My mother was Italian and I grew up in South Philadelphia, the city’s “Little Italy” section and the hub of the Cosa Nostra organized crime family in the Philadelphia and South Jersey area.When I was a teenager in the 1960s I lived around the corner from Angelo Bruno, who was then the mob boss. I also lived around the corner from Richard Zappile, who became Philadelphia’s chief of detectives.

He served as the city’s point man against the mob and in 1993 he broke up a particularly violent internecine mob war. The late Mr. Zappile went on to become the first deputy police commissioner and deputy mayor. Yes, Virginia, there are Italian-American criminals. But there are also Italian-American law enforcement officers who are not afraid to take on organized crime.