I had the pleasure to attend a recent tour of Little Italy headed by Dr. Joseph Scelsa, President and Founder of the Italian American Museum, and the museum’s educator, Marie Palladino. This is the first tour prior to the museum’s opening in the spring.

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.

Listening to the history of Little Italy.

What new things did you learn?

One of the highlights of the tour was learning about Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino, the only uniformed NYPD officer killed in the line of duty outside the United States, in 1909.

Article about Lieutenant Petrosino posted at the eponymous square located at Lafayette and Spring Streets.

Born in Padula, Italy, in 1860, Petrosino was sent to NYC at a very young age with two young cousins to live with their grandfather. The latter was subsequently killed in a streetcar accident.

A judge took charge of the children until arrangements were made to bring over family members from Italy.

On October 19, 1883, Petrosino joined the NYPD. He was the first Italian language speaker in the NYPD’s history.

In 1909, Petrosino made plans to travel to Palermo on a secret mission. He was armed with a long list of known Italian criminals who had taken up residence in the United States. His goal was to gather the gangsters’ criminal records and to have them deported from the U.S.

On March 12, 1909, Petrosino was invited to a nighttime rendezvous with an “informant”, in Palermo, to receive pertinent information.

However, someone caught wind of his covert mission. Petrosino learned that he was being followed by compatriots of the Black Hand Society (an early crime group).

Petrosino was shot in the face by two assailants. It is said that Petrosino was able to fire off one shot in their direction but was bleeding profusely and fell to the ground.

Funeral Rites for Petrosino were said in Palermo. His body was then sent to NYC on board the English ship, S/S Slavonia. On April 12, 1909, funeral rites were conducted in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, with over 200,000 mourners taking part in the procession.

Petrosino’s funeral in New York City, April 1909.

Lieutenant Petrosino has been immortalized in books and cinema.

Petrosino’s uniform at Joe Petrosino’s House & Museum, Padula

Our tour also stopped at The Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral on Mulberry Street to learn about its history regarding the Italian American community.

We also saw a nearby plaque (unbeknown to me) dedicated to WW II Veterans listing the names of those Italian Americans from the community who fought and died for the United States.