From The Cameronis: A family history (2004)Cover | 1 | 2
A Tale of Disorganized Crime
I don’t mean no disrespect or nothin but what I’m gonna tell is like a trippa di zianata, if you get my meaning. It all started in the 1970’s and 80’s when a big league pinot noir making force in California branched off to set up shop in Oregon. These winemaking families formed alliances, had feuds and did business together. But over time, new waves of jamooks with a penchant for water arrived in Oregon and began their own waste management businesses. They brought unsavory practices with them including irrigation and trafficking in chemical fertilizers. Needless-to-say, these babbos starting whacking the sacred terroir. So the borgata vecchia (the old families) buried their differences and came together in their refusal to adapt to the new order. We old gumbas preferred to take life at a leisurely clip, sipping our cappucinos and discussing the terroir of our wines. And you see for us guys, in order to be a “made man”, we had to have participated in a “crush” of Pinot noir. Total obedience to the Don and seeking vengeance against gaffs who would deflower the virgin soil were required of made men. So when these young Turks led by the Irrigare family decided that they were going to bring us “Mustache Petes” into the 21st century, the Cameronis and their associate families didn’t react all too positively.
So I gotta say I ain’t no snitch but you’ll see what looks like a mannagge on the next few pages. This isn’t to say that that facia bruta, Tony “the Rat”, didn’t have what was coming to him, buon anima, God rest his soul. I mean you can’t make wine on soil that is mezza morta and we old gumbas have some agita about that.
A trippa di zianata Agita Babbos Borgata Buon anima Cafone Comare Don Facia bruta Gaff Goomah Grandi Gumbas Jamook Made man Mannagge Mezza morta Mustache Petes Waste management business . . . |
“your aunt’s tripe” anxiety a doofus or dummy an organized crime family reference to the departed a peasant or lower class girlfriend of a mafioso head of the family ugly face unrepentant con man like a comare stugoti big cajones, capische? buddies idiot, loser, lamebraine indoctrinated member of the family a total mob war half dead old-fashioned mafioso organized crime |
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