Warren Wilhelm Jr. This person is of Italian descent and the 109th mayor of New York City. Yes, he is none other than William de Blasio. On May 8, 1961 the Mayor was born and named Warren Wilhelm Jr. His mother was Maria Angela de Blasio and his father was Warren Wilhelm. De Blasio has two older brothers, Steven and Donald still carry the name of Wilhelm. William changed his name in 2001 to Bill de Blasio. The literature implies he did this to honor his mother’s family with whom he identified. His maternal grandfather came from Sant’Agata de’Goti, Italy and his grandmother from Grassano, Matera, Italy. His paternal grandfather Donald Wilhelm was from Ohio, and his grandmother Nina Warren was from Iowa. They were of German, French, English, and Scotch-Irish descent. His mother and father were well educated. She attended Smith College and he was a Yale graduate. She served in the Office of War Information during World War II and in 1988 published a book, The Other Italy: The Italian Resistance in World War II. His father served in the War. In 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and fought in the Pacific theater and lost his left foot, and later the leg from the knee down. He returned home married Maria, and fathered the three children, however; they broke up during De Blasio’s early formative years. The four moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts close to the De Blasio family. His mother reared him and his brothers in concert with her extended family. In De Blasio’s eighteenth year his father committed suicide. He was battling incurable lung cancer. De Blasio graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in 1979 where he served in student government and received the name “Senator Provolone.” He went on to college acquiring a bachelor’s degree in metropolitan studies and a master’s degree in international affairs. In 1981 he received the honor of being a Harry S. Truman Scholar. During his later college years, he worked for the Urban Fellows Program in the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice. Afterward in 1987, he was hired as a political organizer. In this position, he traveled to Nicaragua for ten days to help distribute food. A revolution was occurring and De Blasio, in opposition to President Reagan’s policies, supported the Sandanistas. He continued his work with a non-profit organization aimed at improving health care in Central America. During David Dinkins successful 1989 bid for Mayor of New York City (1990-1994), de Blasio worked as a volunteer and became an aide in New York City Hall. In 1994 he ran Charles Rangel’s successful 1971 campaign for a U.S. Representative for districts in New York. In 1997 President Clinton’ Administration appointed him as the regional director for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for New York and New Jersey. In 1999 the Brooklyn School District 15 elected him as a board member. The next year he managed Hillary Clinton’s successful campaign for the U.S. Senate. In 2001 de Blasio ran for the New York City Council’s 39th district and won. He maintained that position until 2009. During his tenure de Blasio’s sought to improve public schools and help many less-fortunate New Yorkers with food stamps, housing, and children’s health. In 2009 he became a candidate for the New York City Public Advocate seat and won. In this position, he fought the good fight for affordable housing, education, and campaign financing. In 2013 de Blasio announced his candidacy for mayor of New York City and won and won again in 2017. The position comes up for election in 2021. DeBlasio met Chirlane McCray in 1991 while both were working for Mayor Dinkins, by 1994 the tied the knot (married) in 1994 holding their wedding in Prospect Park. They have two children, a daughter, Chiara, and a son, Dante. McCray has been and is very politically active many issues. She is a speechwriter having written speeches for Mayor Dinkins, for Herman McCall, (state cabinet officer) and William Coleridge Thompson Jr. a former comptroller of NYC, besides editing her husband’s speeches. She publically claimed herself in 1979, as a Lesbian and published an article on that subject in Essence, a popular African American magazine. De Blasio, after becoming mayor, appointed her as the chairman of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC.

Just published a new E-book on Amazon “A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO INVESTING,” ASIN: B08L3Q4JG4, Laurence Amuso, author. It is a short easy to read guide covering the opening of a trading and/or a retirement account in a financial institution, manipulating the account by investing money into it, buying and selling stocks and bonds. I wrote it for both the young and those who have retirement looming in the near future, and those already retired.

LUIGI ROCCO ANTONINI

 

Luigi Antonini was a garment industry leader in the early part of the 20^th century in New York City. He was born in Vallata Irpina, in the province of Avellino in 1883. His father, Pietro Valeriano Antonini was a school teacher. His mother, Maria Francesca Netta was a poetess and of noble birth. Antonini received an education equivalent to that of an American high school. Upon completing his education, he served in the Italian army and became an expert fencer. In 1908 he immigrated to the U.S. landing in New York, and established it as his new home.

