Joseph Petrosino
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| Joseph Petrosino | |
|---|---|
Lt. Joe Petrosino, NYPD, Badge #285
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| Born | August 30, 1860 Padula, Campania, Italy |
| Died | March 12, 1909 Palermo, Sicily, Italy |
Contents
[hide]Early years[edit]
In 1874, the balance of the Petrosino family emigrated to the United States from Padula (in the province of Salerno, Campania), a village in southern Italy. Joseph had been sent over previously with a young cousin (Antonio Puppolo) to live with his grandfather in New York. An unfortunate streetcar accident took the life of the grandfather and the two young cousins wound up in Orphans/Surrogates Court. Rather than send the children to the orphanage, the judge took them home to his own family and provided for the boys until relatives in Italy could be contacted and arrangements made to bring over family members. In consequence, Joseph Petrosino and his cousin Anthony Puppolo lived with a "politically connected" Irish household for some time, and this opened up educational and employment avenues not always available to more recent immigrants. On October 19, 1883 he joined the NYPD.[1]Petrosino married the widow Adelina Saulino (1869-1957), with whom he had a daughter also christened Adelina (1908-2004).
During his service he would become friends with Theodore Roosevelt, who was police commissioner of New York City at the time. On July 20, 1895,[1] Roosevelt promoted him to detective sergeant in charge of the department's Homicide Division, making him the first Italian-American to lead this division.
The Black Hand and Enrico Caruso[edit]
One notable case in Petrosino's stint with the Italian Squad was when the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, who was performing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, was being blackmailed by Black Hand gangsters who demanded money in exchange for his life.It was Petrosino who convinced Caruso to help him catch those behind the blackmail.
Assassination of William McKinley[edit]
A second notable case in Petrosino's stint with the Italian Squad was his infiltration of an Italian-based anarchist organization that assassinated King Umberto I of Italy. During his mission, he discovered evidence that the organization intended to assassinate President William McKinley during his trip to Buffalo.Petrosino warned the Secret Service, but McKinley ignored the warning, even after Roosevelt, who had by this time become Vice-President of the United States, vouched for Petrosino's abilities. McKinley was assassinated by Leon Czolgosz during his visit to Buffalo's Pan-American Exposition on September 6, 1901.
Arrest of the Don[edit]
Petrosino's investigations into Mafia activities led him to Don Vito Cascio Ferro. In 1903, Petrosino arrested him on suspicion of murder, but Cascio Ferro was acquitted. He later returned to Sicily, where he became increasingly involved with the Sicilian Mafia.Assassination[edit]
In 1909, Petrosino made plans to travel to Palermo, Sicily, on a top secret mission. However, because of the incompetence of Theodore A. Bingham, New York's police commissioner, the New York Herald published the story of Petrosino's mission on February 20, 1909, just days before his departure. Even though he was aware of the danger, Petrosino headed to Palermo as planned. This decision would prove fatal. Petrosino wrongly believed that the Sicilian Mafia would not kill a policeman, as they did not in America.[citation needed]On March 12, 1909, after arriving in Palermo, Petrosino received a message from someone claiming to be an informant, asking the detective to meet him in the city's Piazza Marina to give him information about the Mafia. Petrosino arrived at the rendezvous, but it was a trap. While waiting for his "informant", Petrosino was shot to death by Mafia assassins.[2] On March 12, 1909 a small memorial (an engraved brass plate on a pole) was erected on Piazza Marina in Petrosino's remembrance.[3]
The day after Petrosino's shooting, the detective's Italian Branch received an anonymous letter stating that the New York Black Hand had arranged the murder. The letter named members of the Morello crime family: Joe Morello, Vincenzo and Ciro Terranova, Giuseppe Fontana, Ignazio Milone, and Pietro Inzerillo. Writes Mike Purcell of mobsters.8m.com: Cascio Ferro worked with these men during his three-year tenure in New York, so their involvement is possible, but: "We will probably never know for sure whether or not the letter was a hoax.[4]
Vito Cascioferro was arrested for Petrosino's murder but was released after an associate provided an alibi. However, he later claimed to other crime figures that he had killed Petrosino, and this helped propel him into the position of capo di tutti capi (boss of bosses). Ironically, Ferro died in prison in 1943 after being arrested in 1927 and charged with a murder he probably did not commit.[citation needed]
Palermo's police commissioner, Baldassare Ceola, listed five Sicilian suspects:[4]
- Pasquale Enea, links with the Black Hand in New York
- Giuseppe Fontana, previously involved with a murder in Sicily and Black Hand actvities in New York
- Gioacchino Lima, previously charged with a murder, brother-in-law to Giuseppe Morello
- Ignazio Milone, worked with Fontana in New York
- Giovanni Pecoraro, links to Sicilian and New York crime, and Vito Cascioferro
Funeral[edit]
Funeral rites for Petrosino were performed in Palermo, after which his body was sent to New York aboard the English S/S Slavonia, arriving April 9. On April 12, 1909, funeral rites were again conducted in Old St. Patrick's (Manhattan) or St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, with over 200,000 people taking part in the funeral procession.[7] New York City declared the day of his burial a holiday to allow its citizens to pay their respects.[citation needed] A pillar topped with an elaborate bust marks his gravesite in Queens, New York's Calvary Cemetery.[8] Ironically, multiple organized crime notables are buried there, nearby, including members of the Morello crime family which he investigated, (e.g., Guiseppe "Peter" Morello (the Clutch Hand), Ignatius "Lupo the Wolf" Lupo (1877–1947), and the Terranova brothers (who rest in bare graves).[9]Aftermath[edit]
According to the New York Mafia research website GangRule.com, on July 17, 1909, Baldassare Ceola was relieved of his position as the police commissioner of Palermo, and on the same day Theodore Bingham stepped down as police commissioner of New York.[7]Petrosino's widow (b. 1869) died in 1957.[citation needed]
Remembrances[edit]
In memorials[edit]
- In 1987, the name of a small triangular plaza in lower Manhattan was changed from Kenmare Square to Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino Square in his honor. It is bounded by Cleveland Place and Lafayette and Kenmare Streets, two blocks north of the old police headquarters at 240 Centre Street, at the juncture of the Little Italy, Nolita, and SoHo neighborhoods.[10][11]
- On March 12, 2003 a small memorial (an engraved brass plate on a pole) was erected on Piazza Marina, Palermo in Petrosino's remembrance.[citation needed]
- The Joe Petrosino Prize for Investigative Reporting (in Italian: Certosa di Padula Joe Petrosino Prize) was also named in his honor.[12]
- In 2010, the Italian Post released a postage stamp to commemorate his 150th birthday. The stamp features Petrosino's picture with the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. Its .85 Euro denomination is perfect for postcards to the U.S.[13]
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