleagues who would also like to get updates from the campaign, send their email addresses to info@columbusheritagecoalition.com.

Sincerely,
Angelo Vivolo
President, Columbus Heritage Coalition

A Letter From Angelo Vivolo bejegyzés először Petrosino USA-én jelent meg.

Figlio di un sarto, ebbe un adeguata istruzione a Little Italy . Fu il primo italo americano a diventare luogotenente della polizia di New York, divenne amico di Theodore Roosevelt, che fu prima assessore della polizia di New York e poi presidente degli Stati Uniti.

Sin da giovanissimo cominciò a lavorare, si mise a vendere giornali, a lucidare scarpe e continuò a studiare facendosi poi assumere come netturbino dall’amministrazione newyorkese.

In quel periodo erano cominciate ad arrivare in America , le fitte schiere di emigranti italiani, questo fenomeno aveva posto le autorità americane di fronte a gravi problemi, primo fra tutti quello dell’ordine pubblico. I poliziotti,in quel periodo erano quasi tutti ebrei o irlandesi, e non riuscivano a capire gli italiani né a farsi capire da loro: questo generava un clima a favore delle organizzazioni criminali che giunsero in breve a controllare una parte di Little Italy.

Nel 1883 Joe Petrosino divenne poliziotto, dai racconti e testimonianze della sorella e dei parenti, molte donne non lasciavano uscire i propri figli in strada, a Little Italy, quando era di pattuglia: “Oggi Petrosino ind’ ‘a minestra” era la frase in codice che i popolani diffondevano nel quartiere quando Petrosino avrebbe pattugliato la zona (in italiano: “Oggi prezzemolo nella minestra“, nella maggior parte dei dialetti del sud petrosino vuol dire prezzemolo).

Le tecniche di lotta al crimine, di cui Petrosino è stato l’ ideatore, sono ancora praticate oggi dalle forze dell’ordine. Joe Petrosino ebbe coraggio e determinazione nel contrastare la mafia, soprannominata negli Stati Uniti in quel periodo la Mano Nera, che si era radicata profondamente nella società nordamericana. La missione era top secret, ma a causa di una fuga di notizie tutti i dettagli furono pubblicati sul New York Herald.

Petrosino partì comunque nell’erronea convinzione che in Sicilia la mafia, come a New York, non si azzardasse a uccidere un poliziotto. Venuto a

Palermo per scoprire i legami tra la Mano Nera e la mafia in Italia, fu ucciso in piazza Marina dal boss Vito Cascio Ferro, alle 20,45 di venerdì 12 marzo 1909, si udirono tre colpi di pistola in rapida successione e un quarto sparato subito dopo, si suscitò subito il panico nella piccola folla che attendeva il tram al capolinea di piazza Marina.

Fu la prima vittima di mafia come appartenente alle forze dell’ordine. Sono stati realizzati numerosi film, sceneggiati e fumetti, sin dal 1909 , quando è stato distribuito un documentario sugli imponenti funerali del poliziotto americano Petrosino. Sulla base dei libri di Arrigo Petacco e Secondo Signoroni, nel 1972 è stato prodotto uno sceneggiato televisivo in 5 puntate, diretto da Daniele D’Anza e come attore Adolfo Celi, che interpretava il popolare investigatore, prodotto dalla Rai e intitolato Joe Petrosino.

Nel 1960 Richard Wilson ha diretto “Pagare o morire”, nel 2006 la Rai ha trasmesso una miniserie di 2 puntate dal titolo Joe Petrosino, con l’attore Giuseppe Fiorello nella parte del poliziotto italo-americano. Nel 2018 sono stati acquistati da Leonardo Di Caprio, i diritti del romanzo”La mano nera: la vera storia di Joe Petrosino” (originale: The Black Hand) e si attente la produzione della pellicola.

La figura di Joe Petrosino continua ad esistere grazie a lavoro delle tre associazioni di New York, Padula, e Palermo che ne diffondono i valori. Rivolgiamo alcune domande ai presidenti delle associazioni di Palermo Annamaria Corradini e al Presidente di Padula Vincenzo La Manna.

