We’re kicking off a new project at the Italian American Podcast as we set out to collect the unique oral histories of the many fascinating Italian Americans from around the nation who we encounter daily. This new initiative, called “Paesani of Interest: Italian American Stories,” kicks off this week with Warren Ciabattoni.

Born in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, in a community that was decidedly not Italian, Warren shares how his formative experiences growing up as an outsider in pre-World War II America shaped his concept of his Italian American ethnicity through questions surrounding his given name when he joined the Pennsylvania State Police to his deep undercover work combating organized crime in the western part of the Keystone State.