TONY’S TURF – Written, Produced and Directed by Patrick Coppola

Tony grew up in the North End, a second generation Italian like most of the local kids. Good looking, strong and with natural athletic ability, he gravitated to the Friend Street gym across from the Boston Garden and took up boxing. He had a sparkling amateur career winning the National Golden Gloves and earning the opportunity to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team. He was a heavy favorite to represent the U.S. in the middle weight division. His whole future looked set; an Olympic gold medal, turn professional, and then a lucrative boxing career; maybe the first local Italian champ since Marciano. His ring name was “TnT” because they said his punches where like dynamite. Shortly before he was heading to Las Vegas for the Olympic trials, tragedy struck. Tony and his best friend Joey, a gangster wannabe and street hustler who looked for the easy way out, took Tony for a walk stopping outside an abandoned brick building. Tony looked at the building and saw what Joey was talking about. Black smoke and flames
began shooting from the windows and roof top. The building was burning. “Are you crazy?” Tony asked. “Arson?”

 “This is gonna be my building after tonight,” Joey told Tony while pointing to the building.

Tony was skeptical. “How the hell you gonna work that?”

Joey just laughed and pointed again. “I worked a deal with the owner. He gets the full insurance money and I buy at a rock bottom price with cash. You see, he gets paid twice and I get the building for a song.”

Tony looked at the building and saw what Joey was talking about. Black smoke and flames began shooting from the windows and roof top. The building was burning. “Are you crazy?” Tony asked. “Arson?”  “Relax, it’s abandoned.” Joey replied calmly.

But it wasn’t. A small child had managed to open a third floor window and was crying for help. Tony ran for the door and into the building as a crowd was gathering. He carried the four year old girl onto a fire escape and as he was making his way down, the fire escape collapsed. The fall broke his neck but the child was safe. Tony’s boxing career was over.

At that moment, when Tony’s neck snapped, a new career began for him. Suddenly, Tony saw more than what was around him. It was strange for him at first. He saw into the people he looked at, he felt what they felt; their desires, their

dreams, their hopes, and their fears. Somehow by giving up everything he desired and dreamed for, and for putting his own safety aside to save the child’s life, he was given the power to see into people’s hearts. In the wrong hands this power could be devastating, but Tony used it wisely. He always was a straight shooter and so he would be with this gift. A gift is how he saw it. It was a gift to help fix peoples lives, not with a lecture, but with his own insight into what would set things right.

Of course you can’t make a living this way unless you are Dear Abby so Tony started TnT Maintenance Company. And in the North End he became the undisputed champ of fixing a problem where you lived and a problem of how you lived.

Somehow by giving up everything he desired and dreamed for, and for putting his own safety aside to save the child’s life, he was given the power to see into people’s hearts. In the wrong hands this power could be devastating, but Tony used it wisely. He always was a straight shooter and so he would be with this gift. A gift is how he saw it. It was a gift to help fix peoples lives, not with a lecture, but with his own insight into what would set things right.

Of course you can’t make a living this way unless you are Dear Abby so Tony started TnT Maintenance Company. And in the North End he became the undisputed champ of fixing a problem where you lived and a problem of how you lived.

ABOUT THE NORTH END

The North End is one of Boston’s oldest neighborhoods. It sits between the Big Dig and the Boston Harbor. Over the years, the area has been home to almost every group of immigrants to come through Boston, but today it is most often associated with the Italians. The neighborhood is home to some of the city’s best Italian restaurants, Saint Anthony’s and The Fisherman’s feasts, cafés, churches and a hang out for “you know – those guys.” It’s called Boston’s “Little Italy” and known as the “most Italian neighborhood in the country.”

The North End played a major part in American history, particularly in the American Revolution. Today you can still visit such historic sites as Paul Revere’s house, the Old North Church, and the Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, all of which you can get to by walking Boston’s Freedom Trail which is marked by a line of red bricks throughout the sidewalks of the North End.

Though the influx of yuppies has changed the population over the years, a walk down Hanover Street on a warm summer night will still fill your eyes and ears with the sights and sounds of Italian-American culture.