February 15, 2008 -- DON'T call Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. - an Italian-American, born and raised in New Jersey - a fan of "The Sopranos."

He told an audience at Rutgers University this week that the HBO mob opera did a lot of harm by spreading stereotypes about Italian-Americans.

"You have a trifecta - gangsters, Italian-Americans, New Jersey - wedded in the popular American imagination," Alito lamented at an event sponsored by the school's Italian studies program.

Alito lived for nearly 20 years in West Caldwell, the same area of New Jersey where the fictional Tony Soprano lived.

A friend in California once sent Alito a map of "Sopranos"-related locations. "He wanted me to put down where my house was on the map," Alito said to laughs.

Alito's said the "The Sopranos" was just one of many stereotypes about Italians in the US.

Alito, 57, was born in Trenton and attended Princeton University before going to law school at Yale.

Last year, Alito and his wife moved from West Caldwell to northern Virginia to be closer to the high court.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02152008/tv/justice_alito_is_not_sopranos_no__1_fan_97662.htm

Alito has a point, but on the other hand, people like that do exist. Do we whitewash movies and TV so that only people of virtue are portrayed?? Well, we did in the 1950s with shows like Leave It To Beaver, which presented a bland, lily-white portrait of the average American family.

People like John Gotti and Al Capone did exist in real life. Does that mean all Italians are mafiosos?? No. But there is an unpleasant underbelly of those type of people from all ethnicities.

I remember when then NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted to bring Lorraine Bracco (Dr. Melfi) and Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior) along with him to march in the Columbus Day Parade in Manhattan.

The organizers of the parade objected, stating that the tv show, "The Sopranos," presented Italian-Americans in an unflattering manner. As a result, Michael Bloomberg refused to march in the parade if Ms. Bracco and Mr. Chianese were not allowed to accompany him.

Too bad, Mayor Bloomberg. I agree with Justice Alito that "The Sopranos" depicted Italian-Americans in an unflattering manner, especially those Italian-Americans residing in New Jersey. A progressive liberal like Michael Bloomberg should have realized that actors from "The Sopranos" marching in the Columbus Day Parade was highly inappropriate.

Mayor Bloomberg should have asked Patti Lupone and Alan Alda to march with him in the parade to honor Christopher Columbus and Italian-Americans, imo.