The Web site of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation lists each park and every square within the five boroughs. In addition, dates and findings of inspections conducted over the past few years are also provided. Checking the inspection record of one such public space at the intersection of Kenmare and Lafayette Streets and Cleveland Place in Manhattan, one would find in bold text the overall condition and cleanliness of the park there in a single word: Acceptable.

A physical, non-virtual visit to the site, however, reveals a markedly different picture. Enclosed by a faded wrought-iron fence reaching skyward above a small collection of broken concrete slabs, Petrosino Square is less the image of an idyllic urban respite and more the blight of a modern-day eyesore. It’s a sub-par state for a park renamed by Mayor Koch and the City Council in 1987 to honor a man who made the ultimate sacrifice for the citizens of New York. The flagrant negligence and unnerving disrepair that mar that three-hundredths of an acre park stand in marked contrast to the park’s largely forgotten namesake.

In March of 1909, newspapers throughout the city, across the nation, and around the world lamented the death of Giuseppe “Joseph” Petrosino. Mourners, estimated at 200,000 strong, turned out to line the streets of the city to watch the funeral casket pass by in procession. He had lived as he had died: A hero of the metropolis.

Petrosino arrived in New York City in 1873 as a young boy from Salerno, Italy. Only ten years later, not long after sailing into New York Harbor and past the Statue of Liberty to begin his life in America, he found himself among the ranks of the New York City Police Department. In 1895, Petrosino was appointed detective sergeant by then-Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt.

Petrosino’s heritage and commanding presence – despite being only 5 feet, 4 inches tall – made him a natural to lead a new unit known as the Italian Squad. This select group of New York’s Finest was a precursor to the present-day Bomb Squad. It was formed to combat the unusually high number of bombings perpetrated by the Black Hand against Italian merchants and shopkeepers who refused to comply with the organized crime syndicate’s extortion attempts.

Many immigrants at the turn of the century had been distrustful of patrolmen. Yet in Petrosino and his squad, the cautious new arrivals found men they could trust. Before long, the activity of the arsonists and bomb throwers had been cut in half and, in 1906, Petrosino was rewarded with a promotion to lieutenant.

Lawmakers in Washington in 1907 also tried their hand at putting down such violence with the passage of a law aimed at keeping would-be immigrants determined to commit crimes from coming to America. The law called for the deportation of any immigrant within three years of arrival who had concealed from American officials a previous criminal record in their native country.

Naturally, the department selected the best man for the job to help implement the new legislation. Lt. Petrosino was aware of the dangers such an assignment presented. Despite the threat to his own safety, and with a pregnant wife at home, he traveled to Italy on what was supposed to be a secret assignment investigating the police records of such criminals. The police commissioner and the mayor, however, were so proud to send Lt. Petrosino to his country of birth that they boasted to reporters, who did their job readily and printed news of the supposedly clandestine excursion. Upon arrival in Palermo, Petrosino was to meet with two men who would provide valuable information. Instead of meeting informants, as Lt. Petrosino waited beside a statue in Marina Square he was met with an assassin’s bullet. The mafia, no doubt, had heard of the lieutenant’s arrival as well.

“He has returned to the city,” noted one newspaper in the days following Petrosino’s untimely demise, “to be received with such honors as the city never paid before to any except the country’s most eminent and revered dead.” This description by the editors of the New York Times of the great reverence for this dedicated public servant marks a remarkable contrast to the way his legacy has been preserved up to today.

Today, a century after Petrosino made his final, tragic journey across the Atlantic Ocean and as New York detectives are now similarly stationed around the world to combat international crime and terrorism, there is cause for optimism. The Department of Parks and Recreation recently announced a $2 million renovation project of Lt. Petrosino Square. Preliminary plans call for an expansion of the park and an up-to-date revitalization of the immediate area. Perhaps the Parks Department has come to the realization that Petrosino Square stands in ruins amidst a city vibrant with civic renewal. Or perhaps someone has simply decided that a park named in his honor deserves to be more than just acceptable.

Mr. Coll is a detective in the New York City Police Department currently assigned to the Emergency Service Unit.