I understand that in several countries some change has been made in police procedure on account of these stories. A principle is a principle, whether in fiction or in fact. Many of the great lessons of life are to be learned in the pages of the novelist.” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. From his preface to Sherlock Holmes – The Complete Long Stories, June, 1929.
Lieutenant Giuseppe “Joseph” Petrosino the brilliant and hard-knuckled detective, certainly vindicated Sir Arthur’s claim. Petrosino gained national notoriety as he transformed policing in New York City. Petrosino founded the agency’s Italian Squad in the 1890s. His Squad was responsible for investigating the Italian mafia in NYC and resulted in decreasing mafia crime by fifty percent.
Joe Petrosino relished detective work. He wore an array of disguises to infiltrate criminal enterprises. Rather than keeping extensive files, he memorized names, faces and details, developing an encyclopedic knowledge of New York’s criminal element. His success at busting rackets and bringing criminals to justice made him famous. Newsmen began calling him the “Italian Sherlock Holmes.”
A NY reporter wrote of Petrosino, “At first sight he looks like a man who owns a shop or a café in Little Italy. He lacks refinement and seems rather slow of comprehension. His face is expressionless, and he could move through a crowd without attracting anyone’s attention. But it is precisely this that is (his) strength. He is a master of the art of feigning a timid naiveté. But more than a robber and killer have learned to their cost how quick is his mind and how nimble is his arm.”
Petrosino was five-foot-three inches and 200 pounds, yet at a time when police work included the skills of a boxer, the newspapers described him as, “strong in body and spirit, fearless and determined. He was cold, clever, analyzing every move before acting. He studied well his opponents. He was a clever, intelligent and shrewd man. His masterstrokes were always calculated with a minimum margin of error, and he was almost never taken by surprise.”
He was a police officer for 25 of his 48 years, and moved quickly through the ranks of the department, becoming indispensable even to his superior, the then Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, with whom he became a close friend. The two had such respect for one another, Roosevelt promoted Petrosino to Sargent before Roosevelt left to become Governor of New York and then US President.
Years later, after helping to reconstruct the NY Police Department in the midst of Tammany Hall’s control, Petrosino was assassinated on March 12, 1909 by the Italian mafia in Sicily, Italy while conducting an investigation that would “bring them down once and for all”. He was found with three bullets in the back and one in the head. More than 250,000 people attended his New York City hero’s funeral.
Hearing of his death, President Roosevelt said: “Petrosino was a great man, and he did not know the name of fear. He was a man worthwhile. I regret most sincerely the death of such a man as Joe Petrosino.”
References:
Film: PAY OR DIE. Ernest Borgnine in the 1960 film. Film is in English, (subtitles in Spanish.) As usual Hollywood is heavy-handed in the Film noir style and plays fast and loose with history. Still it clearly shows Petrosino’s Sherlockian style. The gorgeous black and white recreation of NYC 1890s Little Italy are worth the price of admission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z801_ssM4Oo
Petacco, Arrigo. Joe Petrosino. Macmillan. London, UK 1974.
Precinct 444: The National Law Enforcement Museum Podcast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvj68jgWLQA
Roseanne Montillo. Contributor, Italian Sons & Daughters of America, March 3, 2024.
The Mob Museum. National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. © 2025 The Mob Museum, Los Vegas, NV.
The Officer Down Memorial Page. © 1996-2025 The Officer Down.
Gretchen Altabef is an award-winning author of new Sherlock Holmes stories. The original Victorian cozy mysteries. THESE SCATTERED HOUSES brings Holmes to New York during his ‘great hiatus’. REMARKABLE POWER OF STIMULUS follows in London. During the investigation of a gruesome murder, Sherlock seizes a second chance with the woman, and they marry in anarchist-ridden Paris. The trilogy continues with FIVE MILES OF COUNTRY. Holmes is called in by Thomas Edison to solve a murder in his premier film studio, and Mrs Irene Adler-Holmes triumphs on Broadway. THE KEYS OF DEATH is a genesis story of 221B Baker Street and its inhabitants, as told by Mrs Hudson. Sherlock Holmes FAR & WIDE, nine stories and one play, including the award-winning, “Sir Arthur and the Time Machine”.
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