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RETURN TO THE FUTURE
Italian American Future Leaders Announces Fourth Gathering
Setting is Amerant Bank Arena in South Florida

By Truby Chiaviello

Who doesn’t love Florida?

The sun, the oranges, the beaches. Now add to state’s allure - the future of Italian Americans.

It was announced this week that the 4th Annual Italian American Future Leaders Convention (IAFL4) will take place January 16–19, 2026, at the Amerant Bank Arena in South Florida.

Young Italian Americans are eligible for an all-expense-paid gathering that promises to be more than a celebration of heritage—it is a hub for networking, empowerment, and cultural exchange to bring together the next generation of Italian American change makers.

A Groundbreaking Experience

The IAFL4 offers first-time attendees, known as “Fellows,” a complimentary 3-night hotel stay, while every participant enjoys full coverage of meals, drinks, entertainment, and event access. Members of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO) may also be eligible for reimbursement of airfare and ground transportation, making the event highly accessible to young Italian Americans nationwide.

Program Highlights

Organizers say participants at IAFL4 will enjoy a rich lineup of experiences, including:
• Cultural Strategy & Networking Sessions – Dynamic workshops and panels that focus on the future of Italian American culture and provide opportunities to build lasting professional and personal connections.
• Exceptional Cuisine – A celebration of Italy’s culinary traditions through gourmet catered meals.
• Open Bar & VIP Entertainment – A lively setting featuring Italian American karaoke and exclusive social events.
• Exclusive Access – Opportunities to meet prominent Italian American leaders, influencers, and visionaries who are shaping the community’s future.

A Vision for the Future

“IAFL is shifting the demographics of the Italian American nonprofit world. The spotlight is on the future as young people are empowered to elevate and unite our culture and heritage. This is the ground floor—it’s a can’t-miss experience,” says Basil Russo, president of COPOMIAO.

Founded by Russo along with John Viola and Patrick O’Boyle, hosts of the viral Italian American Podcast, IAFL has quickly become the leading platform for empowering the next generation of Italian Americans. Through national conventions, cultural immersion, and collaborative think tank dialogues, IAFL cultivates leadership and pride in heritage while tackling the opportunities and challenges facing the community today.

Backed by Strong Support

IAFL is proudly sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO) and the Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA). Together, these partners ensure that IAFL continues to thrive as a catalyst for unity and cultural preservation.

As the convention prepares for its fourth year, excitement is building for what promises to be an unforgettable experience—one that blends tradition with innovation and sets the stage for a vibrant future for Italian Americans.

Editor’s Note: The web sites for COPOMIAO, IAFL, and ISDA are: https://copomiao.org, https://www.iafuture.org, https://orderisda.org

DON’T BUY MELLON
A Warning from Syracuse - Mellon Foundation Seeks to Rewrite History
- “Reimagination” Means Tear Down Columbus Monuments

By Truby Chiaviello

Italian Americans of Syracuse face a new challenge—not from within, but from outside forces with deep pockets and political reach, claims the Columbus Monument Corporation, an organization on the front lines of saving the Columbus monument in Syracuse. The Mellon Foundation, a powerful cultural institution based in New York City, has set its sights on Syracuse.

The foundation presents its work under the appealing banner of “reimagination.”

“Its ‘Monuments Project’ is throwing money around the country to ‘reimagine’ monuments,” the Columbus Monument Corporation states in a press release, dated on August 21.
Behind the polished language could be efforts to dismantle and erase Italian American heritage and history, beginning with the monuments that have long stood as markers in Syracuse.

The Columbus Monument Corporation warns the first target to “reimagine” history is the Columbus Monument, a historic and cultural landmark that has stood for generations in Syracuse. For many families, especially those of Italian American heritage, the monument is not just a statue—it is a symbol of perseverance, identity, and belonging.

The Columbus Monument Corporation believes if the Mellon Foundation succeeds in Syracuse, other cities in the country will be targeted.

Once a precedent is set, other monuments in Syracuse could be placed on the chopping block.
• The Stone Throwers, honoring the resilience of immigrants.
• The Schiller Monument, celebrating Western art and intellect.
• The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, commemorating those who fought and sacrificed for freedom.

These monuments are part of the fabric of Syracuse. To lose one is to endanger them all.

Editor’s Note: The web site for the Columbus Monument Corporation: https://columbusmonumentsyracuse.com/?p=1541

A SHUT OUT
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Rules 7-0 Against Former Mayor Jim Kenney’s Move to Cancel Columbus Day in Philadelphia

By Truby Chiaviello

Nothing beats a win…Unless that win is a perfect game shut out!

Such was the legal victory by attorney George Bochetto in a landmark case to keep Columbus Day in Philadelphia.

Columbus Day stays in Philly!

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled unanimously this week that former Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney overstepped his authority when he attempted to eliminate Columbus Day as an official city holiday.

The 7–0 decision, handed down Wednesday, reverses the mayor’s 2021 executive order to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in the city calendar. At the heart of the case was the question of separation of powers and whether a mayor has the authority to unilaterally eliminate an established public holiday.

The lawsuit was pushed forward by COPOMIAO (The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations), whose president, Basil M. Russo, claimed the preservation of Columbus Day is not simply about the man—it’s about defending the honor and contributions of generations of Italian Americans. “This a huge victory for the Italian American community in its efforts to defend and preserve our heritage from those who have tried to erase it,” said Russo. “COPOMIAO was proud to have served as lead plaintiff on this lawsuit, and we congratulate our great attorney, George Bochetto, for producing a just and well deserved result.”

The court’s ruling delivers a strong message: the values of due process and representative democracy cannot be cast aside in the name of political expediency.

“This unanimous decision affirms both the rule of law and the value of our Italian American heritage,” Bochetto said. “The voice of the people, expressed through their elected council, cannot be overridden by executive action.”

The court sided with the plaintiffs’ argument that the authority to establish or eliminate holidays lies not with the mayor, but with the City Council. Judge Patricia McCullough, writing for the court, was unambiguous:

“The power to establish, change, or eliminate official City holidays is essentially a legislative power,” she declared in the 21-page opinion.

Mayor Kenney had justified his 2021 order by labeling Columbus’s historical legacy as “infamous,” citing controversial conduct toward Indigenous populations. Yet the court dismissed the mayor’s justification as irrelevant to the matter at hand: the legality of bypassing the city’s legislative process.

The ruling is the latest in a series of victories for Italian Americans in Philadelphia. In 2020, Mayor Kenney sought the emergency removal of the 20-foot marble statue of Columbus in Marconi Plaza. He said the statue posed a threat to public safety in the aftermath of the George Floyd riots.

That move, too, was blocked in court. Judge Paula Patrick wrote in her decision:

“It is baffling to this Court as to how the City of Philadelphia wants to remove the statue without any legal basis… The City’s entire argument and case is devoid of any legal foundation.”

The city then boxed in the statue with plywood, prompting yet another court challenge. Once again, the courts ordered the city to free the statue, underscoring what many saw as a pattern of arbitrary and politically motivated decisions.

This week’s decision closes another chapter in a years-long struggle between City Hall and Philadelphia’s Italian American community. The court did not take issue with the idea of celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day—it simply affirmed that one culture’s recognition should not come at the expense of another’s.

“It has never been the position of the plaintiffs in this matter that Indigenous people are not entitled to a holiday,” Bochetto emphasized. “They certainly are. But not at the expense of Columbus Day.”

With the ruling, Columbus Day is officially reinstated as a city holiday in Philadelphia. Indigenous Peoples Day is no longer recognized as such on the city’s official calendar.

The victory is not just legal—it is symbolic. For Italian Americans, especially those in Philadelphia, this is a reaffirmation that their heritage will not be erased without a fight.

Editor’s Note: George Bochetto is a principal in the law firm Bochetto & Lentz. Their web site is https://www.bochettoandlentz.com. The web site for COPOMIAO is Nothing beats a win…Unless that win is a perfect game shut out!

Such was the legal victory by attorney George Bochetto in a landmark case to keep Columbus Day in Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled unanimously this week that former Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney overstepped his authority when he attempted to eliminate Columbus Day as an official city holiday.

The 7–0 decision, handed down Wednesday, reverses the mayor’s 2021 executive order to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in the city calendar. At the heart of the case was the question of separation of powers and whether a mayor has the authority to unilaterally eliminate an established public holiday.

The lawsuit was spearheaded by COPOMIAO (The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations), whose president, Basil M. Russo, claimed the preservation of Columbus Day is not simply about the man—it’s about defending the honor and contributions of generations of Italian Americans. “This a huge victory for the Italian American community in its efforts to defend and preserve our heritage from those who have tried to erase it,” said Russo. “COPOMIAO was proud to have served as lead plaintiff on this lawsuit, and we congratulate our great attorney, George Bochetto, for producing a just and well deserved result.”

The court’s ruling delivers a strong message: the values of due process and representative democracy cannot be cast aside in the name of political expediency.

“This unanimous decision affirms both the rule of law and the value of our Italian American heritage,” Bochetto said. “The voice of the people, expressed through their elected council, cannot be overridden by executive action.”

The court sided with the plaintiffs’ argument that the authority to establish or eliminate holidays lies not with the mayor, but with the City Council. Judge Patricia McCullough, writing for the court, was unambiguous:

“The power to establish, change, or eliminate official City holidays is essentially a legislative power,” she declared in the 21-page opinion.

Mayor Kenney had justified his 2021 order by labeling Columbus’s historical legacy as “infamous,” citing controversial conduct toward Indigenous populations. Yet the court dismissed the mayor’s justification as irrelevant to the matter at hand: the legality of bypassing the city’s legislative process.

The ruling is the latest in a series of victories for Italian Americans in Philadelphia. In 2020, Mayor Kenney sought the emergency removal of the 20-foot marble statue of Columbus in Marconi Plaza. He said the statue posed a threat to public safety in the aftermath of the George Floyd riots.

That move, too, was blocked in court. Judge Paula Patrick wrote in her decision:

“It is baffling to this Court as to how the City of Philadelphia wants to remove the statue without any legal basis… The City’s entire argument and case is devoid of any legal foundation.”

The city then boxed in the statue with plywood, prompting yet another court challenge. Once again, the courts ordered the city to free the statue, underscoring what many saw as a pattern of arbitrary and politically motivated decisions.

This week’s decision closes another chapter in a years-long struggle between City Hall and Philadelphia’s Italian American community. The court did not take issue with the idea of celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day—it simply affirmed that one culture’s recognition should not come at the expense of another’s.

“It has never been the position of the plaintiffs in this matter that Indigenous people are not entitled to a holiday,” Bochetto emphasized. “They certainly are. But not at the expense of Columbus Day.”

With the ruling, Columbus Day is officially reinstated as a city holiday in Philadelphia. Indigenous Peoples Day is no longer recognized as such on the city’s official calendar.

The victory is not just legal—it is symbolic. For Italian Americans, especially those in Philadelphia, this is a reaffirmation that their heritage will not be erased without a fight.

Editor’s Note: George Bochetto is a principal in the law firm Bochetto & Lentz. Their web site is https://www.bochettoandlentz.com. The web site for COPOMIAO is https://copomiao.org

ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S ANTI-ITALIANISM
Avowed Socialist, Democratic Nominee, Gives The Finger to Columbus Statue In 2020 Tweet

By Truby Chiaviello

Right now, no Italian American can vote for Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City.

He has shown himself to be, thus far, the most anti-Italian candidate in New York history.

The state assemblyman, representing a section of Queens, who proudly proclaims himself a Socialist, aka a Democratic Socialist, who won the Democratic primary in June, is now considered a frontrunner in the general election for mayor.

But a resurfaced tweet from 2020 has renewed criticism of Mamdani’s views — particularly from Italian American leaders and civic groups.

In the tweet, Mamdani is seen making an obscene gesture - flipping the bird - toward a Christopher Columbus monument in Queens, with the caption: “Take it down.” At the time of the tweet, Mamdani had been a U.S. citizen for only two years.

The message — and the image — have been widely condemned by Italian American organizations, who view it as an affront to their heritage and history. Yet, more Italian American leaders and organizations must make their denunciations known. PRIMO urges all Italian American leaders and their respective organizations, inside and outside the Big Apple, to condemn Mamdani for his disgusting tweet. All Italian American organizations are urged to demand an apology and retraction from Mamdani.

Angelo Vivolo, president of the Columbus Heritage Coalition, responded forcefully, when he said to the New York Post, “We will defend Columbus Day and Columbus statues.” In reference to Mamdani, “he is being disrespectful to the Italian American community. I don’t think he will be mayor for all the people of New York City.”

Vivolo’s sentiment reflects broad outrage within the Italian American population, which numbers nearly half a million across the five boroughs and represents about eight percent of the city’s registered voters. For many, Christopher Columbus remains a symbol of Italian American pride and historical recognition — especially as Columbus Day was originally established in response to anti-Italian violence, including the 1891 mass lynching in New Orleans.

Mamdani’s critics argue that his hostility toward Columbus monuments is not just a disagreement over history, but part of a broader political agenda that undermines traditional ethnic communities, law enforcement, small businesses, and religious values — areas where Italian Americans have long played key roles.

