# Joseph Petrosino

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/people/joseph-petrosino/

New York police detective in the 1903 barrel-murder inquiry, shot dead in Palermo on 12 March 1909. The records here are newspaper pages of 1903 to 1912, Library of Congress photographs, and a question quoted in a 1911 federal appeal; who killed him is not established in any of them.

The records filed here spell the name Petrosino, Petrosini, Petrosiino and Petrisino. The birth year 1860 comes only from the Library of Congress subject heading "Petrosino, Joe,--1860-1909"; no record filed here gives his date or place of birth. The date of death is that of the wire report of 13 March 1909, which places the shooting at about nine o'clock the previous evening.

**Role.** The newspapers call him a detective sergeant in 1903 and a lieutenant, head of the Italian squad, in 1909, and the Library's devised titles call him "Detective Lt." No federal record filed here states his rank or post, so the role field is left empty and the press descriptions are given above with their sources.

Who killed him is not established in any record filed here. The Tribune's suggestion of February 1910 is filed only as flagged speculation, and the Second Circuit's opinion in the Morello and Lupo appeal does not address his death. The 1912 Day Book items mention him only in passing.

## Sources

- Bismarck Daily Tribune, 14 March 1909, page 1 (Library of Congress, Chronicling America): https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85042242/1909-03-14/ed-1/?sp=1
- New York World-Telegram & Sun collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (LC-USZ62-137646). The item record reads "No known restrictions on publication.": https://www.loc.gov/item/2007686605/