THE ADVENTURES OF LIEUTENANT PETROSINO (1912) – This 47-minute silent movie was a rushed look at the career of New York City Police Detective Joseph Petrosino, who specialized in fighting organized crime. I meant to cover Petrosino years ago, but other topics kept taking priority.
Petrosino has become all but forgotten here in 2026, but he was once so popular that hundreds of thousands attended his funeral, which was declared a holiday in New York. He was murdered by organized crime in 1909, and his posthumous fame made him the hero of Dime Novels like old west figures Buffalo Bill Cody and others.
I’ll do more detailed examinations of Joseph Petrosino in the near future, but for now I will review this 1912 flick while peppering in a few notes about the man’s real-life saga which was far too broadly presented on the big screen.
THE REEL PETROSINO – Still in uniform, Joseph has made a name for himself as a tough cop capable of dealing with Italian gangs like the Black Hand, the Mafia and the Camorra. When Mafia bank robbers humiliate a pair of policemen who try taking them in, the storied Petrosino is sent for.
He quickly finds the gang, subdues them and drags two of them in to be booked as the others flee. The arrested criminals rat out their colleagues. That night at the dinner table, Joe brags to his wife Adelina about his exploits.
THE REAL PETROSINO – Born in 1860, Joseph Petrosino joined the New York City Police Department as a uniformed cop in 1883. He made excellent use of his fluency in Italian to solve crimes in Italian-American neighborhoods that were easy prey for organized gangs from the Old Country. Continue reading
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