In 1987 and 1988, he was convicted in two trials of receipt of unlawful gratuities, and, facing the prospect of expulsion from the House, he resigned from Congress in 1988.

[5][6][7] In 1940 he married Marie Wassil (who died in 1997), and they moved to the Bronx and had two daughters, Barbara and Jacqueline, and two sons, Richard and Mario Jr.[2][5] After working as a shoeshine boy and a stint as a factory worker, at age 18, Biaggi became a substitute letter carrier for the United States Postal Service, for 65 cents per hour.

[8][9][10] Later, he became a regular letter carrier; his mail route included the home of one of his heroes, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

[10] He served nearly six years with the Post Office and became an activist in Branch 36 of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

[11] He wanted to join the US Army, but police were exempted from the US military at the time, and the fact that his two brothers were in the armed forces was an additional factor.

Biaggi received dozens of citations for valor, including the police department’s Medal of Honor (its highest award) and the National Police Officers Association of America’s Medal of Valor, becoming one of the NYPD's most decorated officers.

[2] Among his many exploits was his rescue in 1946 on Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan of a girl on a runaway horse, which dragged him 90 feet and trampled his right leg before he subdued it, causing a permanent limp.

[10][11] Dean Daniel Gutman offered him a full scholarship to New York Law School, after hearing him speak at a public event.

[16][6] In 1966, at the age of 49, he was admitted to the New York State Bar and founded the law firm Biaggi & Ehrlich.

[10] He represented a Queens woman who was denied the right to be an umpire in minor league baseball in 1969, and won her case at the New York Court of Appeals in 1972.

He won the 1968 election to Congress with 60.5% of the vote in what had previously been considered a traditional Bronx Republican stronghold.

[20] Author Gerhard Falk wrote: "Few members of the House of Representatives have ever achieved the popularity of Mario Biaggi.

[28] Biaggi was known as a law-and-order Democrat, socially conservative, economically progressive, and tough on street crime, and led the institution of a federal ban on armor-piercing "cop killer" teflon-coated bullets, a major concern of police.

[29][8][30][31][20][27] He also strongly supported the elderly, labor unions, the mentally disabled, hand-gun control, Israel, Soviet Jewry, and peace in Northern Ireland, and opposed brutality in US Army camps and antisemitism.

[39] It was passed and was approved by President Gerald Ford in 1976, and formalized in Department of the Army Order 31-3 in 1978, with an effective appointment date of July 4, 1976, the United States Bicentennial.

[43] Biaggi lost the Democratic primary in June, coming in third with 21% of the vote behind Abe Beame (34%) and Herman Badillo (29%), and ahead of Albert H. Blumenthal (16%).

[4] He had accepted a payment of a $3,200 spa bill for him and his companion as he vacationed in Florida in December 1984, from his long-time friend former Brooklyn Democratic leader Meade Esposito.

[47][48][49][4] Prosecutors said it was in exchange for using his influence to help a ship-repair company that was a major client of Esposito's insurance agency.

He was, however, convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity and obstruction of justice, sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, and fined $500,000.

Friedman also states that Biaggi received a "medal of honor" from Kahane at a Kach dinner that took place at the Lincoln Square Synagogue in February 1988.

[73] The last Congressman to be re-elected after serving time for a felony was Matthew Lyon of Vermont, who ran from jail in 1798 and won.

When asked for comment, the United States Attorneys Offices for the Eastern and Southern District of New York each opposed pardon for any convictions, noting that Biaggi received a humanitarian release and had failed to pay his fines.

In their obituary, the New York Times noted his survivors as two daughters, two sons, eleven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

[80][7][78][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][76] Fordham University conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree on Biaggi in 1984, for being "widely respected as a Representative of unparalleled responsiveness to his constituents even in the smallest personal matter", and New York Law School held the Inaugural Mario Biaggi Lecture in 1985.