Sarahfina's Mafia

About the Book

1909

In Sicily, Silvio Protettore, 16, protects his seven-year-old cousin, Sarahfina, as a baby sister. Going around the countryside, Silvio meets three other young men, similar to himself. They are all running from some kind of trouble. Going together, they get work at the Francesco Dontifillio olive farm. They become great friends with the youngest son, Basilio. Wanted by police, Silvio and Basilio leave Sicily for America. In New York working on the docks, Silvio gets in with a Mafia gang and moves up to become a capo. Basilio hates the dock work, and, against Silvio's wishes, leaves for Cleveland, Ohio.

1920

Silvio gets married and has a family. His three friends from the Dontifillio farm come to America to join Silvio's 'casa'. Between taking care of business and tension with his brother-in-laws, Silvio brings his cousin Sarahfina from Sicily when he learns that the Mafia killed her father. Silvio arranges for Basilio to marry Sarahfina. Basilio and Sarahfina move back to Cleveland, where their son Salvatore is born.

1927

Salvatore picks up the story, making friends and having adventures at the old laundry building. Silvio travels back and forth to Cleveland clearing up his bootleg whiskey business and trouble at the laundry. When he is 14, Salvatore's mother Sarahfina becomes enraged at Silvio because of all the Mafia trouble. His father, Basilio, knows that it's best to move the family from the 22nd Street tenements to East 111th Street, Luna Park area.

About the Author

Francesco Calco's teen years were in the Luna Park area, in Cleveland. In WW II, he served in the 8th Air Force, 100th Bomb Group, ETO. In London he met Christina Walker, a nurse. They married in England after VE day. At home, Frank was a free lance artist and worked at various manufacturing companies. With a degree from Cleveland Engineering Institute, Frank was employed at the NASA Lewis Research Center as mechanical designer for the space program. Francesco admires Aleksandr Isayvich Solzhenitsyn, the dissident Russian writer.