A Sicilian in East Harlem By Salvatore Mondello

Benedict had their second child, Alfred. When my father’s health was restored, my grandfather bought him a quality suit and hat. Alfio gave Benedict money to put a down payment on a truck and to open a small grocery store with Benedict’s brother Joseph in Corona, New York. Several months after the store was opened Joseph stole the truck full of merchandise and sold it in Pennsylvania. After this disaster Benedict opened a small grocery store, where credit was given to customers, on Knickerbocker Avenue in Brooklyn. His cousin Charles came in as a partner. When my parents rented an apartment above the store, they moved there taking my brother with them. I refused to go. I cried every day. My grandfather was attached to me and my grandmother convinced her daughter to let me stay at One Hundred and Seventh Street for a few months. I remained with my grandparents until I turned eighteen. When I was eleven my parents came to take me away from my grandparents. A few days later I left Brooklyn to return home, using the subway and the Third Avenue El to effect my escape. I got off the El at the One Hundred and Sixth Street station and ran all the way home. My parents made no further attempts to fetch me. As a child I considered the Third Avenue Elevated Line my road to freedom from my mother and father.

Alfio Cassara was short, obese, bald, and had rough, callused hands from years of cutting leather, but to me he was a hero like Garibaldi. He never lost his teeth. As a child he had picked up a chair with his teeth. My grandfather didn’t need friends. He was devoted to me and Rosalia. Grandpa took me out every Sunday to the Bronx Zoo or to amusement parks. We liked Coney Island and