by Sister Maria Vincent Brocato (daughter) and
Vincent J. Brocato Jr. (son)
with additional information provided by Charles L. Brocato (nephew)

Vincent J. “Buddy” Brocato, Sr., at sixteen in the Clarksdale Public High School, was a talented, brilliant young man. Buddy, born in 1905, was the second of five sons of Vincent and Antoinette Antone Brocato. The elder Vincent had come from Cefalu, Sicily, with his parents and siblings at age twelve. Buddy, then, was “ first generation American.” This would greatly influence him in the future.

Buddy caught the attention of Al Nachman, a prominent Jewish man in Clarksdale, who offered to send Buddy to law school. As was allowed at that time, a young person could enroll in law school without a college degree. Handsome and already friend to many, Buddy completed law school at the University of Mississippi at age nineteen and was admitted to the Bar in the State of Mississippi. At age twenty he took his turn as City Judge, which obligated him to oversee traffic violations and minor disturbances.

One of the first cases Buddy was involved in was both dramatic and tragic.

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(CHARLES WILL TELL THIS PART OF THE STORY)

Shortly after his graduation from law school, Buddy was appointed at age 20 to defend five young blacks for the murder of a white storekeeper in October 1925. Appointed as his co-counsel was a reputed former grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, Colonel T. S. Ward.

Put yourself in that position for a moment – a young Italian-American Catholic, 20 years old, socially only one small click above blacks, appointed to defend five blacks for the murder of a white man, with a co-counsel who is a former Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. In addition you have been in active practice less than a year with very little actual trial experience – you would have to feel you have been placed in an impossible situation.

The first case tried was that of one John Fisher. At the trial there was considerable testimony about the administration of the “water cure” to secure the defendant’s confession to the crime. The “water cure” consisted of pouring water into a person’s nose until the desired result was obtained. One of the witnesses who testified to the “water cure” was co-defendant Lindsey Coleman.

In spite of the “water cure” testimony, the presiding judge permitted the case to go to the jury, which convicted Fisher of murder. The attorneys immediately filed an appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Shortly after the first trial, in December 1925, the trial of Lindsey Coleman began with Buddy and Colonel Ward as his attorneys. Although the evidence offered was about the same as that offered in Fisher’s trial, the jury acquitted Coleman. As the attorneys were leaving the Coahoma County Courthouse with their client, Coleman was taken from them by a mob of white citizens and lynched from a tree on the courthouse lawn.

Ironically, on the appeal of Fisher’s conviction, the “water cure” confession was ruled as illegal and his conviction reversed. The oral argument on appeal was handled by Buddy and Greek L. Rice, Jr., of the Rice & Crisler law firm in Clarksdale. 145 Miss. 116, 110 So. 361 (1926).

The final irony was that the five blacks were innocent, and the storekeeper was killed by his nephew. The written history of the case does not indicate what finally happened to the other defendants or to the nephew.

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Buddy married Mary Sorce, whose father was also an immigrant from Sicily. Two children were born to Mary and Buddy – Barbara Evelyn in 1930 and Vincent Joseph, Jr. in 1931. Although the marriage ended by 1939, both children were cherished and cared for by an extended loving family.

Buddy’s law practice grew and flourished. One of his priorities was assisting in the naturalization process for Italian immigrants. He was proud that his father’s compatriots could be helped in this way. “Buddy understands; Buddy is one of us” was the mentality among the Italian-American community in Coahoma County.

Another priority was the education and mentoring of young lawyers. His nephew Charles was a protégé of whom he was justly proud. Buddy also prized his position on the examination board of the Mississippi Bar Association. He conscientiously gave each candidate’s paper careful scrutiny.

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(FROM CHARLES)

Charles joined Buddy’s law practice upon his graduation from the Ole Miss law school in June 1961. Buddy made Charles a partner in January 1962 and they practiced as Brocato and Brocato after that until Charles left to go to the New York University Law School tax program in September 1963. Charles has always maintained that he learned more about the practice of law during his time with Uncle Buddy than he did in the three years at the Old Miss law school.

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After Mary Sorce died in 1952, Buddy married again. This wife was Pauline Abraham, whose family was Lebanese.

When Buddy was 62 he was appointed Chancery Judge by Governor Ross Barnett. When the installation took place in May, 1968, it was apparent that Buddy was having health problems. The final diagnosis was a brain tumor from which he never recovered although his wife Pauline saw to it that he was given the best of health care. His funeral in November 1968 was attended by Mississippi’s governor-elect, John Bell Williams, as well as his devoted wife, his son Vincent, Vincent’s family and a host of friends and family members. (His daughter was in a car accident en route to the funeral and could not be present.)

Vincent Joseph Brocato - b. 1905 Mississippi