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Even before he quit school, however, he was in politics. Around the corner from his home was the old Huron Club, a Tammany tepee. Carmine took to hanging around the club, was given some errands to run, moved up to precinct captain and deputy sheriff under Sheriff Daniel E. Finn—whose family had ruled the First Assembly District West for more than 70 years. In 1939, taking advantage of a factional split in the district, De Sapio ran against Finn for district leader. He won—but Tammany Hall refused to recognize him. Insurgent De Sapio and his followers picketed Tammany Hall. When De Sapio's men tried to argue their case at a Tammany meeting, the lights were promptly switched off. The De Sapio people left shouting, "To hell with Tammany Hall!" Not until 1943 did Tammany finally take De Sapio in.
De Sapio soon became the leader of a group attempting to loosen the strangle lock held on Tammany for generations by Irish-Americans. He got his break in 1949, when three incumbent leaders quit in "rapid succession under fire from Mayor William O'Dwyer. De Sapio was elected Tammany leader. But it was hardly an honor.
Mediators & Fumblers. He took over the dirty shell of a 150-year-old organization that had outlived its function. It still reeked from the scandals of power abused, and the base of its power was gone. New York, like many another American city, had once been a teeming jungle of half-broken Old World cultures, uprooted, insecure, warring, misunderstanding each other and the new world around them. After its fashion, Tammany mediated conflicts, spoke for the immigrant masses. The Statue of Liberty said, "Give me your tired, your poor," but it was Tammany that really opened palpable arms of help and advice. This was not a job that respectable New Yorkers were willing and able to do. Tammany's great service was performed for a great price.
Boss William Tweed (1860-71) and his henchmen had fleeced New Yorkers of some $200 million while he was Tammany's head. Boss Richard Croker (1886-1901) continued the Tammany rule that Lincoln Steffens described as "government of the people, by the rascals, for the rich." Boss Charles Murphy was the last successful leader of the old Tammany. When
Murphy died in 1924, Mayor Jimmy Walker mourned: "The brains of Tammany Hall lie buried in Calvary Cemetery." Jimmy was right; fumbler followed fumbler at Tammany Hall.
The leaders did not understand that the American school system had done its work. New roots had grown. Tammany's favor-doing had become socialized by the incipient welfare state. The Irish Tammany bosses lived on sentimental memories of past grandeur, and were puzzled and hurt when the Tiger's roar made no man cringe. De Sapio had far more modest and realistic views of the new Tammany's scope.
He began with a success so small that his predecessors would have been humiliated to stoop to it. Forming a coalition with Republicans, he ousted Red-lining Vito Marcantonio from his congressional seat. But De Sapio also took another step —and fell flat on his face. In the 1950 mayoralty race, De Sapio backed Ferdinand Pecora, a born loser, against Vincent Impellitteri, who won easily. Tammany's impotence was measured by the fact that it could not even beat Impy, an insurgent organization man with no machine of his own.