Elizabeth Street
Authors: Laurie Fabiano
ANGELINA SIENA ON HER FOURTH BIRTHDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1909.
A NOVEL BASED ON TRUE EVENTS
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Text copyright © 2006, 2010, Laurie Fabiano
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by AmazonEncore
P.O. Box 400818
Las Vegas, NV 89140
Produced by Melcher Media, Inc.
124 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011
www.melcher.com
Library of Congress Control Number
2010904235
ISBN: 978-1-935597-02-5
This novel was originally published, in a slightly different form, by Fig Books, a division of Fab Tool, LLC, in 2006.
Cover design by Ben Gibson
Bottom cover photograph courtesy of Library of Congress,
Ransom notes by Siena Della Fave
Author photo by Steve Winter
FOR MY FAMILY
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
The events described in this book are true and the dates accurate.
All the central characters are based on real people.
Giovanna Costa Pontillo Siena was my great-grandmother.
Angelina Siena Arena was my grandmother.
Most of the names of primary characters that are deceased remain the same; the names of characters based on people who are living have been changed.
Some primary characters are composites, and some details and minor characters have been fictionalized.
acqua
— water
aiutami
— help me
ammoratas
— girlfriends
(Italian-American slang)
andiamo
— we go, let’s go
arrivederci
— good-bye
aspetta
— wait
avanti
— come in
bambino
— baby
basanogol
— basil
(Italian-American slang)
basta
— enough
bella
— beautiful
bene
— well
biscotti
— cookies
blu marinos
— Navy (
Italian-American slang
)
boccalone
— big mouth, gullible one
bocce
— Italian ball game
bravo
— good, congratulations
brigantaggio
— thieving
briscola
— card game
brutto
— ugly
buon giorno
— good day
cafone
— crude person
Calabresi
— people from Calabria
Calabria
— southern region of Italy
cannolo
— an Italian pastry
capisci?
— do you understand?
caro
— dear
castello
— castle
che cosa fa?
— what are you doing?
chiazza
— town square
ciao
— hello/good-bye
coglioni
— balls
come si chiama?
— what’s your name?
con
— with
contadini
— peasants
cos’è successo?
— what happened?
cosí bella
— how beautiful
cugina
— cousin
culo
— butt
dago
— derogatory term for Italian-American
Dio mio
— my God
disgraziato
— miserable one, wretch
dottore
— doctor
due
— two
farmacia
— pharmacy
festa
— party
finalmente
— finally
forza
— go
fratello
— brother
gabbadotz
— stubborn
(Italian-American slang)
gedrool
— jerk
(Italian-American slang)
glantuomini
— the gentry
gombada
— friend that’s like family
(Italian-American slang)
grande
— large
grazie
— thank you
guarda
— look
inglese
— English
l’alta Italia
— the north of Italy
La Mano Nera
— The Black Hand
l’America
— America
levatrice
— midwife
loro brutti puzzolenti mafiosi
— ugly lowlife gangsters
lupo
— wolf
ma
— but
macchiette
— musical theater sketches
maestro
— master
mafioso
— thug, crook
mala femmina
— bad woman
malocchio
— evil eye
medza menz
— half and half
(Italian-American slang)
Mezzogiorno
— the south of Italy
mille grazie
— a million thanks
mio fratello
— my brother
molto
— very
mustasole
— a type of hard cookie
Napolitano
— person from Naples
niente
— nothing
nome
— name
nonno
— grandfather
non parlo inglese
— I don’t speak English
occhi
— eyes
opera buffa
— comic opera
padrone
— owner/wealthy
paesani
— countrymen
pasticcini
— pastries
pazzo
— crazy
pensione
— small hotel
perché
— why
per favore
— please
pescatori
— fishermen
pescespada
— swordfish
piacere
— please/pleased to meet you
Piemontese
— person from the Piedmont region in northern Italy
Pokerino
— card and board game
pomodoro
— tomato
prego
— excuse me/you’re welcome
principessa
— princess
professore
— professor
Puglia
— region of Italy
puttana
— whore
questa
— this
Risorgimento
— Italian revolution
schifoso
— lowlife
Scillese
— person from Scilla
scopa
— card game
scusa
— excuse me
sì
— yes
signora
— ma’am
signore
— mister
sindaco
— mayor
smettila
— cut it out
sorella
— sister
sporcaccioni
— pigs, slobs
strega
— witch
stronzo
— turd, shit
terremoto
— earthquake
torta
— cake
tre
— three
uno
— one
va al diavolo
— go to the devil
va bene
— okay, fine
vaffanculo
— go fuck yourself
vai
— go
voto
— vote
wop
— derogatory term for Italian-American
yia-yia
— grandmother
(Greek)
zia
— aunt
zio
— uncle
zucchero
— sugar