Take a clapped-out, decrepit talking head named Morley Safer and a disgraced
former "journalist" and beaten-up, busted-down circus dog called Mike Barnicle
-- most renowned for inventing characters and plagiarizing a noted comedian --
and you've got a crack investigative team, according to the laws of CBS's 60
Minutes. If their story on our own Buddy "Vincent A." Cianci is an
indication of the show's dedication to professional reporting standards, then
the content of 60 Minutes from the last 20 years should be considered to
have as much realism and accuracy as your typical soap opera.
It's absolutely disgusting that Safer let the Bud-I's assertions go
unquestioned, since even a cursory glance at back issues of the BeloJo (which
could have been done by a drunken fact checker) would show Cianci's version of
events to be fairly hallucinatory. The very idea that he called his
near-torture of Raymond DeLeo a "fight" is preposterous, and it is to the
Bud-I's ongoing shame that he beat and tried to put out a cigarette in a man's
eye (according to the Other Paper, the indictment and statements by DeLeo to
state police investigators indicate that the corner of his eye was singed when
he flinched as Cianci moved the cigarette toward DeLeo's eye). Hardly "put up
your dukes," as Buddy would have it. Likewise, the Bud-I's self-pitying
comment, "It broke up a happy home," implied to viewers that things were
hunky-dory when, in fact, the ex-mayor and wife Sheila were already in divorce
proceedings, according to the OP, when the DeLeo incident occurred.
Safer let it all slide, distracted perhaps by thoughts of where he'd be having
his noontime cocktail with his equally abhorrent and self-satisfied colleagues,
Mike Wallace and Don Hewitt, two old farts who are so over the hill they should
be strapped to American Flyers to speed their departure from the public eye.
Even more absurd is 60 Minutes' reliance on Barnicle. He's lucky even
to have a job after being disgraced for stealing George Carlin's jokes and
making up characters to wring sympathy from readers. Why, one would ask, would
60 Minutes not talk to a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist like Mike
Stanton, whose brilliant ongoing series on Cianci and soon-to-be-published book
will undoubtedly cover every base? Or people like the Urinal's Bob Kerr, TV
guys Jim Taricani, Opie Hummel, and Jack White (another Pulitzer winner), who
have all covered the Bud-I for years, or even our own Ian Donnis, who has
probably spent 10 times as much time with Hizzoner than Barnicle?
Kerr was right on target in calling the 60 Minutes piece, "A sloppy,
lazy piece of work that allows outright lies to go unchallenged and presents a
disgraced former Boston Globe columnist as Buddy's folksy apologist." We
guess that Barnicle's being indulged by radio guru Don Imus, the drugstore
cowboy who looks like he's been working the piers at night in New York, with
his bouffant hairdo, ridiculous cowboy hat, and "Look at me, Mary" pressed blue
jeans. This ensures credibility at the CBS studios, along with Dan Rather and
his safari jacket.
And finally, as far as the Bud-I himself is concerned, how can we miss you if
you won't go away? Granted, this isn't all the Bud-I's doing. He's gone to the
Fort Dix and turned in his toupee. But the panicked BeloJo, apparently freaking
out at the possibility of filling the daily news hole sans the shovel-fulls of
piquant soil graciously provided on a near-daily basis by the Mighty Marinara
Man, has decided to provide us with a daily shot of the Bud-I via appetizers
from Stanton's book. Thankfully, it's well-written and entertaining. And the
file photos of Bud-I and company have been priceless. But what happens next
week?
Federal Hill pizza wars
Your superior correspondents ran into our old pal Bill Manzo the other day at
Sikar, his cozy den on Federal Hill. Seems that Bill has a "stone in his shoe."
Bill opened up Sikar on Atwells Avenue in 1996, selling coffee, pastries, and
most famously, upscale cigars and other tobacco products. He soon acquired a
liquor license, and in 2000, moved the enterprise into larger digs a few doors
down after Café Mondo went out of business.
All was looking up for Bill. With the larger space, he could expand into
sandwiches and pizza. He had already registered a number of names with the
secretary of state's corporations division. Among the names owned by Bill is
"Federal Hill Pizza," which he registered in November 1998.
