Moses's new book tells the history of a little-known unit in the New York Police Department made up of Italian-born detectives who fought the rise of the Mafia.

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In the first two decades of the 20th century, the detectives of the "Italian Squad" battled increasingly powerful gangsters, political obstacles, and the deeply ingrained prejudice against their own immigrant community. Veteran New York City reporter and historian Paul Moses separates myth from fact in his examination of the legendary police officers who grappled with the "Black Hand." Not only did they try to prevent nighttime bombings in crowded tenements, kidnappings that targeted children at play, and gangland shootings that killed innocent bystanders, the Italian Squad sought to persuade society of what they knew for themselves: that their fellow immigrant Italians, so often maligned, would make good American citizens.

Moses discusses how a group of undercover cops risked their lives to help a vulnerable Italian immigrant population grow and thrive.

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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Paul Moses is a professor emeritus of journalism at Brooklyn College and a former reporter and editor at New York Newsday. He is the author, most recently, of The Italian Squad: The True Story of the Immigrant Cops Who Fought the Rise of the Mafia (NYU, 2023). Earlier books include The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam and Francis of Assisi's Mission of Peace (Doubleday, 2009), and An Unlikely Union: The Love-Hate Story of New York's Irish and Italians (NYU, 2015). He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Maureen.

READ THE BOOK

• Borrow: NYPL Catalog


• E-Book app: SimplyE, available on iOS and Android

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ACCESSIBILITY

In-Person | You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template. This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs.

CONNECT

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Courtesy Paul Moses