Friday, December 12, 2008

Vincent Impelliteri


A residence of his. He was also a lower east side boy, but I don't know exactly where.
From his 1987 nytimes' obituary
Vincent R. Impellitteri, an immigrant cobbler's son who defied the Democratic machine of Tammany Hall and became Mayor of New York from 1950 to 1953, died of heart failure yesterday at Bridgeport (Conn.) Hospital. He was 86 years old.
Vincent R. Impellitteri, an immigrant cobbler's son who defied the Democratic machine of Tammany Hall and became Mayor of New York from 1950 to 1953, died of heart failure yesterday at Bridgeport (Conn.) Hospital. He was 86 years old.
Mr. Impellitteri, who retired as a Criminal Court judge in 1965, had been ill with Parkinson's disease for the last four years and, though he maintained a residence at the New York Athletic Club, had stayed in convalescent homes, most recently the Carolton Convalescent Hospital in Fairfield, Conn. He entered Bridgeport Hospital early this week with an infection and died at 2:40 P.M. yesterday.
In an era of flamboyant politicians and corruption scandals, Mr. Impelliteri - deliberate, scholarly, mild to the point of shyness - struck a responsive chord with New York voters and became the first person to become mayor of New York without the support of a major political party.
The stage was set in September 1950 when, with a political scandal about to break, William O'Dwyer resigned as Mayor to accept President Truman's appointment as Ambassador to Mexico, and Mr. Impellitteri - an O'Dwyer protege who had been City Council president since 1946 - became Acting Mayor. An Upset Victory
A special election was called to fill the three remaining years of Mr. O'Dwyer's term, and Mr. Impellitteri, who had been squabbling off and on with the Manhattan Democratic machine known as Tammany Hall, did not get his party's nomination.
Defying the Tammany Tiger, Mr. Impellitteri - who had been Acting Mayor during Mr. O'Dwyer's frequent vacations - ran as an independent under the banner of the Experience Party.
He was a slightly built, courteous man with little of the turbulent energy or whimsical humor of former Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia or Mr. O'Dwyer. His speech was devoid of colorful language and his gestures seemed limited to clasping his hands or slowly twisting one of the dozen cigars he smoked daily.
Even astute political observers gave him little chance to win, but a volunteer organization sprang up almost overnight, and his fight against the machine captured the imagination of New Yorkers, who gave him a 225,000-vote plurality in a three-way race to become the city's 101st mayor.
After the election, he made peace with Democratic leaders in all the boroughs except Manhattan, but he continued to deny patronage to the Tammany leader, Carmine G. DeSapio, and this contributed to his political downfall. Proposed Transit Agency
Though not of his own making, a series of inherited scandals - most of them involving payoffs by gamblers to the police and shakedowns of businesses by firefighters - beset the Impellitteri administration, along with postwar inflation and fiscal worries stemming from entrenched budgets based on stop-gap measures.
Mayor Impellitteri instituted plans to cut costs and to create long-term financial stability for the city government, proposed what was to become an independent Transit Authority to take transit affairs out of politics and named a former United States Attorney, Thomas F. Murphy, as police commissioner with a widely acclaimed mandate to root out corruption.
But the brush of scandal touched some members of his staff and, though Mr. Impellitteri himself was never accused of wrongdoing, his administration was hurt by it. What political observers called his lack of forcefulness in dealings with Gov. Thomas E. Dewey and the Republican-dominated Legislature also raised doubts. Defeated by Wagner
And when he sought re-election in 1953, the opposition of Tammany Hall proved decisive. He was easily defeated by the Manhattan Borough President, Robert F. Wagner, who went on to serve three terms as mayor. Mr. Impellitteri stepped down on Dec. 31, 1953, and two days later was named to a judgeship by Mayor Wagner.
To say that Vincent Richard Impellitteri rose from obscurity would be an understatement of the first magnitude. He was born on Feb. 4, 1900, in the village of Isnello, Sicily. His father, Salvatore Impellitteri, was a shoemaker who brought the family to the Lower East Side when Vincent was a child. The family later moved to Ansonia, Conn.
The boy graduated from Ansonia High School in 1917. He joined the Navy and served in World War I as a radioman on a destroyer. After the war, he attended the Fordham Law School, going to classes by day while serving successively as a night bellboy and manager at a Broadway hotel.
He became a United States citizen in 1922 and earned his law degree in 1924.
After admission to the bar, he joined a law firm in which Martin Conboy, an influential Democratic figure, was a member. From 1929 to 1938, Mr. Impellitteri served as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan. He then returned to private law practice, mainly handling criminal cases.
Since his college days, he had been active in Democratic politics, and, through these associations, was named in 1941 as law secretary to Justice Peter Schmuck of State Supreme Court. Later, he became secretary to Justice Joseph Gavagan. A Reputation for Honesty
A modest, unassuming man, Mr. Impellitteri was virtually unknown to New Yorkers when he was elected president of the City Council, the No. 2 position at City Hall, in 1945.
It was said that when Democratic leaders were looking for a likely candidate for the Council presidency, they thumbed through the ''Green Book,'' the city's official directory, until they came upon the name Vincent Impellitteri, then a judicial clerk. He had a reputation for honesty, ability and party loyalty, and it was thought that as an Italian-born Roman Catholic he could help the O'Dwyer ticket.
Mr. Impellitteri had one drawback. As a report in The New York World-Telegram put it, he had had ''the injudicious good taste to snub Frank Costello, the gambler and racketeer who often has been called the czar behind the scenes of Tammany.
Tammany Hall opposed Mr. Impellitteri's selection, but Mr. O'Dwyer insisted upon it, and the ticket won handily in 1945.
In the next four years, Mr. Impellitteri worked quietly, overshadowed by Mr. O'Dwyer, and was rewarded in 1949 by being named to the ticket again. While they were re-elected, the effects of the growing scandal were already being felt, and Mr. O'Dwyer polled only 1.2 million votes to Mr. Impellitteri's 1.3 million.
Mr. O'Dwyer, who was increasingly preoccupied with the scandal, resigned on Sept. 2, 1950, and Mr. Impellitteri succeeded him as Acting Mayor. Two days later, he announced that he would run in the special election. Won Many Endorsements
Though he lacked Tammany support, he won endorsements from citizens' groups and newspapers, who called him ''Impy,'' and he attracted a wide following. The New York Times, in an editorial, said:
''He doesn't jump into decisions; in fact, he seems to make up his mind very deliberately, especially on financial matters. He does not create emergencies. He gives the impression of dogged earnestness and good intentions.''
In those times of upheaval, he seemed to be just what the voters wanted.
In an interview in 1965, when he retired from the Criminal Court bench, he recalled having been ''keenly disappointed'' at not being re-elected Mayor. But, he added, ''I never became bitter.''
He also noted that fame was fleeting. He often walked through the streets of New York, he said, and people smiled at him and called him ''Impy'' or ''Judge.'' But many others did not recognize him and had no idea that he had been mayor.
Mr Impellitteri married the former Elizabeth Agnes McLaughlin in 1926. The couple had no children. Mrs. Impellitteri died in 1967. He is survived by a sister, Mrs. Rose Concowich of Derby, Conn.
A funeral will be held Monday at 9:15 A.M. at Spinelli-Malerba Funeral Home in Ansonia, Conn., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 A.M. at Holy Rosary Church in Ansonia. Burial will be in Mount Saint Peter's Cemetery in Derby.

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