During his first few years after immigrating he held various jobs and eventually acquired a position in the garment industry. He became a member of the newly formed ILGWU, The International Ladies Garment Workers Union. As a result he became a distinguished orator and dynamic leader for the working class. He made his debut as a public figure by his involvement in the Waistmakers’ general strike of 1914.

In 1916, he became the editor of the Italian periodical, “L’Operaia,” (The Worker). It was through these efforts that he founded the Italian Dress and Waistmakers’ Union Local 39. This local had twenty-thousand members, the largest under the ILGWU. The total membership of it was four-hundred and fifty-thousand.

Since the Italian local was the single largest unit, Antonini became the Vice-President of the larger union. This position pressed him into influential political circles. As a result he became a leader for Italian Americans in more issues than in labor. In 1935 he represented the American Labor movement in Brussels, Belgium, and in 1939 attended the Pan-American Congress for Democracy in Montevideo, Paraguay.

Prior to the beginning of the WWII, he was vociferous against fascism, and his local ILGWU union fully supported the war against Italy. Throughout the hostilities he served on the appeals board of the selective service in Westchester County, New York.

In 1944 the American Federation of Labor (AFL), chose him to go to Italy as a member of the Anglo-American Trade Union Committee to advise Italians in rebuilding bona fide labor unions. While there, he served to help rebuild Italy and during this service he founded an orphanage in Palermo, Sicily and named it after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

His activities put him in contact with Italian Presidents such as De Nicola, Gronchi, and Einaudi, along with many other political figures of Italy. In 1951 he led a good will tour of Italy and Israel. In Haifa, a major port city in Israel, the community held him in such high regard they named a recently built sports stadium after him. While he was abroad, the Republic of Italy, the City of Trieste, the province of Sicily and the country of San Marino recognized him by awarding him medals for his achievements.

When he returned home he became the chairman of the AFL-CIO Committee of Greater New York. Antonini founded the Four Freedoms Awards, issued by the Italian American’s Labor Council. He created this citation to honor meritorious services rendered by individuals to the cause of liberty throughout the world. In 1943 United States Attorney General Francis Biddle was the first recipient. Biddle was important to the Italian Americans and Italian aliens for he declared on October 12, 1942 that restrictions against “enemy aliens” would no longer pertain to “Italian aliens.” Other honorees for the award included Presidents Roosevelt and Truman.

On his eightieth birthday, in 1963 Mayor Robert Wagner presented Luigi with the key to the city of New York. Antonini continued to be involved in many labor activities throughout the 50s and 60s, continuing as Vice-President of the Union, until 1967. He died the following year.

POPE FRANCIS

Juan Bergoglio – Rosa Vasallo begat Mario Jose Bergoglio

Francisco Sivori Sturla – Maria Gogna Di Sivori begat Regina Gogna

Mario Jose Bergoglio and Regina Gogna Di Sivori begat Jorge Mario (Pope Francis)

Pope Francis’ father Mario Giuseppe Francesco, was born in the Province of Asti, in Italy and immigrated in 1929 to Argentina. In 1935 he married Regina Savori of Buenos Aires, whose family emigrated from Alessandria, Italy. They produced five children, Maria Elena, Marta Regina, Jorge Mario (Pope Francis), Alberto Horacio and Oscar Adrian.

Jorge was born on 17 of December, in 1936 in Flores, one of the largest neighborhoods, (barrio) in the city of Buenos Aires.

In 1969 at the age of thirty-three he became a priest. He relates that his mother, a devout catholic, did not initially support his clerical decision. However, she assented to his choice and asked for his blessing at the end of the ceremony.

