Yesterday I had the pleasure of entering deeply into South Philly culture. I went with a local South Philly Italian who invited me to lunch. We went to the Melrose Diner which has a reputation for being an old mafia hangout. In the 80s I believe a few guys were whacked there.
I was amazed at how everyone greeted each other at the diner. They would come in and say "Hey...How you doing?" with a strong South Philly Italian accent. I knew I had entered into another world. A guy came up to us and knew my friend from back in the day when my friend was involved in the mafia crime scene. My friend explained how this guy hung with mob bosses, yet was a good guy. He was a very nice man I must say. My friend made a distinction between nice good hearted gangsters and those that aren't. I've been familiar with this distinction before.
In our old apartment at 10th and Snyder in the 80s a boss by the name of Bruno was whacked stepping into his car. My adopted Italian grandmother land lady would speak of how kind he was to everyone. Apparently he was whacked because he didn't want to participate in the drug trade that was growing in the early 80s among the mob bosses. I knew the daughter of Bruno and she was really disturbed by his death. She never talked about it but it had been the defining moment of her life (they don't do a good job of showing this in the movies). His desk is still to this day set up exactly the way it was when he died.
Back to Melrose: We had a great lunch and my friend was very hospitable. He talked about the days of gambling, drug use, working with organized crime and how the Lord woke him up and he has never been the same.
Just an observation...I notice how many of the guys around here in the Italian community are named...Tony, Joey, and Vinni. In the Irish community the name is Patrick.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
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