Arts & Entertainment

Reality Show Highlights Suburban Man's Capone Connection

The show airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Central.

Chicago gangster lore is front and center in Reelz' Channel's new over-the-top reality show, "The Capones."

The show opens with Romeoville resident Lou "Uncle Lou" Fratto introducing viewers to the modern-day Capones, including his nephew, Lombard restaurant owner Dominic Capone, the new boss of the family who's "gone legit."

"Being a Capone, it ain't what it used to be," Fratto deadpans in the opener. "If Big Al could see how he runs things, he'd crap in his coffin."

It's unclear just how strong a tie the modern family has to the Capone crime syndicate — Dominic is a Capone on his mother's side, and only added the infamous surname in 1998, according to the Sun Timesbut the show plays up the connection to the hilt.
"Al Capone — he built America's greatest criminal empire. I should know. I grew up in it," Fratto says, boasting about an uncle who allegedly worked as a hit man for the crime boss.

"The Capones" debuted Jan. 28, but you can catch the first two episodes, "Meet the Capones" and "A Sexercise in Futility," back-to-back starting at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The show's website outlines the pilot plot: "Dominic Buys a Tommygun but can't keep his mother and girlfriend from fighting over lasagna. Madeline gets out of jail. Uncle Lou shows Jeff the old neighborhood but almost gets them killed."

The show normally airs at 9 p.m. Central on Tuesdays.


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