Giuseppe "Joe" Petrosino, an acclaimed New York mafia investigator who had travelled to Palermo to work on a high-profile investigation, was shot dead in Palermo's Piazza Marina on March 12th 1909 while waiting to meet someone who claimed to be an informant.

He was the first policeman to be killed in Palermo. His death came after details of the investigation were leaked to The New York Herald newspaper and within weeks of his arrival in the city.

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Source: http://www.thelocal.it