Tuesday,
December 02, 2008
The
ANNOTICO Report
Then
Police Commissioner Michael
Hughes in a Memo to Mayor
William Everett Dever on May 26, 1923, provides a
fascinating insight into the discrimination faced by Italian-Americans in
In
response to a suggestion that Italian Americans be enlisted to expand the Chicago
Police force, Hughes replied: "The department has been very fortunate to
recruit Irishmen, and should stick with success.”Nothing I can presently
think of would do more to ruin the Chicago Police Department than to start
hiring Dagos in large numbers."
One
of the responses was by former IAPA (Italian American Police Association)
president Ralph DeBartolo,
now a chief with the
Politically
Incorrect Police Memo Provides Insight into
SiuthtownStar
Member of the Chicago Sun-Times Group
By Kim Janssen, Staff
Writer
December 2, 2008
Two things threatened
to "ruin" the Chicago Police Department in 1923, according to a
freshly unearthed, 85-year-old memo sent by the city
The racist
memo,
sent by then-commissioner Michael Hughes to Mayor William Everett Dever on May 26, 1923, provides a fascinating insight into
the discrimination faced by Italian-Americans in
In it, Hughes
writes that he is responding to the mayor
"I have
discussed your suggestion at length with several precinct captains,"
Hughes writes. "The general consensus of opinion from all I talked with
is without exception opposed to the idea.
"The
department has been very fortunate in being able to recruit in the main
Irishmen from overseas and narrow backs, and should stick with success.
"Nothing
I can presently think of would do more to ruin the Chicago Police Department
than to
implement the use of three-wheel motorcycles and to start hiring Dagos in
large numbers."
What appears to
be a photocopied version of the memo emerged on an anonymous
At the time the
letter was written, the city
"There
were few legitimate employment opportunities for Italian-Americans, so most of
them were self-employed," he said.
Many were
involved in bootlegging, which may partly explain police antipathy to Italians
at the time.
Perhaps more importantly,
Prohibition provided officers with opportunities for graft that they may not
have wanted to give up, Lurigio added.
In November 1924,
Hughes dined at a banquet in honor of notorious Irish-American gangster Dean
O
"It
But Anthony Langone, president of the Italian American Police
Association of Illinois said the memo was "disgusting."
"It wouldn
Retired and
heavily decorated Chicago cop
Ethnic slurs
like "bomb-thrower" or "
Former IAPA
president Ralph DeBartolo, now a chief with the
"I
Kim Janssen
can be reached at kjanssen@southtownstar.com or on (708) 633-5998.
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