Celeste A. Morello is an American historian and criminologist specializing in the studies of the Mafia in the Philadelphia area.
Recognized along with her prolific record as a nominator of buildings and artwork with the Philadelphia Historical Commission,[1] to date, she has nominated the most Pennsylvania historical markers approved by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
Morello spent 15 years in research, during which time she personally interviewed over a dozen members of the American Mafia.
Morello is "The only historian and criminologist in the United States specializing in Mafia history who is the descendant of the first Mafiosi in New York City, New Orleans and suburban Philadelphia."
In 1978, as a student at Loyola University, in Rome, Italy Morello visited with relatives in Sicily, where she became acquainted with the Sicilian Mafia in her family's history.
From this, Morello posited the "Medieval Origins" of the Mafia.
Honors program, Chestnut Hill College (Philadelphia): art history (magna cum laude) and classical civilizations (cum laude) 1980; master's in sociology/criminology at St Joseph's University (Phila.)
Morello also learned much from the Organized Crime Strikes Force of the U.S. Attorney's Office under Deputy Chief Prosecutor Albert C. Wicks.
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission nominations and approved: 1.
St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 13.
The Trial of Hester Vaughan Villanova University Digital Library ("Celeste Morello Collection") Also refer to nominations at Philadelphia Historical Commission.