On his parents’ death, Lionello and his sisters were entrusted to their maternal grandfather Leon Vita Cantoni, a well-known Venetian commercial agent.

In 1896, with the help of other Jewish American investors, he purchased the majority shares and renamed the business Lionello Perera & Co.[8] He decided to carry on with the tradition of a commercial bank specialized in money exchange, later adding various financial products such as savings, loans, safe deposits, and long-term investments.

[12] The panic was luckily overcome in a few days, thanks to Lionello Perera’s ability to manage the situation and accommodate the requests of all customers asking to withdraw their money, thus soon reassuring the Italian American community with regard to the bank’s solvency.

[13] This bank run in February 1924 and the increasing difficulties of the financial sector in the USA convinced Lionello Perera to start a process of acquisition and mergers that aimed at strengthening his business.

[14] He embarked on a business relationship with the Italian American banker Amadeo Peter Giannini and his brother Attilio, who were expanding their branches from California to New York.

Among his subjects were several protagonists of American high society, politics, and the arts such as:  Fiorello La Guardia, Enrico Caruso, Arturo Toscanini, and E. Philips Oppenheim.

Hundreds of drawings are still in the collection of the Perera family and some even at the Library of Congress, though many are dispersed since he enjoyed exchanging caricatures as was customary at the time.

At that time opera was for Italian Americans both a means of social bonding inside their community and a good way to counter racial prejudice by emphasizing their cultural heritage.

They invited celebrated musicians and composers like Giovanni Martinelli, Arturo Toscanini, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Gian Carlo Menotti, Béla Bartók, and Yehudi Menuhin.

The earliest mention of his philanthropic activity is recorded in 1905, when, as representative of the Italian Red Cross in the United States, he sent help for the earthquake that hit southern Italy.

[25] He participated in the foundation of Casa Italiana at Columbia University, the first research center devoted to Italian heritage in a North American higher education institution.