Presidente Corradini cosa rappresenta la figura Joe Petrosino , per lei oggi ?

Petrosino rappresenta una icona per la difesa della legalità e l’affermazione dei principi legati alla lotta contro tutte le mafie. Ogni anno la nostra associazione assieme a quella di Padula ricorda e commemora Joe Petrosino il 12 marzo. L’associazione Joe Petrosino Sicilia ha istituito quest’anno il premio omonimo che è destinato a personalità della cultura, della scienza, dello spettacolo, dell’imprenditoria, che si siano distinte nella promozione e nella divulgazione culturale educativa dei principi della legalità. Nella prima edizione il premio è stato assegnato a Stephan Talty autore di molti best seller da cui sono stati tratti film famosi. Egli ha scritto il libro di successo “The Black Hand” (La Mano Nera).  Il protagonista è appunto Joe Petrosino il poliziotto feroce e spietato contro quel fenomeno criminale che lo porterà a morire a Palermo per mano mafiosa. Leonardo Di Caprio sta realizzando un film ispirato a questo libro.

Presidente La Manna quali sono state le attività dell’ associazione Joe Petrosino nel 2018?

Nel 2018 siamo stati a Palermo per la commemorazione del 12 marzo, a settembre abbiamo fatto il Premio internazionale Joe Petrosino giunto alla 17° edizione, siamo stati presenti a New York per il Columbus Day e altre manifestazioni.

Presidente Corradini ritiene  ancora attuale la figura di Joe Petrosino  e ritiene opportuno una divulgazione nelle scuole in modo da sensibilizzare i giovani sul tema della legalità ?

Petrosino è la prima vittima di mafia appartenente alle forze dell’ordine e oggi è molto importante divulgare la sua storia nelle scuole, per ricordare un passato ancora attuale e approfondire ancora meglio le stragi di mafia che ci hanno accompagnato fino a tempi recenti.

Rivolgo la stessa domanda al presidente La Manna ?

Oggi la figura di Joe Petrosino è più forte di prima, è stato la prima vittima di mafia,come associazione nel 2018 abbiamo fatto un progetto per le scuole sulla legalità unendo i tre comuni di Padula,Sicignano,Contursi.

Presidente La Manna e Presidente Corradini, che contributo ha dato o sta dando l’ associazione Joe Petrosino?

La nostra Associazione Joe Petrosino internazionale, l’anno prossimo compie 20 anni e portiamo avanti il nome di Joe Petrosino in Italia e nelle altre parti del mondo dove noi andiamo.

Joe Petrosino per l’associazione di Palermo, rappresenta un punto di partenza e di arrivo per diffondere e far conoscere questa eroica figura leggendaria, che rimane un riferimento per recuperare la memoria e non dimenticare un passato da mantenere vivo. Tra l’altro Petrosino per il suo intuito eccezionale introdusse metodi investigativi innovativi per i tempi e ancora validi per le indagini. Fu un antesignano delle nuove tecnologie.

SOURCE: https://www.ilsicilia.it/joe-petrosino-il-superpoliziotto-italoamericano-che-sfido-la-mano-nera/

A News From Our Trinity Palermo – Anna Maria Corradini – President bejegyzés először Petrosino USA-én jelent meg.

As Petrosino walked across the square, which was almost deserted, two men suddenly appeared and started shooting. They fired four rounds. Three of them hit Petrosino, who lay on the sidewalk, dead, with the murder weapon, a revolver, nearby.

One of the most famous law enforcement officers in the world, the “Italian Sherlock Holmes” who battled evil on the streets of New York and who did as much as anyone to enhance the reputation of Italian Americans up to that time, was assassinated in the line of duty.

It was 110 years ago this week that Joseph Petrosino met his demise, but his groundbreaking and storied career remains a permanent and important chapter in the epic history of law enforcement’s battle with organized crime.

Born in 1860 in Padula, Italy, Giuseppe Petrosino migrated to the United States with his parents and siblings when he was 13 years old. The family settled in Manhattan, in the neighborhood that would become known as Little Italy. The teenager soon learned English and went to work to support his family. He and a friend established a newspaper and shoe shine stand at 300 Mulberry Street in front of what was then the headquarters of the New York Police Department.

