Word: sicilianism
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...food isn't the main attraction at the CasaBlanca Italian restaurant in Maspeth, Queens, N.Y. You go for the Sicilian kitsch--the plastic flowers, the bronze-tinted mirrors, the piped-in Godfather theme. The walls bear snapshots of movie stars visiting the place, among them Johnny Depp (Donnie Brasco), Hugh Grant (Mickey Blue Eyes) and James Caan (The Godfather). At a round table sit five men--sturdy, with slick hair and crumpled suits--having a good rude time as two other men in velour sweatsuits, drivers or bodyguards probably, sit at a subsidiary table. They turn quiet and suspicious when...
...mention of Caruso isn't random. Anthony was born in New Orleans into a working-class family of Sicilian immigrants whose name, as it happens, was Caruso. At 22, with a music degree from Loyola University and a smattering of experience with regional companies, he tried out for the Met's Auditions of the Air, billing himself as Charles Anthony Caruso. He won the auditions but lost the name: the Met's then general manager Rudolf Bing convinced him that it would be prudent not to invite comparisons with the legendary tenor...
...traveling, a hard-boiled soft-cover can be just the ticket. If you're not traveling, you'll want novels that can transport you. Here are some recent paperback mysteries from far and near that are worth investigating THE TERRA-COTTA DOG Andrea Camilleri (Penguin) Sicilian inspector Salvo Montalbano follows the trail of a supermarket heist to a cave where two young bodies lay, dead since World...
...last week got its first good glimpse of Mafia turncoat Antonino Giuffrè, his deep dark eyes and sunken facial features were kept hidden from view. During his live video testimony, broadcast on Tuesday in a Palermo courtroom, the 57-year-old former top lieutenant of Cosa Nostra - the Sicilian Mafia - offered sometimes electrifying allegations in the Mafia-association trial of Senator Marcello Dell'Utri, a close political ally and business partner of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. But throughout the four hours of questioning, Giuffrè sat with his back to the camera - a security requirement. That left the three...
When Hillary Rodham Clinton came to Palermo in 1999, her visit put the official stamp of approval on the Sicilian capital as a secure tourist destination. After decades of open Mafia war, the city was finally quelling crime, restoring order and emerging as yet another not-to-be missed Italian cultural gem. Clinton - then the First Lady, now a Senator from New York - was most interested in ingratiating herself with Sicilian-American voters back home. But she was telling the truth when she praised Palermo's efforts to get out from under the Mafia's shadow, which have...