Last year, soon after putting up the sign outside Sikar for his Federal Hill
Pizza, Bill noticed that another small shop less than 50 yards away, near the
corner of Dean and Atwells, which had been selling ice cream, was now selling
pizza. The sign in front read, "Rocco's of Little Italy," under which it said,
"New York style pizza."
All was well and good until a few weeks later when Manzo noticed another sign
-- "Federal Hill Pizzeria, Varisco" -- on the side of the rival pizza shop.
Varisco is apparently the surname of the guy who owns the competing business.
But "Federal Hill Pizzeria" is awfully close to "Federal Hill Pizza."
Bill let this go for a while. There was the time when he was doing a
promotional event with a radio station and people were going to around the
corner to "Varisco" because they were confused by the similarity in names. It
became a bit too inconvenient when a delivery of meats and cheeses went off
track, because the shippers were mistakenly looking for the Dean Street
address. As a result, Bill had his lawyer dash off a letter informing the other
guy that he has the rights to Federal Hill Pizza and that their sign appeared
to infringe on his copyright.
Bill hasn't heard back. Neither have we, despite trying to repeatedly contact
the Newport-based lawyer of the "Varisco" shop. (Nor have we been able to find
a listing for the mysterious "Varisco.") Checking with the secretary of state's
office about the name, P&J discovered there has not even been an attempt to
register the name "Federal Hill Pizzeria." Instead, the company name is
"Rocco's of Newport." According to the state, Rocco's has no Providence address
and its charter has been revoked for failure to file an annual report. There is
some question about the official status of the Providence storefront.
But the business is still there, keeping the confusing "Federal Hill Pizzeria"
posted and continuing to be a stone in Bill Manzo's shoe.
Quote of the week
Despite the downfall of the Bud-I, P&J are so very optimistic about the
potential of the incoming administration of mayor David Cicilline and his role
as the new head of Munchkinland in Our Little Towne. Our pal M. Chuckie Bakst
of the Urinal recent included in his column a wonderful quote from David, which
shows not only his love of the Capital City, but also his genuine affection for
its residents:
"Cicilline is struck by how many strangers tell him, 'I'm so proud of you." He
says, 'I think what they're really saying is they're proud of the city.' He
says they are proud that Providence is poised for change. 'They're proud,'
Cicilline says, 'of themselves.' "
Wonderful sentiment, David.
Misinterpretation?
Your superior correspondents are trying to figure out what could possibly be
"misinterpreted" about the remarks made by Senate Republican leader Trent
"Lacquer Head" Lott of Mississippi. At a party on Thursday, December 5, to
celebrate the 100th birthday of Senator Strom Thurmond, Lott said, "I want to
say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for
him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead,
we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."
Seems pretty straightforward to your superior correspondents. Ole Strom and
his Dixiecrat Party won in Ole Miss and a couple of other Southern states. The
primary (some would say only) focus of the Dixiecrat Party was to oppose racial
integration, as represented by the policies of President Truman. Lacquer Head's
point was that it was right to support United States racial apartheid in 1948
and if more of the country had opposed integration, we'd still have segregation
today and everything would be better. Are we missing anything here? Where is
the "wiggle room" for misinterpreting this?
While Lott might not have proclaimed himself a white supremacist, he might as
well have. His votes on civil rights and social legislation indicate that that
is exactly what he's about, despite what Kevin Martin, the government and
political affairs director of the African American Republican Leadership
Council (now that must be a gigantic group!) says when he characterized Lacquer
Head's remarks as "lighthearted" and "humorous."
Speaking of "misspeaking," we wonder exactly what John "The Journalist"
DePetro means when he says on his Web site (referring to the Bud-I's current
home), "Fort Dix sounds like a nice place if you like living with drug dealers
and guys from Mexico and Columbia [sic]." Say, what's Johnny Boy got against
the Ivy League? Any truth to the rumor that Urinal sports scribe Jim Donaldson
(whose lack of sympathy for non-American athletes has been previously
documented) is moonlighting as copy editor for "the Journalist"? Wonder how
some of his talk-show listeners would react if he said something like,
"Johnston sounds like a nice place if you like living with guys whose ancestors
came from Italy and Ireland"?
Send stocking stuffers and Pulitzer-grade tips to p&j[a]phx.com.
Issue Date: December 13 - 19, 2002