PRIMO urges all Italian Americans and supporters of cultural inclusion to speak out speak out and condemn Mamdani’s offensive tweet. The candidate’s public contempt for Columbus — a historical figure intimately tied to the Italian American experience — shows he is unable and unwilling to truly represent all New Yorkers. As Vivolo rightly says, “If you offend one community, you offend all communities.”

Editor’s Note: The web site for the Columbus Heritage Coalition is https://www.columbusheritagecoalition.org/leadership/

What the Church needs now…
WE NEED A POPE WHO WILL SPEAK FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS

By Truby Chiaviello

As the Catholic Church prepares to elect a new pope, much of the discussion centers around symbolic gestures: Will he be African? Asian? Italian? Will he be young? Pastoral? A reformer?

Symbolism alone cannot meet the demands of the moment. The Church needs a pope who will speak boldly and consistently for the millions of Christians being persecuted, attacked, imprisoned, and murdered across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

It is a global crisis hiding in plain sight.

In Nigeria, entire Christian villages have been razed by Boko Haram and Fulani extremists. In Pakistan, Christians are jailed and even executed under blasphemy laws. In India, Hindu nationalists attack churches and pastors with near-total impunity. In China, underground Catholics and Evangelical Protestants, alike, are subjected to surveillance, harassment, and re-education camps. In Sri Lanka, bombings have turned Easter Mass into a massacre.

These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a worldwide trend of rising violence against Christians of all denominations—Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant—often ignored by Western governments and underreported by mainstream media.

Years ago, I wrote about a Northern Virginia-based organization called Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC), whose mission was to raise awareness of these atrocities. They documented the scope of the violence, advocated in Congress, and tried to galvanize public opinion. But even then, it was an uphill battle.

The reality is sobering: Christianity remains the most persecuted religion in the world today.

And yet, too often, Vatican leadership has offered only muted responses. General calls for peace, yes. Occasional mentions of suffering, yes. But clear, forceful, sustained advocacy for persecuted Christians? Rare.

The next pope must change that.

He must be willing to name the persecutors—whether they are extremist groups, authoritarian regimes, or radical nationalists. He must be willing to stand alongside the victims, not just in prayer but in diplomatic advocacy. He must remind the world that martyrdom is not a relic of ancient Rome, but a present reality for millions of the faithful today.

A pope from Africa or Asia might understand this reality firsthand. Whatever his background, he must have the courage to speak without fear.

For too long, the blood of modern martyrs has been shed in silence. As the Church chooses her next shepherd, she must remember those who suffer unseen: the hidden faithful, the imprisoned pastors, the orphaned children of bombed-out parishes.

They are the heart of the Church. They deserve a voice. They deserve a pope who will speak on their behalf.

Editor’s Note: Save The Persecuted Christians is non-profit organization devoted to rescuing Roman Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants. Their web site is www.savethepersecutedchristians.org

HIGH VOLTAGE SCI-FI
“The Electric State” Charges Ahead on Netflix
- The Russo Brothers New Science Fiction Epic

By Rami Chiaviello

“The Electric State” - directed by Joe and Anthony Russo - is a sci-fi epic both visually stunning and emotionally powerful. The story engages the audience to reconsider a relationship with technology that controls our lives. By blending remarkable special effects, detailed world-building, and masterful storytelling, the Russo’s once again create a film enjoyable for viewers of all ages. Released on Netflix, the film’s charm and excitement entices subsequent viewings.

Based on the novel by Simon Stålenhag “The Electric State” takes place in an alternate history, one where robots advanced far earlier in our timeline, resulting in a brutal conflict between humanity and artificial intelligence. At the center of this conflict is Ethan Skater (Stanley Tucci), CEO of tech conglomerate Sentre, whose Neurocaster System changes the tides of battle. By allowing people to upload their consciousness into drones, humanity defeats the robots, banishing them to the “exclusion zone,” a vast swath of desert in the heart of the American southwest. However, the success of Neurocaster results in humanity opting to live their lives virtually, detached from the real world in favor of a digital existence.

“The Electric State” follows Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), an orphaned teen searching for her deceased brother, Christopher (Woody Norman). Accompanied by a mysterious robot companion named Cosmo, Michelle embarks on a dangerous journey across ravaged America. Along the way, she teams up with a smuggler named Keats (Chris Pratt) and a rag-tag group of malfunctioning, yet charming robots, who ultimately aid her on her quest. As the film progresses, Michelle’s mission leads to a confrontation with Sentre, something that will ultimately determine the future of humanity.
  
One of the film’s biggest strengths is its world building. The setting is a landscape both eerie and beautiful. Sprawling wide shots are full of abandoned technology, degrading scrap, and the decay of a once thriving society. The film provides a clear visual language about the effects of war. The world has become a desolate and hollow shell of its former grandeur. There is a great attention to detail. Rust and soot on old abandoned military drones, dirt and grime scattered along the roads and buildings, highlight a society that no longer takes pride in their communities. This contrasts with the sleek, clean and highly advanced design of Sentre’s vast data centers; large protruding fortresses of machine, metal, and wires, now fully encapsulating the skyline of the world’s once iconic cities.
  
The special effects are another highlight of the film. They are so seamless, that it's not fully clear where the practical effects end and the computer-generated effects begin. This is a testament to the technical prowess and storytelling behind the film. Each robot is crafted with an immense amount of care and respect to the world the filmmakers build. The robots are the clear highlight of “The Electric State,” blending technical mastery and masterful design, creating characters that are instantly appealing. Standouts include Herman (voiced by Anthony Mackie), a witty construction robot and the primary comic relief, and Mr. Peanut voiced by Woody Harrelson. Mr. Peanut (yes, the Planter’s mascot) is not your traditional Hollywood “product placement,” rather, he’s a fully fleshed out character with clear goals and motivations. Hebecomes a central the film’s theme, asking key questions about freedom, artificial intelligence, and what it means to be alive.  
  
Beyond the stunning visuals, “The Electric State” carries a strong emotional and thematic core. The relationship between Michelle and Cosmo is at the heart of the film, enforcing themes of family, loss, and acceptance. The film argues that the symbiotic relationship that exists between the digital and real world is not a force for progress, but a force that has fractured and ultimately regressed the human spirit. The film asks the viewer to consider their relationship with technology, ultimately advocating for a rejection of technology, and a prioritization of human relationship over artificial advancement.
  
“The Electric State” is a fun, family-friendly adventure with strong special effects, detailed world-building, excellent performances, and an emotional central message. The film is more than a sci-fi, dystopian road trip, but an exciting piece that delivers a heartfelt story about connection, memory, and what it means to be alive.

Editor’s Note: Log on to Netflix to see “The Electric State.” The web site for AGBO is: https://www.agbo.com

RUSSO BROTHERS LEGACY CEMENTED IN HOLLYWOOD
- Joe and Anthony Russo Honored at TCL Grauman’s Chinese Theater
- Directors of Marvel Blockbusters Have Their Hands, Feet in Cement
- All-Star Ceremony Highlights Russo Brothers Reach in Hollywood

By Truby Chiaviello

They remain together…in stone.

Joe and Anthony Russo, the visionary directors behind some of the biggest films in cinematic history, were honored today with a handprint ceremony at the historic TCL Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The event marked a monumental milestone for the filmmaking duo, who have not only shaped the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but have also left an indelible mark on the film industry through their production company, AGBO.

Today’s ceremony was attended by family, friends, and Hollywood collaborators, reinforcing just how influential the Russos have become in international film and television.

The presence of Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios president, and Louis D’Esposito, Marvel Studios co-resident, was a testament to the Russo Brothers’ pivotal role in the MCU’s Infinity Saga. The duo directed four of the most defining Marvel films—“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “Avengers: Endgame”—the latter becoming one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Altogether, the films directed by the Russos have generated almost $7 billion today. This puts the Cleveland natives in the running of the highest grossing filmmakers in history; in what has become a tight race with James Cameron, Stephen Spielberg, and George Lucas.

Feige and D’Esposito’s attendance underscores a successful partnership with the Russo Brothers in making Marvel’s biggest hits. The Russos are scheduled to direct two coming Marvel films - “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars.”

Also in attendance were Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the Russo Brothers’ longtime writing partners and the architects behind the scripts for their Marvel blockbusters. Their presence highlighted the creative collaboration that shaped the most emotionally resonant moments of the MCU.

The ceremony wasn’t just a Marvel reunion—it was also a celebration of the Russos’ 30 year journey from television to blockbuster filmmaking.

Actors Chris Pratt was there to introduce the Russo Brothers, commending the pair for their Midwestern values and Italian focus on family. He was later joined by actresses Alison Brie, and Yvette Nicole Brown.

Chris Pratt starred in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame.” He is set to star in the Russo-produced film “The Electric State,” joined by Brie and Brown, directed by the Russos for several episodes of “Community.”

Adding to the significance of the event, the Russos were joined by their parents, Basil and Patricia Russo, who beamed with pride as their sons cemented their place in Hollywood history. Basil Russo remains the most prominent Italian American leader and advocate in the United States as he presides over the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations and the Italian Sons and Daughters of America. He and Mrs. Russo’s attendance was a reminder of how Joe and Anthony’s upbringing shaped their storytelling themes of loyalty, power, and identity.

Their sister, Angela Russo-Otstot, a key executive at AGBO, was also present. As president of the studio’s creative department, she has played an integral role in the Russos’ career, helping steer projects like “Citadel” and “The Electric State.”

Two other principals at AGBO, partners Donald Mustard and Chris Brearton were on hand to take part in the ceremony with a photograph of Joe and Anthony Russo in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. The entire staff of AGBO were present for the ceremony. They were featured in a large group photograph with Joe and Anthony Russo.

Perhaps the most touching aspect of the event was the presence of the Russos’ wives. Pictured with Anthony was wife Ann and with Joe, wife Alicia. Joe and Alicia’s daughters, Ava Russo, has already made a name for herself in Hollywood by portraying Lila Barton, the daughter bow and arrow ace, Hawkeye, in the MCU. Seeing multiple generations of the Russo family standing together made the event a truly full-circle moment.

With their handprints now immortalized alongside Hollywood legends, the Russo Brothers’ place in film history is secure. While their work on the MCU defined a generation of storytelling, their focus has now shifted to AGBO, where they continue to innovate with high-stakes action and character-driven narratives.

The event wasn’t just about celebrating their past—it was a recognition that the Russo Brothers are far from done shaping the future of entertainment.

Editor’s Note: The web sites for AGBO https://www.agbo.com/about, and Marvel Studios https://www.marvel.com/movies

ANARCHY’S ASSASSINS
Accused Killer, Luigi Mangione, Moved by Anarchy Revolution, Say Authorities

By Truby Chiaviello

You’re not alone if you killed for anarchy.

Such may be the historical fate of accused assassin, Luigi Mangione.

Now awaiting trial inside a Brooklyn jail, for the murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of United Healthcare, Luigi Mangione has time to consider Italians of the past who killed for anarchy.

Revolution was the core motivation for several Italians who assassinated monarchs and prime ministers many years ago. Anarchy in Europe was sought through premeditated murders in Italy, Spain, and Switzerland.

Italy’s killers wanted to move the pendulum of political upheaval. They rejected law and order. They hated the deliberations of parliaments. They condemned rule by divine right.

Blood runs hot in young Italian men; especially those who are hellbent to right purported wrongs. Assassins of Italy’s past were not much older, or younger, than Luigi Mangione is today. One was 26, the same age.

Radicalized by anarchic propaganda, these Italian men are, forever, villainous models of discontent. Their deeds of destruction still resonate with today’s youth.

Here are some notable incidents involving Italian anarchists who committed assassinations or acts of terrorism:

LUIGI LUCHENI
Luigi Lucheni was 25 years old when he assassinated Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) on September 10, 1898, in Geneva, Switzerland. His weapon of choice was a sharpened file.

Lucheni was born in Paris, but grew up in Parma. He was raised in several orphanages, after his mother abandoned him in Italy. At the time of the assassination, Lucheni was a veteran of the Italian army. He served on the front lines in the war in Ethiopia. Lucheni was working odd jobs in Italy and Switzerland when he was motivated by anarchist propaganda of the deed. He intended to kill any sovereign to make a statement against monarchy.

Lucheni did not have enough money to buy a stiletto. Instead, he fashioned his murder weapon from a file, originally used for industrial purposes. The homemade instrument was four inches long when sharpened. He attached a piece of wood for a handle.

The empress came to Geneva to visit Baroness Julie Rothschild. Walking along the quay, where anchored the royal yacht, the empress was to pass Lucheni. He jumped out from the crowd of onlookers to attack her from behind; stabbing her in the chest. He fled into the crowd where he was immediately captured by police. The empress was alive and well minutes after the attack. Her tight corset was believed to have stunted the blow. She was escorted to the royal yacht only to collapse aboard the vessel. The tip of Lucheni’s weapon had pierced the woman’s heart. She died an hour later. At trial, Lucheni pleaded with the judge to give him the death penalty. He wanted to die a martyr. Instead, he was given a life sentence as punishment for the murder of the Austrian empress. He died in 1910, in jail, from suicide by hanging.

