High life
Fun and games
Taki
A s everyone who loves Italian food knows, the Mafia frequent restaurants where the food tends to be perfect and the staff unusually polite. I became aware of this when I was fresh out of Eton and newly arrived in New York. An Argentinian Lothario befriended me and introduced me to his favourite hangout in midtown Man- hattan. It served Italian dishes and, more important, was known as the place a lot of models dropped in at for a quick ravioli a is
Genovese. This wa
the evening the clientele were mostly gentlemen ethnewirhhoamtsowrehiolefteeantitnhgan not dirldeer°1Y1 That is one thing that sticks in mY min The other is that whenever the doors Pon' n3cMhtairmche 9841a open and someone came in from outside, people would automatically duck under !„he, tables. After that everyone continued eating and ,1"'' and conversing as if nothing had haPPe,11`',. It was a reflex action from men with ors' hand knowledge of suppers that had heeri, rudely interrupted by the familiar rat-tat-0' of a submachine gun. The women, The were straight out of Central Casting. '1: blondes always looked extremely tall wilue they were seated, but once they st°°el one would realise they were of 110r! „at height and it was their leonine bouflu" coiffures that added the inches.
The owner of the place was a
Rossarl Brazzi lookalike by the name of Arinan_Trlie, Orsini. Armando's name was not origin'," Orsini — as he himself was the first to ad mit — but upon arriving in a city that raft more Italians living within its confines Rome, he thought it a good idea to had himself a fairer start than he originall,Y, back in Naples. Prince Raimondo vr'.'5 was irr the news back then for eseortl.tee, Soraya, the Shah's recently divorced wit.ar so Armando picked Orsini more or lesshan the name's topicality. (Years later', wr,i of the real Orsini had made a comrade 1°- .th himself by hanging around nightclubs `vied Soraya-like intellectuals, everyone referrto to Armando as the real Orsini, and RaArmimondoando as the phony one.) was extremely good 1°° fiver 0 and, like most Italians born without a s1 whis spoon, looked aristocratic because of masculine and clean-cut looks. His lec,,,kheo English helped. Those were the daYs an Italian accent got one respect rather than snickers. It was also the time when all itithe cent American public believed that aaci Mafia were involved in bootlegging as• c'est tout. As my friend Frank Costello ed to say, 'If it was good enough for iv" Kennedy, it's good enough for mien, Mr C and I used to dine there quite -, the mostly after the Friday night old Madison Square Garden. The wain di would literally jump whenever the eaPP-ch, tutti cappi asked for his favourite spina a and-cheese-filled pasta. There ,,wvas the bartender called Joe who looked u.Ze,,, ac- spitting image of Ernest Borgnine,whn tor, and a head waiter called Ignaci°,,ahy had been slapped more times than Ant' 4. Haden-Guest's cheques have bounced. hor fights at nacio was not the smartest of fellovis,110,5 he was certainly the most naive. Cc/stem. he favourite joke was an old one. Whene,v;betli spotted a celebrity (Bette Davis, E"L-00 Taylor and Zsa Zsa Gabor haPPen t0 end d to mind) he would write a note and s.eme 10 to them with Ignacio after telling Iltirttie wait for an answer without saying etrG the note came from. Inside he would vvt"-head following: 'Although a humble boo' waiter, I would love to show Y°11 right good I am in bed. I need an answer
away. Respectfully yours, Ignacio.'
It was at Orsini's where I met Benedetta Barzini, Luigi's daughter. I will never forget it because it was the night of one of My worst humiliations. We dined early and went to the Garden with the Godfather and one of Mr C's henchmen. Benedetta had no !uea who they were, and had never before oeen to the fights. As old hands Mr C and I
i
carried newspapers underneath our arms in icase the fight got too bloody — which, as o'tick would have it, it did. We were in the ft row and as s on as was necessary I un- folded my paper and shielded Signorina Harzini and myself. But to my horror she would have none of my protection. Instead, she climbed up on the ring and... after yell- lug to the ref to stop the fight tried to stop it herself. I was so ashamed I tried to hide fuderrleath my seat. Mr C looked as if the 4. had caught him red-handed. Tough
Du •
lYS molls simply don't act that way. I isucluld have known better. The henchman wLooked at me as if I had called the cops— r.b° by that time were climbing on to the big to bring my date back. I not only h'-arrie the laughing stock of the Garden, tt,,,t also of Orsini's. that reason I am yet again reminiscing is heard I ran into Armando the other day, and urear.d that Benedetta's father hasn't been deebug his best lately. Neither has Arman- h,but when we thought of the fun we once „'". he brightened up and told me that film have figured out why all those film htars used to slap him. `Mr Costello must ,ave written something rude and they were ri'faxl. to answer back,' is what Ignacio "alY worked out, according to the real
Previous page
