The real life of New York City
super-cop, Joseph Petrosino (photo), is at least
as riveting as any fictional account of hero vs
arch-villain; unfortunately, Petrosino's story ends in
his foul murder at the hands of criminals. He does leave
behind, however, an inspiring story of fighting for good
and at least two displays that tell his story. One is
the Joe Petrosino museum in the town of his birth, Padula, in the Campania
region of Italy south of Naples; as well, there is a
tribute to him on the premises of the New York City
police precinct where he served as the first
Italian-American immigrant to rise to a position of
prominence with the NYPD.
Petrosino was born
in 1861, emigrated to the US in about 1870, joined the
police force in 1883, did well and in 1895 was promoted
to detective sergeant in charge of the Homicide
Division, making him the first Italian-American to lead
that division. The police commissioner who promoted him
was future US President, Teddy Roosevelt. For the next
14 years "Joe" was active in the fight against Mafia
criminals, who were making their way illegally into the
US and setting up their American "families" in NY.
Petrosino was ideal as a liaison between the authorities
and the largely non-English-speaking wave of
first-generation Italian emigrants in New York. He also
helped keep tabs on the nest of Italian anarchists
residing in or near New York. Most importantly, he
initiated or played an active role in campaigns against
a shadier side of that same wave from Sicily, the Mafia.
At the
turn of the century Petrosino's path crosses that of the
arch-villain, Vito Cascio Ferro, known as "don Vito" (b.
1863 - d. 1942, 43 or 45, possibly in Pozzuoli, near
Naples). He was a Cosa
Nostra (Mafia) boss in Sicily who fled to the
United states in September, 1901. If you read some
accounts of him, they sound like descriptions of Robert
de Niro as the dashing young Vito Corleone in The Godfather, part 2:
Don Vito
brought the organization to its highest perfection
without undue recourse to violence...Don Vito ruled
and inspired fear mainly by the use of his great
qualities and natural ascendancy...He was loved by
all [and] he never refused a request for aid and
dispensed millions in loans, gifts and general
philanthropy.
—(The
Italians by Luigi Barzini)
Whatever his
purported merits, don
Vito was active in the US at least as a
counterfeiter and in the illegal emigration racket and,
as such, he was fair game for Petrosino, whose
philosophy in handling the Mafia was to get them for anything; if not
murder or extortion, make it double-parking and
jaywalking; disrupt their lives and give us an excuse to
deport them. As a result, because of the efforts of Joe
Petrosino, don Vito arrived back in Sicily in September
of 1904 where he resumed his activities of old —and
bided his time, waiting for revenge.
Don Vito,
though never convicted of Petrosino's murder (he had an
alibi —imagine that!),
is generally considered to have been the instigator
behind that crime. Joe Petrosino was foolishly brave and
traveled to Sicily on an investigation in March of 1909
even though he knew that they knew he was coming. In Palermo he
followed an informant's tip and walked into an ambush
where he was shot and killed. On Sunday, March 14, 1909,
the New York Times
ran a full seven-column feature on Petrosino's life,
work, and death. It included a short comment by
ex-president, Teddy Roosevelt. He was shaken when
reporters broke the news to him. He said,
"...I cannot say anything except to express my deepest
regrets. Petrosino was a great man and a good man. 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 a man such as 'Joe' Petrosino."
Back in
Sicily, don Vito's life was not all that bad for a few
years. He was tried and acquited, for lack of evidence,
of charges having to with Petrosino's murder. So far, so
good. Then, in 1926 Mussolini decided to bust up the
Mafia. (Dictators are notorious for their lack of
tolerance of private war-lords). The Duce appointed Cesare Mori (1871 –
1942), a cop with a reputation for being tough on crime;
he was, as it turned out, at least as nasty as the
Mafia. They called him the "Iron Prefect"; he is
reported to have said that the only way to defeat the
Mafia was to make people more afraid of the state than
they were of the criminals. He invaded with military
force Mafia strongholds on Sicily, not shying away from
torturing suspects and even holding their wives and
children hostage. It got results. It is fair to say that
the Mafia in Italy was broken (at least until their
return following WW2).
Don Vito
was sent to prison for life in 1930. There is no
reliable account of how the Don finished his days although there
are a few versions. According to some sources (this one,
La Patria, bene o male
[Our Nation,
for Better or Worse] by Carlo Fruttero and
Massimo Gramellini, Mondaori, 2010) he was in the
Pozzuoli prison near Naples in 1943 when the air-raid
alarm sounded, The warden (unnamed in the book)
evacuated prisoners to an air-raid shelter but
conveniently "forgot" don Vito in his cell, where he was
left to die at the age of 80 either of thirst and hunger
or of a bomb falling on him. Again, according to the
book, the warden supposedly kept a picture of Joe
Petrosino on his desk in his office. That account is
contradicted by some others, and I find that it smacks a
bit too much of "poetic justice".