GAETANO BRESCI
Gaetano Bresci was 30 years old when he assassinated King Umberto I of Italy on July 29, 1900, in Monza, Italy. He had previously immigrated to the United States from Coiano, a village within the commune of Prato in Tuscany. Bresci was living in Paterson, New Jersey when, across the Atlantic, Milan was overtaken by bread riots. General Bava Beccaris ordered soldiers to shoot the protesters. Some 80 people were killed and 450 others were wounded. Bresci was committed to avenge the Bava Beccaris massacre by assassinating Italy’s king.

Bresci’s weapon of choice was a .32 Smith and Wesson revolver he purchased in Paterson. He was working n the city, at the Hamil & Booth Mill, a silk manufacturer. A labor organizer and community activist, Bresci was a one of the founders of the anarchist newspaper, “La Questione Sociale,” in North Jersey.

Bresci was in Italy when King Umberto attended an event sponsored by the Italian Gymnastics Federation, inside Stadio Gino Alfonso Sada, in Monza. Bresci had positioned himself within a crowd of spectators who were outside to cheer Italy’s ruler. At the close of the event, the king made his way from the stadium to the royal carriage when Bresci shot him at close range in the shoulder, lung and heart. “I think I’m hurt,” said the king to a member of his entourage, minutes after the attack. He was taken to the Royal Villa of Monza where he died that night. Bresci was captured immediately after the assassination. He shouted to the crowd, “I did not kill Umberto! I have killed the King! I killed a principle!” He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in Santo Stefano, an island prison off the coast of Italy. He died after he hung himself from a makeshift noose he tied in his jail cell on May 22, 1901.

MICHELE ANGIOLILLO
Michele Angiolillo was originally from Foggia, Italy. He was 26 when he assassinated Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, on August 8, 1897. The murder took place in Santa Águeda, a spa town in the Basque region of Spain.

Michele worked as a printer’s apprentice when he came into contact with anarchist literature and propaganda. Radicalized, he sought revenge for the harsh treatment of anarchists in Spain, particularly the Montjuïc trials where many were tortured and some were executed. He went to Spain to stalk the prime minister, there. The towns and cities of the country were laid on a path to murder. It was in Santa Agueda when the opportunity arose for Michele. It was during the day when Prime Minister Canovas was found, alone, sitting in the garden of the resort. Michele approached the head of state to ask for an autograph. The prime minister smiled, nodded, and saw, not a pad and pen from Michele, but, rather, a revolver to fire into him a fatal round at point-blank range. The prime minister was hit in the head and shoulder and died immediately. Michele waited in the garden for the police to arrest him. He expressed no regret for the murder. For punishment of the crime, he was executed by strangulation on August 20, 1887. His last word was “Germinal,” a reference to the French Revolutionary Calendar.

From the late 19th to the early 20th century, Italian anarchists engaged in numerous acts of violence.

Milan suffered several attacks in 1899, after parcel bombs were delivered to protest the jailing of an anarchist in Greece. The rise of the Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI) in the 21st century, has claimed responsibility for various attacks involving bombings and assaults, marking a resurgence of anarchist terrorism in Italy.

Sacco and Vanzetti remain the most popular anarchists found guilty of murder in the United States. Although not directly involved in assassinations, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian anarchists convicted of murder in 1921, amidst a climate of anti-anarchist and anti-Italian sentiment in
America. Their case was associated with broader anarchist violence, including the Galleanists' campaign, which included bombings and assassination attempts.

The youngest of anarchists to attempt murder was Anteo Zamboni. He was just 15 years old when he tried to assassinate Benito Mussolini in Bologna on October 31, 1926. His revolver misfired, hitting the mayor instead. Zamboni tried to escape the scene of the crime, only to be captured and killed by a fascist mob.

Angelo Pellegrino Sbardellotto was another anarchist who also tried but failed to assassinate Mussolini. He was executed by a firing squad on June 17, 1932. His final words were, "Viva l'anarchia!"

These and other incidents highlight the Italian anarchist movement's strategy of "propaganda by the deed" aimed at challenging state authority and social order through severe violence. The actions were often in response to perceived state oppression, particularly against anarchists and labor movements. Now, awaiting trial, is Luigi Mangione, who, authorities claim, was under the same spell of anarchy, as were other accused and convicted assassins of Italy’s past.

Editor’s Note: The poster, above, shows some of the assassins, mentioned in this article, along with Luigi Mangione; beginning, upper left, Gaetano Bresci, Luigi Luchini (profile view), Michele Angiolillo and, right corner, Angelo Pellegrino Sbardellotto.

SHADES OF THE UNABOMBER
Luigi Mangione Parallels Ted Kaczynski in Background and Ideology

By Truby Chiaviello

The murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, one of the country’s largest and most important corporations, ends the year on a horrifying note.

The sole suspect, in the crime, is an Italian American.

Luigi Mangione has been arrested and charged with the murder of Brian Thompson.

A young man, of wealth and privilege; from a family who are leaders in the Italian American community of Maryland, Mangione is shown with a bright, confident face by way of print, television, and digital media. He has brown, curly hair, dark eyebrows, and a wide, carefree grin.

Luigi Mangione is identified by police as the hooded figure, shown in public surveillance videos, who stalks, then shoots Brian Thompson on a sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan.

Mangione is 26 years old. Count this, one of many similarities he shares with Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, aka, The Unabomber; the code name given by the FBI to the anonymous killer who used homemade bombs as his weapons of choice.

When Ted Kaczynski was the same age as Mangione, he embarked on a path toward domestic terrorism. He abruptly resigned his post as a professor, at 26, one of the youngest ever, at the University of California, Berkeley. He left the city, in 1969, to settle in a remote area, eventually in a forest in Montana, where he planned and carried out the murders of three people and the injury of 23 others.

In both background and ideology, Mangione and Kaczynski have much in common. They were prodigies who graduated with top grades from Ivy League schools: Mangione, University of Pennsylvania and Kaczynski, Harvard. They were gifted and ambitious in academia. Mangione obtained a Master’s in Computer Engineering while Kaczysnki earned a Ph.D. in mathematics.

Although he was not born yet when the Unabomber was captured and identified as Ted Kascynski, Mangione knows well the killer’s story. He went so far as to read Kascynski’s manifesto, “Industrial Society and It’s Future.”

On Goodreads, a book review platform on the Internet, Mangione ranked Kaczynksi’s essay, four of five stars. A scouring critique of technology and modern society was the 35,000 word composition originally submitted by the Unabomber in 1995. Advised by Attorney General, Janet Reno, the work was immediately published by national newspapers in hope a reader, somewhere, might know the author’s identity from his writing style and content. Kaczynski’s younger brother, Dave, thought the essay belonged to Ted. He contacted the FBI with his suspicion that Ted was the Unabomber. Some months later, Kaczynski was arrested and charged by federal agents.

As he wrote on Goodreads, Mangione imparts sympathy for Kaczynski. He acknowledged that many might consider the writer, “a lunatic.” Yet, Mangione shares a quote, from another person, to underscore the mission of the Unabomber, that, “violence is necessary to survive.”

Arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Mangione is said to have carried with him, what police describe, a written manifesto. The essay was similar to the Unabomber’s, in tone, but much shorter in length. One detective, who read the manuscript, says Mangione critiqued attributes of modern society, with health care, a main focus.

Mangione was an avid participant on social media platforms. On his Twitter page, he posted an X-ray image of his lower back detailing an operation he underwent to alleviate chronic pain. Friends claim that Mangione became more withdrawn and less approachable after the procedure.

Kaczynski’s mother, Wanda, thought that medical treatment was the cause of her son’s social decline and eventual criminality. She said, in a newspaper interview, after his arrest, that Kaczynski was a happy, responsive baby, only to become cold and distant when he returned home from the hospital after treatment for hives. She and her husband, Ted’s father, Theodore, were not allowed to visit their son while he was under the care of doctors and nurses. She was convinced the time away from his parents made Ted inherently distrustful of people and society.

From 1978 to 1995, three people were murdered and 23 others were severely injured from bombs made by Kascynski. His targets were engineers, professors, and businessmen in technology, resource management, and aviation.

Kascynski lived in a cabin without running water or electricity in a forest in Montana. With no background in pyrotechnics, he, nevertheless, was able to construct explosives with chemicals and items of everyday usage.

Like the Unabomber, Mangione is alleged, by police, to have made the weapon to murder Brian Thompson. The assailant’s gun, as shown in surveillance videos, is said, by law enforcement, to match the design and configuration of a gun found on Mangione, when he was arrested in Pennsylvania. Investigators believe the gun was made by Mangione with use of a 3D printer.

For almost 20 years, the FBI was unable to identify the Unabomber. He was a shadowy figure on a sporadic mission to kill and maim. Witnesses to the crimes were practically non-existent. Over the years, however, and after thousands of hours of investigative work, federal agents were able to come up with a composite sketch of the face and figure of what they believed was the Unabomber. The illustration depicted a man who looked to be 35 years old, wearing aviation sun glasses, and a hooded sweatshirt.

Ghostly similar is the identity of Mangione. The alleged assassin police say, is shown in surveillance videos on the streets of Manhattan, stalking and killing his victim. Like the Unabomber, he too is dressed in a hoodie.

Primo Review
“SUBURRA”

By Truby Chiaviello

You’re wrong to think the suburbs was exclusively an American phenomena.

Actually, Italy is where the first suburbs began.

Credit Cicero for the concept.

In first century B.C., the great statesman came up with the word to describe a new class of patricians who lived at the outskirts of the capital city. They were “suburra,” he said, meaning “underneath the city.”

Hence, the film by Stefano Sollima, from 2015, is aptly titled. “Suburra,” is a present-day neo-noir saga of corrupt politicians, greedy priests and brutal gangsters, with their eyes on the prize, the suburbs of Rome, or, more specifically, Ostia.

The plot centers on a new law to be passed in the Italian parliament to allow for the development of resorts and casinos in the seaside sprawl west of Rome. Ostia is to become the new Las Vegas.

“Suburra,” shares its name with the TV series on Netflix based on the film’s story and characters, yet stretched out over several years’ worth of episodes. Although critically acclaimed when released in 2015; the movie was, all but, impossible to view.

Until now, that is.

Unearthed Films, a distributor of horror and exploitation films, based in Los Angeles, has acquired the rights to distribute “Suburra.” According to Stephen Biro, president and CEO of Unearthed Films, “Suburra” posed some challenges to acquire because of the film’s relative obscurity, in contrast to the popularity of its spun-off TV series. Beginning on September 26th, however, copies of “Suburra,” the feature length film, will be available for purchase on Blue Ray and DVD at the Unearthed Films web site: www.unearthedfilms.com.

Fans of the TV series will cherish the film. Much of the action in “Suburra” is set in Rome, a city not normally associated with organized crime unlike Naples, Palermo and Coscenza. Only, within the last two decades, Rome has become a key destination for black market intrigue.

“Suburra” is based on the 2013 novel of the same title by Carlo Bonini and Giancarlo De Cataldo. Story and characters cover the exploits of Mafia Capitale, the name given by the Italian press to describe a class of professional criminals in Rome in 1999. A key character in the film is Valerio, a.k.a., “Samurai,” played by Claudio Amendola. He is representative of a new breed of Roman racketeers and enforcers, who got their start, not as petty criminals, but, rather, as neofascist operatives.

In the film, Samurai fronts as the owner of a gas station; yet, he serves as point man for Mafia clans in Naples and other cities in the South. With financial backing from the Vatican bank, he sets his sights to turn Ostia into Europe’s Sin City.

The scheme relies on a member of parliament, Filippo Malgradi, played by Pierfrancesco Favino, to head a committee to try and change the land development law. Meanwhile, a local thug, who goes by the acronym “Numero 8,” played by Alessandro Borghi, is hired by Samurai to beat up and torture small property owners to force them to sell at below market value.

After a workday ends in parliament, Malgradi, who, on the surface, a family man, with a wife and child, spends the night at a nearby hotel. His mistress, Sabrina, is there with her friend, a minor, waiting to takes drugs and have sex with him. From the balcony of the hotel room is a view of Saint Peter’s basilica, while, inside, the girl dies from an overdose. Fearing a scandal, Malgradi abandons Sabrina alone with the corpse. She contacts a young mafiosi, Spadino Anacleti, played by Giacomo Ferrara, to dispose of the body.

Knowing it was Malgradi who was with the women the night before, Spadino confronts the member of parliament to blackmail him. In response, Malgradi recruits a colleague with ties to the Mafia. He hires Numero 8 to scare Spadino away from the blackmailing scheme. Instead, Spadino is killed by Numero 8. This sets off a chain of brutal events. Spadino’s older brother is the local crime boss, Manfredi Anacleti, played by Adamo Dionisio. Word goes out to the street for information leading to the the identity of the killer. Another character, Sebastiano, played by Elio Germano, is a friend of Sabrina’s. From her, the assassin is revealed for Sebastiano to inform Manfredi with hopes to erase a debt his late father owed the mobster.

Such is the web weaved in “Suburra.” The vendetta by Manfredi is to undermine the project in Ostia. As a Mafia war ensues, alliances are formed to extract violence and treachery.

“Suburra” thrives on the interactions of nefarious characters, superbly played by the ensemble cast. The direction is tightly presented to highlight creative action and violent sequences. Lighting and styling conveys an ancient city in a dystopian aura of neon colors.

