The Italian-American Civil Rights League (IACRL) was originally formed as a political advocacy group created in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in April 1970. William Santoro, a defense attorney that represented many

Colombo crime family The Colombo crime family (, ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was du ...

figures, was responsible for the legal work that incorporated the league. Its stated goal was to combat pejorative stereotypes about

Italian-Americans Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

, but in actuality, it operated as a public relations firm to deny the existence of the

American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its membe ...

and improve the image of mobsters.

History

In April 1970,

Joseph Colombo Joseph Anthony Colombo Sr. (; June 16, 1923 – May 22, 1978) was the boss of the Colombo crime family, one of the Five Families of the American Mafia in New York City. Colombo was born in New York City, where his father was an early member ...

created the Italian-American Civil Rights League, the month his son Joseph Colombo Jr. was charged with melting down coins for resale as silver ingots. In response, Joseph Colombo Sr. claimed FBI harassment of Italian Americans and, on April 30, 1970, sent 30 picketers outside FBI headquarters at Third Avenue and 69th Street to protest the federal persecution of all Italians everywhere; this went on for weeks. On June 29, 1970, 50,000 people attended the first Italian Unity Day rally in

Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South ( West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the so ...

. Footage of the 1970 rally appeared in the film ''Days of Fury'' (1979), directed by Fred Warshofsky and hosted by

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...

. In February 1971, Colombo Jr. was acquitted of the charge after the chief witness in the trial had been arrested on

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

charges. The group then turned its attention to what it perceived as cultural slights against Italian-Americans, using

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

threats to force

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and the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

to withdraw

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

s the league objected to. Another group success was that

U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

John Mitchell ordered the

U.S. Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United States ...

to stop using the word "

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

" in official documents and press releases. The league also secured an agreement from

Albert S. Ruddy Albert Stotland Ruddy (born March 28, 1930) is a Canadian-American film and television producer. He is known for producing ''The Godfather'' (1972) and '' Million Dollar Baby'' (2004), both of which won him the Academy Award for Best Picture, as ...

, the producer of ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, ...

'', to omit the terms "Mafia" and "

cosa nostra The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily a ...

" from the film's dialogue, and succeeded in having

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

stop selling a board game called ''The Godfather Game''. The League strong-armed merchants and residents in Little Italy to purchase and display league decals opposing the film. The League threatened to shut down the Teamsters, which included the truckers, drivers, and crew members who were essential to making the film. The IACRL boycotted the

because of its sponsorship of the television show ''

The F.B.I. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

'' and its negative references to Italian-Americans as gangsters. On June 28, 1971, at the second Italian Unity Day rally in

in Manhattan, Colombo was shot three times, once in the head, by Jerome A. Johnson; Johnson was immediately killed by Colombo's bodyguards. Colombo survived the shooting, but was paralyzed; Colombo died seven years later from cardiac arrest due to injuries sustained from the shooting. By the 2000s, the Italian-American Civil Rights League came to offer various youth and other programs.

References

External links

IACRL Official Website
chronicle of 1971 rally in Columbus Circle by the Italian-American Civil Rights League

History

References

External links

Further reading