** not so FAMOUS ITALIANS **

Italians/Italian-Americans The man who captured Billy the Kid was Angelo "Charlie" Siringo, a famous Pinkerton detective who also pursued Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

The man who invented the suburban shopping mall was Edward J. DeBartolo, the son of Italian immigrants, who worked his way up from construction jobs when he was 13 years old in 1922 to become a successful real estate developer who built the first American shopping plazas in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

The only man in U.S. history to win the country's two highest military honors -- the Navy Cross and the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor -- was John Basilone, a U.S. marine who died during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.

The Planter's Peanut Company and its familiar logo, Mr. Peanut, were created by the Italian American businessmen Amedeo Obici and Mario Peruzzi in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in 1908.

Two of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Italian descent: Maryland's William Paca and Delaware's Caesar Rodney.

During the Civil War, the 39th New York Infantry consisted of 830 Italian Americans, known as "the Garibaldi Guard," who fought in the Union Army from Bull Run to Appomattox. Two Italian Americans also were Union generals: Brigadier General Francis Spinola and General Luigi Palma di Cesnola.

"Chattanooga Choo-choo," "Shuffle Off to Buffalo," "Lullaby of Broadway," and "An Affair to Remember" were written by Harry Warren, a Brooklyn-born composer whose real name was Salvatore Guaragna.

The first American to be named a saint was the Italian American nun, Mother Frances Cabrini, who was canonized in 1946.

"Rosie the Riveter," who became a symbol of American women who took their men's places in factories during World War II was Rosie Bonavita.

The ice cream cone was invented in 1896 by Italo Marcioni in New Jersey.

NY Gov. George Pataki, Susan Sarandon and Bruce Springsteen are Italian Americans.

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Roy Campanella and Franco Harris are Italian Americans.

Two Italian Americans were with Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn:
John Martini, a trumpeter, and Lieutenant Charles C. De Rudio. Both survived the massacre.

Hank Luisetti - invented the one-handed layup in basketball .

Andy Varipapa - one of the world's best bowlers and two-time winner of the all-star individual math game championship

According to this site http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1978/2/78.02.06.x.html#l 
The earliest known Italian inhabitant of New Haven was William Diodate, who lived here from 1717 to 1751. He was of noble lineage and his ancestors included a well-known theologian. His granddaughter married John Griswold, the son of Connecticut’s first governor.