“Suburra” shares a notoriety first established by “Gomorrah,” the Italian TV series to depict Camorra crime families in Naples, as based on a film, of the same title, released in 2008. As most scenes are shot on location, “Suburra” will do for Rome, what “Gomorrah” did for Naples. Parts of the city, far away from tourist itineraries, are explored. Not just the seedy underbelly, the middle class and working class sections of Rome convey a dynamic city overlooked by most observers.

“Suburra” is an excellent display of Italian talent in front of and behind the camera. The story and characters grasp the attention of the audience from the first scene to the last. What transpires is mesmerizing and thrilling.

For those fascinated with Italy, not to mention excellent cinema, “Suburra” is a film for the ages.

Editor’s Note: You can purchase copies of “Suburra” by accessing the web site for Unearthed Films at www.unearthedfilms.com. Photographs by Emanuele Scarpa. This article was posted on 9/21/23.

ITALY’S LITTLE AFRICAS
African Communities Arise in Rome and Naples

By Laura Ghiandoni

There are about 1 million Africans who, after leaving their homeland, have chosen Italy as a nation to seek a better life. Discovering these communities means going beyond stereotypes. Wonderful stories of redemption will color an undergrowth of migration little known to most Italians.

It is worth taking a look at the numbers released by Italy’s Ministry of Labor and Social Policies. The Moroccan community holds first place for the number of inhabitants with 429,000 people, followed by the Egyptians, 141,000, the Tunisian and Nigerian communities, 100,000 and 98,000, respectively.

The numbers, even if essential, tell of protagonists who embrace the momentum towards private initiative. The entrepreneurial dreams of immigrants convey a certain sense of rebirth in Italy.

First up is the Moroccan community. Some 65,000 individual companies in the industrial and commercial sectors were started by immigrants from Morocco. Their businesses are found in all parts of Italy, especially in the regions of Piedmont, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna.

The second position goes to the Egyptian community, where some 20,000 companies have been set up in the construction sector. The third place goes to the Tunisian community with 16,000 companies engaged in both industry and construction.

The employment figures speak for themselves: There is a substantial difference between female and male employment, the former accounting for less than a third of the latter. Dr. Laila Maher stands out among the few Moroccan female entrepreneurs with a pharmacy she owns in the territory of Rome. “The role of Moroccan women in Italy is mostly still limited to childcare,” says Dr. Maher, recipient of a medal from the president of the Italian Republic for becoming the first Arab woman in the business and social sector. “Integration?” she asks rhetorically. “It is something that works if both parties commit themselves. The question of the country’s language is fundamental: Sometimes Moroccans do not speak Italian even after many years in the country.”

Dr. Maher, after the excellent results obtained with the pharmacy, is expanding her activity in other sectors such as imports, exports and alternative energies. "Before the 90s most people came for study or tourism,” she says, “but after the 90s illiterate people arrived, who cannot write in Arabic and do not learn Italian. For these people, it is often impossible to understand what they can and cannot do in Italy.”

While active women such as Dr. Maher are an exception among Moroccan immigrants, the Nigerian community offers a completely different perspective. Some 16,000 companies in Italy are currently owned by immigrants from Nigeria. Women make up 40 percent of the managers employed in Nigerian businesses. Vivian, who has been in Naples for about 10 years, tells us what it means to arrive in Italy to open her business. "In Italy it is not easy to start your own restaurant,” she explains. “There are an infinite number of laws and procedures to be respected, many security measures today are also linked to the Covid-19 epidemic.” She resides in Naples’ San Lorenzo district, a small African enclave of stalls and street traders. "Most Africans feel a lot of nostalgia for their country. They come to eat at my restaurant to savor the flavors of home. Here, we all feel like brothers and sisters. In Naples, there is the culture of hospitality. I like it.” Although satisfied with her new life in Italy, she acknowledges a consistent. obstacle. What is it? The language: "I still have difficulty speaking Italian well; I can't express myself.”

Korie Chidimma is a nurse who specializes in transplants and dialysis treatments in Rome. She currently serves as president of the association titled, “Break Your Bread for the Less Privileged.” We meet her in the parish of Saint Ambrose after the celebration of Mass. "We volunteer at the Policlinico Umberto I to promote the health of those who do not speak Italian,” Korie says. "When Nigerian patients arrive in the emergency room or in the hospital ward, we help them understand medical prescriptions and book medical examinations.”

Not mastering the Italian language will be a key reason for difficulty in becoming a well-integrated immigrant. According to the latest Ipsos survey, Italians perceive Nigerians as one of the largest groups of foreigners currently in the country. Yet, they remain a modest community to represent only two percent of the total population.

According to another survey, carried out by MigrAction, a majority of Italians, in 2019, were convinced that all foreigners represented over 30 percent of Italy’s population. In fact, the figure is just seven percent. Hence, newspapers and media tout a distortion of the Italian perception regarding the presence of foreigners. Italy joins other European countries to restrain from offering new policies to better manage the integration process. In addition, various disputes between Italy and several African countries has pushed for more enforcement measures to block migration.

The internal dynamics of the world of immigration was introduced by Souad Sbai, president of the association of Moroccan women titled, Acmid. “The immigrant in Italy has no opportunity to arrive legally,” she says. “Even those who want to visit Italy or stay for tourism purposes have difficulty to get a visa.” Also for this reason, some immigrants risk traveling by sea to land in Lampedusa, an island off the coast of Sicily. The reconfirmation of the controversial agreement between Italy and Libya, for the reduction of migration flows, was signed in July, 2021. This treaty guaranteed the Libyan Coast Guard to help stop illegal migration. The arrangement costs Italy some 10.5 million euro while migrants in Libya are locked up in prison-like "centers” to suffer mass violence and torture.

Other laws protecting migrants have been stationary in recent years. Starting with the Ius Solis, a rule to allow citizenship for those born in Italy with one parent who might be foreign and the other an Italian citizen. Even the "International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families,” signed in 1990 by 20 United Nations member countries, has never been signed by Italy. As European countries become increasingly reluctant to welcome foreigners. The resilience, strength and courage of migrants becomes increasingly evident to all. Such qualities lead to the growth of nations whose economic stability has been widely demonstrated. Stories that Old Europe tends to forget, while on other coasts they are much easier to be remembered.

Primo Review
GRAY IS THE NEW BLACK

By Rami Chiaviello

Joe and Anthony Russo extend their meteoric rise to the top of the Hollywood heap of A #1 film directors.

Released July 22 on Netflix, “The Gray Man” serves as the Russo Brothers’ first big budget foray since their temporary exit from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Few films will be as successful as “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.” These two productions by the Russos remain the highest grossing films in Hollywood history. Will Joe and Anthony return to Marvel? Rumor has it the announced film adaptation of Marvel’s “Secret War” comic book will be directed by the brothers Russo. We await this exciting possibility. For now, our focus is rightly on the “The Gray Man” to serve as the latest and greatest from the cinematic duo for fans to cherish.

“The Gray Man” is another outstanding picture by the Russos. They teamed up again for a screenplay by Marvel veterans Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Adapted to the big screen was the novel, of the same title, by Mark Greaney.

“The Gray Man” follows Ryan Gosling as the main character, known by his alias, “Sierra Six,” the CIA’s most skilled mercenary. When he acquires incriminating evidence against the agency’s top brass, a bounty is placed on his head for a team of international assassins to collect. Lloyd Hansen is a sociopath-for-hire mercenary played by Chris Evans to lead the manhunt. The two male stars share top billing status with actress Ana de Armas, as Dani Miranda, a CIA agent who allies with Six.

“The Gray Man” stars an international cast of supporting players to include Regé-Jean Page as Denny Carmichael, a CIA chief who orders the hit on Six, Indian actor Dhanush as one of the hired assassins, Billy Bob Thorton as Donald Fitzroy, the rogue agent’s mentor, Jessica Henwick, as Suzanne Brewer, Carmichael’s second-in-command and Alfre Woodard as Margaret Cahill, ex-CIA agent who helps Six. 

Cast members excel in their respective roles, only for Gosling and Evans to especially shine. Both stars reinvent themselves in “The Gray Man.” Gosling effectively, and surprisingly, sells himself as the stoic, hardened and witty expert assassin in a grueling physical performance. Meanwhile, Evans does a complete 180-degree turnaround. He goes from hero Captain America to sinister villain. The actor, no doubt, had lots of fun playing a complete sociopath. His take on the character is addicting to watch. His chemistry with Gosling provides an exciting viewing experience. I also appreciate seeing Billy Bob Thorton return to the blockbuster realm. He does a great job playing the veteran CIA operative.

“The Gray Man” moves fast. The film offers only a few moments for the audience to catch its breath. The film jumps from action set piece to set piece, with each and every one as exciting, well-paced, well-choreographed and beautifully shot as the other. The film’s budget of nearly $200 million was well spent. With “The Gray Man,” the Russos have perfected what makes a modern-day action blockbuster so exciting to watch. Sweeping camera movements combine with well-timed cuts to hone in on the precision, grace and force of every punch, kick and fall. The highlight for viewers will be the well-timed convergence of hunters and hunted in the city of Prague. This scene is undoubtedly one of the most exciting of the year in cinema. The elegance and beauty of the final confrontation between Six and Hansen will have viewers on the edge of their seats. The action of the film is accentuated from an excellent score by Henry Jackman, a frequent collaborator with the Russos, whose electrically captivating sound, full of heavy, rapid beats, serves as the melodic spirit for the film’s ferocity. 

“The Gray Man” is a fun, enthralling, well-paced, tight blockbuster to feature the most exciting action set-pieces this year. The Russo Brothers lead an expert cast and crew for an outstanding film to what hopefully will be their first of an exciting new spy franchise.

“The Gray Man” is awesome.

Editor’s Note: “The Gray Man” can be seen on Netflix at https://www.netflix.com/title/81160697. The writer is a part-time actor, playwright and rising Pre-Med junior at California State University in Los Angeles.

IF IT’S AMERICA, IT’S COLUMBUS
Columbus Monument Corporation, Syracuse, Uses National Data to Make Their Case
The Legacy of the Genoese Explorer Proves Formidable in All 50 States

By Truby Chiaviello

The battle for Columbus continues.

In Syracuse, the Columbus Monument still stands, inside Columbus circle there; but Mayor Ben Walsh moves on with his appeal after a stunning legal victory, back in March, by the Columbus Monument Corporation to keep the edifice in place.

“Ben Walsh is out of touch with the majority of Americans,” claims the Columbus Monument Corporation in a recent email blast. The organization continues to make their case to the general public; this time with impressive data, compiled nationally on the status of Columbus in the guise of monuments, statues and name bearing municipalities and landmarks.

“Ben Walsh said he does not like the message that the historic Columbus Monument Syracuse sends to his constituents. In 1934, the message at the monument’s unveiling was that European immigrants were thrilled to call Syracuse their home, and Syracuse was happy to have them as citizens. Indeed, that same message rang throughout the United States. And it still does. Most Americans continue to honor the explorer, and refuse to scrub his name from thousands of places.”

The year 2020 remains one of the most divisive in American history. Many Columbus monuments and statues were either removed by official decree or torn down by rioting mobs in the wake of George Floyd’s tragic death by police in Minneapolis. In several unique graphic displays, pictured, by the Columbus Monument Corporation and PRIMO Magazine, only “40 monuments to Columbus” were removed, while 130 Columbus monuments “still remain, making Columbus one of the most venerated figures among US monuments and memorials. Only Abraham Lincoln and George Washington enjoy greater presence in American statuary.”

It was Chicago to rank as the worst in a display of mob pressure in 2020. Demonstrators and rioters assembled, one summer evening, in front of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s private residence, to threaten her and her neighbors with possible property destruction, to force her to remove three Columbus monuments there in the city. Yet, as the Columbus Monument Corporation has noted, Chicago is one of several cities, today, to consider returning Columbus Monuments to previous locations.

“More than 6,000 places in the U.S. take their name from Christopher Columbus,” claims the Columbus Monument Corporation. “There are streets and avenues and traffic circles, along with lakes and rivers and mountains - defining features of the nation’s civic and natural geography.”

Columbus Day remains a day of celebration for thousands of Syracuse residents when they “gather at the historic Columbus Monument to pay tribute to those generations…who fought for and defended the very special freedoms afforded to immigrants when they came and made this their home,” reads a press statement by the Columbus Monument Corporation. “If that is a ‘bad message,’ as Walsh suggests, then he is really out of touch with the majority of Americans and with his own city.”

“James Madison once said that democratic communities are subject to the ‘turbulence and weakness of unruly passions.’ That is why a democracy is purposely designed to slow things down, protecting it from the mania of the moment. Walsh bought into that mob mania, and illegally attempted to destroy Syracuse’s Columbus Monument. Fortunately, his constituents were there to slow him down, and stop what could have been a tragic blow to Syracuse’s history and heritage. Now he continues to waste your tax dollars on this folly, paying expensive lawyers and consultants.”

