Family History

I don't see this anywhere,so I want to ask everyone in here, including Don Malta himself. What is your family's history? What was your original name? (For example, Vito Andolini from Corleone became Vito Corleone.) When did your family come to America? Any information will be worth reading.

Was I wrong that there isn't anything on family history or is it in GBB somewhere? I'd like to hear from you guys regarding the history of our ancestors.
Grazie!

My family has always had the same name, so I'm not named after a Sicilian maffia village, which I escaped when the local Don wiped out my family.

that information could lead to investigations by the authorities and possible indictments.

But I can tell you that my great grandfather was a mechanic on a merchant ship. We have documents of his (something like a passport) that indicated he was in London, Madagascar, Rangoon, Hamburg (the fatherland) and New York. I guess he liked it here and settled in Hoboken somewhere around 1880. My grandfather was born in Hoboken in 1883 and he ran molasses out of Canada with some Italian guy. (Only kidding on the molasses part)

We had an experience somewhat like that experienced by the boy Vito in GFII:
When my paternal grandfather came to America, the immigration officer at Ellis Island asked him his name. He replied with his polysyllabic last name. The immigration officer heard only the first syllable--and that's been our family name ever since. This was a very common occurrence.

I didn't post my information on my family. I'm sorry. My Great-grandparents, Luigi(b.1880) and Mary Concetta(b.1890), both from Calabria,Italy, moved to America in 1916. They had 3 children prior to moving to America. They lived in New York for a couple months, then moved to Dunbar PA.After living there they moved and settled in McKeesport, PA(15 miles from Pittsburgh).After moving to McKeesport they had 17 more children(2 died early).Luigi worked on the railroad while Mary raised the children. They were a close family which helped them through the depression.