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Timothy J Lombardo, Associate Professor of History, University of South Alabama

How Frank Rizzo, a high school dropout, became Philadelphia’s toughest cop and a harbinger of MAGA politics

Mayor Frank Rizzo poses for a portrait on Jan. 3, 1977. Santi Visalli via Getty Images

In August 2025, the city of Philadelphia agreed to return a statue of Frank Rizzo to the supporters that commissioned the memorial in 1992.

The 2,000-pound bronze tribute to the former police commissioner-turned-mayor had stood in front of the city’s Municipal Services Building from 1998 until 2020, when then-mayor Jim Kenney ordered it removed days after protesters attempted to topple it during the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd.

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