Councilwoman Slams Mamdani for Promoting Communist Legacy in Italian Heritage Tribute

Clear Facts

• Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a tribute during Italian Heritage Month honoring former Congressman Vito Marcantonio, who had documented ties to the Communist Party.
• Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino publicly condemned the post, calling Marcantonio an “obscure Italian-American communist” and accusing Mamdani of spreading communist propaganda.
• Paladino emphasized traditional American values, noting her father’s service in World War II against Mussolini’s forces and her family’s pride in assimilating as Americans.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Italian Heritage Month tribute to a left-wing congressman with ties to the Communist Party drew sharp criticism on social media.

Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino issued a blistering rebuke of the mayor’s message.

“Happy Italian Heritage Month, New York. Here’s continuing to fight for Vito Marcantonio’s vision of a government that works for all working people,” Mamdani wrote on X.

Marcantonio represented East Harlem in Congress for seven terms, first as a Republican and later as a member of the left-wing American Labor Party.

“Of all the great men and women of Italian descent who’ve contributed to New York City and the United States, this is the idiot he picks,” Paladino wrote on X.

His opposition to U.S. involvement in the Korean War and his legal work for the Communist Party drew FBI attention during the Cold War.

Paladino called Marcantonio an “obscure Italian-American communist” and accused Mamdani of promoting communist propaganda.

She urged Mamdani to stop invoking his Italian heritage.

“We wanted to become Americans, and our people were proud to learn the language and wave the American flag,” she wrote. “That’s what being an Italian-American in New York means,” Paladino added. “Not the communist propaganda Zohran is pushing here.”

Paladino contrasted the mayor’s message with her family’s history.

Her father fought in World War II against Italian forces under Benito Mussolini, while her mother raised five children on her own and worked in a button factory.

Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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