Average Americans – including fellow Italian Americans – often express puzzlement, even frustration, with myself and others via our strong opposition to endless “mob movies.”  Their responses are fairly predictable: “They’re just movies,” “No one believes everything they see,” and “[Italian Americans] aren’t overly sensitive, we can take a joke.” 

To which I reply:  

1) Yes, they’re movies – 500 and counting, with 81% of them produced since The Godfather in 1972. And 90% of those mob characters are fictional (including Don Vito Corleone and Tony Soprano). They are based on nothing but the accepted crude stereotypes.  2) If I had a dollar for every time someone said to me, “Hey, you’re Italian? Do you know anyone in the mafia?” I’d be living in a villa in Tuscany. And incidentally, I’ve had everyone from unsophisticated high school kids to learned professors with Ph.D’s ask me that question. People do believe.