June 30, 1970, Page 1Buy Reprints
Tens of thousands of Italian Americans filled Columbus Cir cle yesterday afternoon for a communal outpouring of pride in the land of their forebears and outrage at the practice of equating Italians with criminals.
In a vast, waving field of American flags and Italian tri colors, the crowd sang and danced and cheered the two‐ and‐one‐half‐hour stream of speakers. Their greatest ap plause was reserved for Joseph Colombo, who is carried on Justice Department lists as the leader of one of the six Mafia “families” in the city.
The first Italian‐American Unity Day rally drew men, women and children from all over the metropolitan area. Many stores and restaurants in Italian neighborhoods were closed in honor of the day. Ac tivity in the Port of New York was scanty as only‐ 10 per cent of the longshoremen usually shaping up on Mondays report ed for work.
The rally — a combination protest and celebration — at tracted dozens of politicians, including Richard L. Ottinger, the Democratic nominee for the Senate; Paul O'Dwyer, who lost to him in last week's primary; former Controller Mario A. Pro caccino, Deputy Mayor Richard R. Aurelio and Representative Adam Clayton Powell.
In the midst of the festive atmosphere and ethnic rhetoric, however, there was an edge of pent‐up anger — what Italians call being “affocato.” It came out after the rally, when 12,000 from the gathering marched through Central Park to the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at Third Avenue and 69th Street.
The F.B.I. office has been picketed nightly since April 30 by supporters of the. Italian American Civil Rights League, which organized the rally. The group accused the bureau of discriminating against Ital ian‐Americans in its surveillance of underworld activities. The surging crowd of marchers forced the police to fall back twice around the F.B.I. office as barriers were trampled un derfoot and tempers flared.
Two policemen on crowd control duty were stabbed in a scuffle on Third Avenue near 70th Street during the con frontation. Although there were thousands of marchers in the area, the police could find no, one who said he had seen the incident.
The two patrolmen, one stabbed in the back and one in the chest, were in fair to satisfactory condition last night at Lenox Hill‐Hospital.
Mr. Colombo's eldest son, Anthony, one of the organizers of the rally, mounted a police sound truck and asked the crowd to disperse.
“We have achieved a great ness here today,” he shouted to the milling crowd. “We are one now. We must keep this peaceful and nonviolent. As favor to me, be a super‐human being now—turn around and go home.”
There was some booing from the gathering, but in a few minutes they were straggling down the side streets toward hoine. A rally marshal with bullhorn urged them on gently with: “Have a glass of wine now and a plate of spaghetti in your house.”
The picketing of the FB.I., which gave rise to yesterday's rally, began on the day that the elder Mr. Colombo's sec ond son, Joseph Jr., was ar rested on a charge of conspir ing to melt silver coins into more valuable ingots. The father and Anthony, joined by perhaps 30 friends on the first night, organized the early protests.
Colombo Jailed Once
The elder Mr. Colombo, who lives in Brooklyn, spent 30 days in jail in 1966 for refusal to answer questions of a rack ets grand jury. It is the only time he has been in prison, although he has a record of 12 other arrests on charges of minor offenses.
Anthony, who is a furniture dealer, and Joseph Jr., who has a custom tailor shop, both have families. Through the picketing and formation of the Civil Rights League, they have been vociferous in their complaints of F.B.I. surveillance of their homes and alleged harassment of their private lives.
When the plans for the rally were announced early this month, they apparently evoked genuine and deeply felt sym pathy among many Italian Americans in the metropolitan area.
“This thing just snowballed,” said Natale Marcone, a retired union official who is president of the Civil Rights League.
Based on a computation of the area filled by the crowd in Columbus Circle yesterday, and assigning two square feet to each person, the gathering would have numbered 31,200. The police estimate was 40,000. Mr. Marconc's was 620,000.
Columbus Circle was filled with red, white and green streamers and Italian and ?? nations. Hawkers moved through the crowd in the sun, selling buttons that said “I'm Proud to be Italian” and “Kiss Mc, I'm Italian” and “Italian Power” for 50 cents each.
Supporters of the protest car ried such signs as “Italians Are Beautiful” and “25% of World War II Veterans were Italian Americans — Be Proud” and “There Are No Italo‐Americans on the Board of Education.” One roan in a gorilla costume held a placard that said: “F.B.I. is using gorilla tactics.”
Throughout the rally, which began at noon, the eight‐piece Bob Chevy Orchestra played “Neapolitan Tarantella,” “Vo lare,” “You've Cot to Change Your Evil Ways” and other tunes.
Although the crowd was overwhelmingly Italian‐Ameri can, it was not exclusively so. Steven Teilel, who is 13 years old, rireulated with an Italian ice in one hand and a placard reading “Jews of Flatlands Support Americans of Italian Descent.”
Thomas D. Carpenter, a bearded film worker, said he was attending out of curiousity and because he believed that “any generalization leads to discrimination.”
Representative Mario Biaggi, Democrat of the Bronx, noted that of 22 million Italian Americans in the United States, only 5,000 were involved in organized crime.
“That's better than the 99 and 44/100ths purity of Ivory Soap,” he said, continuing:
“Without a doubt, the F.B.I. and its director, J. Edgar Hoo ver, deserve the respect of us all. Let us not fall into the trap of employing for our own use that which we condemn. Because of the misconduct of few, let us not use a wide black brush on the F.B.I.—and let not the F.B.I. or any other law enforcement agency use the same brush on us.”
Former Controller Procaccino was loudly cheered by the crowd.
“Don't let anyone imagine that when looters, arsonists and bombers are being coddled and treated like heroes, we are go ing to stand by and permit the smearing and harassment of innocent people whose sole crime is that they are related, friends or neighbors, or just happen to he Italian‐American,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Aurelio, who represented Mayor Lindsay, was roundly booed at the men tion of the Mayor's name. His brief address was inaudible to the crowd. He was asked later if he had found the auspices of the meeting prejudicial.
“The only auspices that know of is a group of Italian Americans protesting against discrimination in the Italian American community,” he re plied.
Representative Powell was also heavily booed when he tried to speak, but his cries of, “Right on, right on” pierced the uproar. “This nation is for all, not just the Wasps,” he told the crowd.
“Anyone who doesn't under stand what America owes to Italy doesn't understand Amer ica,” said Representative Allard K. Lowenstein, Democrat of Nassau County, to loud cheers.
Anthony LaRosa, a 12‐year‐ old from Brooklyn, his head barely peering above the massed microphones, stilled the crowd with his address.
“I am a young Italian‐Ameri can boy who doesn't want to grow up labeled,” he said. “I want to grow up with my con stitutional rights, not to he harassed and discriminated against.”
John F. Malone, assistant di rector in charge of the New York division of the F.B.I., said late in the day that he would have no comment on the rally.
Two men were arrested near the F.B.I. building. The police identified them as Anthony Auciello, 32, of 1333 42d Street, Brooklyn, who was charged with harassment, and Vittorio Nuciforo, 28, of 526 Sixth Ave nue, Brooklyn, who was charged with obstructing Government administration, disorderly con duct and attempted escape.
Neither was being questioned in the stabbing of the police men, the police said.
A number of merchants, most of them not Italian, with shops in Italian areas complained anonymously of intimidation to close their businesses for the Italian‐American unity day.
The manager of a clothing store on Kings Highway in Brooklyn said two men came into his store last week and told him “it would he wise” if he closed. Yesterday, he said he opened his store as usual and about noon received an anonymous call that he would he “in a whole lot of trouble” if he didn't close.
“I closed,” the merchant said. “Everybody here did.”