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Michael D'Agostino's market looted
D'Agostino appears twice in a list of the first twenty white business-owners suing the city for damages based on the failure of police to protect their stores published in the New York Sun, with a second business at 361 Lenox Avenue. By the time the city Comptroller heard testimony from those bringing suit, 106 owners had sought damages. D'Agostino is not among those whose testimony appeared in newspaper stories about that proceeding. However, he was one of seven store owners in the test case before the Supreme Court in March 1936, identified as having received the lowest award. The two newspaper stories on these decisions differed on the details of the award; the New York Amsterdam News reported D'Agostino received $24 for the losses he claimed at 348 Lenox Avenue, whereas the New York Times reported he received $70, for claims at "248-261 Lenox Avenue," likely a misrecording of 348 and 361 Lenox Avenue, for which he had claimed a total of $343 in losses.
The claim for $146.75 in losses is one of the smaller claims reported in the press, well below the median claim of $733. However, D'Agostino does appear to have been able to remain in business. The New York Times identified D'Agostino as a fruit dealer, so he is likely the owner of the white-owned food market at 348 Lenox Avenue identified in the MCCH business survey in the second half of 1935. The Tax Department photograph of the address in 1939-1941 also shows a market.