Editing Vincent R. Impellitteri (section)

==Mayor of New York City==
On August 31, 1950, O'Dwyer, pursued by both federal and state investigators, was suddenly appointed by President [[Harry S. Truman]] as [[United States ambassador to Mexico]], where he would be beyond the reach of officials who wanted his public testimony in several matters on which he preferred not to speak. Under the City Charter of the era, City Council President Impellitteri became acting mayor upon O'Dwyer's resignation. The [[Tammany Hall]] bosses determined that Impellitteri was unsuitable for the role and refused to nominate him as the Democratic candidate for the special election in November 1950; instead, highly regarded [[New York State Supreme Court]] Judge [[Ferdinand Pecora]], who was also given the [[Liberal Party of New York|Liberal Party]] line, ran as the nominee. Impellitteri ignored the machine and ran independently under the new "Experience Party" banner. He also popularized the slogan "unbought and unbossed" during his 1950 campaign.<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date=October 30, 1950 |title=Impellitteri Cited as 'Unbossed' Man |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/10/30/archives/impellitteri-cited-as-unbossed-man-deputy-mayor-and-campaign.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York, NY |page=17 |via=[[TimesMachine]]}}</ref>

Impellitteri was the first mayor since the consolidation of greater New York in 1898 who was elected without a major party's ballot line, and his election was a populist uprising against the political system.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} The results were:

* Vincent Impellitteri (Experience Party) 1,161,175 votes
* [[Ferdinand Pecora]] (Democratic/Liberal) 935,351
* Edward Corsi (Republican) 382,372
* Paul L. Ross (American Labor) 147,578

{{further|New York City mayoral elections#1950}}

Impellitteri's inauguration, held on November 14, 1950, absent either a band or a platform, was swift and straightforward. Outside City Hall, he pledged to "do my level best to justify the confidence you have reposed in me."{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Shortly after Impellitteri's succession, the [[Kings County District Attorney]] arrested bookmaker Harry Gross in September 1950 as part of a corruption investigation that caused nearly 500 police officers of all ranks to resign, retire, or be fired. Impellitteri opposed the corruption, vigorously supporting the Brooklyn District Attorney, Miles McDonald, and firing anyone in his administration associated with former Mayor [[William O'Dwyer]].<ref>{{cite thesis |last=McCarthy |first=Kevin |date=2016 |title=Cops in Court: Assessing the Criminal Prosecutions of Police in Six Major Scandals in the New York City Police Department from 1894 to 1994 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1767788718 |degree=Doctor of Philosophy |chapter=Chapter 6: The Harry Gross-Era Scandal |publisher=City University of New York |oclc=10017975 |access-date=20 December 2023|id={{ProQuest|1767788718}} }}</ref>

[[File:D782-024 (41048586602).jpg|thumb|Impellitteri on visit to car factory, [[Haifa]] 1952]]
Impellitteri is credited with trying to rein in the budget, raising the bus and subway fare to fifteen cents, establishing parking meters on city streets for enhanced revenue, and increasing the sales tax. He aspired to be a new light in city politics, but his administration met with some resistance from the established order. At the time, [[Robert Moses]] wielded significant influence; according to [[Robert Caro]] (in his Moses biography ''[[The Power Broker]]''), Impellitteri deferred to Moses on all matters of appointments and policy and is described as a puppet on Robert Moses' strings.<ref name="caro" /> The Italian author [[Carlo Levi]] documented the mayor's 1950 visit to his birthplace in Sicily. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Levi |first1=Carlo |author-link1=Carlo Levi |title=Words Are Stones: Impressions of Sicily |date=1958 |publisher=Farrar, Strass & Cudahy  |location=New York  |isbn=9781843914044 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YnkiAQAAIAAJ}} (Translation by Angus Davidson of ''Le Parole Sono Pietre: Tre Giornate in Sicilia'', 1955.)</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scambray |first1=Ken |title=Words are Stone: Impressions of Sicily by Carlo Levi |journal=L'Italo-Americano |date=August 31, 2017 |url=https://italoamericano.org/story/2017-8-31/impressions-sicily |access-date=April 17, 2020 |archive-date=December 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231210619/https://italoamericano.org/story/2017-8-31/impressions-sicily |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Impellitteri ran for a full term in 1953.  He was defeated in the Democratic primary by then [[Manhattan Borough President]] [[Robert F. Wagner, Jr.]] Although [[New York City Comptroller]] [[Lazarus Joseph]] usually sided in the [[New York City Board of Estimate]] with Impellitteri during the latter's term in office, Joseph supported Wagner for the Democratic nomination.<ref>{{cite news |last=Egan |first=Leo |date=September 10, 1953 |title=Joseph to Support Wagner In Primary As A 'Sure' Winner |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/09/10/archives/joseph-to-support-wagner-in-primary-as-a-sure-winner-controller.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York, NY |page=1 |via=[[TimesMachine]]}}</ref>