Mario Biaggi (October 26, 1917 – June 24, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, and police officer. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York from 1969 to 1988. Prior to his political career, Biaggi became one of the most decorated officers in NYPD history; he killed two criminals who attacked him and was injured 11 times in the line of duty. He then became an attorney at 49 years of age. First elected a U.S. Representative as a Democrat from the Bronx in 1968, Biaggi was subsequently re-elected nine times, seven times with more than 90% of the vote. In 1987 and 1988, he was convicted in two trials of receipt of unlawful gratuities, and, facing the prospect of expulsion from the House, he resigned from Congress in 1988. Early life Biaggi was born in a tenement on East 106th Street in East Harlem in Upper Manhattan, New York City, New York to poor Italian immigrants from Piacenza in Northern Italy. His father, Salvatore Biaggi, was a marble setter. His mother, Mary (née Campari), worked as a charwoman. He had two younger brothers. Biaggi graduated from P.S. 171 in East Harlem. Subsequently, in 1934 during the height of the Depression, he graduated from Haaren High School in Manhattan. In 1940 he married Marie Wassil (who died in 1997), and they moved to the Bronx and had two daughters, Barbara and Jacqueline, and two sons, Richard and Mario Jr. Career Mailman After working as a shoeshine boy and a stint as a factory worker, at age 18, Biaggi became a substitute letter carrier for the United States Postal Service, for 65 cents per hour. Later, he became a regular letter carrier; his mail route included the home of one of his heroes, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. He served nearly six years with the Post Office and, in a preview of things to come, became an activist in Branch 36 of the National Association of Letter Carriers. New York City Police Department In 1942, Biaggi joined the New York City Police Department (NYPD), at 25 years of age. He wanted to join the US Army, but police were exempted from the US military at the time, and the fact that his two brothers were in the armed forces was an additional factor. His police career spanned 23 years, until 1965. He