The Italian Squad: Unmasking New York's Crimefighters

Title: The Italian Squad: Unmasking New York's Crimefighters
Original Publication Date: 10/4/2023
Transcript URL: share.descript.com/view/gYDhPsotOyw
Description: In this episode of "Organized Crime and Punishment," we are joined by author Paul Moses to dive deep into the pages of his latest work, "The Italian Squad." This gripping narrative explores the fascinating history of law enforcement's battle against organized crime, specifically focusing on the dedicated officers of the Italian Squad.
The Italian Squad, formed in the early 20th century, played a pivotal role in dismantling powerful criminal syndicates in New York City. Moses' book sheds light on their relentless pursuit of justice, often at great personal risk.
Key takeaways include the Squad's innovative investigative techniques, their impact on organized crime, and the enduring legacy of these courageous officers. We also discuss the broader implications of their work in the context of today's criminal justice system.
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Begin Transcript:
[00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime with your hosts, Steve and Mustache Chris.
Welcome back to Organized Crime and Punishment. Steve here, uh, with a special interview with a really fascinating topic, and it's a topic that, uh, Mustache Chris and I will definitely dive into more, but this was just the perfect opportunity to talk with Paul Moses, who is the author of The Italian Squad.
The true story of the immigrant cops who fought the rise [00:01:00] of the mafia. And this is a really fascinating story because it falls outside of what most people traditionally think of the mafia in the timeline of generally the later part of the 20th century. And this is going way back. So Paul, maybe you can tell us, um, what got you interested in this topic of the Italian squad?
Sure. Well, I had done a previous book called an unlikely union, the love hate story of New York's Irish and Italians. And in that book, I focused, uh, I had one chapter on what it was like for people within the Italian immigrants in the NYPD, uh, to try to advance in a department that was really, uh, very much controlled by the Irish, uh, either immigrants or later generations.
And they, they had a rough time of it, and the Italian community itself had, had pretty, um, rough relations with the, uh, NYPD in, in that, in that [00:02:00] era. Uh, there was a lot of ethnic friction. So, in doing that, I included a chapter that told the story of, uh, Joseph Petrosino, who was the founding detective of the, uh, NYPD's Italian squad in 1904.
And from the, mostly from the point of view of what it was like for him as an Italian immigrant to try to be the go between between the Italian community and the NYPD so. His story is really interesting. It's, it's been told quite a bit, but I saw that he's after Petrosino. He's, he's murdered while on a mission to Sicily in 1909.
Um, and generally stories about the Italian squad, uh, kind of stopped there, but the squad went on to 1922 and I saw that that. Part of the story really wasn't told that much. And it was just as fascinating as the better known story of Joseph Petruzzino's service. It's a fascinating story because Petruzzino goes, [00:03:00] maybe we can, before we even get into Petruzzino and the whole story of the Italian squad, they're fighting against Organized Italian organized crime, and it's referred to at that time as period as the Black Hand.
What was the Black Hand? Yeah, the Black Hand, uh, was seen by many people in that time as being, uh, a giant, uh, sinister underground organization probably controlled by criminals in Italy. It wasn't that at all. It wasn't a mafia kind of thing. It was really in the isolated or independent groups of thugs who realized that if you sent a letter to somebody with a black hand on it and use enough threats that it may force somebody to to pay off.
And so it actually really found its oxygen in the news coverage that made it seem like a, uh, international conspiracy. Uh, and [00:04:00] that's not to say that people using the black hand label or to be taken lightly. Uh, you know, they did many bombings, kidnappings and serious crimes that that needed to be tamped down.
One interesting thing about the whole story before we even get into New York is Joseph Petruzzino, which you said, uh, you know, his story is pretty well known, but he did it. He was killed in Italy and his, uh, the subsequent leader of the Italian squad. Worked in Italy, and one of the things that I found was really interesting is like, well, under what authority was the NYPD operating in a sovereign country?
And was that something that was common? Was the, did people think like, was there just no other mechanism for the FBI or what that didn't really exist at that point, but other agencies to do that? The NYPD just opens up office in a foreign country and is doing intelligence and all. And all sorts of other police [00:05:00] work.
Yeah. Part of the problem was that the federal government really, uh, should have been doing this kind of work. Uh, no, it, it was a, it was a, um, authorized trip in that the police department arranged it through our state department, which in turn. dealt with the Italian foreign ministry. So, um, you know, he was there, uh, Petrosino, but he was distrustful of the Italian authorities and he didn't want them to protect him.
So, uh, so, and he was. They're primarily to gather some records of people who are criminal records in Italy, which would enable him to come back to New York and get them deported under a certain federal law. But, um, so that relationship. You know, it just wasn't giving the records in the time that they needed them.
So he wanted to straighten that out. He was also doing some things that may have been a little under the radar. Maybe the State Department wasn't fully aware of, like, [00:06:00] trying to find his own sources, um, you know, making connections with people that that was that part of it was a little under the radar.
But he went over there, he met the, the, the chief of all Italian police in Rome, you know, when he arrived, so it was above board. What was the genesis of the Italian squad? Where did they come up with this idea to set up a special police unit of Italian, uh, American officers and detectives? It comes from really two places.
One is the Italian community itself. Which felt the police really didn't understand their community couldn't speak the language and maybe didn't even care that much if unless somebody else other than Italians was a crime victim. Secondly, the newspapers were really building building up the threat of of Italian immigrant crime.
And so between the newspapers and the Italian community itself, which, which really was, uh, wanted better policing, um, that kind of forced the hand of the, uh, police [00:07:00] commissioner to create a small, uh, squad headed by Petrosino in 1904. You, uh, discuss this a lot in the book, but what was the thought of the Italian American people at that time?
Because you, there was a high crime rate amongst Italians. Often by people inside of their own community, but, uh, an issue that …