Italian American Crime Fighter Michael Fiaschetti 1882-1960

Aug 29, 2020 1706

BY: Marianna Randazzo

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 fugitive.

Asking around, Fiaschetti learned that the man was hiding in "Reesborough," Vermont. He provided his information to authorities, collected his reward. From that moment forward he was on track for a career as a detective. At age 16, his family moved to New York. Two years later, he began functioning as an informant for Joseph Petrosino and the Italian Squad.

He joined the New York Police Department in 1908 and was initially assigned to a beat in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

In rapid succession, Fiaschetti became a husband, a father and a widower. After the loss of his young wife in 1907, he sank into depression. Petrosino convinced him to dedicate himself to police work as a means of recovering from his loss.

In the early 1900’s Michael Fiaschetti worked very closely with Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino in the New York City Police Department’s Italian Squad. It was formed to hunt down members of the Mano Nera (Black Hand), who were preying on New York City’s Italian Immigrants. Among these criminals were kidnappers and lottery racketeers.

In March 1909 Petrosino was killed by Black Hand assassins while investigating in Palermo, Sicily.

Petrosino’s second in command, Michel Fiaschetti ran the Italian squad from 240 Centre Street, NYC, well into prohibition when the unit was disbanded. In addition to combating the Mafia, the Italian squad developed the nation’s first bomb squad to defuse bombs planted to extort Italian shopkeepers.

Fiaschetti's "old school" methods and tactlessness with political leaders resulted in the end of the Italian Squad in 1922.

Rather than put on a uniform and walk a beat, Fiaschetti was able to obtain a position in the district attorney's Homicide Bureau. He remained there less than two years before formally retiring from the police force.

Fiaschetti married his second wife Jean Melillo and founded Fiaschetti's International Detective Bureau, with offices at 401 Broadway.

Fiaschetti did not hesitate when offered the post of Deputy Commissioner of Markets for New York City's LaGuardia Administration in the 1930s. That position was eliminated in 1938 and Fischetti returned to his detective agency.

Fiaschetti's only child, Anna, died Nov. 15, 1936, after a long illness. She was just 25 years old. Fiaschetti died in the summer of 1960 at the Veterans' Administration Hospital in Brooklyn.

In 1928, Fiaschetti published his autobiography, The Man They Couldn’t Escape, which chronicles his experiences fighting crime with the Italian Squad. The book describes the valuable skills Fiaschetti learned from Petrosino and how he used them when he took over as commander of the squad after Sicilian mobsters murdered Petrosino.

SOURCE: Garibaldi Meucci Museum

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