ITALIAN -AMERICAN LEADER TAKES ON 'SOPRANOS'
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Dominic DiFrisco, chairman of the board of Our Lady of Pompeii Shrine, is the 
founding member of the Italian American Human Relations Foundation and 
president emeritus of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans. He was 
appointed by Governor George Ryan to serve on the Illinois Human Rights 
Commission. Catholic New World special contributor Heather Grennan spoke with 
him about the image of Italian Americans and Catholics in the media.
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The Catholic New World: How has the HBO television series “The Sopranos” 
contributed to the media’s image of Italian Americans?

Dominic DiFrisco: “The Sopranos” represent the lowest point possible in 
terms of portrayal of Italian Americans. It’s a very grating, ugly, 
screeching sound that emanates from that HBO series, as far as the 
Italian-American ear is concerned. It perpetuates and expands on a very 
distorted image of what Italian Americans are about and what we believe in. 
It mocks, degrades and insults a people who represent a great heritage and a 
great culture.

I refer to it as the 3 Ms: mafia, murder, mayhem. About 90 percent of the 
time you’ll see an Italian-American portrayed as an extension of that 
distorted image, and not in anyway related to a civilized, kind, loving human 
being. While “The Sopranos” is fiction, we live in a world where perceptions 
count.
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TCNW: Is there one thing that really bothers you about the show?

DD: To me, the insult [of the show] is compounded by having an 
Italian-American mother hating her son, and vice versa. It’s the most alien 
thing to the heritage of Italian Americans. We come from a culture that 
reveres the Blessed Mother. We always go to her when we want something from 
Jesus. We always go to the mother first because we know the son responds to 
the mother.
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TCNW: So why is this show so popular?

DD: I think America loves to have criminal activity have a foreign accent or 
a foreign look. We don’t like to acknowledge that we have homegrown criminals.
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TCNW: How has the image perpetuated by the media influenced the real life of 
Italian Americans?

DD: I cannot say I speak for the entire Italian-American community. It’s 
pretty evident that there’s a portion of the Italian-American community that 
does not object to “The Sopranos” or that kind of depiction of Italian 
Americans. They dismiss it by saying, “it doesn’t offend me because it’s 
fiction.” Well, this fiction has led to a situation where a recent poll asked 
fourth-grade children, “What do you think of when the word ‘Italian’ is 
mentioned?” Seventy-four percent of the children responded by saying “hit 
men” or “mafia.” So fiction has become reality in the American mindset.

Sam Donaldson, a few years ago, on national television—he later 
apologized—said that an Italian-American political candidate should expect a 
question relative to his connections to any organized crime figures. John 
Ashcroft, trying to justify the use of wiretapping for terrorists, said that 
we do it for organized crime, so we should be able to do it for terrorists.

But when they say organized crime, they mean even a suspicion of organized 
crime; so consequently, innocent Italian people have been subject to really 
unconstitutional scrutiny and surveillance over the years. Weddings, baptisms 
and funerals have been monitored by agents who suspect that some sort of 
clandestine meetings are going on while someone is baptizing his child. 
Again, that’s an extension of that “Godfather” thing where murder and mayhem 
were being committed while Michael Corleone was standing up for his niece or 
nephew.
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TCNW: Can you talk about the lawsuit filed against HBO and dismissed back in 
September?

DD: I don’t think anyone was surprised because it was dismissed. The 
organization was formed recently by a few Italian-American attorneys in 
Illinois as a result of “The Sopranos.” It’s called AIDA—American Italian 
Defense Association. AIDA looked at a statute in the Illinois constitution 
that prohibits or condemns any action that degrades, denigrates or 
stereotypes in an unfavorable manner any racial, ethnic or religious group.

There was no seeking of monetary damages; there was not an attempt to remove 
the show from the air, because we do understand First Amendment rights. What 
we asked the court to decide is whether that statute of the Illinois 
constitution in fact could be applied to what “The Sopranos” is sending out 
over the airwaves. The judge gave it a lot of consideration. He did 
ultimately say, let “The Sopranos” sing, because it is a First Amendment 
[issue]. But there may be an appeal here. Because it does mock the

Italian-American culture. If it were done toward the African-American 
community or the Jewish community, we would certainly support their efforts 
to condemn that kind of portrayal.
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TCNW: Do you see the media image of Italian Americans changing?

DD: I see it changing, but it may be a long, painful process. Third- and 
fourth-generation Italian Americans are becoming aware of the need to at 
least look at these insults and respond to them. We’re getting more young 
people who are interested in their heritage than ever before. That’s a very 
healthy sign. One young man in our community did an intense study of movies 
and television over the last 30 years, and the percentage of favorable 
portrayals of Italian Americans is almost miniscule. It’s a pattern that has 
existed for so long now that people expect that.
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TCNW: Can you point to a realistic, positive image of Italian Americans on 
television?

DD: There have been ads for the Olive Garden that celebrate the Italian 
family. Now there’s something that’s so sacred to us.
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TCNW: Talk about the importance of faith and religion and family in 
Italian-American culture.

DD: That’s one of the reasons I’m involved in Our Lady of Pompeii. Beyond 
the religious aspect of our lives, where going to Mass was an integral part 
of our growing up, the church was also a center for people coming together. 
It was where on Sunday morning you saw your mother talking to her neighbor 
and your father greeting his friends. The church has always been at the core.
Our religion is under constant assault by the media. I should say the last 
two areas where there’s total freedom to attack are the Italian-American 
community and the Roman Catholic Church. From “The Thorn Birds” to a million 
other shows I’ve seen, priests are depicted as people who have violated their 
vows of celibacy and of poverty. And the Catholic Church has suffered greatly 
for this.
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