tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29793018.post4992918083273658206..comments2024-01-31T04:29:38.858-06:00Comments on The Outfit: A Collective of Chicago Crime Writers: Family Secrets -- Whose Family?Sean Chercoverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00939494866272006802noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29793018.post-84931038232557858422007-09-23T18:32:00.000-05:002007-09-23T18:32:00.000-05:00To The Home Office:I think the name of the finger-...To The Home Office:<BR/><BR/>I think the name of the finger-totaling game you're looking for is Morra. <BR/><BR/>-- Tony D'AmatoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29793018.post-6905065348250489282007-09-19T11:20:00.000-05:002007-09-19T11:20:00.000-05:00Maryann, Pete and home office--thank you all for t...Maryann, Pete and home office--thank you all for the good comments. I have to say, I was quite surprised at the intensity of feeling of some of the Trib article's respondents about anti-Italian prejudice. Several said the Family Secrets trial should not have been so heavily covered by the press, and wouldn't have been if it had not been Da Mob. They may be right.Barbara D'Amatohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03991495702239085323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29793018.post-15525312748677897962007-09-18T12:22:00.000-05:002007-09-18T12:22:00.000-05:00Before the Bloods and the Crips, what we loosely d...Before the Bloods and the Crips, what we loosely define as The Mafia (Cosa Nostra, The Syndicate) was the one nationwide crime organization. That bought them street cred in a nation that loves to believe in conspiracies. Their self-proclaimed status as "men of honor" with their codes, ceremonies, etc. wiped away some of the grime that came with their workaday activities. <BR/><BR/>The Mafia (or Dana Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350344882342624735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29793018.post-13413771344167542432007-09-18T10:56:00.000-05:002007-09-18T10:56:00.000-05:00Remember that what we now know as the Mafia arose ...Remember that what we now know as the Mafia arose during Prohibition. Maybe the idolization of the Mafia originated with society back then seeing mob bootleggers as heroes (rebels) who defied and even profited from the misguided 18th Amendment (establishment). Just a thought.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29793018.post-6545216539810700452007-09-18T08:17:00.000-05:002007-09-18T08:17:00.000-05:00Once upon a time someone made a gangster movie and...Once upon a time someone made a gangster movie and decided that Italians were inherently more colorful (and less inclined to 'the creature') than the Irish or any other culture in existance.Prohibition brought out all kinds of bad guys, but the one who organized them all was (so we're told) Italian. Growing up in the suburbs, we kids heard a lot about the Mafia from the Italians on the block, Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29793018.post-64870805312531066752007-09-18T08:14:00.000-05:002007-09-18T08:14:00.000-05:00Yes, Sara. I'm glad you wrote. It may well be the ...Yes, Sara. I'm glad you wrote. It may well be the secret society thing. Secrets always ask to be looked into. I've wondered, too, if there isn't something about the Italian contrast. The Italians have given so much to world culture--painting, music, architecture--that the fact they include a subset of ugly, ignorant thugs is fascinating. Maybe it's the apparent unlikliness of that. Of course, we Barbara D'Amatohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03991495702239085323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29793018.post-36339999380620748132007-09-17T20:41:00.000-05:002007-09-17T20:41:00.000-05:00Barb, when I was growing up, I wanted to be Italia...Barb, when I was growing up, I wanted to be Italian. My stereotype, gleaned from my next door neighbor, who was an art historian and frequently had Italian visitors, was that Italians were artistic, expressive and warm, in contrast to the cold, sullen eastern and northern Europeans who made up my family background. It's why I made V I Warshawski's mother Italian, and why I studied Italian for aAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com