The home of a late Philadelphia mob boss has been nominated as a historical landmark and begs the question, 'What makes something historic?'
Angelo Bruno, who was known as the "Gentle Don" when he ran the city's Italian mob in the 1960s and 1970s, was gunned down outside the home in 1980.
The Philadelphia Daily News reports that Bruno's biographer sent the city's Historical Commission a landmark nomination for the rowhome.
The writer, Celeste Morello, said she nominated the three-bedroom home due to its significance in law enforcement history, saying Bruno's criminal activity helped shape federal laws and strategies for fighting organized crime.
"If Bruno didn't do things to make law enforcement notice him, I doubt that Philadelphia would have been one of the first organized-crime law enforcement units with a 'strike force' in the country," Morello told the Daily News
.
The commission is expected to take up the nomination next month.
"I assume it is our first historical property nomination related to Mafia history in Philadelphia. I can't think that there is another one," said Kim Broadbent, historic preservation planner on the staff of the Historical Commission. "It's certainly a unique story about Philadelphia's history that we don't typically come across at the office."
Original source: Associated Press
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