The Assassination of Lieutenant Joe Petrosino: A Contested Symbol in the Mainstream and Italian-American Press in the Early 20th Century

Recently, scholars have looked at the ethnic press through a social constructionist lens, examining process which immigrants developed sense of identity and role print culture in forming “imagined communities” (Anderson). Here, I analyze coverage 1909 assassination police Lieutenant Petrosino both mainstream Italian-American popular culture. This shocking event ignited debate over nature origin Mafia dangerousness Italian community, involving discourses racial difference, immigration restriction, capability Italians to assimilate. became an important arena defined themselves their place America. were represented predominantly context criminality, so immigrant writers constructed own counter-representations newspapers, re-coding stereotypes negotiating collective identity. In press, contested symbol: on one hand, rhetoric inclusiveness American melting pot and, other, possibility redemption from discredit that actions small minority threw whole community.