“Ask Ben Walsh to stop dividing us with his petulant denial of the Supreme Court's ruling to leave Syracuse’s Columbus Monument untouched. Tell him to join us in creating a fully inclusive Columbus Circle without insulting turn-of-the century immigrants and their descendants.” Forward this email (article) to him at BWalsh@syrgov.net

Editor’s Note: The web site for the Columbus Monument Corporation is: https://columbusmonumentsyracuse.com

La Capitale Americana 1-17-21
TYGERIAN LACE STUNS DC FASHION SCENE WITH HER NEW “ALL SEASONS” COLLECTION

By Dima Chiaviello

Tygerian Lace Burke is a local designer in Washington D.C.

Originally from Fort Washington, Maryland, Mrs. Burke has been native to the DMV area for years to splash onto the DC fashion scene with a remarkable presentation. She showed her collection on January 15th at the Foundry Gallery on 8th Avenue, N.W., within a short walk to the main campus of Howard University.

Some 35 looks with a total of 52 individual pieces were displayed on what was an icy cold night prior to a snowstorm. The collection mainly included dresses and gowns, a color scheme consisting of red, orange, pink and black. Sheer paneling, floral applique, embroidery, sequins and, of course, lace, were all seen within Tygerian Lace’s 2022 Collection.

The DC fashion scene was taken by her presentation, as many masked faces arrived to get a glimpse of Mrs. Burke’s first show in the area. Due to the rise of COVID cases in Washington, the collection was unable to present a fully-fledged runway show. “We had to pivot,” says Mrs. Burke, “COVID pushed all designers to grow…we were able to be very creative.”

Mrs. Burke opted to use mannequins and a handful of models to unveil the collection. This allowed the presentation to become interactive with the audience, with people able to look up close at the intricacies within each garment. Attendees were seen talking and conversing with models, as well as the designer herself, giving them an inside look into the creation behind the collection, making the night all the more special. 

The presentation is undeniably bold with nothing about each look silent or lost; each garment stands on its own as vivid. When asked about the inspiration behind the bold choices she made, Mrs. Burke said, “I’m getting older. As you get older, you’re not scared, I don’t have to live by a certain identity for the brand, it’s more so a feeling.” This idea is reflected within the clothes that the designer created for the show. “It’s time to live life and be bold, especially after the pandemic, you need something that makes you happy.”

Each garment is eye-catching, nothing is simple, yet still wearable. The collection makes its mark as universal for any woman, confidence intertwined with every ensemble, effortlessly feminine.

Every season was represented, from some looks incorporating fur, long sleeves, as well as shawls; meanwhile, others bear it all, with mini dresses and garments reminiscent of swimwear represented. The fit is another intricacy of the collection. “The complexity of the fit is what makes it nice…if I can’t wear it I don’t want to make it,” said Mrs. Burke.

On each one of the models, who physically represented parts of the collection, were garments to form-fit, but not in an over-sexual way. It felt as if the clothes were highlighting their bodies, instead of trying to show them off, which is an amazing accomplishment on par with the designer. Even on the mannequins, it’s clear that aspects of sexuality within the fit were done with the feminine intuition, defining what sexiness means for the brand. 

So, what’s next for Tygerian Lace? When asked, Mrs. Burke said she wants the opportunity to network. “I’m so small and still building a brand,” she said. “Even though I’m from the area, I’ve lived in North Carolina for so long that I built a network there. Coming here and this being my first show, it’s building those relationships.”

It’s safe to say there is definitely a future for Tygerian Lace in DC, bringing fresh ideas and incredible designs to the area, her mark is made.

Editor’s Note: Pictured: Fashion Designer Tygerian Lace Burke stands next one of her creations; a group shot with her models; attendees at the gala. To view the latest from Tygerian Lace, please log on to her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/tygerianlace/

UNITED WE STAND
Historic Gathering of Italian American Organizations Convene in Washington, D.C. to Counter The Continuous Assaults Against Columbus; and Other Controversies

By Truby Chiaviello

Kneeling Left: Charles Marsala, President of the American Italian Federation of the Southeast; Kneeling Right: George Bochetto, Bochetto/Lentz Law Firm.
Sitting Row Left to right: Berardo Paradiso, President of the Italian American Committee on Education; Anthony Ficarri, National Commandere for the Italian American War Veterans of the United States; Cav. Dr. Gilda Rorro, NJ Italian Heritage Commission; Marianna Gatto, Executive Director for the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles; Basil M. Russo, President of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America and the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations; Rosemary De Luca, Secretary for the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations; Gina Biancardi, President of the Italian Cultural Foundation at Casa Belvedere; Dr. Frank N. DeFrank, Immediate Past National President for UNICO National; Dr. Daniel L. Stabile, National President for the National Council for the Promotion of the Italian Language in American Schools, Inc. and Professor Santi Buscemi, Italian American Legal Defense Fund, Inc. 2nd Row Standing Left to Right: Robert DiBiase, Chair of the New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission; Gabriele Delmonaco, President for A Chance In Life (Boys’ & Girls’ Towns of Italy); Andre DiMino, Communications Director for Italian American One Voice Coalition; Dr. Joseph Scelsa, President of the Italian American Museum; Pietro Segalini, Senior Vice President for the National Council of Columbia Associations; Richard A. DiLiberto, Jr., Chairman of the Delaware Commission on Italian Heritage and Culture; Joseph Sciame, President of the Sons of Italy Foundation; Kathleen Strozza, Trustee for the UNICO Foundation; Patricia Santangelo, President, Italian Heritage and Culture Committee of the Bronx and Westchester; Joseph Rosalina, Vice President for the Italian Sons and Daughters of America; Mary Ann Re, DC Liaison and Ron Onesti, President for the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans
Back Row Left to Right: Patrick O’Boyle, American Delegation of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George; John Viola, National Columbus Education Foundation; Dom Amara, Chair for the Italian American Alliance; Truby Chiaviello, Publisher for PRIMO Magazine; Thomas Damigella, Italian American Alliance; Francis M. Donnarumma, President for the National Italian American Bar Association; Robert Ferrito, President for OSDIA Commission for Social Justice; James Rosapepe, Vice Chairman for the Italian American Democratic Leadership Council and Frank Maselli, Chair of the American Italian Renaissance Foundation. Not pictured: Stephanie Longo, Associate Producer for the Italian American Podcast

Italian Americans go on offense.

That’s one key message conveyed in an unprecedented meeting on December 4th, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, in Washington, D.C., to unify Italian American organizations throughout the United States, under the vigorous leadership of Judge Basil M. Russo, president of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO).

“When I was elected to serve as president of the COPOMIAO last year, I established two goals for myself,” said Judge Russo. “The first goal was to create a spirit of national unity within the Italian American community so that we could have a meaningful voice in influencing America’s collective culture.”

Judge Russo knows well the workings of law and politics, two key areas of importance for fairer treatment of Italian Americans in a host of current controversies, most notably the adversarial effort among schools and municipalities to eliminate Columbus Day and Columbus statues. Many years of service for state courts in Ohio came after an active tenure in Cleveland politics for Judge Russo. He was elected majority leader of the Cleveland City Council and once ran for mayor of that city. He has devoted himself to the Italian American community when he retired as the managing partner of Russo, Rosalina & Co, LPA, a law firm he helped found. As president of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, since 2014, he established partnerships with the National Italian American Foundation and other organizations for programs to help engage and inspire Italian Americans of different ages and subsets. Now, as president of the COPOMIAO, comes his most significant effort: To unify the Italian American community to overcome daunting challenges.

“For decades our community sat silent while other ethnic and racial groups achieved their goals,” said Judge Russo. “To correct this situation, we have held three historic National Italian American Summit Meetings this year which have finally created a strong bond among all of major organizations.”

In the age of the Internet, social media and smart phone technology, political controversies have become interconnected for a response that’s international, even global. The time has come for greater unity, not just between Italian Americans, but between Italian Americans and Italians.

“The second goal I set for myself was to establish a meaningful relationship between the Italian American community and Italy,” said Judge Russo. “With each passing generation, Italian Americans and the land of their ancestors’ birth, have drifted farther and farther apart. If we are sincere about preserving our heritage for future generations, we need to work with Italy to promote mutual programs that create a stronger bond between Italy and the U. S. We also need to work to perpetuate the Italian language, as well as our Italian American traditions and customs. The ambassador’s reception was an important first step in doing so.”

The night before the December 4th meeting, Italian American leaders were invited by Italy’s ambassador, Mariangela Zappia, to convene at her official residence, the beautiful Villa Firenze. Stronger ties with the Italian government were called for in speeches by her and Judge Russo. The necessity for Italian and Italian American leaders to work together to preserve our beloved Italian heritage was specifically proclaimed.

A closer relationship with Italy will be one of many key attributes, along with a unified front of Italian American organization, to counter and overcome the hostilities in the years ahead.

Editor’s Note: To read the latest news and updates of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations, please log on to their web site, https://copomiao.org/  To read the latest activities at the Embassy of Italy, please log on to https://ambwashingtondc.esteri.it/ambasciata_washington/en/

Days of Halloween
CASTLE BALSORANO
When the castle appeared, audiences shouted “Balsorano!”

By Reem Nourallah

You don’t have to travel to Italy to see ghosts at Castle Balsorano.

Instead, you can view the many poltergeists of the Italian fortress on television; or perhaps on YouTube or by way of video streaming.

Castle Balsorano was constructed in the 15th century as a gift from the king of France to the Piccolomini warrior clan who fought for him. Originally from Siena, the Piccolomini, all but dominated for centuries the L’Aquila province of Abruzzo. Their noble status ended in the 19th century while their castle lived on to be named after the nearby village.

Castle Balsorano was the reliable setting for many Italian horror and exploitation films of the 1960s and 1970s. If a film was supposed to be set inside a dark and foreboding Hungarian castle, then it was Castle Balsorano, in Italy, to host actors and film crews. If Frankenstein was to be reanimated, Castle Balsorano got the call. If a psychotic recluse sought to torture uninhibited youth, first stop was Balsorano.

By some counts, twenty-two films were shot in and around Castle Balsorano. Do we recommend you watch them? Remember, this is Italy. If you think films with titles such as “The Devil’s Wedding Night,” “Bloody Pit of Horror” and “Seven Golden Women Against Two” are of the same quality churned out by Hollywood, think again. Italian filmmakers loved Gothic, but on the cheap. It was more sex than fright that producers sought to give audiences.
Castle Balsorano was the setting for some of Italy’s worst films.

“Terror in the Crypt” comes to mind. The film was made in 1964 on a shoestring budget. What attracted producers was not only the Gothic environs; but that Castle Balsorano was large enough for cast and crew to sleep there and they could save money on hotel accommodations.

Balsorano was no secret to Italians. “The Seventh Grave” was shown in theaters in 1965. The setting was supposed to be an eerie Scottish manor. Yet, when the castle appeared, audiences shouted “Balsorano!” The film was one of the worst from Italy. The director, Garibaldi Serra Caracciolo, had no experience. He did not follow the 180 degree rule of filmmaking. Scenes were jumbled together after the script girl made several errors and the film was released without scene continuity.

Rumor had it that Balsorano hosted wild parties and orgies. Truth be known, time inside the castle was anything but glamorous or tantalizing. The fortification lacked central heating or air conditioning. If a film was made in winter, then cast and crew worked in frigid conditions. The opposite was in summertime when large bricks soaked up the Italian sun to turn the castle into an oven. Filming was done quickly. Scripts were unfinished. The writers had to conceive plots and characters while the cameras rolled. A week was all it took to get a film made in Balsorano.

Strange, that considering its long line of horror and exploitation films made there, no owner has taken advantage of Balsorano’s celluloid notoriety. The castle has been up for sale for some years but no one wants to buy her. Horror fans go out of their way to see the famous locale. Yet, they are greeted by a locked entrance to an obscure park. The castle is now closed to visitors.

The joy of Italian horror was its Gothic celebration. The cobwebs, the shadows, the somber stonework. No matter how bad was the film, Castle Balsorano never let down fans. She was then, and now, a haunting yet beautiful hidden treasure of Italy’s medieval past and filmmaking infamy.

Editor’s Note: You can learn more about Italian horror films throughout the decades in PRIMO’s “Italian Horror Cinema: The Most Influential Horror Films from Italy” at http://www.onlineprimo.com/books.html

Primo Review
DANCE THE FRIGHT AWAY
“Suspiria,” The New “Reinvented” Version - A Flop

By Truby Chiaviello

Horror remains the pre-eminent genre for contemporary filmmakers to remake what was done 44 years ago. Never mind if a film attained “classic” or “masterpiece” status, today’s young and hungry directors, producers and writers are convinced they can do better. The past is sought to be redirected in the present (no pun intended). They are no longer to be called remakes, by the way, but, rather, reinventions or, better yet, re-imaginings. Many horror films have been remade in recent years: From “Halloween” to “Nightmare on Elm Street” to “The Omen” and soon to come, “The Exorcist.”

For awhile there, it seemed “Suspiria” might miss the resurrection bandwagon. Since 2007, various filmmakers and their backers announced the remake to come. However, cameras remain stilled without a set date for production and release. Many fans thought the Dario Argento classic from 1977 was too far ahead in the realm of cinematic artistry for an accurate recapture. Yet, the name recognition and classic status among horror aficionados gave “Suspiria” a bankable incentive for a remake.

