🍝 THE DAILY SITDOWN 🍝

So this Frank Caprio, huh? Eighty-eight years old, croaked. Pancreatic cancer, they say. A real *sonofabitch* of a disease, that one. My Uncle Pat went quick with that… anyway, this judge guy… a *judge*, right? But not like some hard-ass from Newark. This guy was… *nice*. Yeah, *nice*. Three point four *million* followers on Instagram. Three point four *million*, you hear that, Paulie? The guy was practically a goddamn celebrity. They called him the "nicest judge in the world." Can you believe that *cazzo*? The world… I mean, I've seen some nice guys get whacked, so who knows what that means, but, okay. This “Caught in Providence” show of his? Billions of views. Billions! I'm not gonna lie, I’d probably watch it if I was stuck at home with a bad flu. Maybe a little more interesting than that garbage they show on HBO. He let kids sit with him on the bench? Seriously? I mean, I’ve had guys sit across from me during a “discussion” who were sweating more than a hooker at a cops and doughnuts convention, and that's a little different from these angel-faced rugrats, huh? But, okay, whatever. More power to him, I guess. Made himself a mini-judge plush toy, too. That's… *something*, I guess. I gotta tell Junior that, make him laugh. His son, David, put out a statement, a whole heartfelt thing about spreading kindness. Like that’s gonna stop somebody from sticking a knife in your back. Listen, it’s nice… but remember this: in this life, you gotta be careful about who you trust. It's a brutal f-cking business and the more “nice” you are the easier it is to get… taken advantage of. They say he showed “a slice of life of Rhode Island.” Sounds pretty boring. Rhode Island, seriously? It's like the New Jersey of … *well*, let's just say it ain't exactly the big leagues. I once had a guy from Providence try to muscle in on my territory. Didn't end well for him. Fuhgeddaboudit. But here's the thing. Three point four *million* followers? This guy knew how to build a brand. That takes a certain kind of… *smarts*. And he made a killing doing it, I'm sure. He got nominated for Daytime Emmys? They hand those things out like pizza slices at a construction site. But still, he made himself a name, even if he *was* a judge and all that soft-shoe stuff. This Caprio guy… there's something to learn from him. Maybe not *everything*... but he built an empire of niceness, something I never thought I'd see. He's gone now, but hey, at least he died doing what he loved, right? Now, what'll it be, Paulie? Another espresso? Or maybe we can get some gabagool and discuss some… *business*?