Those organizing against the Muslim Socialist frontrunner of New York City Mayor said they came out because he flipped off a Columbus statue. In the end, that was just an excuse, and the opposition knew it!

A recent Zenith Research and Public Progress Solutions poll shows that no candidate running in the general race for the New York City mayor has a real shot at beating the Democratic Party primary winner, Queens Assemblyperson Zohran Mamdani. Even a coalition of rivals statistically are highly unlikely to defeat the Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) affiliated Mamdani.

Still, centrist Democrats in New York City and the surrounding metro area appear to be challenging Mamdani’s nomination over his leftist stances and alliance with the DSA. Some centrist party members are even going as far as running as independents, a cohort that includes Andrew Cuomo and the incumbent Eric Adams.

Yet on July 21, the Democrats were not the problem, Republicans and other conservatives held a rally outside New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani’s office in Astoria, Queens, accusing him of bias against Italian Americans. The accusation stems from a photo Mamdani tweeted five years ago on X (formerly Twitter) showing him making an obscene gesture at a statue of Christopher Columbus, located a block from his office.

“Zohran has TRUE HATRED for the Italian American community. It’s a disgrace,” said Mike Crispi in a tweet on July 6, saying his group, the Italian American Civil Rights League (IACRL), condemns Mamdani. “WE built this city, not his rich Ugandan relatives. He will never have our support, and he’ll never become Mayor.”

The rally organizers and participants, however, have been called out owing to their bigotry against other groups in the city.

At least 100 people joined the IACRL at the rally including American Brotherhood, a motorcycle club. America First’s New York chapter also joined, to promote its Mayoral candidate, Guardian Angel founder Curtis Sliwa. Sliwa, the Republican nominee for the general, lost the 2021 Mayoral race to Eric Adams.

Gerard Marrone of the Italian American Civil Rights League addresses (in the blue scarf) his group, telling everyone, “We will not be erased!” We have heard some similar about eight ago…

One participant passed out anti-socialist pamphlets published by the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. A cultish Catholic group that the Southern Poverty Law Center has listed as a hate group for its attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.

“We are not here because of a statue, ladies and gentlemen. We’re here because of a symbol, a symbol of Italian pride, our ancestry. We will not be erased,” Gerard Marrone of the IACRL told the crowd, recalling the “You will not the replace us!” refrain from the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia eight years ago. “

Across the street, a crowd of Mandani’s supporters of equal size shouted down the IACRL crowd. It held signs denouncing the group and unfurled flags of the Arditi de Popolo, a group founded in 1921. One of the first anti-fascist groups formed in Italy, it was created to denounce the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Folks came out to face off with the fash across the street.

This guy was from the anti-Mandami crowd, but didn’t realized he was in among his supporters who gave him this sign. We assured him that he was still being true to his Italian heritage by holding an antifascist placard.

Much of the anger towards the IACRL came from the feeling that they indeed were the ones insulting the legacy of Italians with their hate politics.

Crackhead Barney, a performance artist known for political trolling, joined them in a barb against the IACRL. When the rally dispersed, the Mamdani supporters began to play “Bella Ciao,” long regarded as an antifascist anthem, as Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”

The original Italian American Civil Rights League was founded in April 1970 by Joseph Colombo, then-head of the Colombo crime family. While its publicly stated goal was combating pejorative stereotypes about Italian Americans, its underlying mission was to defend the American Mafia and improve the image of mobsters. Colombo was shot and paralyzed just over a year later, dying from his injuries seven years after the attack.

In 1974, a separate organization named the Italian American Civil Rights League and Canarsie Inc. was formed. This group presented itself as a more civic-minded, multicultural organization focused on community services.

A new group using the name Italian American Civil Rights League (IACRL) was established in 2023 by Mike Crispi and attorney Gerard Marrone. Crispi has stated he was a New Jersey delegate for Donald Trump in the 2024 election and was an unsuccessful Republican primary candidate for Morris County freeholder in 2017 and for Congress in 2022. Trump advisor Roger Stone promoted the organization.

Much of this newer IACRL’s advocacy has centered on preserving tributes to explorer Christopher Columbus. Crispi tweeted, “Denying that Christopher Columbus founded America in 1492 is the ultimate form of anti-Italian racism.” This assertion disregards the historical fact that Columbus never set foot on land that became the continental United States, which was established 284 years later in 1776. The group’s advocacy for Italian culture and Columbus has frequently included attacks on other groups, notably Black Americans, including criticism of Black Lives Matter and Juneteenth.

Despite Roger Stone stating in 2023 that this was a new organization with no apparent connection to the original IACRL, Marrone claimed at a rally that they were the original 1970 group. He cited the involvement of Anthony Colombo, Joseph Colombo’s grandson.

Meanwhile, Frank J. Spotorno, an organizer and member of the 2023 IACRL, dismissed the long-established Canarsie group: “It’s a phony group. Where are they… They haven’t been around.” Last year, the Italian American Civil Rights League and Canarsie Inc. explicitly denied any association with the newer Italian American Civil Rights League, Inc. The Canarsie group stated it does not comment on political matters, identifying itself as “a charitable, local, community-based provider concerning itself with youth employment, after-school programming, summer camp, etc.”

The General Election for mayor of New York City is scheduled for November 4, 2025.

Curtis Sliva’s campaign drove this truck around the block a few times at the end of the rally.

25 Years of Hate Having Consequences !

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