Record
Hearing
1951-02-08
Internet Archive, scan of the printed hearings, Part 9: Michigan (Boston Public Library copy)
Kefauver Committee, Detroit: testimony of Peter Licavoli (8 February 1951)
Peter Licavoli, born in St. Louis, declined on self-incrimination grounds to state his occupation or answer about a Detroit police record read into the hearing, and identified Sam Zerilli as his brother-in-law.
- Date
- 1951-02-08
- Kind
- hearing
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- Docket
- Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Hearings before the Special Committee, 82d Cong., Part 9: Michigan
- Rights
- A work of the United States Congress, printed by the Government Printing Office. Public domain in the United States. 17 U.S.C. § 105. The scan is of a GPO printing; Internet Archive marks it not in copyright.
Printed pages 54 to 74 of Part 9, from the first day of the Detroit sessions, February 8, 1951, in room 734, Federal Building. Peter Licavoli testified that he was born in St. Louis and had lived in Detroit about ten years. He declined, on the ground that his answers might incriminate him, to state his occupation or to answer questions about a Detroit police record that committee counsel read into the hearing (exhibit 4, Detroit Police Department No. 30787, dated June 1, 1950, printed in the appendix). The record lists arrests from 1922 onward, several ending in discharge, and a 1931 murder charge that ended in a finding of not guilty. Licavoli did not confirm it.
Counsel then read names and numbers from a list of telephone contacts. Licavoli identified Donald J. Licavoli and Thomas Licavoli as his brothers. Of one name he said: “Mr. Burling. Sam Zerilli. Mr. Licavoli. My brother-in-law. Mr. Burling. How is he related to you? Mr. Licavoli. My wife and his wife are sisters.” (pp. 60-61.)
The police record is counsel’s reading, not a finding, and Licavoli’s refusals are not admissions. The committee’s separate contempt report on his refusals is Senate Report 121.
