BRONX, NY

An anonymous tipster has sent in the above picture of two of the men who are alleged to have taken part in the roughing up and threathining of the owner of Frankie's Gravy. It appears that there's been a running feud between Frankie from Boston and Frankie from NY about who is the rightful owner of said name.

Well last night the two men pictured above, Frankie "the meatball guy," and Sal "call me after eight," paid a visit to Frankie from NY and tried to settle the beef in an amicable way but one word led to another and a skirmish broke out. Eyewitnesses said they heard Sal threathen Frankie from NY saying, "You better leave my friend Frankie alone, if not you're going to get it," and then pointed to something hidden in his left pocket. Then just before leaving they took four jars of Frankie's gravy and poured it all over the premises.

The picture above shows them leaving the premises and they are heading for a black Mercedes that was ready to pick them up. These men are armed and dangerous. If you know their whereabouts please call the Bronx police and ask to speak to SGT. Fish, an expert on marinara sauce, who's handling the case.

When will it stop????

Once again Italian/Americans have been offended. This time around the offender is a Mr. Perry Garfinkel (wonder if this is his real name), who writing in the Octobe issue of AARP magazine takes an unnecessary low blow to the 99% of the law abiding citizens of this country.

I wonder if Mr. Garfinkel's only exposure to Italian/Americans has come solely from watching The Sopranos. How else can you explain the following statement he made in the article," A cultural guide to New Jersey:"

" We New Jerseyans are not all Italian and we do not all try to kill our colleagues and bury them in the Pine Barrens."

Mr. Garfinkel, thanks for that inciteful information about the culture of New Jersey. I wonder if you make the same ignorant statements with all other ethnic groups. Please get your facts straight before you publish such garbage.

As for AARP, I am amazed that they would publish such slanderous garbage. I'm glad, I never joined your biased organization.

You owe an apology to all Italian/Americans.

Famous Italians from Kenosha

The more I study the migration of Italians to this country the more I’m amazed at the places they made their home. Today I discovered that some famous Italian Americans came from, of all places, Kenosha, Wisconsin.

If you’re as old as me, you will remember that the New York football Giants had a large following in New England. I remember as a boy of ten watching the likes of Andy Robustelli, Sam Huff, Jim Katcavage, Roosevelt Grier, Roosevelt Brown, Charlie Conerly, Frank Gifford and others on TV every Sunday in the Fall. I can still hear Chris Schenkel’s voice as he broadcast their games into my living room. I was a big fan and was heartbroken when they lost the Championship game to the Baltimore Colts in 1958.

For me that game still ranks as one of the best games, even though “my team” lost, that I’ve ever seen. That Colts team had many stars and were led by the great Johnny U, Johnny Unitas. The man that broke my heart was running back, Alan Ameche. He scored the winning touchdown.

To this day, I always thought that Alan Ameche was part American Indian, but lo and behold, I just discovered that he was one of the famous Italians to come from Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Lino Dante “Alan” Ameche nicknamed “The Horse” played six seasons for the Baltimore Colts. He was a Heisman Trophy winner in college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was elected to the Pro Bowl in his first four years in the NFL and is famous for scoring the winning touchdown against the Giants in “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”

Alan Ameche’s parents emigrated from Italy in 1930 and settled in Kenosha. Actors Don and Jim Ameche are Alan’s cousins. Alan teamed up with Gino Marchetti also from the Colts and founded the Gino’s Hamburgers chain.

Old #35, was the second pick in the first round of the 1955 draft and was named Rookie of the Year. He was named to the NFL 1950’s All-Decade Team and was inducted into the Italian American Sports HOF. He is also in the College Football HOF and is one of only four players to have their number (35) retired by the Univ. Of Wisconsin football team.

Now that I learned that the Giants were beaten by an Italian American, I feel that some of the sting has finally dissipated.

As the New England Patriots stand at the threshold of setting a multitude of records in this 2007 season, I can't help but think of how one man has failed to get his true recognition. That man is Gino Cappelletti who played for the original Boston AFL franchise, the Boston Patrions.

Gino Cappelletti kicked the first field goal in AFL history in the Patriot's opening game against the Denver Broncos.

Cappelletti was both a kicker and a wide receiver and was named the player of the year in 1964 when he scored 155 points by catching 7 TD passes and kicking 25 field goals and 38 extra points.

Cappelletti was the American Football League's Most Valuable Player in 1964, and a five-time AFL All-Star. He is one of only twenty players who were in the American Football League for its entire ten-year existence, and one of three who played in every game their teams played in the AFL. He is a member of the Patriots All-1960s (AFL) Team.

He led the AFL in scoring five times and holds two of the top five scoring seasons in NFL history – 155 points in '64 and 147 points in '61 ... Patriots' third all-time leading receiver with 292 catches for 4,589 yards ... holds the Patriots' records for extra points attempted (353), made (342), FGs attempted (333) and FGs made (176) ... five-time AFL All-Star.

He deserves to be in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Thank You CBS, Thank You Joe Mantegna

Thank God that someone had the guts to portray an Italian American in a positive role for a change. Italians for years have been portrayed as gangsters and hoodlums on the screen and TV so much so that they've gotten stereotyped as such.

