italianamerican

Antonio Vachris (c1867-1944) was an Italian-American police officer on Coney Island, head of the Italian Branch of the Detective Bureau; he was famous for his role in solving a mob-related kidnapping case (in which six-year-old Michael Scimeca was held captive for 90 days in 1910). His predecessor, Lieutenant Petrosino, was murdered in Sicily in 1909, and Vachris had to go to Palermo to get "Petrosino's list," a list of hundreds of Italian criminals operating in the US. Vachris was also involved in policing adult entertainment on Coney Island. www.onewal.com/a015/f_italsquadp03.html

pennylrichardsca: It does seem likely this is the same fellow. We'll include his full name in the description next time we update.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vachris

These fotos are beautiful! Its so nice to see a piece of back then

Must be 1913-1914 trying to beat Edward Payson Weston's record for the same walk. In 1909 Weston walked 4,000 miles, from New York, New York to San Francisco, California, in 100 days.

There appear to be three of them, probably Italian-American "favorite sons." The crowd is posed before an Italian-American fraternal hall, and the boys are hawking copies of an Italian-language newspaper, "Il Telegrafo."

Another Bain/LOC photo of the Frisco Walkers, this time identified by surnames: Farina, Zanolini and Conti. -----

Wystan: Thanks for pointing out the related image with their names. We'll add these to the record next time we update.

The "NY - Frisco Walkers" again: a Bain/LOC photo, posted on Flickr on November 12, 2010: