Author Archives
Tom Cosentino
Mambo Non-Italiano Episode III: Donnie Brasco
This episode of Mambo Non-Italiano focuses on the gritty true-life story of FBI Agent Joe Pistone who went undercover and infiltrated the Bonanno family in New York City. Pistone was incredibly successful, getting in so deep into the Mafia that they considered opening the books for him to be a made man, a blood member of “this thing of ours”. Pistone’s story is told in the 1997 film Donnie Brasco.
Mambo Non-Italiano Episode II
I hope you enjoyed the first episode of Mambo Non-Italiano. I left you with the cliffhanger, the question of whether Cher gets an Italian pass for her role in Moonstruck. Moonstruck is a great Italian movie but did she do all that is necessary for the Don to give her a pass?
The Beginning of Mambo Non-Italiano
Welcome to my new Blog, Mambo Non-Italiano. In today’s crazy cancel culture, where cartoon characters have to be ethnically cleansed and there are casting quotas where Henry VIII could be played by an Asian woman, who self-identifies as something else, well you know where I’m going. I wanted to add my take on this hotly contested debate, in a subtler, more relaxed environment, like my Uncle’s talking about which jockey’s were on the take at the local Harness track.
A few things upfront, I am not on a mission. I have not social wrong I want to make right. I got the idea for this blog from watching the very fine movie Green Book. Viggo Mortensen was nominated for Best Actor but lost to an Englishman playing an Englishman. Mortensen played the real-life Italian Tony Lip. Mortensen was great in the role all except for one small problem; he’s not Italian. He doesn’t look Italian. He can’t make Pasta Fagioli. He acted Italian but isn’t that supposed to be something we aren’t supposed to be doing now? So, I thought I would blog about the roles of Italian characters that were played by non-Italians.
Buy It Today: The Art of Looking for Trouble
Enjoy this exclusive excerpt from The Art of Looking for Trouble and please order it today.
NEW LIBERTY ISLAND NOVEL EXCERPT: “Sharp Dressed Man,” Chapter 24 of The Art of Looking for Trouble,
Pre-Order Novel, Releasing June 23, 2021
Enjoy this exclusive excerpt from The Art of Looking for Trouble and please pre-order today.
Meet Tom Cosentino and Discover His Hilarious Debut Novel The Art of Looking for Trouble
Get to know Tom Cosentino and his new novel The Art of Looking for Trouble with this autobiographical sketch followed by the book’s first two chapters.
New Fiction: Seizing Infinity
Henry Watterson half-listened to the television on in the other room so that he wouldn’t feel completely alone as he stared out the window and watched the traffic on Genesee Street. He wasn’t paying attention to anything in particular, he never did these days. This had been his distracted routine since the funeral.
He heard the person on the television say something that snapped his head around. A man with a sophisticated English accent had just made a statement that jarred Henry out of his chair and made him run to the screen. He grabbed the remote and backed up the program to hear it again.
“It has been theorized that a black hole contains all time.”
He hit rewind again to hear it for a third time.
New Fiction: The Baton
Peter looked as instructed and could not find what he was supposed to see until Charlotte’s finger stabbed at the top corner. There was a quarter page advertisement announcing that the Antiques Roadshow, Charlotte’s favorite program, was coming to New York.
“It’s this Saturday, I want to bring in my great Aunt Beatrice’s baton. She said it was very valuable. That it belonged to a famous conductor. This is my chance to find out exactly what it is. Maybe it’s worth enough that I can sell it to pay for my dream wedding.”
Peter looked at the date and time of the show, then forced a smile knowing he had no choice but to accompany Charlotte, even though he and his buddy Fred had tickets to the Rangers and Bruins matinee for the same day.
New Fiction: All That Once Was Good
Frankie Azzolino adjusted his Yankee cap as he sat on his front steps waiting for the early morning clouds to tell him whether they would let him and his friends play baseball on the field behind the elementary school. It was his first week of summer vacation having just finished 5thgrade and he and his friends had vowed to play baseball every day over the summer. The mid-June mornings in Syracuse had a hard time letting go of the nighttime chill and even if it didn’t rain, the outfield wouldn’t shake off the morning dew until they were a few innings into their first game, but only rain would keep them from playing.
His neighbor emerged onto his front steps, but he was looking up and down the street between looking down to check his watch. The clouds didn’t seem to interest him at all.
“Good morning, Mister Thomas,” Frankie said as he waved.
“Morning, Frankie,” Mr. Thomas said with his ever-present smile.
The Thomas’s had moved in the year before and were the first black family on the block. Before they moved in Frankie’s mother had told him they were a “little different”. He watched them move in for an hour trying to figure out what was different about them. After spending all that time watching, the only difference he could conclude was that Mr. Thomas drove a brand new 1966 Buick Electra. There weren’t many new cars in their working class neighborhood.
New Fiction: To Live Afresh
An undergraduate’s passion for literature… and the new Teaching Assistant…
As Declan Rosetti started his senior year at Francis Lewis University, named for New York’s forgettable delegate that signed the Declaration of Independence, as an English Literature and Creative Writing major, he was filled with thoughts of what to do after graduation. The detractors of the school called it F’ing Lame University or just FLU like the malady that struck so many during the long Upstate winters. He wondered if he had the guts to head down to New York City and live the life of a poor writer. He fantasized about getting an apartment in Greenwich Village and writing for Saturday Night Live. Or should he go to graduate school, which was the more practical decision? Those were questions for later; for now it was the start of the school year that always felt full of promise.
