The Real Costello

A change of pace is always welcome, especially when writing a column about politics. The latter can be as boring as writing about cooking, and the only newspaper that used a cookery writer as a political pundit is The New York Times. I think he’s called Frank Bruni and he’s reported to be going blind due to his loathing of Donald Trump.

Never mind. When your correspondent was still in shorts and newly arrived in America, the greatest and most feared gangster was one Frank Costello. Brought up in...