These characters that have been portrayed as the "typical" Italian only represent less than one percent of the Italian American population yet I'm sad to say that it's mainly Italian Americans who devote their time, effort and money to exploit the small negative side of an ethnic group of people that have made such a positive impact throughout the history of the world. Unfortunately all the good gets buried by the glorification of some mobster and it's a shame that more Italian Americans don't speak up. Many don't realize the ramifications.

How could anything good come about (except to profit the few that are involved in such films) when one continuously portrays the one percent that's bad and holds it up to the many that don't have a clue as the heroes and role models of the Italian community ?

You say I don't have a sense of humor and that's how you escape from your ignorance. I have a sense of humor, but I can only stand to hear the same joke over and over again. The language I grew up with wasn't laced with language that can only emanate from the sewers and gutters. The four letter words that were revered in my family were work, love and pray.

I ask you Italian Americans, what would happen if the same proliferation of glorifying the bad were done to another ethnic group, how long do you think they would wait before they started complaining? Certainly not as long as us.

You're too sensitive is another line I'm hit with. Yes, you are absolutely right. I think that I have a certain threshold when it comes to sensitivity, but how much longer can I stand the negative onslaught. Maybe you've brought up your children by feeding them ninety nine percent negativity. Maybe you've brought your son or daughter to meet Don Ciccio and told tham that he was "nice" man. If so, I can see your sensitivity clearly; in my neck of the woods it's called being a cafone.

I'm sorry for getting so far off track, I intended to praise Joe Mantegna and CBS for coming out with a series called "Criminal Minds" that has Italian characters portrayed in a positive role for a change.

I haven't see the show yet but I understand that Mantegna's character's name David Rossi was no accident and was insisted on by Mantegna, and is fashioned after a Los Angeles Policeman, and meant to introduce another "positive" portrayal of an Italian American, as he has in previous roles. Mantegna joins former Chicago cop and fellow Italian American Edward Allen Bernero, the producer/ head writer on the CBS series.

Send a Card To a Recovering American Soldier

A conversation overheard in front of Modern Pastry went something like this;

Agostino - "Hey Frank, che si dice, come stai?"

Frank - "Non c'e male e tu?"

Agostino - "Bene, bene, la signora me mantene sempre busy. Today I got to to the Post Office and buy one hundred stamps for Christmas. I think she still thinks stamps are a nickel. Shesa gotta this idea of mailing cards to our soldiers."

Frank - "Hey Gus, that'sa nice. You are a patriotto."

Agostino - "Oh I don't know about that, it's my wife who deserves the credit. It's her idea. I justa hope that sfaccimo of a clerk is not behind the counter today. You know sometimesa he comes to work a little umbriaco and the bossa don't wanna send him home because they gotta nobody else to take his place. Everytime I complain, they tell me to calla Masha. Onna time I call Masha and they told me she was out because she fella down the stairs. Frank, I felt so bad that I apologized to the secretaria."

Frank - "Gus, don't feel bad. See the guy over there in front of the Cafe?"

Agostino - "Who, the guy witha colla?"

Frank - "Yeah, him. Hees a mailman who got hurt on the job. The other day he was telling some people in the cafe how his bossa, a woman named Marsha, fell down some stairs after coming back from lunch. She had one too many martinis and I guess she got a little umbriaco and fell. So don't you feel bad. Shesa gonna get paid for stayinga at home."

Agostino - "Frank please, don't a tell me anymore, my stomach is starting to get acida."

The moral to this story is don't let some rude and obnoxious clerk, or the drunks at the P.O. keep you from buying stamps to send Christmas cards to our soldiers.

Follow Rosina 's (Gus' wife) lead and send a card or two or a hundred to:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

A card might seem insignificant to you but to a person who's struggling to get back into life's mainstream, it will mean a great deal.

Luciano Pavarotti

Today the world is saddened with the loss of one of the greatest lyric tenors that I've been privilidged in seeing and hearing in my life. Luciano Pavarotti the son of a baker from Modena, Italy won the hearts of all music lovers.

Even though his forte was in singing opera, Luciano was also at home singing with the likes of Bono and Frank Sinatra. He is probably well know for singing with the Three Tenors, Carreras and Domingo. who were together for fourteen years.

From his small beginnings, Pavarotti rose to great heights, performing in front of 500,000 people in New York's Central Park -- a concert seen by millions on television -- and before another 300,000 at Paris' Eiffel Tower.

He won five Grammies and was named the United Nations Messenger for Peace by Kofi Annan. His humanitarian efforts manifested themselves in the "Concerts" for Bosnia for Afghanistan and for Kosovo that raised millions for the refugees from these areas.

His signature aria was "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot was chosen as the theme music for 1990 soccer World Cup hosted by Italy. He also performed this aria in the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

Luciano tonight "nessun dorma" (no one sleeps) mourning your loss. In consolation we will all always have your recordings to soothe us.

On the website www.lucianopavarotti.com there is a miling picture of him with this following quote, “I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent and this is what I have devoted my life to.”



Addio Luciano