Giuseppe Zangara | |
|---|---|
 Zangara in 1933 | |
| Born | (1900-09-07)September 7, 1900 Ferruzzano, Calabria, Italy |
| Died | March 20, 1933(1933-03-20) (aged 32) Florida State Prison, Florida, U.S. |
| Criminal status | Executed by electrocution |
| Convictions | First degree murder Attempted murder (4 counts) |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Date | February 15, 1933 |
| Locations | Miami,Florida, U.S. |
| Killed | 1 (Anton Cermak) |
| Injured | 4 |
| Weapon | .32-caliber revolver |
Giuseppe Zangara (September 7, 1900 – March 20, 1933) was an Italian immigrant and naturalized United States citizen whoattempted to assassinate thePresident-elect of the United States,Franklin D. Roosevelt, on February 15, 1933, 17 days before Roosevelt'sinauguration.[1] During a night speech by Roosevelt inMiami, Florida, Zangara fired five shots with a handgun he had purchased a couple of days before. He missed his target and instead killedAnton Cermak, theMayor of Chicago, and injured four bystanders.[2]
Zangara, who pled guilty and refused to appeal, was executed in Florida'selectric chair slightly over a month later.
Zangara was born on September 7, 1900, inFerruzzano,Calabria,Italy. After serving with theRoyal Italian Army in theTyrolean Alps duringWorld War I, he did a variety of menial jobs in his home village before emigrating with his uncle to the United States in 1923. He settled inPaterson, New Jersey, and became anaturalized citizen of the United States in 1929.
Zangara had little education and worked as abricklayer. He suffered severe pain in hisabdomen, which doctors told him was chronic and incurable. In 1926 he underwent anappendectomy, but it was no help; if anything, it may have made his pain worse. The doctors who performed hisautopsy attributed his abdominal pain toadhesions they found on hisgallbladder. In his prison memoir, Zangara himself attributed his pain to being forced to do grueling physical labor on his father's farm from an early age. He wrote that his pain began when he was six years old.[3]
Observers at the time and following his execution have discussed his mental state. Arguments have been made that Zangara wasmentally ill, incapable of distinguishing right from wrong, and ought to have had aninsanity defense presented on his behalf while others have contended that he was sane.[4][5]
On February 15, 1933, Roosevelt was giving an impromptu speech at night from the back of an open car in theBayfront Park area of Miami, Florida, where Zangara was working the occasional odd job and living off his savings. Zangara, armed with a.32-caliberUS Revolver Company[6] revolver he had bought for $8 (equivalent to $190 in 2024) at a local pawn shop, joined the crowd of spectators, but as he was only 5 feet (1.5 m) tall, he was unable to see over other people and had to stand on a wobbly bench, where Mrs. Lillian Cross was already standing for a better view. Zangara got on the bench to get a clear aim at his target from 25 feet away.[7]
Lillian Cross saw Zangara's pistol, quickly transferred her purse from right to left hand, and then pushed up and twisted Zangara's shooting arm. As he fired shots, Mrs. Cross reported that Zangara continually attempted to force her arm back down but she "wouldn't let go."[8] Five people were hit:[9] Mrs. Joseph H. Gill (seriously wounded in the abdomen);[10] Miss Margaret Kruis ofNewark, New Jersey, (minor wound in the hand and a scalp wound);[11][12][13] New York detective/bodyguardWilliam Sinnott (superficial head wound); Russell Caldwell of Miami (flesh wound on the forehead);[14] and Chicago MayorAnton Cermak, who was standing on the running board of the car next to Roosevelt. Mrs. Cross had powder burns on her right cheek.[15] A Secret Service agent, Bob Clark, had a grazed hand, possibly caused by the bullet that struck Cermak.[16] The intended target, Roosevelt, was unharmed.[citation needed]
Roosevelt cradled the mortally wounded Cermak in his arms as the car rushed to the hospital; after arriving there, Cermak spoke to Roosevelt and, before he died 19 days later, allegedly uttered the line that is engraved on his tomb: "I'm glad it was me, not you." TheTribune reported the quote without attributing it to a witness, and most scholars doubt it was ever said.[17]
Zangara confessed in theDade County Courthouse jail, stating: "I have the gun in my hand. I kill kings and presidents first and next allcapitalists." He pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to 80 years in prison. As he was led out of the courtroom, Zangara told the judge: "Four times 20 is 80. Oh, judge, don't be stingy. Give me a hundred years."[18]
Cermak died ofperitonitis 19 days later, on March 6, 1933, two days after Roosevelt'sinauguration. Zangara was promptly indicted forfirst-degree murder in Cermak's death.[19] Because Zangara had intended to commit murder, the fact that his intended target may not have been the man he ultimately killed was not relevant as he would still be guilty of first-degree murder under the doctrine oftransferred intent.[20] There were worries that Zangara's defense would argue that Cermak's death was not a result of his bullet injury. A theory, raised decades later, questioned whether Cermak's death was caused by medical malpractice on the part of the doctors treating him. It alleged that they failed to realize that the bullet had actually caused direct damage to his colon and precipitated the perforation. The perforation led to sepsis and his death but Cermak might not have died "but for [the] physicians' blunders".[21] This theory was refuted by a later medical analysis of the event.[22]
