In 1890, Joe Petrosino was promoted to detective, the first Italian-American in the city to achieve that rank, and assigned to root out crime in the Italian-American community.In 1895, then police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, promoted him to detective sergeant. A year later, he was promoted to lieutenant and appointed commander of an elite unit known as "The Italian Squad", whose primary focus was on a group known as the "Black Hand", which had been terrorizing Italian-Americans through the delivery of extortion letters, followed by bombings if the recipients did not pay up.
In 1909, Lieutenant Petrosino traveled to Palermo to further one of his investigations. After his mission was unwittingly disclosed to enemies, he was assassinated on March 12, 1909. His funeral procession was attended by over 250,000 New Yorkers, and in 1987 Kenmare Memorial Park in lower Manhattan was renamed in his honor.
Kings County District Attorney
Q: I recently read about a famous New York City police detective who was killed in Italy in the line of duty. Can you tell me more about him?
A: Lieutenant Giuseppe "Joe" Petrosino was a celebrated New York City police detective at the turn of the 20th century. Lieutenant Petrosino, who was assassinated in 1909 in Palermo, Sicily, is the only American police officer ever to have been killed in the line of duty on foreign soil.
Joe Petrosino was born in southern Italy in 1860. He emigrated to New York City with his family in 1873, and by the age of 18 was shining shoes for a living near police headquarters on Mulberry Street. He decided to become a police officer, but was rejected due to a deficiency in height. He became a street sweeper instead, and was promoted to foreman within a year. He ultimately was noticed by the head of the street cleaning department, who also happened to be a police captain. With the captain’s assistance, he was appointed to the police department in 1883.
In 1890, Joe Petrosino was promoted to detective, the first Italian-American in the city to achieve that rank, and assigned to root out crime in the Italian-American community. He was an adept undercover, who assumed roles as diverse as gangster and tunnel worker to ferret out information on criminal activities. In 1895, then police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, who had befriended him, promoted him to detective sergeant. A year later, he was promoted to lieutenant and appointed commander of an elite unit known as “The Italian Squad.”
The primary focus of The Italian Squad was on a group known as the Black Hand, which had been terrorizing Italian-Americans through the delivery of extortion letters, followed by bombings if the recipients did not pay up. To counteract the nefarious activities of the Black Hand, Lieutenant Petrosino founded the city and country’s first municipal bomb squad.
In 1909, Lieutenant Petrosino traveled to Palermo to further one of his investigations. After his mission was unwittingly disclosed to enemies, he was assassinated on March 12, 1909. His funeral procession was attended by over 250,000 New Yorkers, and in 1987 Kenmare Memorial Park in lower Manhattan was renamed in his honor.
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