The recent beating we endured at the hands of “Bella Mafia” — an atrocious 
but wildly popular miniseries in which women take over the mob — proves two 
things: 1) TV programmers will pound the daylights out of any ethnic group 
that doesn’t fight back, and 2) the Italian-American community is badly in 
need of boxing lessons.

CBS pummeled us for two straight evenings, and there was hardly a peep from 
our three national watchdog groups: the National Italian American 
Foundation’s Media Institute, the Order Sons of Italy in America’s 
Commission for Social Justice and UNICO National’s Anti-Bias Committee.

Afterward, CBS programming boss Leslie Moonvies stood over our prostrate 
bodies and taunted, “Hey, don’t think we don’t have ideas for a Mafia 
series,” according to a New York Times article. “We even have an idea in 
development with Francis Ford Coppola. He has a great idea for a kind of 
Mafia soap opera.”

Can’t wait? Me neither. Unfortunately, there’s almost nothing that we at the 
local level can do to beat back this assault without a strong national 
defense.

Now, I don’t claim to be any Rocky Graziano, but if I had NIAF, OSIA and 
UNICO alone in a gym for an hour, this is what I’d tell them.

1) Cut out the turf wars.

We don’t need three welterweights capable of generating little more than a 
flurry of press releases and protest letters. We need one seasoned, 
battle-ready heavyweight capable of pounding our enemies into submission.

Don’t get me wrong. You couldn’t find a more dedicated and sincere group of 
people than the folks who do our antidefamation work at the national level. 
But the brutal truth has to be confronted: As long as we are divided, we are 
conquered. If we pool our human and financial resources, at least we have a 
fighting chance.

My suggestion is as radical as it is necessary: Merge the resources of NIAF’s 
Media Institute, UNICO’s Anti-Bias Committee and OSIA’s Commission for 
Social Justice into one, independent entity bearing the CSJ’s name.

Why the CSJ? It’s been around for the longest time, it has the best 
grassroots network … and it has the most intimidating name. A representative 
from each national organization would sit on a board of regents that would 
run the newly reconstituted CSJ, guiding its actions, ensuring its financial 
viability and overseeing its growth.

2) Know your opponent’s weaknesses.

The networks care about only one thing: making money. As long as they can 
drum up the advertising dollars to turn a profit, they’re happy. And if they 
happen to defame you along the way, that’s your tough luck.

By the same token, if the cash cow runs dry, the project dies. If you can 
convince company CEOs that it’s wrong to support offensive programming with 
their advertising dollars, or if you can convince media buyers — those people 
who decide where to place the ads — that their companies will LOSE money if 
they advertise on an offensive program, you can kiss the ad revenue — and the 
program — goodbye.

3) Do your homework.

The first job of the newly reconstituted CSJ would be to develop and 
regularly update a list of the CEOs and media buyers of every major 
television advertiser. Don’t waste your time with the ad agencies, go 
directly to the manufacturers of the products.

The next job would be to develop an information network within the 
entertainment industry to find out what Mafia projects the networks are 
cooking up — and who’s planning on advertising on them — BEFORE they’re 
listed in the TV Guide.

4) Lay the groundwork.

Develop a handsome and compelling brochure that explains exactly why Italian 
Americans hate to be stereotyped and exactly how they will respond to 
companies that advertise on programs that perpetuate those stereotypes.

Mail this brochure along with a cover letter to every CEO and media buyer on 
your list. Call to let them know that the letter is coming, and follow up a 
week later to set up an appointment to discuss the matter face to face.

The list of CEOs should be sent to active members of the Italian-American 
community who move in those circles. Where friendships exist, friends should 
call on friends to make the pitch.

At this stage of the game, threats of a boycott should take a back seat to 
raising sensitivity and winning converts. Encounters should be warm and 
informative. Personal relationships developed now will make the job a lot 
easier when problems arise.

5) Build grassroots support.

Cultivate the wholehearted support of every Italian-American organization and 
publication in the country. That means identifying and developing advocates 
in key states who are willing to pound the pavement on behalf of the cause. 
If a state has a strong umbrella organization like the Joint Civic Committee 
of Italian Americans, don’t bypass them, as has been done in the past. Work 
with and through them to rally the troops.

The key here is to convince the leadership of these organizations and 
publications to donate their membership lists to the cause. Ironclad 
guarantees must be given that the lists will only be used to mount economic 
boycotts against advertisers that support offensive TV programming. I 
wouldn’t be surprised if a list of a half a million households could be 
developed in this manner.

6) Show strength.

Advertisers respond to numbers. If they know that millions of people across 
the country are going to watch a program, they’re there. If they know that 
millions of people are going to boycott their products if they advertise, 
they’re gone.

To show strength, therefore, you have to show numbers. If, for example, the 
grapevine reveals that CBS is developing a series based on “Bella Mafia,” 
letters plus phone calls should go out to all of the CEOs and media buyers 
who might be considering advertising on the series. The emphasis should still 
be on raising awareness and eliciting sympathy, but the threat of an economic 
boycott should be made clear. 

If the series makes it past the development stage, it means that enough 
advertisers have been lined up to make the project financially viable. That’s 
when the CSJ kicks into high gear and all of the research and groundwork pays 
off.

First, the advertisers should be identified and the names and addresses of 
the CEOs and media buyers drawn up, along with a list of all consumer goods 
produced by their companies. Then, a mailer should be produced for 
distribution to every household on the CSJ master list.

The mailer would contain three things: 1) a letter addressed to the recipient 
explaining the problem and what to do about it, 2) a list of all of the 
consumer products produced by all of the advertisers, 3) a package of 
pre-stamped postcards addressed to each of the CEOs and media buyers 
informing them that the sender will boycott their products (and convince 
their family members and friends to do the same) if they advertise on the 
offending program.

When postcards of protest start arriving by the hundreds of thousands in the 
mailboxes of these key decision makers, guess what will happen to their 
enthusiasm for the project.

7) Put your money where your mouth is.

Needless to say, a battle plan like the one outlined above is going to cost 
big bucks. Half a million dollars in seed money just to establish and staff 
an office, do the homework, and conduct the research, is not out of the 
question. Annual fund raisers jointly sponsored by NIAF, OSIA and UNICO would 
have to be conducted to cover the ongoing administrative costs. To defray the 
cost of the economic boycotts, an appeal for funds along with a return 
envelope can be enclosed in the mailings. 

8) Take it a step at a time. 

Well, there you have it: my not-so-modest proposal. As ambitious as it may 
seem, however, it only tackles the tip of the iceberg. It does nothing to 
confront the problem of stereotyping in movies, advertising and the news 
media. Nor does it reveal how to convince Italian-American writers, 
directors, producers and actors to stop making money off of the denigration 
of their own community. Nor does it address the thorny issue of coordinating 
a national campaign with local efforts without stepping on anybody’s toes, 
especially in areas like Chicago, which already has an active antidefamation 
campaign in the form of the Human Relations Committee of the JCCIA. More on 
these issues in future months.

But you have to start somewhere, and television programming strikes me as the 
easiest nut to crack. After all, advertising is the lifeline. If you cut it 
off, the programming disappears.

Needless to say, to make this dream a reality, every Italian-American 
organization and publication across the country is going to have to play a 
major role — both in terms of time and financial commitment. But the first 
step has to be taken at the national level.

Let this be our New Year’s resolution. To join forces on the national level 
and start transforming ourselves into an ethnic group that knows how to fight 
back.