1869 The Mafia in America

In writing his biography of Dean Martin, Mr. Tosches gives us an interesting historical note on the Mafia. I suppose it was hard to thrive in the nightclub world without becoming a little intimate with the criminal underworld.

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The first that America heard of what it would later call the Mafia was in the newspaper accounts of certain events in New Orleans. In the spring of 1869, the Times of that city noted that the Second District had become infested by “well-known and notorious Sicilian murderers, counterfeiters and burglars, who, in the last month, have formed a sort of general co-partnership or stock company for the plunder and disturbance of the city.” Emigration from southern Italy then was still largely to Brazil and the Argentine; New Orleans, with it s busy port traffic to and from South America, was a natural destination for Sicilians, among them the mafiosi…

-- Nick Tosches, “Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams”

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My Diet

Cereal, apple, and orange juice. How long has it been since my last such relatively healthy breakfast? I think it has been over a week. I have been losing myself in sweets and sodas. The thing is, my stomach has not been bothering me, or at least not much. And there has not been any of that acid reflux junk, not even the streams of saliva that need to be spitted out. When my health is holding up like this, self-discipline is thrown out the window and I am twenty again. No doubt this only makes things worse, but one does not have than sense that life is really going to go on for another twenty, thirty years anyway. So, fuck it. Seize the day, or seize the doughnut! Of course, it would be better to live the next couple of years in better health than in worse health, but let's not get lost in the quagmire of details.

Bugs

Change of seasons. The spring rains, falling heavy this year. I am getting eaten up by bugs - inside the house! I think I'd rather have it stay winter, let it be Christmas all year long, every year.

Hamlet

“As a meditation upon human fragility in confrontation with death, [Hamlet] competes only with the world’s scriptures.”

-- Harold Bloom, “Hamlet: Poem Unlimited”

Snakes?

Well, that scared the shit out of me. I was giving Coco some belly rubs when I noticed something wriggling nearby. So slender, but perhaps a good four inches long, maybe longer. I doubt that it was a worm, except it was so slender and wriggly and had that snakey shape of head. I want to think the best, think happy thoughts, but I would have to bet that it was a baby snake. I got some tissue and grabbed it, took it outside and stomped it again and again and again. I am not sure that I killed it. I lost track of it in all the excitement, and it may have scurried off into the lawn, to fight another day. The real fear is that those such babies do not come in ones. I am trying not to panic, but I am worried.