*Nicolas Cage To Be Inducted into Italian American Hall of Fame* 
**Tommy Lasorda & Jack Valenti Join Celebrities* 

        (LOS ANGELES, CA - April 9, 2002)     Academy Award-Winning
Director Ron Howard will present TV Producer/ Director and Movie Writer
Garry Marshall with a National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) Career
Achievement Award at the Foundation's West Coast Gala Dinner, Thursday
evening, May 2 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
The fund-raising event will begin with a reception and silent auction at 6
PM, followed by dinner. 

     Actor Nicolas Cage will be the first inductee into the NIAF's new
"Italian American Hall of Fame."   Jack Valenti, president of the Motion
Picture Association, will present Cage with the award.   In 1994, Cage
received a NIAF Special Achievement Award in the Performing Arts at the NIAF
Gala Awards Dinner in Washington, DC.

           Additionally,  Enzo Torresi, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and
managing partner of the venture capital company myQube USA, will receive a
NIAF Special Achievement Award in Technology.

    Dodger great Tommy Lasorda is the master of ceremonies.  Among the
celebrities on the host committee are: Ernest Borgnine; Cher; Joe Mantegna;
Bette Midler; Luciano Pavarotti; and Sylvester Stallone.  Los Angeles
attorney Thomas Girardi is the NIAF West Coast dinner chairman.

    Dinner tickets are $250 to $1,000 based on table location. Proceeds
from the event will benefit the NIAF scholarship and education programs.
For tickets, contact Lisa Pitocco at 202/939-3116 or lisa@niaf.org

The NIAF is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC dedicated to
preserving the heritage of an estimated 25 million Americans of Italian
descent. Visit our website at: www.niaf.org

IMMEDIATE RELEASE               Contact:  Elissa Ruffino,
202/387-0600 or                             elissa@niaf.org

=======================================================
ADDITIONAL FACTS ON AWARDEES:

 <A HREF="http://www.eonline.com/Facts/People/Bio/0,128,185,00.html">E! 
Online - Fact Sheet - Garry Marshall</A> 
http://www.eonline.com/Popup/Fd/index.html

 <A 
HREF="http://c1.zedo.com/ads2/i/3853/172/162000013/0/i.html?e=i;s=12;d=1;z=0.8

46239423734847">Celebrities @ Hollywood.com-Featuring Garry Marshall . 
Celebrities, news, gossip, videos, interviews, bio's, photo's and mor</A> 

 <A HREF="http://www.nicholascage.com/">NICHOLAS CAGE HOMEPAGE</A> 
http://www.nicholascage.com/

 <A 
HREF="http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Actors_and_Actresses/Cage__Nicolas/">
Yahoo! Entertainment > Actors and Actresses > Cage, Nicolas</A> 
http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Actors_and_Actresses/Cage__Nicolas/

 <A HREF="http://www.eonline.com/Facts/People/Bio/0,128,7450,00.html">E! 
Online - Fact Sheet - Ron Howard</A> 
http://www.eonline.com/Facts/People/Bio/0,128,7450,00.html