MOVIE PLAN: A movie proposed about the Prohibition days that
sparked warfare in Bradford and Olean, N.Y., and left bodies on
both sides of the line is already drawing mixed reviews.

An Olean native and screenwriter is trying to drum up support
for a movie about that period of time and, to that end, brought
some TV film stars through both towns recently.

Lolita Colley Norris of Columbus, Ohio, writes: “I guess ‘kudos’
for the ‘Little Chicago’ movie being filmed in and around Bradford.
Will this give my little hometown a good name or a bad one?”

“We will be there for the Italian Festival in August; too bad
the guys from the ‘Sopranos’ (one of my all-time favorite TV shows)
won’t be there then – they’d get some good food – and they do love
food.

“Someone should let them know that those of us who knew the town
well in the ’50s, or even before, could give them some names for a
few great ‘extras.’ I can’t wait for the movie, and my nose will be
in the Era until it comes out.”

Lola signs herself, “a Bradford lover and native … Interstate
Parkway, Class of 1954.”

REAL DEAL: One Bradford man has had an encounter not just with
would-be gangsters but the real deal.

Jim Piscitelli, who is in his late 90s, had some dealings with
Al Richie, a gangster who later worked for the District Attorney
before being gunned down.

Jim tells us that in 1932 or 1933, he was working for a
ready-mix plant on a job where they were going to pour concrete on
Boylston Street. The trucks weren’t arriving quick enough and the
job supervisors became upset with Jim – so he walked off the
job.

He went home and didn’t go back to work the next day. Al Ritchie
came to see him and tried to talk him into going back to work but
Jim still refused. Two days later, Ritchie tried again and
eventually Jim decided to go back to work.

Jim adds that Ritchie used to live on the part of River Street
which ran along Elm Street before the highway construction. If
we’re not mistaken, that’s where Richie was shot to death.