Twelve years ago, Director Luca Guadagnino purchased the rights from the film’s original screenwriters Dario Argento and his ex-wife Daria Nicolodi, who passed away in 2020. With a new script written by David Kajganich, “Suspiria” was resuscitated. The remade version was finally completed in 2018 and is now available for viewing on Amazon Prime.

One can see the difference between the original by Argento and its current facsimile by Guadagnino in the first few minutes of both films. In 1977, “Suspiria” opened with a memorable high-tech score by the Italian progressive rock band, Goblins. We see a woman running from an fairytale-like inspired building through a rainy forest. She makes her way to town for sanctuary inside a friend’s apartment. The street, the forest and apartment are alit in technicolor hues of red, green and purple. While changing out of her wet clothes, she peers out a window, thinking she was followed. Suddenly, a beastly arm breaks through the glass to grab her by the neck and murder her in grisly fashion. In contrast, the 2018 version opens with a young woman who walks to the home office of a psychologist. She bypasses political demonstrators who are chased by police. Inside a grayly room, she is incoherent and mumbles about her fears, only to befuddle the elderly expert and leave in a panic.

Such are the differences between the two films: “Suspiria,” the original, was mesmerizing, exciting and scary. “Suspiria,” the remake, is ambiguous, tedious and fright-less.

When “Suspiria” was first released in 1977, Dario Argento was, by then, proclaimed as Italy’s answer to Alfred Hitchcock. His suspense orientation was most pronounced in the murder thrill genre known as Giallo. “Suspiria” was to be Argento’s first foray into supernatural horror. The film’s title comes from a set of essays and poems written by Thomas De Quincey in 1845, titled “Suspiria de Profundis.” Most famous for his memoir, “Confessions of an English Opium-Eater,” the British writer and poet experimented with narcotics for stream of consciousness. Argento was inspired by the work to develop an ambitious trilogy of horror films under the heading, “The Three Mothers,” beginning with films, “Suspiria,” in 1977, followed by “Inferno,” in 1980, and “Mother of Tears,” in 2007.

“Suspiria” was declared a masterstroke of filmmaking in 1977 when cinematographer Luciano Tovoli shot the film in technicolor. This was to be the last film made with a specific color process that once gave life to such classics as “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Searchers” and “Fantasia.” Deep contrasts of red and blue hues created a haunting and tense atmosphere in “Suspiria.” Argento’s cold and deliberate pacing heightened the surreal mystique of the film. He had written the screenplay with Daria Nicolodi, an actress to whom he was married from 1974 to 1985. In the first few minutes of the film, viewers knew they were in for a pioneering event in horror.

Fast forward to 2018 when Guadagnino sought to rebrand the 1977 classic. His intentions were to remake a film worthy of its predecessor. Guadagnino is a skilled director whose film, “I Am Love,” in 2009, won rave reviews by critics. In “Suspiria,” however, his dilemma was to choose whether to make a carbon copy of the original or seek an entirely new direction. Either way, the new film was to be compared to what was done 44 years ago. Since the original is considered a cinematic showpiece, any remake is at an inherent disadvantage. Indeed, Guadagnino made the decision at pre-production to escape the technicolor wonder that was “Suspiria.” Hence, the 2018 version conveys an uninspiring off-yellow color scheme to contain settings of rundown interiors for a pace that is slow and esoteric.

Both “Suspiria” films are set in the mid-1970s. Yet, the original took place in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, noted for its opulence and traditional German culture. In the 2018 version, we are transported, instead, to Berlin to see a ravaged former capital overwhelmed by domestic terrorists and communist agitators. The original was spooky and haunting. The remake is drab and dreary.

“Suspiria” tells the story of a young American woman who moves to Germany to attend classes at a dance academy. The school turns out to be a coven of witches. The new student is soon enmeshed in a conspiracy of sorcery and murder. Dakota Johnson plays the lead role in the new rendition with Tilda Swinton as the top dance instructor and witch. Speaking about Swinton, the British actress undertakes two other roles in the film; one of which is the old professor. The move does little for the production and to some extent detracts from the story since it was obvious to some eyes that Swinton was playing the male role, albeit camouflaged in extensive makeup. The 1977 version starred as the protagonist, Jessica Harper, who makes a brief appearance in the remake. Joan Bennett and Alida Valli appeared in the original film as the dance instructor witches. Valli was especially impressive for her transition from an exotic beauty, who once starred in Hitchcock’s, “The Paradine Case,” to the stiff and stern German taskmaster in “Suspiria.”

A key difference between both films is length. The newer version is much too long. The original “Suspiria” is just 1-1/2 hours while the remake is 2-1/2 hours. The identity of the coven is kept secret in the 1977 version until near the end. In the remake, we discover the place is owned and operated by conjurers at the outset. Members of the coven are not sinister but rather impish and haughty. In fact, there are no scares in the remake. The film seems more concerned with political activism. More scenes depict riots, demonstrations and pickets than real frights. Horror was always apolitical. Fears were derived in the most intimate of settings for a confrontation with dangerous demons. To try and connect the phantasmic to a political premise is to ruin the genre.

Some films should be remade. Others should not. “Suspiria” is one of the great masterpieces of horror. To try and reexamine or reimagine this extraordinary work is to offer filmgoers bronze in lieu of gold.

Editor’s Note: Compare and contrast still photographs of the remade version of “Suspiria” with its original precedent. Tilda Swinton stars in the latest rendering while Jessica Harper was the American protagonist in the original. Two victims in the films portray a serious difference in color schemes with the new stinted interpretation versus the dreamlike conception of the original. Publicity photographs of both directors show strikingly different poses for Luca Guadagnino and Dario Argento. The remade version of “Suspiria” is currently available for viewing on Amazon Prime

PRIMO Review
“SANPA: SINS OF THE SAVIOR”
A New Netflix Docuseries Explores the Controversial Life and Legacy of Vincenzo Muccioli

By Truby Chiaviello

The new Netflix documentary series, “SanPa: Sins of the Savior,” is a riveting, watchable expose on the controversial life and legacy of Vincenzo Muccioli. The founder of the innovative drug rehabilitation center, San Patrignano, conveys an important story for our time, as shown on Netflix in five episodes, each about an hour in length.

Muccioli is practically unknown here in the United States. Yet, before he died in 1995, he was one of Italy’s most popular figures. He was famous for helping addicts overcome their dependence on illegal drugs. Muccioli was a large man with movie star looks. He came with a full head of hair, broad mustache and tailored clothing. He was a frequent guest on Italian news programs when the topic arose of drug crimes and addiction.

The first episode in the documentary revisited 1975 when heroin flooded the streets of Italian cities. Young addicts, sick and homeless, crowded Italy’s back alleys, abandoned buildings and public parks. The country was overwhelmed by a plague of drug abuse. In 1980, there were some 60,000 Italians who claimed addiction to heroin.

Italy was in need of a redeemer; someone who sought a way forward. Enter Muccioli. A wayward figure, he was not unlike a character in Federico Fellini’s “I Vitelloni.” Just like the filmmaker, Muccioli also came from Rimini. He dropped out of high school and philandered his way for much of his young adulthood. He settled down only after marriage when his father-in-law gave him San Patrignano, a 50 acre farm in the countryside of Emilia-Romagna.

A farmer, perhaps, Muccioli and his wife Antoinetta embraced an alternative lifestyle. They and their friends dabbled in seances and other spiritual exercises. Muccioli was inclined to take in societal outcasts to work his farm in return for shelter and food. He soon gave refuge to young addicts under the condition they gave up drugs and alcohol. In 1978, his farm became Italy’s most famous drug rehab center.

The documentary “SanPa” was conceived by Gianluca Neri, an Italian journalist and filmmaker who was but a boy when Muccioli structured San Patrignano. Neri has won praise by many media critics in Italy for introducing Muccioli to an American audience via Netflix. His detractors, however, are found among those who manage San Patrignano today, still a popular and well-respected center for drug addicts. They claim the series is salacious and biased; a wrongful portrayal of Muccioli as tyrannical and criminally inclined.

Directed by Cosima Spender, “SanPa” moves along at a fast, steady pace. Commentary is given by Muccioli’s son Andrea, who took on management duties after his father died and recovered addicts who were once guests at San Patrignano. Some credit Muccioli with saving their lives while others condemn him for alleged abuses. The series uses dubbing, rather than sub titles. There is just too much commentary and dialogue for viewers to fully comprehend by reading lines on a screen.

As the film recounts, Muccioli’s heroic status came under serious scrutiny after an investigation of San Patrignano by journalists and law enforcement. Some addicts complained that they were not allowed to leave the rehab center until Muccioli was convinced of their recovery. Difficult patients were pictured chained to stakes and poles inside chicken coops and empty kennels. Those who left without permission were tracked down and returned to the farm by force. Muccioli and staff were arrested and charged with kidnapping. He was found guilty at the initial trial but later exonerated at appeal.

San Patrignano expanded in size and scope when Gian Marco Moretti, whose family owned Italy’s largest oil refinery, granted large sums to the center. Parents of addicts praised the founder’s methods. Stars of Italian film and television were shown extolling Muccioli when their young adult sons and daughters enrolled in San Patrignano to overcome heroin addiction.

Muccioli achieved cult-like status by the late 1980s. He was seen in an array of public relation photographs and videos leading hundreds of young recovering addicts in the countryside. San Patrignano became one of the most profitable farms in Italy thanks to free labor provided by young addicts. Muccioli soon leveraged into textiles and other services. He made a fortune as one of the best horse breeders in all of Europe.

Muccioli, now running a massive operation, divided the farm into working groups. Draconian methods were employed with a disdain for the latest innovations in treatment and care. In lieu of methadone for an addict’s gradual recovery, Muccioli opted for herbs and natural supplements. He opened a hospital on the premises to cater to guests’ physical needs. No psychologists or therapists were hired while he increasingly took a get-tough approach with addicts. Complaints were made of beatings and torture on the farm. Two patients committed suicide on the premises while a third was found murdered outside of Naples. The investigation by police discovered that a staff member and some patients had beaten the recovering addict to death in San Patrignano. The body was transferred by car to Campania and dumped at road side. Muccioli new of the killing after occurrence but kept silent, he claimed, for fear of hurting the fragile psychological condition of those involved.

Muccioli was charged with manslaughter and accessory after the fact. The trial galvanized Italy with parents, dressed in fur coats and fine apparel, demonstrating for his acquittal. His fate rested with an Italian judiciary that could go in one direction at the trial phase but another on appeal.

“SanGa” is an extraordinary documentary to be watched and remembered. The question arises as to how far should a man go, and, for that matter, society, in saving human lives. When care and treatment descends into abuse and torment, should an entire operation be shut down?

The crisis of drugs and drug addiction remains with us today. San Patrignano continues as a drug rehabilitation center with a success rate of more than 70 percent. Some 60,000 people have come through their doors since its founding. Many Italians have become productive citizens after breaking their addictions to heroin, cocaine and, today, opioid thanks to San Patrignano.

Editor’s Note: “SanPa: Sins of the Savior” can be viewed on Netflix. To learn more about San Patrignano and what they find disagreeable with he documentary, please visit their web site at https://www.sanpatrignano.org/en/

COLUMBUS HERITAGE COALITION SEEKS TO STOP REMOVAL OF BROOKLYN COLUMBUS STATUE, CREATED BY EMMA STEBBINS; PIONEER IN WOMAN AND LGBTQ ARTS

By Angelo Vivolo
President, Columbus Heritage Coalition

Columbus Hatred or Truth? Time to Choose.

Pioneering 19th-century gay sculptor Emma Stebbins may well be the latest victim of the irrational frenzy that seeks to wipe away all memory of Christopher Columbus.

Stebbins, described as ‘‘a rising star” by the New York Times, was the first woman to create public artworks for New York City. Now a small group has set their sights on ridding Brooklyn of Stebbins’ acclaimed statue of Columbus, commissioned in 1863, and one of her earliest works.
We know that the Italian explorer’s legacy has been twisted and misrepresented into a biased and hateful view of Hispanic and Latino cultures and of the Spanish, who were the first European settlers in the new world. And we know about the history in America of bias against Italian Americans.

The hatred now extends to the work of a pioneering gay artist.

Where will it stop?

We will not allow Emma Stebbins’ Columbus to be carried off into the night. We will join with all fair-minded groups to support more creation of more statues and the true meaning of fairness and inclusion for all.

It’s time to drop the hate and seek the truth.

Editor’s Note: The Columbus Heritage Coalition works to preserve the legacy of Christopher Columbus in the United States. To learn more about the organization, please log on to www.columbusheritagecoalition.org.

Their current Go Fund Me Page:
https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/save-columbus1

The Rest of Fellini’s Best
THE OVERLOOKED FILMS OF FEDERICO FELLINI
Supplemental Coverage of PRIMO’s Second Edition Cover Feature on Italy’s Greatest Filmmaker, Federico Fellini
“Fellini directed a total of 24 films. In the second edition of PRIMO, we list and explain what we consider are his eight best. Now comes an opportunity for us to review his other films - the also-rans - and highlight their pros and cons.”

