Tag Archives: Melrose Park Police Chief Sam Pitassi

When Sam Pitassi was attending Proviso East High School in Maywood, it was a place of racial unrest and discord. The situation got so bad at one point that school administrators asked police officers from Melrose Park and other west suburban towns to come and patrol the halls. “I admired their commitment and resolve in coming in and accomplishing the task of keeping us safe,” Pitassi recalls. “Plus, my uncle and godfather (Nick Perrino) was a police officer in Chicago in the 1960s, and he inspired me to pursue law enforcement as a career.” The son of Peter and Christine …