39 Facts About Frank Rizzo

Francis Lazarro Rizzo was an American police officer and politician.

Frank Rizzo served as commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department from 1967 to 1971 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1972 to 1980.

Frank Rizzo was a member of the Democratic Party throughout the entirety of his career in public office.

Frank Rizzo switched to the Republican Party in 1986 and campaigned as a Republican for the final five years of his life.

Frank Rizzo was born to an Italian-American family in South Philadelphia, and joined the Philadelphia Police Department as an officer in 1943.

Frank Rizzo rose to public prominence as police commissioner, before seeking the mayor's office in 1971.

Frank Rizzo attempted to vote in a charter change to allow him to attempt a run for reelection but was soundly defeated after urging supporters to "vote white", which he later admitted was "a poor choice of words".

Frank Rizzo unsuccessfully ran for another term in 1983 and 1987.

Frank Rizzo became the subject of multiple memorials throughout Philadelphia, including a statue in Center City.

Frank Rizzo was born in Philadelphia, where his father Rafael was a police officer.

Frank Rizzo grew up in a South Philadelphia row house neighborhood.

In 1942, Frank Rizzo married Carmella Silvestri, and they had a son and a daughter.

Frank Rizzo joined the Philadelphia Police Department in 1943, rising through the ranks to become captain of the 19th district.

In 1967, Frank Rizzo was appointed commissioner by Mayor James Tate.

Frank Rizzo resigned as commissioner in 1971 to run for mayor.

One of the force's most widely publicized actions under Frank Rizzo was raiding the Philadelphia offices of the Black Panther Party on August 31,1970, one week before the Panthers planned to convene a "People's Revolutionary Convention" at Temple University.

When members of the group refused entrance to city inspectors, Frank Rizzo evicted them through armed police action.

Frank Rizzo then defeated Green and Williams in the Democratic primary.

Unlike his opponents, Frank Rizzo did not issue campaign position papers; he thought his slogan, "firm but fair," sufficiently explained his expected role.

Little animosity existed between the two candidates, and when Frank Rizzo died suddenly during a later mayoral campaign in 1991, Longstreth wept.

Frank Rizzo was not without adversaries, even at the start of his first term.

Grateful for the positive publicity local media had given him as police commissioner, Frank Rizzo awarded jobs to two dozen local reporters.

Frank Rizzo held frequent press conferences in which he discussed matters in colorful and often bombastic language.

The scandal ended any hope Frank Rizzo had of becoming governor.

Frank Rizzo discontinued his press conferences for nearly two years and attempted to rebuild his public support by appealing directly to voters.

Frank Rizzo's allies counterattacked by challenging the validity of the signatures as well as the recall procedure itself.

Frank Rizzo was named in a protracted court battle over Whitman Park, a bitterly contested public housing project in South Philadelphia.

In 1980, Frank Rizzo vandalized an NBC KYW-TV camera while they were stationed in a van outside his house in Chestnut Hill.

Frank Rizzo was surrounded by several police officers who did nothing to restrain him.

When KYW reporter Stan Bohrman tried to interview him later over the incident, Frank Rizzo offered to fight him and repeatedly called him a "crumb bum" and a "crumb creep lush coward".

Frank Rizzo ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for mayor in 1983, losing to Wilson Goode, who in turn won the mayoral election.

Frank Rizzo won the Republican primary against former Philadelphia District Attorney Ronald D Castille.

Frank Rizzo's funeral was purported to be the largest in the history of Philadelphia, with people lining the streets of the motorcade from the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul to the cemetery.

Frank Rizzo was interred at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania.

The treatment of these communities under Mr Frank Rizzo's leadership was among the worst periods in Philadelphia's history.

Frank Rizzo was portrayed in The Thin Blue Lie by Paul Sorvino, The Irishman by Gino Cafarelli and The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer by Louis Di Bianco.

Frank Rizzo is the model and inspiration behind the Jerry Carlucci character in the Badge of Honor book series.

The Cop Who Would Be King, by Philadelphia Bulletin journalists Joseph R Daughen and Peter Binzen, is widely considered the most authoritative account of Frank Rizzo's rise to power.

In 1993, sports journalist Sal Paolantonio wrote a book about Frank Rizzo entitled Frank Rizzo: The Last Big Man In Big City America.