When I was a little boy...way back when...my great uncle had died. I was maybe about 11. I was always really close to him, but it seemed to be just another old guy dieing, until I found his name in the newspaper. I remember the exact words "Reputed mobster found dead in trunk of car..." Now, at 11, I knew what a mobster was but knew NOTHING about the Mafia. So, to clear things up, I asked my mother. It was then that I learned that my uncle was a made man in the Mafia.

Now, the Mafia is not something to be proud of, but is something to get excited about when you find that your loveable uncle killed people on a regular basis. Well, from there, I would go on-line juist to find out a little more about the Patriarca Family (seeing as how I live in Rhode Island). Well, from there, my fasination grew to all corners of the Mafia.

Then, there was the time, my mom dated a gangster. When I was very little, my parents divorced and I stayed with my mother. Every now and then, my mother would get involved with people, but there were only the exceptional few that she thought were good enough for me to meet. Well, when I was 13, my mother thought that she had found the man of her dreams. And, I can genuinely say that he was a really good guy.

As far as I know, he was really good to me and my mother and he really seemed like a great guy. Then, he was arrested under RICO charges. In that second, my mother broke up with him. Now, by now, I had learned a lot about the Mafia and I wondered if it was that easy just to ditch a mobster, but then my mother said something that sparked my curiosity. Something I'll never forget, she said "Honey, I don't ever want you to grow up to be a guy like that, but, trust me, we got a few more Uncle Nicky's (the earlier mentioned deceased great uncle)." Then she winked at me and smiled. And it was right then and their, that I knew that my family was deeper in the Mafia then I ever thought. Since then, I have learned a lot more about the Mafia, and about my family. While I am not exactly oober proud of it, c'mon its pretty cool to be on the good side of some well known badasses.