Joseph Rago, Chicago area attorney unsuccessfully tried to stop the Scurrilous and Defamatory "Fuggedaboudit: A Little Mobster Comedy" , a play that was staged by the Batavia Middle School "Bada Bing Players", that was written by the Jewish drama and communications teacher, Matthew Myers, and supported by the Jewish Batavia District Superintendent Jack Barshinger.
 
The cries of Anguish from ALL segments of the Italian American Community were IGNORED.
 
Suggestions that the play be replaced with "Shylock: The Bloodsucker" by the "Temple MoneyChangers" was ignored.

Italian-American advocate tried cancel Batavia middle school play 'Fuggedaboudit: A Little Mobster Comedy'

Chicago Tribune: By Joan Giangrasse Kates; Special to the Tribune; November 17, 2009

  Joseph Rago, a Geneva attorney and former assistant state's attorney in Kane and DeKalb counties, was fiercely proud of his Italian-American heritage.

Three years ago, when a coalition of Italian-American groups asked him to help prevent the opening of a Batavia middle school play that they argued unfairly stereotyped Italian-Americans, he was more than happy to pitch in.

"He took the case wanting to bring some attention to it," said his brother Matteo, also an attorney.

Although the motion to pull the curtain on "Fuggedaboudit: A Little Mobster Comedy" failed, Mr. Rago felt it was a fight worth fighting, his family said.

He was later awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Jurisprudence Award of Excellence from the Order Sons of Italy in America, one of the nation's oldest and largest Italian heritage organizations. 

"Joe used to say to me, 'When I put my head down on my pillow I know I can sleep, because I did the right thing,' " said his wife of 22 years, Nanci.

The founder and first president of the Kane County Justinian Society of Lawyers, Mr. Rago, 49, died of pancreatic cancer Friday, Nov. 13, in his Geneva home.

The son of Italian immigrants, Mr. Rago was born and raised on Chicago's Northwest Side and graduated in 1978 from Broadview Academy in far west suburban La Fox. After receiving a bachelor's degree in history and economics from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich., he got a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago.

Mr. Rago worked as an assistant state's attorney for Kane County and later was a first assistant state's attorney for DeKalb County. In 2001, he opened his own practice in Geneva, where he took on criminal defense and personal injury cases, his brother said.

In 1996, Mr. Rago founded the Kane County chapter of the Justinian Society of Lawyers, a national organization for Italian-American attorneys. Mr. Rago also was a Geneva Township Republican precinct committeeman for many years.

"When he felt strongly about something, you could just see it in his face," said Mark Wissing, chairman of the Geneva Township Republican Organization.

Survivors also include a son, Joseph Jr.; two daughters, Abigail and Rachel; two other brothers, Peter and Michael; and a sister, Mary Newbold.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-obit-rago-17-nov17,0,281593.story
 

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