Editing Vincent R. Impellitteri

{{Short description|American politician and jurist (1900–1987)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name          = Vincent R. Impellitteri
|image         = Impelliteri and BG crop (3x4a).jpg
|caption       = Impelliteri in 1951
|office1       = 101st [[Mayor of New York City]]
|term_start1   = November 14, 1950
|term_end1     = December 31, 1953<br><small>Acting: August 31, 1950 – November 14, 1950</small>
|predecessor1  = [[William O'Dwyer]]
|successor1    = [[Robert F. Wagner, Jr.]]
|office2       = 2nd [[New York City Council#Presiding officers since 1898|President]] of the [[New York City Council]]
|term_start2   = January 1, 1946
|term_end2     = August 31, 1950
|predecessor2  = [[Newbold Morris]]
|successor2    = Joseph T. Sharkey (acting)
|birth_name    = Vincenzo Impellitteri
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1900|2|4|mf=y}}
|birth_place   = [[Isnello]], [[Sicily]], [[Kingdom of Italy]]
|death_date    = {{death date and age|1987|1|29|1900|2|4|mf=y}}
|death_place   = [[Bridgeport, Connecticut]], U.S.
|resting_place = Mount Saint Peter Catholic Cemetery, [[Derby, Connecticut]]
|party         = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|spouse        = {{Marriage|Elizabeth Agnes McLaughlin|1926|1967|end=died}}
|education     = [[Fordham University]] ([[LL.B.]])
|profession    = Attorney
|allegiance    = United States
|branch        = [[United States Navy]]
|unit          = USS ''[[USS Stockton (DD-73)|Stockton]]''
|serviceyears  = 1917–1919 (active)
|rank          = [[Petty officer third class]]
|battles       = [[World War I]]
*[[Atlantic U-boat campaign of World War I|Battle of the Atlantic (1914-1918)]]
}}

'''Vincent Richard Impellitteri''' (born '''Vincenzo Impellitteri'''; February 4, 1900 – January 29, 1987) was an Italian-American politician and judge who served as the 101st [[Mayor of New York City]] from 1950 to 1953. He was elected as a Democrat and president of the City Council in 1945 and reelected in 1949. When Mayor [[William O'Dwyer]] resigned in 1950, he became acting mayor. He lost the Democratic [[Partisan primary|primary]] for the nomination for the rest of the term but was subsequently elected mayor on a new ticket, the "Experience Party". He lost the Democratic primary when he ran for a full term in 1953 and became a judge in 1954.<ref>Kenneth T. Jackson, ''Encyclopedia of New York City '' (2010) p 644</ref>

==Early life==
Born Vincenzo Impellitteri<ref>[https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-27324-9532-91?cc=1947613&wc=MDB8-1Z9:245881401,246563801 Birth record of Vincenzo Impellitteri]</ref> in [[Isnello]], [[Sicily]], he moved with his family to the [[United States]] as an infant in 1901.  They settled in [[Ansonia, Connecticut]], where Impellitteri spent most of his youth.  He was a [[Catholic (term)|Catholic]].  He enlisted in the [[United States Navy]] for [[World War I]]. He served as a [[radioman]] with the rank of [[petty officer third class]] on board the destroyer USS ''[[USS Stockton (DD-73)|Stockton]]'', which was based in [[Queenstown, Ireland]], and performed convoy escort and antisubmarine duty.<ref>{{cite book |date=1952 |title=Current Biography Yearbook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mowYAAAAIAAJ&q=%22radioman+third+class%22 |location=Bronx, NY |publisher=H. W. Wilson Company |page=293}}</ref>  He left the Navy after the war and became a U.S. citizen in 1922. After that, Impellitteri attended the [[Fordham University School of Law]] (where he received his [[LL.B.]] in 1924) while working successively as a night bellboy and manager at a Broadway hotel. He married Elizabeth (Betty) Agnes McLaughlin in 1926.

==Start of career==
Following his admission to the bar, he worked in private practice alongside influential Democratic attorney [[Martin Thomas Conboy Jr.]] He served as a state [[Assistant District Attorney]] from 1929 to 1938. After returning to private practice for three years as a specialist in [[criminal law]], he served as legal secretary to [[New York Supreme Court]] Justice Peter Schmuck, later moving to the chambers of [[Joseph A. Gavagan]] in an analogous role. He was reportedly a close associate of gangster [[Tommy Lucchese]], who helped Impellitteri's rise in politics.<ref>{{cite book |last=Soffer |first=Jonathan |date=2010 |title=Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZ3FZx2zUp8C&pg=PT50 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=36 |isbn=978-0-231-15032-3}}</ref>  On the other hand, a report in the ''[[New York World-Telegram]]'' indicated that Impelliteri opposed organized crime and corruption and had failed to rise through the city Democratic Party's ranks because he had "the injudicious good taste to snub [[Frank Costello]]", the gambler and racketeer who was said to control the [[Tammany Hall]] organization behind the scenes.

