"FIST" MIGHTIER THAN SWORD

by Bill Dal Cerro

Yes, “Fist” is the name of a mediocre Sylvester Stallone movie from 1978. Do 
not, however, confuse that flabby film with the solid power of “FIST” 
(Furthering Italian Studies Together), a new Italian-American initiative that 
is far removed from the mediocrity of its cinematic predecessor.

As stated in their press release, FIST is not just another Italian-American 
organization, club or fraternity. There are no dues. It will work, instead, 
as a “facilitator, using an Internet database of activists and scholars who 
will then plug into a network of wealthy Italian Americans across the 
country. The focus is very clear: raising funds to fund Italian chairs, 
endowments and studies programs at major universities. 

Can’t be done, you say? It already has been. UNICO National and other 
Italian-American organizations and individuals have previously funded five 
such chairs at the University of Connecticut, Seton Hall, the University of 
California at Long Beach, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, 
the University of Minnesota and Queens College/City University of New York. 

And FIST’s driving force is Frank Cannata, long active in successful 
fundraising efforts for UNICO over the past 10 years. What FIST needs now are 
people: proud, committed Italian Americans who will be asked to do no more 
than contribute their own ideas and efforts as needed. 

“We carry no banner other than that of our Italian American heritage,” 
FIST’s press release states. To find out more about FIST, e-mail Frank 
Cannata at fcannata@compuserve.com.

POWER OF THE PEN

 “As an activist, I’ve never played politics,” says Richard Capozzola, a 
retired high school principal and author of the book “Five Centuries of 
Italian American History.” As Capozzola notes, “I’ve gone after Republicans 
and Democrats alike.”

A native of New Rochelle, N.Y., Capozzola’s first foray into activism began 
in the early 1970s, when he found out that President Richard Nixon was coming 
to Manhattan for a speech.

 “John Maffucci was about to lose his job as a member of the New York State 
Parole Board,” says Capozzola. “Maffucci was a great guy, highly qualified, 
and his rejection struck a nerve among Italian-American groups in the New 
York area, particularly with the Orders Sons of Italy, of which I was a 
member. People signed petitions and sent letters, but I wanted to do more. 
So, I made some picket signs, called up a few friends and we marched outside 
of the hotel where Nixon was staying. We made our point.”

Two decades later, Capozzola, a former teacher who had become a highly 
honored high school principal in Mount Vernon, N.Y., attended a town meeting 
with Bill Clinton, who was making his first presidential bid. Bill Clinton’s 
private telephone call to his mistress, Gennifer Flowers, had just been made 
public, where the future president giggled at Flowers’ statement that New 
York’s then-governor, Mario Cuomo, “probably has major mafioso connections.” 

“I stood up, I was polite, but I told Clinton that he really owed an apology 
to all Italian Americans for that, as well as for calling Cuomo a mean SOB,” 
says Capozzola. “People started booing, but hey, that goes with being an 
activist. I was almost thrown out of the room, but Clinton did end up 
apologizing later. You take your victories where you can get them.”

Spoken like a true athlete, which Capozzola was at Hunter College, where he 
played baseball while getting his master’s degree in education. After 
teaching for 17 years, he earned another degree and made his way through the 
New York educational system, where his stellar leadership at Mount Vernon 
High, a largely African-American school, earned him national recognition.

Capozzola’s stature may have brought him close to presidents, but his 
relationships with two famous Italian-American leaders is what put him on the 
map as an activist. The first was with Giovanni Schiavo, the brilliant 
historian whose original book, “Four Centuries of Italian Americans,” 
inspired Capozzola’s own interest in Italian-American history.

“Schiavo’s book is the Bible, it’s as simple as that,” he says. “The man 
was just brilliant. He comes over here from Sicily as a teenager, gets ticked 
off at the buffoonish images of Italians in the media, and dedicates his 
entire life to researching the truth about our heritage in America, all the 
way back to Colonial times. The man was a god.”

Capozzola met with Schiavo toward the end of his life. The professor and 
historian felt so warmly toward Capozzola, in fact, that he left him some 
papers, as well as an autographed copy of his legendary book. Notes 
Capozzola: “Some of Schiavo’s letters were given to John Mancini and the 
Italic Institute of America in New York. I also gave a lot of material to Joe 
Maselli and his American Italian History Museum in New Orleans. I wish more 
people would seek these materials out. It’s the least we can do to honor 
Schiavo’s efforts.”

The other leader with whom Capozzola formed a bond was a bit more 
controversial: Joseph Colombo, the head of the Italian American Civil Rights 
League. What started out as a fledgling group in the late 1960s had burgeoned 
into a national Italian-American organization just a few years later with 
more than 100,000 members, according to Capozzola. Colombo’s picketing of 
Francis Ford Coppola’s “Godfather” film in 1971 made him into something of a 
celebrity; he appeared on every major talk show of the era, including Dick 
Cavett and Merv Griffin.

It’s been alleged that Colombo’s celebrity is what eventually did him in: 
During an outdoor rally at New York’s Columbus Circle, Colombo was shot 
point-blank by an assassin, allegedly hired (it was never proven) by local 
mob bosses angry at Colombo’s bringing the glare of publicity to organized 
crime. Colombo lingered in a coma for seven years before dying, trailed by 
reports that he himself was an active leader of a New York crime gang.

“I was so proud of what the league was doing that I volunteered right away,” 
says Capozzola. “I ended up designing the pin that all of the members wore. I 
also worked with Colombo a lot, and I’m telling you, I never saw any untoward 
things done while I was involved with the league. You think of the New York 
Italian stereotype — you know, ‘Hey, how ya doin?,’ someone who’s violent 
or always cursing. But Joe Colombo was not that way. He was a religious man, 
a family man, and he always carried himself well. It’s a shame that the media 
has demonized the man at the expense of his message, which is something 
Italian Americans are still struggling with decades later: respectful 
treatment in the media.”

An appreciation of our positive contributions to society is something that 
Capozzola has contributed to in a major way with his expansion of Schiavo’s 
book. His “Five Centuries of Italian American History” is perfect for 
teachers, students and Italophiles in general. Using much of Schiavo’s 
research, as well as much of his own, Capozzola’s book is a 60-page treasure 
-rove of information, featuring a year-by-year summary of major 
Italian-American accomplishments along with informative write-ups of 
particularly noteworthy individuals (Mother Cabrini, A.P. Giannini, explorer 
Enrico Tonti, etc.).

“The book is doing well,” says Capozzola. “Apparently, the word is getting 
out; I get orders from schools and Italian-American organizations. And I 
always update the book; I keep finding out so many interesting things. 
Schiavo did a great job of researching our roots, but there’s still so much 
more to learn.” 

To purchase “Five Centuries of Italian American History,” send a check for 
$5.95 to Five Centuries, 546 Via Fontana Dr., #101, Altamonte Springs, FL 
32714.