Washington - August 10 - (Italia Estera) - The pivotal role that Italian Americans have played since the 19th century in enforcing the law is the subject of a new study from the Commission for Social Justice (CSJ), the anti-defamation arm of the Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA), the oldest and largest Italian American organization in the United States.

Italian American Crime Fighters: A Brief Survey tracks Italian American men and women at federal, state and local levels, working as police officers, detectives, criminal prosecutors, district attorneys, U.S. attorney generals and federal judges. The 2005 report is an expanded update of the CSJ's 2004 study.

Among those featured are the respected lawman and presidential body guard Richard Hart, who was Al Capone's brother; Charles Bonaparte, the founder of the FBI and Nancy Jardini, the IRS's "top cop."

A new section of the report profiles Italian American undercover agents who risk their lives infiltrating crime networks.

These include Joseph Pistone who went undercover as "Donnie Brasco;" David Toma who was the real-life "Baretta" of the famous TV series; and Frank Serpico who blew the whistle on police corruption in the 1970s.

The report includes such little-known statistics as the fact that:

· Four of every ten New York City police officers are of Italian descent;

· Only 5% of the 477 criminals on the FBI's Most Wanted List have been Italian American.

· The U. S. Department of Justice estimates less than .0025 or one-quarter of one percent of today's estimated 26 million Italian Americans are involved in criminal activities.


"What astonishes us is the fact that despite an impressive, century-old record of law enforcement, Italian Americans are routinely depicted as thugs and crime bosses instead of detectives and police officers on nearly all prime time police dramas on both broadcast and cable television," says CSJ President Albert DeNapoli, Esq.

"These crime-slanted portrayals reveal the ethnic profiling of Italian Americans rampant in the U.S. entertainment industry today despite the factual evidence to the contrary that this report dramatically documents," he says.

Italian American Crime Fighters: A Brief Survey can be downloaded at www.osia.org at "Studies in Culture" or Click Here .