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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, including a blistering rebuke from Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino.
“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. His opposition to U.S. involvement in the Korean War and his legal work for the Communist Party drew FBI attention, the bureau kept files on him during the Cold War.
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Paladino called Marcantonio an “obscure Italian-American communist” and accused Mamdani of promoting communist propaganda.
“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.
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She urged Mamdani to stop invoking his Italian heritage, saying he was “physically incapable of being anything other than a loathsome propagandist for communism.”
Paladino contrasted the mayor’s message with her family’s history. She said 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.
“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.”
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference to announce a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s new public charge rule, which could make it harder for immigrants to obtain green cards if they rely on public benefits, at City Hall in New York City on Sept. 14, 2026. (ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images)
Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.