RIZZO UNO DI NOI T-Shirt

Everyone in nearby Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware knew of Rizzo’s whereabouts and achievements, even if they did not like his politics. Rizzo was born in 1920 and raised as a Republican in an Italian American community. He began serving in the Police Department in 1943, rising through the ranks from a new policeman up to Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner in the 1960s. During his rise through the senior leadership, he switched parties to become a Democrat as urban Republicanism in the Northeast declined. From the Civil War though the mid-1900s, Philadelphia had a strong Republican political machine, but its voters had not (and have not) elected a Republican mayor since 1948.