Zangara pleaded guilty to the additional murder charge and was sentenced to death by Circuit Court Judge Uly Thompson. Zangara said after hearing his sentence: "You give meelectric chair. I no afraid of that chair! You one of capitalists. You is crook man too. Put me in electric chair. I no care!"[23] Under Florida law, a convicted murderer could not share cell space with another prisoner before his execution, but another convicted murderer was already awaiting execution at Raiford. Zangara's sentence required prison officials to expand their waiting area for prisoners sentenced to death and the "death cell" became "Death Row".[20]
After spending only 10 days on death row, Zangara was executed on March 20, 1933, inOld Sparky, theelectric chair atFlorida State Prison inRaiford. Zangara became enraged when he learned nonewsreel cameras would be filming his final moments. His final statement was "Viva l'Italia! Goodbye to all poor peoples everywhere! ... Push the button! Go ahead, push the button!"[24][25]
While accounts focus on Cermak and the other victims being random casualties of an attempt to assassinate Roosevelt, a conspiracy theory emerged sometime before 1999,[26] originating in Chicago,[27] asserting that Zangara was a hired killer working forFrank Nitti, who was the head of theChicago Outfit crime syndicate. John William Tuohy, author of numerous books on organized crime in Chicago, after reviewing Secret Service records,[28] described in detail in a 2002 article his interpretation of how and why Cermak was the real target and the relationship of the shooting to the rampant gang violence in Chicago.[29] The theory is enhanced by numerous researchers, citing their analysis of court testimony, asserting that Cermak had directed an assassination attempt on Nitti less than three months earlier.[26][30]
The conspiracy theorists suggest that Zangara had been an expert marksman in theItalian Army 16 years earlier, who would presumably hit his target,[31] though they sidestep any issues about Zangara's health since his time in the war, his short stature requiring him to stand on a jostled chair, his experience being with a rifle rather than with a pistol from a great distance, and his own statements regarding his target.[citation needed]
Raymond Moley, who interviewed Zangara, believed he was not part of any larger conspiracy, and that he had intended to kill Roosevelt.[citation needed]
 | This articlemay containirrelevant references topopular culture. Please helpimprove it by removing such content and addingcitations toreliable,independent sources.(June 2025) |
In a 1960 two-part story line titled "The Unhired Assassin" on the TV seriesThe Untouchables, actorJoe Mantell played the part of Giuseppe "Joe" Zangara. This episode, while depicting Zangara's story throughout, focuses mostly on Nitti's plan to kill Cermak with an initial (fictionalized) attempt in Chicago that is foiled byEliot Ness and his agents at the end of part one. In part two, another attempt is made using a contract hitman, an ex-Army rifleman in Florida, which again fails thanks to Ness. Suddenly, Zangara's failed, and unrelated, obsession with killing Roosevelt unintentionally achieves Nitti's goal. This two-part story was later edited together as a feature-length movie retitledThe Gun of Zangara. In the 1993reboot ofThe Untouchables, the episode "Radical Solution" has actor David Engel portraying Zangara.
Zangara plays a significant role in the background provided forPhilip K. Dick's 1962 novelThe Man in the High Castle (as well as the subsequentAmazon original series). Thisalternate history novel, set after anAxis victory in World War II, bases thepoint of divergence on the premise that Zangara succeeded in assassinatingPresident-elect Roosevelt on February 15, 1933, in Miami. Eric Norden's 1973alternate history novelThe Ultimate Solution also uses thispoint of divergence. A similar Zangara-is-successful premise is used in theGURPS Alternate Earths role-playing game's "Reich 5" alternate universe.
Max Allan Collins' 1983 novelTrue Detective, first in his Nathan Heller mystery series, features Zangara's attempted assassination of Roosevelt, positing it as an actual attempt on Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. The novel won the 1984Shamus Award for Best P.I. Hardcover from the Private Eye Writers of America.[32]
In the original 1990Off-Broadway production ofAssassins byStephen Sondheim, Zangara was played byEddie Korbich.[33] In later productions, he was played by Paul Harrhy in London'sWest End (1992 premiere) and Jeffrey Kuhn onBroadway (2004 premiere). Appearing in several songs from the musical, the Zangara character has a major solo in the number "How I Saved Roosevelt".
In HBO's 1998 biopicWinchell, moments after the assassination attempt,Walter Winchell leaps onto therunning board of Miami's Police Chief's car, asking for an interview with Zangara, thereby getting at exclusive story for theNew York Daily Mirror.
The 2011 fantasy noir novelSpellbound byLarry Correia features Zangara's attempted assassination of Roosevelt. Zangara is magically enhanced in a plot to inflame bigotry and curtail the civil rights of the magically gifted protagonists of the Grimnoir Society. Instead of using a small-caliber handgun, Zangara is made into a living cannon or bomb and kills nearly 200 onlookers, including Cermak, and cripples Roosevelt.
Charlaine Harris'fantasy Western Gunnie Rose Series is set in a world in which Zangara succeeded in assassinating Roosevelt, and the United States fractured into several different successor states.[34]
Chicagoans don't believe in coincidences ... when coincidences involve Chicago politics and the Chicago Outfit
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