But Joe Petrosino had ambitions to rise above the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. He tried out a range of jobs over the next few years until he secured a position as a street cleaner. As Stephan Talty notes in The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History, “It didn’t sound like much of an advancement, but at the time, the city’s sanitation department was run by the New York Police Department. For the right kind of immigrant, it could be a stepping-stone to greater things.”

And so it was for Petrosino. He dutifully pushed a three-wheeled cart through the streets of New York and swept the streets of grime, litter and horse manure. His hard work paid off with a promotion: He took charge of the boat that hauled the city’s garbage out into the Atlantic Ocean to be dumped.

Petrosino’s work caught the attention of a New York Police inspector named Aleck “Clubber” Williams, one of the most powerful, feared — and corrupt — officers in NYPD history. Williams wanted Petrosino to join the police department, but there was a problem: At 5 feet 3 inches tall, Petrosino was four inches too short to qualify for the job. Nonetheless, Williams lobbied on Petrosino’s behalf, and the 23-year-old became an officer in 1883. His shield number was 285.

The New York police force was largely Irish American at the time, and Petrosino was one of its first Italian American officers. This created challenges for Petrosino, but it was worse on the streets of Little Italy, where, to a large portion of the Sicilian-born population, a man in uniform was seen as an enemy.

“There were many Italians who felt differently, who knew that Italian policemen were badly needed in the colony and were proud of Petrosino’s achievement,” Talty writes. “But others sent him a constant stream of menacing letters, letters that became so alarming Petrosino was forced to look for another place to live.”

Petrosino gained a reputation as tough and incorruptible. Police work in those days involved plenty of street fighting, and Petrosino was incredibly strong if not tall. Despite being a good policeman, Petrosino was not likely to rise within the Irish-dominated hierarchy of the NYPD.

But then another supporter emerged. In 1895, Theodore Roosevelt became chairman of the New York Board of Police Commissioners. Consistent with his later reputation as U.S. president, Roosevelt was a reformer. He was determined to root out corruption in the department and professionalize police work. Recognizing a need to address crime in Italian American neighborhoods, Roosevelt soon made Petrosino a detective sergeant.

Petrosino took full advantage of the opportunity. He relished detective work. He wore an array of disguises to infiltrate criminal enterprises. Rather than keeping extensive files, he memorized names, faces and details, developing an encyclopedic knowledge of New York’s criminal element. His success at busting rackets and bringing criminals to justice made him famous. Newsmen began calling him the “Italian Sherlock Holmes.”

After the turn of the century, Petrosino spent more time pursuing Black Hand extortionists than any other type of criminals. The Black Hand was a secret society of Italians who threatened to kidnap children, blow up homes or kill their fellow Italians if they did not pay a prescribed ransom by a certain time. Black Hand letters typically were illustrated with images of daggers and black crosses. The extortionists were successful because they often did exactly what they threatened to those who refused to pay.

Black Handers were not limited to New York. They were operating all over the country in the early part of the 20th century. Some Black Handers fell under the control of Mafia bosses, while others operated independently.

If Petrosino was going to put a dent in the Black Hand problem in New York, he would need help. At first, the NYPD brass was indifferent to the issue of Italians hurting other Italians. Petrosino went to the press, calling for the department to establish a team of detectives, an “Italian Squad,” to take down the Black Hand. Finally, in 1904, the department agreed to create an Italian Squad — but with five men, not the 20 Petrosino had requested.

Petrosino searched throughout the NYPD ranks and found five officers who could speak Italian. The Italian Squad initially was not given an office out of which to operate. Petrosino’s apartment served as the squad’s first headquarters.

As Italian immigration to the United States soared, and Black Handers along with it, the Italian Squad worked day and night to try to get a handle on the epidemic. It was an uphill battle, to say the least. But Petrosino and his men arrested hundreds of Black Handers. Their success convinced the NYPD to expand the Italian Squad. Petrosino had 40 men by 1906.

