On the day of October 23, 1920, the Italian Americans of South Philadelphia were very lucky , they got a guy who would lead the Italians to a better life. From being a police coumisoner to being mayor, Frank Rizzo, everybody loved him. Mr. Rizzo was one of those seemingly larger-than-life figures, destined to be hero to some and villain to others. One view was that the former Police Commissioner and two-term Mayor was the last bastion against threats to middle-class residents of the city's row-house neighborhoods. The other view was that Mr. Rizzo was a barely educated former police officer who used a hard line on crime and tactics bordering on the dictatorial to suppress opposition and keep blacks out of middle-class neighborhoods. 'Tough Cop' Image. That he was a "tough cop" an appellation that particularly pleased him no one debates. One night during the upheavals of the 1960's, Commissioner Rizzo left a black-tie affair, tucked a nightstick in his cummerbund, and led what he called "my men, my army" to break up a riot.