Prior to his ordination, for the years 1964 and 1965, he taught literature and psychology at Immaculate Conception College in Santa Fé and during the following year he taught at the Colegio del Salvatore in Buenos Aires. The next three years he studied theology at the Colegio of San José receiving his degree in 1970. In 1973 he made his final vows in the Jesuit order, and subsequently, became the superior of the Jesuit Province of Argentina, a post he held until 1979. His term was concurrent with the military coup led by Lieutenant General Jorge Rafael Videla which led to the “Dirty War,” of 1976—1983, a deadly effort to remove leftist and suspected subversives. Ten to thirty thousand people disappeared. Begoglio claimed he hid several people from the military. Two Jesuit priests disappeared for five months and were later found in a field in a drugged state. Critics faulted Bergoglio for not doing enough and even accused him of complicity. In a law suit alleging this, the court dismissed it.    

 In the 1980s, he was a seminary teacher and rector in Freiburg. He also pursued theological studies at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt am Main.  

In 1992 he received the appointment as auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. In 1998 he became archbishop of Buenos Aires, the post he kept until he became pope. In February of 2001, Pope John Paul II appointed him to the College of Cardinals naming him the cardinal-priest of Saint Robert Bellarmino.  In 2005, he became president of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina, at which he served until 2011.

The College of Cardinals elected him the 266^th pope of the Roman Catholic Church in March 2013. He is the first pope from the Americas. He took the name of St. Francis of Assisi. Time magazine named him person of the year. He is the first Jesuit Pope, the first from the Americas, and the second Pope not from Europe. The first was Gregory III from Syria in the 8^th century. The Pope is also the bishop of Rome. The bishopric’s seat is at the archbasilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, (Saint John’s within the walls of the city).  

Pope Francis has characterized his tenure with humility and outspoken support of the world’s poor and other marginalized people.

 

 

John Anthony Volpe

Volpe was one of the three Italian American governor of Massachusetts. He was the son of Italian immigrants and was born on December 8, 1908 in Wakefield, Massachusetts. His father Vito and his mother Filomena née Benedetto came from Pescosansonesco, Aburzzo. Volpe was a self-made businessman. He attended Wentwort Institute of Technology in Boston where he majored in architectural construction and built his own construction firm by 1930. He was so successful that by the onset of the 2^nd World War, his company was one of the nation’s leading business in that field.  Subsequently, his term of military service was a lieutenant commander training United States Navy Seabees who were builders, engineers, equipment operators, and steelworkers.

Volpe’s political life began in 1951 when he became the deputy chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party. The governor in 1953, appointed him as Commissioner of Public works. President Dwight D. Eisenhower followed this by appointing him as the first administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. This was in the early stages of the development of the United States Interstate Highway System—a defense system of which he was an important figure.

In 1960 he ran for governor of Massachusetts and won the election he served for two years 1961-1963. He ran again but lost. In 1965 he reentered the race and this time it was for the first four year term for the office. He won, consequently, serving until 1969. Foster Furcolo preceded him. Massachusetts initially had a one year term for governor, then to a two year term in 1918 and in 1965 it moved to a four year term.

During his tenure Volpe signed in to legislation a ban to racial imbalances in education, liberalized birth control, and increased public housing. He also served as the president of the National Governors Association from 1967 – 1968. In 1968 he was candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, however, he lost his bid to Nelson A. Rockefeller, the governor of New York. In Nixon’s election he came into consideration as a running mate along with Spiro Agnew; however, Nixon selected the latter.  Nixon, as a reward for his support appointed him as Secretary of Transportation. He resigned as governor to accept this cabinet post. He remained until 1973, when he accepted the nomination from Nixon as Ambassador to Italy. He had a significant interest in his parent’s homeland, and visited Italy often. He remained until 1977. In 1969 the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic awarded him the Knight of the Grand Cross. His tenure included some difficulty, the Italian elite did not hold him in high regard due to his southern Italian roots. He also upset the leftist elements for his negative statements against inclusion of the Communist Party in the Italian government. Volpe died in Nahant, Massachusetts on November 11, 1994 at the age of eighty-five. His family interred him at Forest Glade Cemetery in Wakefield. In honor of his service a number of building in Massachusetts bear his name, the National Transportation System Center in Cambridge, the Library at Wakefield High School, and Terminal E. at the Logan International Airport.

