Lions and Lambs
The Leone and Agnello families were neighbors in the town of Naro in Sicily at the turn of the 20th Century. They were also perennial enemies. Salvatore Leone and Luigi Agnello were the major landowners in Naro and land, regardless of how unyielding, meant prestige and power. The boundaries of their holdings had been in dispute for generations and the conflict surrounding land rights had created an animosity between the two clans rivaling that of the Montagues and Capulets, the Hatfields and McCoys. An area bordering their ‘estates’ was in particular contention—each wished to bequeath this land to their eldest sons. However, those young men—Vincenzo Leone and Giuseppe Agnello—wished no part of the battle and the land they had their sights upon was across the Atlantic.
If the patriarchs shared a common ethos it was the sanctity of the family. Family loyalty was an unequalled virtue. Family honor was revered. Anything or anyone threatening family unity was the enemy. When Vincenzo Leone emigrated to America, settling in Philadelphia in 1913, his father misguidedly believed that if the land dispute had been resolved in his favor his son would not have left his home. Two years later, when his only daughter secretly married the son of his adversary, and the lovers eloped to New York, once again Salvatore held the Agnellos responsible for the dissolution of his family. Only his youngest child, Roberto, remained—and he poisoned the boy with all of the hatred and vindictiveness he had failed to instill in his eldest children. Vincenzo Leone and Giuseppe Agnello had chosen to leave the blood feud behind. Roberto Leone would eventually transport the acrimony across the ocean and across the American continent.
Although family honor was equally important to both families they had dissimilar beliefs about how that virtue was defined and achieved. For the Leones, family honor and respect for the family name was measured by success and prestige. Vincenzo built a thriving import business, bringing products from the old country to San Francisco where they were now in greater and greater demand. He also established a restaurant and an Italian foods delicatessen which would become landmarks in North Beach. He was a businessman and success in business was his chosen path to respectability. For the Agnellos, family honor and respect for the family was measured by honesty and public service. They were dedicated to respecting and upholding the laws of the new homeland that had offered them opportunities unreachable in their native Sicily. In New York City they became lawmakers and law-enforcers.
When Roberto Leone arrived from Sicily to join Vincenzo he soon recognized that breaking those laws was much more profitable and, without the knowledge of his older brother—who was a scrupulous man—Roberto steered the family into illegal activity. The Leones and the Agnellos found themselves on opposite sides of the law, and the conflict thought left behind in Naro resumed full-blown in their adopted land. The destructive feud would continue for decades against the backdrop of the critical events of the twentieth-century in America. And, as is commonly the case in battle, the opponent unrestricted by established rules of engagement is often at a great advantage. Unluckily, the righteousness of the Agnellos made them more vulnerable.
The Leones and the Agnellos were representative of the millions of families who emigrated to America from Italy, Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia, with the dream and drive to improve the conditions of their lives and the futures of their children and their grandchildren. And this primitive motivation manifested itself in an industriousness that helped build the nation. The dispute, a historical struggle, was over the acceptable means of achieving those dreams.
The history of America has been a continuing story of conflict and hoped for resolution. There is much to be proud of in our history—and much otherwise. The battle for independence, the subjugation of native peoples, the enslavement of a race, the influx of millions of foreigners seeking religious, social and political freedom in a place advertised as the land of the free. The costly battles between isolationists and internationalists, segregationists and integrationists, warriors and pacifists. The often-bloody confrontations surrounding human rights and civil liberties. The story of the Leones and the Agnellos is part of that American tapestry. It is a story of family and of the strength family pride has in creating harmony or dissention.
Agnello is the Italian word for lamb. Leone the Italian word for lion. They alone will, as will our fellow Americans, decide whether or not they can peacefully lie down together.
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