In 1945, Mayor [[William O'Dwyer]] picked Impellitteri to run for President of the City Council on the [[Tammany Hall]] slate. He ran on the Democratic and [[American Labor Party]] lines in 1945, but when he was up for reelection in 1949, he ran on the Democratic Party line alone.

According to historian [[Robert Caro]], Impelliteri was drafted into his first elected role by Democratic Party leadership, who selected his name from a municipal employee directory. The party was seeking an [[Italian American]] Manhattan resident to bring balance to the citywide ticket and thought an employee in his position would be easy to persuade on political matters.<ref name="caro">{{Cite Power Broker|pages=787-798}}</ref>

==Mayor of New York City==
On August 31, 1950, O'Dwyer, pursued by both federal and state investigators, was suddenly appointed by President [[Harry S. Truman]] as [[United States ambassador to Mexico]], where he would be beyond the reach of officials who wanted his public testimony in several matters on which he preferred not to speak. Under the City Charter of the era, City Council President Impellitteri became acting mayor upon O'Dwyer's resignation. The [[Tammany Hall]] bosses determined that Impellitteri was unsuitable for the role and refused to nominate him as the Democratic candidate for the special election in November 1950; instead, highly regarded [[New York State Supreme Court]] Judge [[Ferdinand Pecora]], who was also given the [[Liberal Party of New York|Liberal Party]] line, ran as the nominee. Impellitteri ignored the machine and ran independently under the new "Experience Party" banner. He also popularized the slogan "unbought and unbossed" during his 1950 campaign.<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date=October 30, 1950 |title=Impellitteri Cited as 'Unbossed' Man |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/10/30/archives/impellitteri-cited-as-unbossed-man-deputy-mayor-and-campaign.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York, NY |page=17 |via=[[TimesMachine]]}}</ref>

Impellitteri was the first mayor since the consolidation of greater New York in 1898 who was elected without a major party's ballot line, and his election was a populist uprising against the political system.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} The results were:

* Vincent Impellitteri (Experience Party) 1,161,175 votes
* [[Ferdinand Pecora]] (Democratic/Liberal) 935,351
* Edward Corsi (Republican) 382,372
* Paul L. Ross (American Labor) 147,578

{{further|New York City mayoral elections#1950}}

Impellitteri's inauguration, held on November 14, 1950, absent either a band or a platform, was swift and straightforward. Outside City Hall, he pledged to "do my level best to justify the confidence you have reposed in me."{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Shortly after Impellitteri's succession, the [[Kings County District Attorney]] arrested bookmaker Harry Gross in September 1950 as part of a corruption investigation that caused nearly 500 police officers of all ranks to resign, retire, or be fired. Impellitteri opposed the corruption, vigorously supporting the Brooklyn District Attorney, Miles McDonald, and firing anyone in his administration associated with former Mayor [[William O'Dwyer]].<ref>{{cite thesis |last=McCarthy |first=Kevin |date=2016 |title=Cops in Court: Assessing the Criminal Prosecutions of Police in Six Major Scandals in the New York City Police Department from 1894 to 1994 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1767788718 |degree=Doctor of Philosophy |chapter=Chapter 6: The Harry Gross-Era Scandal |publisher=City University of New York |oclc=10017975 |access-date=20 December 2023|id={{ProQuest|1767788718}} }}</ref>

[[File:D782-024 (41048586602).jpg|thumb|Impellitteri on visit to car factory, [[Haifa]] 1952]]
Impellitteri is credited with trying to rein in the budget, raising the bus and subway fare to fifteen cents, establishing parking meters on city streets for enhanced revenue, and increasing the sales tax. He aspired to be a new light in city politics, but his administration met with some resistance from the established order. At the time, [[Robert Moses]] wielded significant influence; according to [[Robert Caro]] (in his Moses biography ''[[The Power Broker]]''), Impellitteri deferred to Moses on all matters of appointments and policy and is described as a puppet on Robert Moses' strings.<ref name="caro" /> The Italian author [[Carlo Levi]] documented the mayor's 1950 visit to his birthplace in Sicily. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Levi |first1=Carlo |author-link1=Carlo Levi |title=Words Are Stones: Impressions of Sicily |date=1958 |publisher=Farrar, Strass & Cudahy  |location=New York  |isbn=9781843914044 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YnkiAQAAIAAJ}} (Translation by Angus Davidson of ''Le Parole Sono Pietre: Tre Giornate in Sicilia'', 1955.)</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scambray |first1=Ken |title=Words are Stone: Impressions of Sicily by Carlo Levi |journal=L'Italo-Americano |date=August 31, 2017 |url=https://italoamericano.org/story/2017-8-31/impressions-sicily |access-date=April 17, 2020 |archive-date=December 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231210619/https://italoamericano.org/story/2017-8-31/impressions-sicily |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Impellitteri ran for a full term in 1953.  He was defeated in the Democratic primary by then [[Manhattan Borough President]] [[Robert F. Wagner, Jr.]] Although [[New York City Comptroller]] [[Lazarus Joseph]] usually sided in the [[New York City Board of Estimate]] with Impellitteri during the latter's term in office, Joseph supported Wagner for the Democratic nomination.<ref>{{cite news |last=Egan |first=Leo |date=September 10, 1953 |title=Joseph to Support Wagner In Primary As A 'Sure' Winner |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/09/10/archives/joseph-to-support-wagner-in-primary-as-a-sure-winner-controller.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York, NY |page=1 |via=[[TimesMachine]]}}</ref>