By Truby Chiaviello

  In this current 2nd edition of PRIMO, we feature an extraordinary article on the life and legacy of the great Federico Fellini. Ask any Hollywood filmmaker today whom he thinks is the best director in history, and he is likely to say Fellini.
   The Italian film director, not to mention producer and writer, lived from 1920 to 1993. This year marks the centennial of his birth. Celebrations to commemorate the milestone were originally planned in Italy and elsewhere. However, they were canceled due to the current pandemic and are to be rescheduled in 2021.
   Fellini was most famous for crafting shots that were considered by many to be works of art. Midway in his career, he mastered the technique of filmmaking and was able to convey the simultaneous moves and interplay of actors and actresses like no director before him. Players entered and exited the camera frame at rapid speed. He utilized a host of camera movements such as tracking, panning, closeups, tilts and zooms. A Fellini film was akin to a trip to a carnival with a caravan of surrealistic images. Yet, the director remained true to his stories and prided himself on making films that were understandable by audiences.
   Fellini directed a total of 24 films. In the second edition of PRIMO, we list and explain what we consider are his eight best. Now comes an opportunity for us to review his other films - the also-rans - and highlight their pros and cons.
   Not all of Fellini’s films were features. On occasion, he joined other directors to present an anthology of short films centered on specific themes. Near the start of his career, in 1953, he participated in “Love in the City.” The title suggests a romance film, but was, actually, contained episodes by different directors about suicidal characters. Nine years later, Fellini joined directors Vittorio de Sica, Lucchino Visconti and Mario Monicelli for another anthology film; this time about struggles in ethics and morality, in “Boccacio ’70.” In 1968, Fellini went to France to make a horror film titled “Spirits of the Dead.” He joined French New Wave directors Roger Vadim and Louis Malle to interpret the stories of Edgar Allan Poe for the silver screen. It should be noted that Fellini made two documentaries. The first was a strange yet fascinating undertaking commissioned by NBC in 1968 titled “Fellini: A Director’s Notebook.” He then made a documentary titled, “I Clowns,” for RAI television in 1970. That film was edited by Ruggiero Mastroianni, brother of Marcello, the famous actor who starred in Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” and “8-1/2.”
   For this article, we will only focus on films Fellini exclusively directed. We review a career to be categorized into three segments: The films that came before “La Dolce Vita,” released in 1959, the films that followed “8-1/2,” released in 1962 and until “Amarcord” in 1973 and then the remaining films until Fellini’s death, on Halloween day, in 1993.

Before “La Dolce Vita” - 1950 to 1959

  “La Dolce Vita” displayed a technical mastery by Fellini only to be outdone by his ultimate masterpiece, “8-1/2.” The films Fellini made in the decade prior were consistent with the usual black and white offerings of the era where cohesive plots came with approachable characters. Fellini’s first film was made in 1950 and titled “Variety Lights.” Although listed as co-director with film star, Alberto Lattuado, much, if not all, of the direction was done by Fellini. This film offered key attributes in plot, setting and characters that were to revisited as signature traits in other Fellini films. The director was fond of carnival side shows, dance troupes and circuses. Such was “Variety Lights,” a film about a group of singers and dancers who move from village to village in Italy, barely able to sustain themselves. A young female fan joins the group only to steal the spotlight with nothing more than her sex appeal. Fellini’s films were peppered with humor and irony. He sought to use camera movements to convey the plight of characters. In one scene, players are invited to dinner at a rich man’s house. The camera pans the table showing the group gorging themselves, a sign of their desperation; all to the discomfort of their host.
   Fellini’s second film was in 1952 and titled, “White Sheik.” The story is about a young woman, recently married, who travels with her husband to Rome to join her in-laws for a meeting with the pope. She reviews the latest edition of a soap-opera magazine to feature a film star, modeled after Rudolph Valentino, in the role of the White Sheik. She seeks to find the mysterious actor. Beset by abandonment, her husband tries to hide her disappearance from his family while visiting the Vatican.
   Besides films from this era that PRIMO considered to be Fellini’s best, there is one that was especially noteworthy and almost made it on our list. “Il Bidone” was released in 1955 after Fellini made a name for himself as one of Italy’s best directors. He was able to recruit two stars from Hollywood: actor Broderick Crawford, who won an Oscar in 1949 for his performance in “All the King’s Men,” and the forever youthful Richard Basehart, who appeared the year prior in Fellini’s “La Strada.” Both actors portrayed characters who form a gang of crooks to swindle farmers out of their life savings. For this film, Fellini did not engage in techniques such as quick panning shots and rapid close ups. Rather, he presented a plain canvas for an intriguing film about rogue figures who struggle for redemption. In one famous scene, Crawford, dressed as a frocked priest, meets a poor family with an invalid daughter. Reluctantly, he hears the girl’s confession and is overcome with guilt at his deception. The final scene was especially powerful when he meets his end.

“8-1/2” to “Amarcord” - From 1963 to 1973

   In 1963, after the release of “8-1/2,” Fellini was celebrated as the world’s best director. The content of his films were combined with a unique style for a descriptive definition in cinema known as “Felliniesque.” With color film now less expensive, he abandoned black and white to convey dreamlike scenes in his remaining films. He even went so far as to take LSD for inspiration.
   Fellini made “Juliet and the Spirits” in 1965 to star his wife Giulietta Masina. The film was about a bored housewife who finds solace in the strange home of her eccentric neighbor. Fellini utilized a cadre of camera movements and angles to show scenes drenched in a wide range of colors for a dreamy atmosphere.
   Fellini offered more surrealistic films in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Restrictions were lifted in Italy and elsewhere and Fellini, as did other filmmakers, pushed the envelope with more salacious content. His films offered more nudity, graphic sex and violence. “Roma” was a film he made in 1972 that was semi-autobiographical and was to cover his young adulthood in Italy’s capital city. The film was a whirlwind of activity where scenes jumped from the past to the present. In this way, the film might be seen as a time capsule since many shots were done on location in Rome. One scene depicted a motorcycle gang in the dead of night speeding through the Roman forum. The film is most famous because Anna Magnani made a brief appearance. This was to be her last film. She died just months after the release of “Roma.”

After “Amarcord” - From 1974 to 1993

   Fellini was nominated 12 times for an Oscar. Four of his films won the Oscar for best foreign film, “La Strada” in the year 1954, “Nights of Cabiria” in 1957, “8-1/2” in 1963 and “Amarcord” in 1973.
   His peak years were behind him. His health slowly deteriorated and a new generation of American and Italian filmmakers were soon able to match his technical expertise. Nevertheless, he remained active with seven more films from 1976 to 1990.
   His most ambitious production was “Fellini’s Casanova” in 1976. The film recounted the real-life legend of the Venetian noble famous for his love affairs and sexual conquests. Although an extraordinary undertaking, much of it completed inside Teatro Five, the Cinecitta studio made famous by Fellini, the film was greeted with ambivalence by critics. Donald Sutherland was miscast as the lead and Fellini was downright negative about the project when interviewed by journalists. He went so far as to say he hated Casanova, whom he thought was superficial and devoid of intellectual insight, after reading his memoirs. Watching “Fellini’s Casanova” today, however, is to see a film far better than the initial assessment by critics. Although the director takes a darker view of the main character, the lighting, color, and camera techniques, not to mention the incredible Rococo set designs, make this a worthy film by Fellini.
   In our list of Fellini’s best, we include one film from this era - “City of Women,” released in 1980. Yet, there are two other films from this time that were quite good, although not on our list. “Orchestra Rehearsal” was a film Fellini made for RAI television in 1978. A little more than an hour in length was a humorous and insightful tale of an orchestra in Rome practicing for a coming performance. What makes the film most unique is how it delves into the psyche and mindset of musicians. We get to know the players of string and brass instruments, woodwinds and percussions. Fellini criticized society for equalizing participants. The relationship between composer and musicians breaks down under the weight of union rules and political interference.
   “Ginger and Fred” was released in 1986 and was the last time Fellini collaborated with his two greatest stars, Giulietta Masina, his wife, and Marcello Mastroianni. The film is about a dance duo who copied the moves of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. They are invited to perform on an Italian variety show. Whisked from hotel to studio, amidst a garbage crises, they await go on stage beside a cadre of acrobats, jugglers, impersonators and an assortment of strange acts. The film was a funny and bittersweet take by Fellini on fame and modernity in Italy.
   Fellini finished his career with three other films. One, titled “The Ship Sails On,” made in 1983 and prior to “Ginger and Fred” and his last two, “Intervista,” made in 1987, and “Voice of the Moon” in 1990. Fellini’s final film starred Roberto Benigni in the lead role and furthered the comedian’s ascension in Italian cinema.

   Although Fellini is rightly considered one of cinema’s best directors ever, he is not as popular among audiences today as he was in his lifetime. A glut of films in the American market has overshadowed his contributions. He is relegated to Turner Classic Movies and other venues that showcase his works and those of other Italian filmmakers from decades ago. Fellini was not just an arthouse auteur. He was a popular filmmaker whose films filled theaters with enthusiastic audiences throughout Italy. His reputation today is mistakenly dependent on a style rooted in a mastery of technique. His films were far more than that. Fellini was first and foremost a story teller. He moved audiences with memorable characters in scenes that were simultaneously tragic, comedic and ironic. Even his technical abilities remain unmatched. True, film directors today are able to copy his tracking and panning shots to capture the chaos of action, often with the help of the latest technology, but they do so without his finesse or personal touch. What Fellini gave us were awesome films. His legacy will live on as younger filmgoers discover his work and celebrate his stories equal to his technical expertise.

Editor’s Note: Pictured are scenes from Fellini’s films, “Il Bidone,” “Juliet and the Spirits,” “Roma,” “Fellini’s Casanova,” “Orchestra Rehearsal” and “Ginger and Fred.” To purchase the current edition on Federico Fellini, please log on to: http://www.onlineprimo.com/back_issues.html
in the West Indies.

PRIMO ANNOUNCEMENT
Truby Chiaviello, Publisher & Editor of PRIMO Magazine, Appointed to the Board of Directors of The Sicilian Project
The Sicilian Project’s mission is to teach English to all children in Sicily

It is with pleasure that PRIMO Magazine announces Publisher and Editor Truby Chiaviello has been appointed to serve on the board of directors of The Sicilian Project. The term of his service began in January 2020.
   The Sicilian Project is a 501-C3 tax exempt organization that raises money from people throughout the United States to fund academic grants issued in Sicily. The organization’s objective is to train Sicilian students, from elementary through high school, to read, write and think in English.
   The Sicilian Project began in 2011 as an idea Massachusetts attorney Alfred Zappala had during one of his many visits to Sicily. He saw that children there could not compete in a global market without English language skills. Since then, The Sicilian Project has maintained an active all volunteer board of directors and volunteer teachers to conduct classes in Sicily. The Sicilian Project established a strong working relationship with the Babilonia School in Taormina to provide grants and use their staff and facilities. English language summer camps are ongoing in Aci Bonaccorsi, Valverde, Augusta and Palermo. The plan is to begin new camps in other locations of the region such as Messina.
   “I am honored to serve on the board of directors of The Sicilian Project,” says Mr. Chiaviello. “I have been an admirer of the organization since its inception nine years ago. Alfred Zappala and his team have made incredible strides helping Sicilian children and young adults learn English. More than just an organization, The Sicilian Project is a serious change agent for Italy’s future. To be a part of The Sicilian Project is to be a part of history in the making and I am very honored to serve on the organization’s board of directors.”
   To learn more about The Sicilian Project and how you can help, please log on to www.TheSicilianProject.com. To contact Truby Chiaviello, please call 202-363-3741 or email potompub@aol.com. To learn more about PRIMO Magazine log on to www.onlineprimo.com.

- Our Review
No Safe Places

By Samer Chiaviello

 

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you. Your posts on Facebook, Twitter, and social media will be saved to shame you. Anything you say that we don’t like will be used to shut you up. You cannot be funny. You cannot think differently. You can’t challenge us. There is no debate.

   This harrowing warning is the underlying rhetoric of what is said to come from America’s colleges and universities in the new shockumentary, “No Safe Spaces.” The film tells a cautionary tale of how our salient freedom of speech is under attack by leftist thuggery on today’s college campuses.
    “No Safe Spaces” stars Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager, two veteran radio talk show hosts and political commentators. They serve as our dynamic duo; guiding us through the discourse maze of today’s status quo and radical left.
    Carolla relays his upbringing about how he grew up in a poor household, with a mother unwilling to give up her welfare benefits. His story is that of overcoming hardship through comedy. He found refuge in his opinions when he created a podcast to express his politics in a lighthearted manner. Prager’s upbringing is much different that Carolla’s. His family is Jewish Orthodox and he graduated from Brooklyn College and went on to study international relations at Columbia University. He suffered ideological persecution when he pursued Prager University; a name given to his short, well-produced videos about politics and culture. Now with over a hundred of his videos banned from YouTube, Prager is engaged in a lawsuit to get his videos back on this widely viewed platform.
Together, Carolla and Prager tour the country interviewing and seeking insight about freedom of speech from esteemed political commentators such as David Rubin, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Alan Dershowitz and comedian Tim Allen.
    “No Safe Spaces” is a documentary that paints a graphic picture of the current state of colleges and universities in America. The film’s title refers to rooms and other enclaves where students go to avoid people of different political opinions. Once a haven for the free exchange of ideas, colleges and universities are now islands of social justice and political correctness; increasingly ruled by students rather than faculty and administrators. The film contains many scenes of angry students partaking in unconventional (and extremely violent) protests to uphold leftist values of their accredited institutions. Debate, reason, and - more importantly - simple communication are absent. The diversity of thought through the use of free speech is punished with glass breaking, chair throwing and  other forms of destruction.
    Perhaps the most captivating and eye opening part of the documentary is the story of Bret Weinstein, former professor of biology at The Evergreen State College. He describes himself as liberal leaning and, yet, was a victim of leftist protests. He utilized his freedom of speech to pen a letter to the college administration regarding the Day of Absence; a decades old political correct “holiday” celebrated by the college. On this day, minority faculty and students do not attend class to remind others of their contributions. In 2017, however, a change was proffered where white faculty and students were urged to leave campus while only minorities remained. Weinstein expressed his distaste for the change, calling it “an act of oppression” by the students. Protests followed and Weinstein was verbally assaulted and he and his wife were threatened with bodily harm. The college president refused to contain the protests with police intervention. Weinstein resigned, sued the college and received a settlement of some $500,000.
    The call to action in this documentary is one that cannot be ignored. “No Safe Spaces,” is perhaps the most visually stunning documentary released in a long while and serves as a premonition of what is soon to come. It is a must-see for all Americans who value their first amendment rights, and who still believe in the predominant principles of the foundation of America.