Still, even with more men, Petrosino was not able to eliminate the Black Hand. By 1907, “the Italian Squad was still catching and arresting Black Handers throughout the city, and driving out others through intimidation, but it seemed that for every Black Hand member the squad caught, three new ones joined the Society,” Talty writes.

Police Commissioner Theodore Bingham had an idea. The members of the Italian Squad being too well known, he wanted to create a “secret service” of half a dozen elite detectives whose identities would not be revealed. They would report directly to him. And Petrosino would lead them.

Bingham never articulated how this “secret service” would be more successful than the Italian Squad, and his idea was met with skepticism in many circles. The new squad nonetheless came into being in early 1909, thanks to private donations.

Bingham’s main brainstorm, it appears, simply echoed what Petrosino had advocated for several years: to stop the flow of criminals from Italy by refusing entry to those with prison records. But getting the prison records was difficult, because the Italian government was not particularly forthcoming. Bingham asked Petrosino to travel to Italy and secure the judicial records.

It was a dangerous — perhaps foolhardy — endeavor. Petrosino was well known in Italy, even if he had not been there in decades. It would be difficult for him to operate without his enemies knowing who he was and what he was doing. It appears that Petrosino fully recognized the risks. Before he left, he signed over power of attorney to his wife, Adelina, so that if he died, she could collect his salary.

Petrosino’s secret mission began on February 9, 1909, when he boarded a steamship bound for Italy. However, his trip was hardly a secret. Later court testimony makes clear that the Mafia in New York were aware of his departure. In his first days in Italy, Petrosino was recognized by several people. And then Commissioner Bingham, for some inexplicable reason, publicly announced it. It’s not clear why, but Talty speculates that Bingham was known for provocative and regrettable public statements and simply made a tragic mistake. “Its recklessness is still almost incomprehensible,” Talty writes.

Petrosino’s enemies caught up with him in Sicily a little more than a month after he boarded the ship in New York. In hindsight, it seems almost inevitable that he would die on this mission. Questions remain unanswered to this day: Why did Petrosino travel to Italy rather than a more anonymous detective? Why didn’t he bring along a second man to guard his back? And why did he refuse offers of bodyguards from Italian officials?

The news of Petrosino’s death hit New York’s Little Italy hard. Petrosino’s NYPD colleagues mourned as well. Politicians and newspaper editorial writers called for harsher tactics to take down the Black Hand once and for all. But no one had a more painful reaction than the detective’s wife, Adelina, who received the news from a reporter. She was described as inconsolable.

When reporters told Teddy Roosevelt about Petrosino’s death, he took the time to deliver an eloquent and heartfelt comment. “Petrosino was a great man and a good man,” Roosevelt said. “I knew him for years and he did not know the name of fear. He was a man worth while. I regret most sincerely the death of such a man as Joe Petrosino.”

April 12, 1909, the day of Petrosino’s funeral, was declared a public holiday in New York. An estimated 250,000 people crowded the streets. “Never before in the history of New York or any other American city had such a crowd turned out for a man of the class to which Petrosino belonged, a humble police lieutenant,” Talty writes.

Petrosino was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Queens.

The investigation of Petrosino’s murder was led by Police Commissioner Baldassare Ceola. He and his officers interviewed witnesses, but no one would admit to having seen anything. Fear of Mafia reprisals dwarfed any desire to aid the investigation.

Still, police rounded up 140 suspects, including many Sicilians Petrosino had played a role in deporting from the United States. Although details were scant, Ceola soon came to believe the Petrosino killing was the work of the local Mafia, led by Vito Cascio Ferro. Cascio Ferro had crossed Petrosino back in New York years before, and he had a strong connection with Giuseppe Morello, who led the Mafia in New York. Morello, too, had reason to see Petrosino dead.

Anonymous letters sent to Ceola from the United States made the connection between Cascio Ferro and Morello, according to Mike Dash, author of The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia. In addition, the letters claimed that the actual assassins were Carlo Costantino and Antonio Passananti. Ceola pieced together a plausible scenario showing that the Mafia leaders in New York and Palermo were behind Petrosino’s murder, but he could not muster enough evidence to take anyone to trial.

