Frank Rizzo

Francis Lazarro Rizzo (October 23, 1920 – July 16, 1991) was an American police officer and politician. He served as commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) from 1967 to 1971 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1972 to 1980. He was a member of the Democratic Party throughout the entirety of his career in public office. He switched to the Republican Party in 1986 and campaigned as a Republican for the final five years of his life.

Rizzo was born to an Italian-American family in South Philadelphia, and joined the Philadelphia Police Department as an officer in 1943. He rose to public prominence as police commissioner, before seeking the mayor's office in 1971. He was re-elected in 1975.

A polarizing figure during his lifetime, Rizzo's legacy has come under greater scrutiny in the years since his death due to the prevalence of racism and brutality within the Philadelphia Police Department. Before, during, and after Rizzo's tenure as police commissioner, the PPD engaged in patterns of police misconduct, in particular toward members of the black community. The patterns of police brutality were documented in a Pulitzer Prize-winning Philadelphia Inquirer series by William K. Marimow and Jon Neuman in 1977. As mayor, Rizzo, like many of his contemporaries, was opposed to the construction of public housing in established neighborhoods, most of which at the time housed majority-white populations.

Rizzo was barred from running for a third consecutive term as mayor by Philadelphia's city charter. He 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". He unsuccessfully ran for another term in 1983 and 1987. In 1991, he sought the mayoralty again, but died during the election campaign. Rizzo became the subject of multiple memorials throughout Philadelphia, including a statue in Center City. It was removed in 2020, amid the George Floyd protests against police brutality.

Rizzo was born in Philadelphia, where his father Rafael was a police officer. He grew up in a South Philadelphia row house neighborhood. During his senior year he dropped out of Southern High School; he later earned a high school equivalency diploma and took government courses at the Fels Institute of Government.

Enlisting in the United States Navy, Rizzo served on the USS Houston cruiser for 19 months before being medically discharged due to diabetes insipidus. Returning to Philadelphia, Rizzo worked for Midvale Steel, helping manufacture naval guns in the lead-up to World War II. In 1942, Rizzo married Carmella Silvestri, and they had a son and a daughter. Their son, Frank Rizzo Jr., was a Republican member of the Philadelphia City Council from 1996 to 2012.

Rizzo joined the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) in 1943, rising through the ranks to become captain of the 19th district. In 1967, Rizzo was appointed commissioner by Mayor James Tate. Through various challenges, racial divisions in particular, facing the city, Tate continued to support Rizzo as police commissioner. He was boisterous and brooding, particularly to media. A biography of Rizzo, with an introduction written by future police commissioner John Timoney, recounted: "Of one group of anti-police demonstrators, he is reported to have said, 'Just wait: After November, you'll have a front row seat because when I'm finished with them, I'll make Attila the Hun look like a faggot.'" A reporter who covered the Rizzo years, Andrea Mitchell, recounted routinely brutish behavior at the force as part of a broad pattern of Rizzo bravado.

Rizzo resigned as commissioner in 1971 to run for mayor.