He was born on August 31, 1895, in Alcamo, Sicily, Italy.Copy of death certificate at Together We Served In 1906, when he was only eleven years old, his family moved to Brooklyn on the ship Sicllian Prince. In 1909 he won a scholarship to Brooklyn Prep and, some years later, he got a scholarship for a full course at St. St. Francis Xavier College,http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%205/Brooklyn%20NY%20Daily%20Eagle/Brooklyn%20NY%20Daily%20Eagle%201943%20Grayscale/Brooklyn%20NY%20Daily%20Eagle%201943%20Grayscale%20-%200612.pdf where he graduated magna cum laude.
