Lionello Perera

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The biography delves into the life of Lionello Perera, a pivotal figure in the early 20th-century Italian American community in New York. Originally from Venice, he transformed his uncle's Wall Street business and became Vice President of Bank of America, collaborating with Amadeo P. Giannini and supporting political leaders like Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. As a benefactor of welfare societies and hospitals, he aided immigrant integration. His Upper East Side home became a cultural hub for music, reflecting his and his wife’s patronage of Italian and Jewish musicians.