Frankie Gio is upset with Nick the Vest.
Gio — the boxer from The Bronx whose 34 credits include “Once Upon a Time in America,” “Moonstruck” and “King of New York” — has stopped going to Rao’s in East Harlem because of the bartender, Nick Zaloumis, who always wears one of his 136 different vests.
“He talks about everybody,” Gio told me. “He started spreading rumors I was a stool pigeon.”
Why don’t you punch him in the nose? I asked.
“That’s the old Frankie,” said Gio, 84. “I’ve got nothing to say about nobody.”
Gio has finished “Ragazzo,” a 200-page manuscript about “a kid growing up Italian, not knowing he’s half-black.”
It’s quite a shock when he finds out.