In 1934, Volpe married Giovannina Benedetto and the couple had two children, John Anthony, Jr. and Loretta Jean Volpe Rotondi.

John Foster Furcolo

Furcolo was an Italian American lawyer, politician, a democrat, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the sixtieth governor of the state of Massachusetts. He was the first Italian American governor of that state. Two other Italian Americans followed him, John Volpe 1961-1963, 1965-1969, and Paul Cellucci, 1997-2001.

Furcolo was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on July 29, 1911. His father was Charles Furcolo an immigrant and a physician, who attended Yale. His mother, Alberta Marie Foster was an Irish immigrant. He was their second child. The eldest was Charles Lawrence Furcolowe, Jr. Charles and Alberta divorced and she changed her name to Furcolowe. The name which John used at college. After graduating high school he went to Yale and graduated in 1933, he followed that with attending Yale College of Law graduating with an LL.B. in 1936.  During World War II, Furcolo served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy. After the war he ran for a seat in the 2^nd Congressional district, but lost to the incumbent.  He ran again in 1948 and won by a significant margin. In the next election a Polish American Republican, challenged him with the hopes of capturing the large number of Polish American constituent’s votes in the district.  Furcolo won by a noteworthy margin. He continued to serve until he resigned in 1952 to accept an appointment as the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Furcolo received notoriety when he was the first freshman representative invited to the Whitehouse under President Truman to discuss legislation. Furcolo was innovative in developing the idea of a people’s council, i.e. a group of individual from across the district to gauge proposed legislation. Congress John W. McCormack appointed him to the House Appropriations Committee along with John F. Kennedy, of which Kennedy was not happy. The two were at odds on a number of issues.

Before leaving the legislative office, Furcolo was on the committee to investigate the mass killings at the Katyn Forest of eastern Poland. From this experience Furcolo later wrote a novel concerning the killings, Rendezvous at Katyn.

In 1954 Furcolo ran for the U.S. Senate and lost. Kennedy refused to endorse him. In 1956 Furcolo ran in a bitter campaign against republican Lt. Governor Sumner Whittier of which Furcolo won and received endorsement from Senator Kennedy.  He held the office from 1957-1961, during his tenure he accomplished much. His most noted achievement was the establishment of community colleges throughout the state, thereby providing educational and training opportunities to the population at large. In 2008 in commemoration of Furcolo, Massachusetts amended its General Laws were to designate fifteen community colleges as the Governor Foster Furcolo Community Colleges. UMass also named its school of education the John Foster Furcolo School of Education

Furcolo fought for an increase in state worker’s wages, unemployment benefits, income tax, broad based sales tax, and influenced a number of local projects. When his terms as Governor were over he later ran for the Senate again. However, due to inherited corruption under his administration, which he failed to root out, his opponent capitalized on it and won.  

Furcolo decided to retire from politics and returned to private practice. However, political endeavors reemerged and in 1966 he ran for the nomination for Massachusetts attorney general but lost to Francis X. Bellotti. He then went into teaching law, and stayed active in supporting higher education. Furcolo died of a heart attack at the age of 83, on July 5^th, 1995. He is buried in Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts. Furcolo was married three times, his first wife, Kathryn Foran, with whom he had five children, died in 1964, three years later he married Lucy Carra and separated from her in 1972, she later died in 1979. He married Constance Gleason in 1980.

Free Book: In Search of Family: Why Ellis Island Said No to Francesco Amuso & Family-ASIN B0131BC4H4

By Laurence Amuso

To all the Amusos out there (and other interested parties). Many of you probably heard of a relative that officials at Ellis Island forced to return to Italy. That relative was my grandfather’s brother. In short, he had come to America two times, built a successful business, paid income tax, and was a productive legal immigrant. He went home in January of 1924 and months later returned with wife and two children. When they arrived at the Island the officials refused them entry into the United States.  He had two brothers and a sister living here. Nevertheless, I was able to meet the descendants of the family and write a book about the whole incident. Thanks to the National Archives, who still had the records of his hearings at the Island. I have put the book on promotion at Amazon where you can down load it for free.

The Promotion starts April 1 to April 5. After reading please send me some comments. State Bene.