Although not a household name, Petrosino is far from a forgotten historical figure. His name lives on in several ways, especially within the Italian American community in the New York area.

• Petrosino Park is located not far from New York’s Little Italy. It’s a small urban space, not heavily used, but with large signs at its entrance that explain the significance of the man for whom it is named.

• Petrosino’s boyhood home in Padula, Italy, has been turned into a museum.

• The Lt. Det. Joseph Petrosino Association in America, based in New York, was created to honor the legacy of Petrosino and to recognize individuals who make a difference in law enforcement, public service, government and business. It holds an annual dinner at which several individuals receive awards.

• The NYPD chapter of the Columbia Association, the fraternal organization for Italian American police officers, gives out an annual Lt. Joseph Petrosino Man of the Year award.

• The Sons of Italy lodge in New York’s Little Italy is officially known as Lt. Joseph Petrosino Lodge #285, honoring his name and badge number.

The Mob Museum recognizes Petrosino with a large portrait in its third-floor exhibition, but plans are in the works for a new exhibit with Petrosino’s story as the centerpiece.

SOURCE: The Mob Museum by Geoff Schumacher – https://themobmuseum.org/blog/the-inspiring-rise-and-tragic-fall-of-the-italian-sherlock-holmes/

A The Inspiring Rise And Tragic Fall Of The ‘Italian Sherlock Holme bejegyzés először Petrosino USA-én jelent meg.

Italian police officials, Petrosino’s relatives and members of a special society named in honor of the slain cop are scheduled to commemorate his life and untimely death following disclosure earlier this week that investigators in Italy believe they have come closer to identifying his Mafia assassin.

After a roundup of reputed Mafiosi, Italian police said that one of the suspects identified as Domenico Palazzotto was heard on a wiretap remarking that his relative, Paolo Palazzotto, was involved in killing Petrosino, 44, in Palermo on March 12, 1909. Petrosino was in Sicily on special assignment for the NYPD to uncover information about the Mafia and its activities in New York.

“We are doing this to help add closure to the family of Petrosino,” said Robert Fonti, 53, of Cold Spring Harbor, an official with the nonprofit Lt. Det. Joseph Petrosino Association in America Inc. “It gives us reason to know and appreciate that after 105 years, justice can be served, even if we can’t be sure.”

The association has about 100 members from Long Island, as well as others from the metropolitan area, Fonti said.

Mafia experts said that the new information, while tantalizing, is hardly firm proof that Paolo Palazzotto shot Petrosino. Palazzotto’s name as a possible suspect appeared earlier in news reports from 1909 that indicated he worked for a time in Brooklyn under the name Giovanni Campanilo before he was deported because of Petrosino’s investigative efforts.

Petrosino is credited with forming the original NYPD bomb squad and later was made head of the special “Italian Squad” that probed extortion plots by the Black Hand group, as well as crimes of early Mafia-like leader Giuseppe “Clutch Hand” Morello and others.

Police historian and author Thomas Reppetto said Petrosino reluctantly went to Sicily after then-police Commissioner Theodore Bingham gave him the assignment. A number of officials and even a priest warned Petrosino that he faced danger and possible death if he traveled to Sicily. He was gunned down while waiting for a trolley in downtown Palermo.

Reppetto noted that historical accounts mentioned how Mafia boss Vito Cascio Ferro ultimately took responsibility for killing Petrosino. Cascio Ferro and Mafia members Antonio Passanante, who reportedly owned a wine shop in Brooklyn, as well as Carlo Costantino were mentioned in news accounts as other suspects. However, no one was ever convicted of Petrosino’s murder.

Petrosino’s grave at Calvary is marked by a stone column topped by his bust. The crowd at the grave is expected to be small, a far cry from the 250,000 who were estimated to have watched Petrosino’s funeral in 1909.

SOURCE: https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/joseph-petrosino-nypd-detective-killed-105-years-ago-gets-ceremony-1.8593852

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