On April 6 the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO) filed a lawsuit in U.S. Federal District Court against Mayor Jim Kenney and the city of Philadelphia for multiple acts of intentional discrimination against the Italian American community. The most unsettling of which was Mayor Kenney’s unilateral Executive O...

One of the problems that the Italian American community has always had, and the consequences of which it has always paid for, is division, the lack of unity. When I say that Italian Americans are, to all intents and purposes, Italian, even if some of them do not have an Italian passport that officially certifies it, I mean that there is an Italian...

Columbus Day 2020 was particularly special for the Italian American community of Northeast Ohio.  On this day, the Italian American Museum of Cleveland (IAMCLE) was established.  Hon. Basil M. Russo, National President of the Italian Sons & Daughters of America, and Hon. Deborah J. Nicastro, Board Chair of the Italian American Museum of Cleveland,...

When: Tuesday, April 6th, 2021. Who: Plaintiffs are The Conference Of Presidents Of Major Italian American Organizations, Philadelphia Councilmember Mark F. Squilla, and The 1492 Society. Where: Suit has been filed in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania  On January 27, 2021, Mayor Kenney by “Executive Order” No. 2-21...

Saturday’s National Italian American Summit Meeting represented the largest gathering of Italian American organizations in the history of our country. An unbelievable 354 organizations joined together in a display of national unity. Our program focused on discussions relating to how we fix a fragmented Italian America, how we reconnect with our youn...

In the last United States Census, 18.25 million people self identified as Italian or Italian American. Demographers believe there are more than 21 million Americans of Italian descent spread throughout the nation.  By some calculations, we are the fifth-largest ancestry group in the United States… but when it comes to making our voice heard in the...

Dear Mayor Kenney, The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations is a coalition of the 50 largest and most influential Italian American organizations throughout our country. On behalf of all of our member organizations I write to express our collective shock and indignation concerning your insulting and divisive Executive Ord...

Italian-American activists are demanding that the City University of New York reaffirm its decades-old pledge to give the group preferential treatment in staff recruitment, hiring and promotions. The Italian American Legal Defense and Higher Education Fund is accusing CUNY officials of failing to honor a settlement that treats Italian-Americans as...

The Italian Sons and Daughters of America filed a motion Monday asking a judge to recuse himself from hearing a lawsuit filed to stop the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue from Schenley Park. The ISDA, which sued Mayor Bill Peduto and the city of Pittsburgh after officials voted to remove the 800-pound statue, claim Allegheny Common Pleas...

The Conference of Presidents of the fifty largest and most influential Italian American organizations in the United States has unanimously elected Basil M. Russo to serve as the organization’s new president. The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations, as the organization is officially known, is headquartered in New York Ci...