[1] Wasicsko graduated from Manhattan College in 1981 with a degree in government and served for a year as a county police officer.

[1] In 1986 and 1987 he served as 7th Ward councilman while simultaneously attending New York Law School, from which he was graduated in 1987, the same year he was elected mayor.

[2] Once out of office, Wasicsko practiced law, taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and hosted a local radio talk show.

[1][2] He was found sitting against a tree on a grassy hill overlooking the grave of his father at Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers, New York, with a single gunshot wound in his head.

[6] In 1999, former New York Times writer Lisa Belkin wrote the book Show Me a Hero about Wasicsko and the desegregation case.

A six-episode HBO television miniseries of the same name, based on the book, written by David Simon and journalist William F. Zorzi and directed by Paul Haggis,[12] premiered on August 16, 2015.

[13] Oscar Isaac played Wasicsko and later won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film for his performance.