Freeholders Celebrate Italian-American Heritage Month

The Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders celebrated Italian Heritage Month during earlier this month at the Hall of Records.  The event was hosted by District 4 Freeholder Leonard Luciano of West Caldwell and District 5 Freeholder Brendan Gill of Montclair.  During the celebration of Italian culture and heritage, the board also honored the following individuals: Philip B. Alagia of Fairfield, Paul Alongi, Sr., of Bloomfield, and Angelo Di Federico of Newark.

“I have been raised and educated as an Italian American in Essex County to become a hard-working public employee, and I wouldn’t have it any other way”, said event co-sponsor Freeholder Luciano as he recounted his family’s history in Essex County.  He described his grandfather and namesake, Leonard Michael Luciano, who immigrated to the United States from Benevento, Italy, in 1901 at the age of 12 and soon thereafter settled in Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood where he married and started a family of 12 children before moving to Livingston in 1931, where he’d purchased farmland like his family owned back in Italy.  “My father, Leonard, Jr., was raised in Livingston and then taught in Newark for 40 years”, said Luciano, a Newark teacher himself, “and my cousin and other family members have served on the Newark Fire Department.”  “Their service, my family and our cultural tradition”, he continued, “have undoubtedly made me who I am today.”

Honoree Angelo Di Federico grew up in the Ironbound section of Newark’s East Ward where, as a youngster, he helped his father in the family business, Sonny’s Tailor Shop.  He graduated from East Side High School and then worked in the Office of the Essex County Sheriff for four years before assuming responsibility for the family business, where he worked for the next 25 years.  

Di Federico followed in the footsteps of his father, “Sonny”, to become very involved in East Ward politics and the Democratic Party, and has also served as an aide to Newark’s East Ward Councilman, Augusto Amador, for the last 14 years.

Paul Alongi, Sr., was born in Newark, graduated from Barringer High School, earned a B.A. from Rutgers University, served in the U. S. Army from 1955-56, earned his J.D. from Seton Hall Law School, and then practiced law for 25 years.  For the last 25 years, he has been the Operations Manager and Claims Manager for First Indemnity of America Insurance Company, as well as Vice President of the Holding Company, ABSCO Ltd. Corp.  He has served on the Bloomfield Board of Education, the New Jersey Commission of Investigations, and has also been a long-time leader in many community organizations, including: the Bloomfield Federation of Music and Civic Band, the Garden State Concert Band, St. Thomas the Apostle Parish and Finance Councils, Holy Name Society and Circle of Friends.  

Phil Alagia has served as County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo’s Chief of Staff since 2003.  He was born and raised in Newark’s North Ward, attended Montclair Immaculate High School and earned a degree in Accounting from Rutgers University.  He began his professional career at The North Ward Center in Newark, where he continues to serve on the Robert Treat Academy Board of Directors.