UNCLE FRANCIS AND ME! W hen I think of the Mafia, I think of Uncle Frank, when I think of Clark Gable, I think of Uncle Frank, when I think of cigars and heavy gold rings on one's little finger, I think of Uncle Frank. When I smell cloying gladiolas and Old Spice , I smell Uncle Frank. To me, when I think about him, his presence was extraordinary and nonpareil among the members of my dad’s family. Uncle Frank, born Francis Xavier Grattano, was no luke-warm Catholic. He took his religion quite seriously (well, at least his mother did). The fact that he was a member of our family was stranger than fiction. Yet after WW2, intermarriage and assimilation was rampant. America was victorious and it was a time of great celebration. My dear Aunt Jeanne, my dad's sister, who was the capital, "C" in the word Chic, and preached think in the pink and be po...