==Later career and retirement==
After becoming mayor, Wagner appointed Impelliteri a [[New York City Criminal Court]] judge. He retired from the bench in 1965. Following the death of his wife in 1967, he lived at the [[New York Athletic Club]]'s City House on [[Central Park South]]. After he was diagnosed with [[Parkinson's disease]] in 1983, he maintained his Athletic Club residence but primarily resided in convalescent homes, most notably the Carolton Convalescent Hospital in [[Fairfield, Connecticut]].

==Philanthropy==
Impelliteri became a patron of [[The Lambs|The Lambs Club]]<ref name="TheLambs">{{cite book |last= Hardee|first= Lewis J. Jr. |title= The Lambs Theatre Club |date= 2010 |orig-date= 1st pub. 2006 |edition= 2nd |type= softcover |location= Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher= [[McFarland Publishing]] |isbn= 978-0-7864-6095-3  |quote = In April 1949, the club held a big [[Diamond Jubilee]] gambol at the [[Hotel Astor (New York City)|Hotel Astor Ballroom]]. Mayor Vincent Impelliteri was honorary collie.}}</ref>{{rp|192}} in 1949.<ref name="TheLambsWebsite">{{cite web |title= The Lambs |url= https://the-lambs.org/history/roster/ |at= (Member Roster 'I') |publisher= [[The Lambs|The Lambs, Inc.]] |website= the-lambs.org |date= 6 November 2015 |access-date= December 4, 2021 |archive-date= 31 May 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220531032150/https://the-lambs.org/history/roster/ |url-status= dead }}</ref>

==Death and burial==
He died of heart failure<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/30/obituaries/vincent-impellitteri-is-dead-mayor-of-new-york-in-1950-s.html Vincent Impellitteri is Dead; Mayor of New York in 1950s]. ''New York Times''. Retrieved 19 Jul 2024.</ref> on January 29, 1987, at [[Bridgeport Hospital]] in [[Bridgeport, Connecticut]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Vincent Impellitteri Is Dead. Mayor Of New York In 1950s |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/30/obituaries/vincent-impellitteri-is-dead-mayor-of-new-york-in-1950-s.html |work=[[New York Times]] |date=January 30, 1987 |access-date=2010-03-17 | first=Robert D. | last=Mcfadden}}</ref>  Impellitteri was buried at Mount Saint Peter Catholic Cemetery in [[Derby, Connecticut]].

== See also ==

{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[List of mayors of New York City]]
* [[List of members of the American Legion]]

== References ==

{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==

* Levi, Carlo. ''Words are Stones'' (1958), essay, Part One.
* Lagumina, Salvator. ''New York at Mid-Century: The Impellitteri Years'' (1992), scholarly biography; highly favorable
* Moscow, Warren. ''The last of the big-time bosses: The life and times of Carmine De Sapio and the rise and fall of Tammany Hall'' (1971), highly negative

== External links ==

* [http://www.nyc.gov/html/nyc100/html/classroom/hist_info/mayors.html#Impellitteri Mayor Impellitteri's biography on the web site of New York City] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012003808/http://nyc.gov/html/nyc100/html/classroom/hist_info/mayors.html#Impellitteri |date=2007-10-12 }}
* {{Find a Grave|7100180}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Newbold Morris]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[New York City Council|President of the New York City Council]]|years=1946–1950}}
{{s-aft|after= Joseph T. Sharkey}}
{{s-bef|before = [[William O'Dwyer]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Mayors of New York City|Mayor of New York City]]|years = 1950—1953}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Robert F. Wagner Jr.]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Mayors of New York City|state=expanded}}
{{NYCCouncilSpeakers|state=autocollapse}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Impellitteri, Vincent R.}}
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century mayors of places in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Fordham University School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Italian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Mayors of New York City]]
[[Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Connecticut]]
[[Category:New York (state) Democrats]]
[[Category:People from Ansonia, Connecticut]]
[[Category:People from Connecticut]]
[[Category:Catholics from Connecticut]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:United States Navy sailors]]
[[Category:Members of The Lambs Club]]