You can't create art about the mafia---in literature or on film---without showing that that the characters are of Italian descent. While it's true that less than 1/10th of one percent of Italians in America are in the mafia, the mafia remains 100 percent Italian. Therein lies the rub.

That's why I've never been offended by that particular portrayal. If you're going to do a realistic mob film, they can't very well be Norwegian, can they?

It's the portrayal of Italians as dummies that bothers me more than Italians as gangsters. Let's be honest. A character like Joey Trebbiani on "Friends" does more to insult the image of Italian Americans in one 22 minute episode, than "The Sopranos" did in 8 years on television. That's not to say that I don't like "Friends." I do.

It's just that these "interest groups," like the Columbus Day Parade committee, almost always pick the wrong target. They're all full of shit, anyway. A few years ago, right after that Columbus Day Parade, that very same group met for lunch at one of the most mobbed up restaurants in the Bronx. So if you're an actor playing a mob guy, you're not welcome, but it's okay to eat amongst real life mobsters on the very same day as the parade.

Fucking hypocrites.