During his more than 30 years as part of the Naval Air Station Sigonella family, Joe Micalizio has enjoyed an illustrious and varied career. Not only is he an accomplished investigator and liaison, but as a performing musician and a published writer, Micalizio embodies the spirit of a Renaissance man.
A native of Sicily, Micalizio is originally from the city of Carlentini in the Siracusa province. He began his journey here in Sigonella working at the on-base auto port. In 1994, an opportunity arose for him to work with Naval Criminal Investigative Service. After applying and then getting the job, he has now been working as NCIS investigator for almost 27 years.
A big part of what Micalizio does for his office and for the base is cultivating and maintaining work-related contacts with a considerable number of Italian law enforcement officials. This makes his job easier and helps him to resolve a number of situations with just a phone call.
“I maintain relationships with prominent members of numerous Italian law enforcement agencies in support of NCIS’ mission here in Sicily. These include the Carabinieri’s regional and provincial commands and the NAS Sigonella base Carabinieri,” said Micalizio. “I also work regularly with the Italian Air Force 41 Stormo military personnel, the Niscemi police, Guarda di Finanza, the Catania drug squads, several magistrates of the Court House of Catania and Siracusa, airport security, municipal police, and port authorities in Catania and Augusta Bay.”
During his time as an investigator, Joe has been part of many cases on base, including some of the more high- profile ones. In 2018, he initiated and then supported the base Carabinieri during an investigation regarding the theft of fuel for aircrafts from the pipeline that runs for 24 miles from Augusta to the base. After a long and complicated investigation and a great deal of hard work, the Carabinieri were able to make 15 arrests with the help of video cameras that the NCIS tech squad installed on one of the sites of the pipeline.
When it comes to his job, though, it is not just all about working on investigations for NCIS.
“In 2019, I played an active role in organizing and bringing together the Navy Legal Service Command Sigonella and the Italian Penal Courthouse of Catania in order to facilitate increased cooperation in the administration of criminal proceedings as envisioned by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Status of Forces Agreement,” said Micalizio. “These guidelines for mutual cooperation will help to speed up legal proceedings involving US military personnel in Sigonella.”
Through his career at Sigonella, Micalizio has also worked with a few big names, including actor Michael Douglas in 2007 and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2006. He helped coordinate President Donald Trump’s participation in the G7 meeting in Taormina in 2018, and in 2008 he assisted U.S. Supreme Court Justice John R. Roberts and his wife during their visit. The couple even invited Joe and his wife Lynn out to lunch in Siracusa.
Working with the U.S. Navy is a Micalizio family affair. Micalizio met his future wife Lynn, originally from San Mateo, Calif., here in Sicily. His parents had previously traveled to California where they met her parents, beginning a cross-cultural family friendship. When Lynn and a friend decided to travel to Sicily on holiday, she contacted Joe and they decided to meet. The rest, as they say, is history.
Lynn now works here on base at Sigonella Community Schools. Joe and Lynn have two daughters named Alessandra and Veronica. Alessandra followed in her father’s footsteps and works for NCIS in Naples, Italy as an intelligent specialist, and Veronica, who is a psychologist specializing in children with autism, works in Dubai.
When he is not at work, Micalizio is a man of many hobbies. For example, he is an accomplished writer and musician.
“I wrote a book, the only book I have ever written, called ‘Il Sole Siciliano di Quattrossa,’” said Micalizio. “The book is memories my father would tell me and my brother when we were kids. At one point in my life, when my father was getting old, I thought it would be nice to write an about 15 page book to summarize all experiences and life style of those times—we are talking about the 1930s.”
However, the project took longer than Joe anticipated. “When I started to write, it took me about three years of my spare time to complete the book, and then 15 pages of course turned into 150 pages. My father enjoyed it very much.”
Micalizio’s musical path followed a similar trajectory as his writing. He started messing around with the guitar, at first just covering a few songs. After some time passed, he started writing his own lyrics and adding his own music to it. He now has written around 70 of his own songs and has put two CDs out.
His hometown of Carlentini organized a concert for his songs, but since Micalizio is not a singer, he found singers and a band to perform with him. About 500 people came to his performance.
Given the importance of relationships to Micalizio’s work, it’s not surprising that he invited the then NAS Sigonella Commanding Officer Capt. Dennis and Italian law enforcement personnel to the concert.
“The best part about my job is being able to be the liaison with the Italian forces,” he said. “Being able to assist the agents with dealing with Italian law enforcement is very fulfilling to me. I get to represent the United States government for the base and for our office for little and sometimes more important things that can help the life of our Sailors here in Italy.”
| Date Taken: | 02.05.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.19.2021 09:38 |
| Story ID: | 388578 |
| Location: | SIGONELLA, IT |
| Hometown: | LENTINI, IT |
| Hometown: | SIRACUSA, IT |
| Web Views: | 76 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Sigonella's Renaissance Man, by PO1 Josh Cote, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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