On March 12, 1909, while on a secret mission in Palermo, Sicily, NYPD Lt. Det. Joe Petrosino was murdered by members of the island’s criminal underworld. Members of the NYPD top brass, New York City dignitaries and family members of Lt. Detective Giuseppe “Joe” Petrosino gathered at his grave in Calvary Cemetery in Queens on Tuesday to mark 115 yea...

Sergeant Petrosino bundled deeper into his coat as he stared at the body on the ground. He looked again at the dead man. He had been found almost three hours earlier, folded in two and stuffed inside a wooden barrel normally used for food. Petrosino was handed a crucifix removed from the dead man’s neck, his boss, Inspector George W. McClosky, tell...

You’ve been to Little Italy countless times. Why take a tour? I wanted to learn, in depth, the history of the community — the conditions and prejudices with which the immigrants were confronted. As a New Yorker of Italian immigrants, this tour was very endearing to me. One of the highlights of the tour was learning about Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino...

Those who live in Rome and are in love with the United States have some landmark institutions that represent and America here. One of these, which organizes events and gathers Americans living in the eternal city (but not only them) is the American International Club of Rome.  I've had the pleasure of attending a couple of Independence Days organiz...

A native of central Italy (about 50 miles east of Rome), Fiaschetti arrived in the U.S. about 1895. The son of a bandleader, Fiaschetti was raised in a musical home in North Adams, Massachusetts. As a child, he saw music as his destiny. But, as a 14-year-old in 1900, he was intrigued by a poster promising a $500 reward for information on an Italian...

In 1942, Enrico Fermi created the world’s first nuclear reactor. Guglielmo Marconi transmitted the first transatlantic radio signal. What do these people have in common? Their last names end in vowels, of course. And they all hail from the land of unlimited breadsticks and progressive culture. Italy has long been a fortress of ideas, innovation and...

Tuesday November 12 2019, from 19:00 to 21:00 EST. Italian Charities of America, 83-20 Queens Blvd, Elmhurst, New York 11373. Admission: free; open to the public, donations accepted. Event will be held on the 2nd Floor, wheelchair and handicap accessible. As part of the Italian American Speaker Series at Italian Charities of America we welcome our...

The Lt. Det. Joseph Petrosino Association in America honored the late NYPD Detective Doug LeVien with the Jack and Helen Como Award at their annual awards dinner held on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach. This year’s event has marked the 110th anniversary of the day when NYPD Lt. Det. Giuseppe (Joseph) Petrosino was gunne...

On the 110th anniversary of the fatal shooting of fabled NYPD  Lt. Det. Joseph Petrosino, a group of Long Islanders, NYPD officers and Italian dignitaries dedicated a plaque in his honor Tuesday near the spot in Palermo, Sicily, where he was gunned down. A trailblazing investigator who helped create the harbinger of the NYPD bomb squad, intelligenc...

Si è tenuta questa mattina, in via Chiusa a Padula, l’intitolazione del Comando di Polizia Locale a Joe Petrosino nel 110° anniversario della sua morte. Diversi i momenti che si sono susseguiti durante la cerimonia, l’intonazione dell’inno nazionale italiano e americano, lo scoprimento della targa posta dinanzi alla nuova sede del Comando di Polizi...