Editor’s Note: To learn more about “No Safe Spaces,” log on to https://www.facebook.com/NoSafeSpacesMovie

THE DEVIL AND FATHER AMORTH
Full Coverage of The New Documentary by William Friedkin, Director of “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection”

Satan is busy.

Cases of demonic possession are on the rise. We learn at the beginning of “The Devil and Father Amorth” that 500,000 people in Italy request an exorcism every year. The same goes for Spain and many countries in Latin America. More people are coming forward with claims that the devil or demons are taking over their bodies. The demand for Catholic intervention is high. So much so that the Vatican convenes a week long course each year to train priests to identify and cure demonic possessions. This workshop was first offered in 2005 and since then the number of priests in attendance have doubled to 250.

The model is Father Gabriele Amorth. He was a pioneer in the field of exorcism and a champion fighter against the devil. Father Amorth was the official exorcist of the diocese of Rome from 1992 until his death in 2016. As the foremost expert on demonic possession, he was often newsworthy. In recent years, he made a host of stunning revelations such as “Harry Potter,” yoga, and other contemporary offerings were just instruments of the devil. He said whole groups, even countries could be possessed. He thought ISIS was overtaken by Satan as were both Hitler and Stalin. He even thought the devil’s spirit had infected the Vatican.

Never mind the headlines, Father Amorth was no charlatan. The practice of exorcism has its rules and regulations. In 1990, he along with five other priests founded the International Association of Exorcists. The organization based in Rome retains a mission to review cases of demonic possession and share information on how best to combat the devil. A set of principles remain in place. An exorcism is the last resort. Only when a person is uncured after examination and treatment by licensed physicians and psychologists can she be seen by an exorcist. Often, it was Father Amorth who was called upon to expel demonic spirits. Before he died in 2016, he claimed to have performed over 150,000 exorcisms.

Now comes a new film to further establish Father Amorth’s legacy. It is “The Devil and Father Amorth,” a disturbing yet fascinating documentary now showing in movie theaters across the country. The film recounts the work of Father Amorth and shows the first ever authorized account of him performing an exorcism. The film comes to us from the man who is rightly credited, along with William Peter Blatty, for advancing the concept of demonic possession throughout the world. He is the director of “The Exorcist,” William Friedkin.

A list of America’s greatest filmmakers of the last 50 years will no doubt include William Friedkin. He is a lead member of a generation of directors that came of age in the 1970s such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg.

It was Friedkin who practically kicked off the decade when he won the Oscar for best director in 1971 for “The French Connection.” The film also won an Oscar that year for best picture and for best actor, Gene Hackman. Friedkin followed that success with another. In 1973, he made “The Exorcist.” If there ever was a film that deserved an Oscar for best direction and best film, it was “The Exorcist.” But it was shockingly bypassed that year when Oscars for best director, best film and a host of other categories went to “The Sting.”

With or without Oscars, Friedkin’s two back-to-back cinematic masterpieces gave him the credibility to embark on his most personal and ambitious film, yet; one he still considers his favorite, “Sorcerer.” It was a 1977 remake or reinterpretation of the 1953 Italian-French production “Wages of Fear,” as directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. “Sorcerer” contained Friedkin’s signature intensity and innovation. It came with tight frames, handheld shots and, as always, a fast pace. The film was bold and provocative but not a hit. It was greeted with ambivalence among critics and suffered from bad timing when it was released the same summer as “Star Wars.”

Friedkin’s career underwent reevaluation with his later films. Always a vanguard, he wrote and directed “Cruising,” a 1980 film slightly ahead of its time that starred Al Pacino. It was a dark and sinister post-noir journey of New York’s underground gay S&M scene. He made “To Live and Die in LA,” a 1985 crime thriller that featured a riveting car chase reminiscent of “The French Connection.” Good and bad scripts then came the director’s way. He could still tell a good story as he did in “Killer Joe” and “The Hunted.” What was lacking was nirvana. The critical and popular acclaim he found in “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist” went missing. That is until now…

“The Devil and Father Amorth” is Friedkin at his best. He gives us a riveting documentary for a new generation to savor his unique style. It is 1973 all over again. The film latches on to the viewer within its first few seconds and doesn’t let go until the last credits roll. The film is horrifying, disturbing and controversial. The belief in God is confronted head-on. It is a stark and mesmerizing exploration of terror and faith. The viewer is not the same after seeing this film.

Friedkin said that he is at his best when he approaches a film as a journalist. This is what he did in “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist” and what he does here in “The Devil and Father Amorth.” He gives us a record. He shows us the action. He conveys the subjects as they are. We are left to decide. Do we believe or not?

Italy was a key reason why “The Devil and Father Amorth” was made. The film came about by chance and circumstance. Friedkin had been directing opera in Italy in recent years and was given the Puccini Prize in Lucca. He was enticed by the beautiful walled city and home of Giacomo Puccini. From there, he visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Italy had cast her spell. He wanted to see more. Rome. The Vatican. St. Peter’s. The Sistine Chapel. He thought his friend, Andrea Monda, a religious scholar, could get him in to meet Pope Francis, but that was not possible. The pope was on travel. Was there anyone else he wanted to meet? Father Amorth, he said. And if possible, could he observe an exorcism. And if possible, could he film it.

This was a first. Exorcisms are intensely private. Only family of the person possessed and selected priests can attend. Father Amorth, however, knew Friedkin from his work in cinema. “The Exorcist” was his favorite film, he said, and one he claimed was a vital step forward in enlightening the general public about demonic possession and exorcism.

Born in Modena in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region in 1925, Gabriele Amorth came from an upper middle class family. As a teenager, he became a partisan fighter when Mussolini returned from exile and established the Salo Republic. Gabriele fought beside socialists, communists, and anarchists. Yet, he came out of the conflict with the hope of stabilizing Italy. He worked in the youth wing of the Christian Democrat party and helped Giulio Andreotti, Italy’s future prime minister, get elected to parliament. In 1951, he was ordained a priest and joined the Society of Saint Paul, a religious institute founded by Father James Alberione in Alba, with a goal of spreading the Gospel through modern communication. In 1986, he began an apprenticeship in exorcism under Father Candido Amantini. After Father Amantini died in 1992, Father Amorth became the official exorcist of the diocese of Rome.

In an opening scene of “The Devil and Father Amorth,” we see Father Amorth make his way with a walker through the halls of the Order of Saint Paul office and rectory. It is the first day of May and his birthday. He is 91. Old and frail, the cleric is set to face his arch enemy Lucifer.  The subject for dispossession is an Italian woman in her early 40s who goes by the name Cristina. Reality is apparent. The film is different than its inspirational predecessor “The Exorcist.” Cristina comes without green bile or other makeup effects. She seems normal. She is an architect. She has a boyfriend. Yet, she claims the devil is inside her. He pushes her to do things against her will. We see her sitting on a chair covered in a red sheet. Her family is there with her. She is held down by several men. Father Amorth initiates the Roman Ritual of 1614. He holds the crucifix. He calls for the intercession of saints. He leads the participants in prayer. He then orders the devil from Cristina’s body.

Friedkin was the lone filmmaker in the room. He records a fight on a simple handheld video camera. It is the devil versus Father Amorth. It is an evil parasite against the power of Christ. Cristina struggles to be released. She tries to overpower the men holding her down. She then screams in anger. The voice is deeper, scratchier and maybe not her’s.

Footage of the exorcism is just one part of “The Devil and Father Amorth.” As he did in “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection,” Friedkin conveys the complexities of a story without one part overshadowing the other. He takes the audience from Rome to Los Angeles where he shows footage of the exorcism to brain and neuro surgeons at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center. He visits psychiatrists at Columbia University in New York. He then returns west to speak with Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles Robert Barron.

The film sets up the never-ending debate between the Old World and New. Ideas and beliefs collide. Faith versus science. Myth versus reality.  The medical experts in the film admit to not knowing the exact cause of Cristina’s violent reaction during exorcism. UCLA surgeons surmise a malfunction in the temporal lobe. However, they are open to other causes and treatments outside the practice of medicine. There soon appears on screen a digital map of the brain. Demonic possession might be a delusion resulting from a tumor. The team of psychiatrists at Columbia University are more confident in their diagnosis. They believe Cristina suffers from Dissociative Trance and Possession Disorder. Although open to other causes and effects, the rituals of faith may have overwhelmed Cristina. The intercession of saints. The signs of the cross. The use of Holy Water. Maybe she has fallen prey to group think and the pressures of mysticism.

Then comes the most noteworthy of interviews in Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles. He is smart, calm and articulate. He begins with equivocation about demonic possession and the need for exorcism. Yet, as the interview progresses, he makes a starling revelation. He admits to being unqualified to perform an exorcism. He does not have the acumen to take on the devil. He lacks the level of spirituality as endowed by Father Amorth.

The music. The raw close ups. The tight shots and intimate framing. The unrehearsed comments by experts. This is the kind of documentary we we grew up on. What puts the “The Devil and Father Amorth” above the current fare of contemporary documentaries is Friedkin’s signature style. He remains a master of confrontation. He holds nothing back. Although he says the film is different than “The Exorcist,” we cannot help but make a connection between the two. It is the aging Father Amorth who is the film’s central character. He died some months after Cristina’s exorcism. He is in many ways a carbon copy of Father Lancaster Merrin, the aging priest played by Max von Sydow in “The Exorcist.” Either in a non-fictional or fictional setting, the two priests are the same. They come armed with Scripture. They come endowed with the Cardinal virtue of fortitude. They come to do battle. In either of them, the devil has met his match.

SAVE SAINT PETER’S
A Plea by Advocate Robin Mainella to Prevent Demolition of Her Beloved Church

From top: A recent photograph of St. Peter's, a plaque showing the year built, an interior shot of the stained glass window,
and a historical photo of some of the Italian immigrants who built the church for their Italian community in Duluth.


I would like to tell you about a wonderful, one-of-a-kind historic church.

Closed in 2010 by the Duluth Diocese, St. Peter's Church in Duluth, Minnesota's 'Little Italy' is For Sale. Their asking price is $150,000. I pray that somebody will buy this gem and restore and repurpose in a manner that would celebrate the lives of the Italians who built their very own church out of necessity.

The Old-World skills of the Italian stonemasons make this 'landmark' stand out as a treasure that beckons awe. St. Peter's is located at 810 W. 3rd St., Duluth, MN 55806.

Standing tall and proud on hallowed ground on the steep, rocky hillside overlooking our beautiful harbor, this structure is the only example in Duluth of a Romanesque/Gothic Revival Church built of solid stone. St. Peter's needs a lot of TLC by someone who will understand and appreciate its rich history.

St. Peter's represents the cultural heritage of the Italian immigrants who settled in Duluth in the early 1880's. Closed churches are successfully being repurposed; Historical and Cultural Centers and Museums, Music Centers, Restaurants, Microbreweries utilizing the high ceilings, just to name a few. St. Peter’s meets four out of seven criteria for Local Historical Landmark designation. Only one criteria must be met to be eligible.

January 2015, after 4 ½ years of perseverance, the Nomination for Landmark designation finally went before the Duluth City Council for their decision, but the Duluth Diocese opposed and the Council therefore unanimously voted against Landmark status. That was a huge disappointment. A new owner of St. Peter's would have the opportunity to nominate again and I will help! Without opposition St. Peter's will certainly be given the recognition it deserves. With Landmark Designation there are many benefits; it would be eligible for Legacy Grants, CLG (Certified Local Government) Grants, and state tax credits which would help with restoration.

May this plea find that special someone who will love St. Peter's Italian Church as much as I do. Learning from our past is crucial to our present and future.

St. Peter's is looking for a new purpose to serve our community today and tomorrow. Thank you for this opportunity to share.

Editor’s Note: If you would like to help save St. Peter’s Italian Church, please contact Robin L. Mainella at rlmainella@charter.net. The location of St. Peter’s is 810 W 3rd St, Duluth, MN; MLS 6014323. Real estate agent is Frank Messina.

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