CIAO Italian Film Festival

The Colonial Italian American Organization (CIAO) is a social club for all who love Italy and Italian culture. For more information, visit ciaoclub.club

The CIAO Italian Film Festival 2024 schedule:

• Saturday, 2/17 at 2:00 pm – Marriage Italian Style
• Sunday, 3/17 at 2:00 pm – Johnny Stecchino
• Wednesday, 4/17 at 3:00 pm – My Brother Anastasia
  “Background Information: Padre Salvatore Gabriele Anastasio (Anastasia) arrived at Santa Lucia Church in an Italian-American section of the North Bronx in 1951. He was assistant pastor there for 12 years, having come to the USA from Calabria. His two brothers Albert (Umberto) of Murder, Inc. fame & Anthony “Tough Tony” Anastasia, who ran the Brooklyn docks, were well known. Albert was a boss of the Gambino crime family and was their chief executioner. He was assassinated in the barber shop of the Park Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan on West 56th Street in October of 1957. Father Sal handled the wake & burial. Tony died of “natural causes” in March of 1963. After Father Sal buried his second brother, he left Saint Lucy’s disgraced, to return to Parghelia, Calabria, where he wrote the book of the same name as this movie. He died in 1973. The story as Father Sal wrote it portrays Albert as a kind of “Robin Hood” and not the ruthless killer he was. Their are many comedic scenes which really were not very factual. Father Sal was beloved at Saint Lucy’s and was very active in children activities, starting sports teams & leagues, in addition to founding the school’s Father’s & Mother’s clubs. The Father’s Club’s Annual Dinner-Dances were legendary and many of his personal friends such as Sal Mineo, Jimmy Durante, Pat Cooper, the Royal Teens among others, all performed there. This movie has just been released on DVD after 40 years in the USA as “My Brother Anastasia”.—Francesco Paolo” from www.imdb.com