Italian American History and Heroes

Peter Panto (1911-1939)

Peter Panto was a longshoreman working the Red Hook docks of Columbia St, Brooklyn when he led a rank-and-file revolt against the corrupt union leadership of Joseph Ryan and mafioso boss Albert Anastasia. On a hot July night, Panto was lured from his home & disappeared. The area's working people covered the walls and sidewalks with the simple phrase "Dov'è Peter Panto?" Arthur Miller's screenplay The Hook on Panto's life & death was never produced; I've always envisioned John Turturro in the leading role. Watch excerpts from the Calandra Institute's 2001 symposium on Panto.

 

 

 

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