1. Early years

2. Police

3. Lawyer at age 49

4. Elected to Congress

5. 1973 mayoral campaign

6. Corruption convictions

7. Later life and death

8. Notes

9. References

10. External links

Early years

Biaggi was born in East Harlem, New York, on 26 October 1917, to poor Italian immigrants from Piacenza^[2] in northern Italy. His father, Salvatore Biaggi, was a marble setter. His mother, Mary, worked as a charwoman.

At age 18, Biaggi became a substitute letter carrier for the U.S. Post Office. Later, he became a regular letter carrier; his mail route included the home of one of his heroes, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. He served nearly six years with the Post Office and, in a preview of things to come, became an activist in Branch 36 of the National Letter Carriers Association.

Police

In 1942, Biaggi joined the New York City Police Department. His police career spanned 23 years. He was wounded 11 times and received dozens of citations for valor, becoming one of the NYPD's most decorated officers.^[3]

Among his many exploits was the rescue of a woman on a runaway horse, which injured him, causing a permanent limp.^[4] He retired from the Department in 1965, with the rank of Detective Lieutenant.

Lawyer at age 49

At the age of 45 and near the end of his police career, Biaggi entered law school. The American Bar Association granted him a special dispensation to study law even though Biaggi did not have an undergraduate college degree.^[5]

Biaggi attended New York Law School, and received a full scholarship thanks to Dean Daniel Gutman. Studying days, nights and weekends, Biaggi completed the three-year law degree program in only two and one-half years. In 1966, at the age of 49, he was admitted to the New York Bar and founded the law firm Biaggi and Ehrlich.

Elected to Congress

In 1968, the 24th District seat in the U.S. House became open when 8-term Republican incumbent Paul Fino resigned to become a New York Supreme Court Justice. Biaggi ran as a Democrat, and won easily, with 60.5% of the vote in what had been a traditional Bronx Republican stronghold.

He was easily re-elected in 1970. From 1972 onward, he was nominated by the Republicans as well, and was effectively unopposed. In 1968, 1970, and 1972, he also got the Conservative nomination, but this support ended after his abortive run for mayor in 1973. From 1978 onward he got the Liberal nomination. {{Citation needed|date=April 2013}}

In the redistricting after the 1970 census, Biaggi's district was renumbered the 10th, and included part of Queens. In the redistricting after the 1980 census, his district was renumbered the 19th, and included part of suburban Westchester County. {{Citation needed|date=April 2013}}

In 1975 Biaggi introduced a joint resolution of Congress, Public Law 94-479, to posthumously promote George Washington to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States and restore Washington's position as the highest-ranking military officer in U.S. history.^[6] This was passed on January 19, 1976, approved by President Gerald Ford on October 11, 1976, and formalized in Department of the Army Order 31-3 of March 13, 1978, with an effective appointment date of July 4, 1976, the United States Bicentennial. {{Citation needed|date=April 2013}}

Biaggi was a leader in the effort to ban "cop killer" bullets.^[7]

1973 mayoral campaign

In 1973, he declared his candidacy for Mayor of New York City. He entered the Democratic primary, and also sought the Conservative nomination. Biaggi was a fairly conservative Democrat by New York City standards, and had received the Conservative nomination for Representative three times. Conservative Party leaders supported him and planned to make him their nominee regardless of whether he received the Democratic line. Biaggi lost the Democratic primary, but ran in the general election on the Conservative Party ballot line. He finished in fourth place and received 10.96% of the vote.^[8]

Corruption convictions

In 1987 Biaggi was charged with corrupt actions. He had accepted free vacations from former Brooklyn Democratic leader Meade Esposito in exchange for using his influence to help a ship-repair company that was a major client of Esposito's insurance agency. He was convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity and obstruction of justice, sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, and fined $500,000.^[9] The House Ethics Committee recommended that Biaggi be expelled — the most severe penalty.^[10]

In 1988, Biaggi was charged in the Wedtech scandal of having accepted bribes for assisting Wedtech in getting Federal procurement contracts.^[11] He was convicted of 15 counts of obstruction of justice and accepting illegal gratuities. He was sentenced to eight years in federal prison.

Biaggi, who was about to be expelled from the House, then resigned his seat. Since primary election petitions were already filed, Biaggi remained on the ballot for the Democratic and Republican nominations in the 19th District. He did not campaign, and lost the Democratic primary to then-Assemblyman Eliot Engel. Although the 19th District was still relatively conservative at the time, Bronx Republican Chairman and State Senator Guy Velella chose not to field another candidate to run for the seat and left Biaggi on the ballot. In the general election, Engel easily defeated Biaggi.

Later life and death

Biaggi was released in 1991 by the sentencing judge on the grounds of ill health (heart problems, arthritis, broken bones from four falls in prison). In 1992, Biaggi attempted a political comeback. He sought his old seat in Congress, challenging his successor, Engel, in the Democratic primary.^[12] Biaggi claimed that many of his former constituents asked him to run, and that Engel had a poor record on constituent service. Despite the enthusiasm of some of his supporters, Biaggi raised little money. Engel, who raised more money and cited Biaggi's criminal convictions, won easily. After the election, the Bronx News reported that some of Biaggi's former constituents wanted to vote for him but could not. In the redistricting after the 1990 census, parts of Biaggi's old district (Throggs Neck and Morris Park) had been shifted to other districts.

Biaggi died at his home in The Bronx, New York on June 24, 2015, at the age of 97.^[2]

Biaggi's granddaughter Alessandra represents the 34th district of the New York State Senate.

Notes

References

• {{cite book |last = Roth |first = Mitchel P. |title = Historical Dictionary of Law Enforcement |publisher = Greenwood Press |year = 2001 |isbn = 0-313-30560-9 }}
• {{cite book |last = Trager |first = James |title = The New York Chronology: The Ultimate Compendium of Events, People, and Anecdotes from the Dutch to the Present |publisher = HarperCollins |year = 2003 |isbn = 0-06-052341-7 }}

External links

• {{Congbio|B000432}}
• {{C-SPAN|mariobiaggi}}

  state=New York |  district=24 |  before=Paul A. Fino |  after= Ogden R. Reid |  years=1969–1973

  state=New York |  district=10 |  before=Emanuel Celler |  after= Charles E. Schumer |  years=1973–1983

  state=New York |  district=19 |  before=Charles B. Rangel |  after= Eliot L. Engel |  years=January 3, 1983 – August 5, 1988

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