A Strand of Hair -- A Look at the Life of Frankie

Every organization has to have an order to it. The task of the person in charge then is to keep anyone else from within the organization challenging the rules. In the Pascetti family, order exists with each player knowing his or her role. Business is often very personal, and to maintain control, Anzio is careful to make sure that only one person knows everything--himself.

Even for someone as integral to the system as Frankie, information comes in crumbs, not mouthfuls. The "who's" and the "what's" of the business are rarely divulged; his part is not to ask questions, just carry out orders--a task which he does quite well, in both the culinary and the criminal sense.



Following a delicious meal, the "Boss" has been known to assign jobs instead of providing tips. Directions can come just like that. Sometimes Frankie finds it hard to know when he's in one world or the other...

But maybe the two aren't so mutually exclusive. Death doesn't normally appear on the menu but still manages to be dished out from time to time. As Mr. Calvino is about to discover, there are far worse things than heartburn or indigestion after dinner. One man's loss is just another man's success.



However, success doesn't always translate into appreciation. And for Frankie, that can be a tough meatball to swallow.

The Lineup: Faces of the Pascetti Family

In addition to the aforementioned Frankie "The Hair" Pascetti, three other key figures play into our investigation. People like these aren't likely to pose for pictures, and so I had to sneak shots whenever the opportunities presented themselves.

The first photo shows the head of the family, Anzio Pascetti, though he's most commonly addressed as "Boss." Using his "Authentic Italian Family Restaurant" as a front for his business practices, Anzio has his fingers in every pot and cookie jar in town--and no, they're not clean... He runs a tight crew, with members either following out of respect or fear, or possibly both. His relationship with his nephew Frankie seems slim.



Next we have Louis "Big Eyes" McFeeney. As his last name reveals, Louis doesn't come from the same family dish. He married Anzio's favorite sister and has since worked his way into favor with the "Boss." As the unofficial second-in-command, Louis handles most of the actual dirty work; because most of his assignments come through Louis, Frankie has developed a bond with the transplanted Irishman. The nickname "Big Eyes" is rumored to have come from an early disagreement with Anzio involving a baseball bat from which he never quite fully recovered. It's best not to stare.



Last, and in many ways least is Walter Pennington. Not to be wholly considered part of the group, Pennington's business is politics. Anzio and Walt have some sort of arrangement together, the specifics of which are yet unknown. He has a personality rivaling that of an amoeba, and a head of hair I strongly suspect is just as much a lie as anything else that comes out of his mouth.