"I did get a couple of phone calls - no phone calls that warned me off the subject, but phone calls saying 'hey, just tell us what you're doing' and I think the reticence came from their desire not to make the Italian community look bad or bring up those bad memories. "When I started visiting North Queensland farms, way back in 2001, tentatively approaching the subject, talking to people and making rough video recordings – these were people who were then in their 80s and had been touched by the gang, or their family had had experiences with them - there was a reticence to discuss it," recalls Grossetti. The knowing silence LaPaglia describes that's endured through generations of Italian-Australian families was something producer Adam Grossetti came up against 20 years ago when he started digging around in Australia's murky mafia past. "So, I knew that some of this stuff was going on in Australia in the '60s and '70s but I had no idea it was going on the 1920s and '30s and I think it shows an interesting side of Australian history that you don't really hear about, along with a lot of other parts of our history that have been omitted." "No one had to tell you, you just instinctively knew when people came to the house, some people got a little more respect, some people didn't, this is someone you don't want to piss off, this is someone that it's OK if you piss them off. But it's not like we sat around a table and discussed the mafia, it was more observational," he says. "I had relatives - most weren't involved - but some were involved to various degrees. An honest man who made a living as a mechanic in Adelaide, LaPaglia's father was never involved with the mafia in any way but Anthony LaPaglia recalls growing up with an awareness that some people on the fringes of the family and among the local Italian community weren't to be messed with.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |