CHICAGO -- A federal judge Wednesday turned down a request by a coalition of Italian-American groups to block the opening of a middle school play about the Mafia.
U.S. District Court Judge John Grady refused to issue a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction to prevent Rotolo Middle School's production of "Fuggedaboudit: A Little Mobster Comedy."
Grady, who said he had not read the play, ruled that free speech trumped any alleged harm to the plaintiffs.
The judge also said he failed to see how the plaintiff, a 12-year-old pupil at the middle school, was harmed, because it was not shown that the boy was in the same class of people as those depicted in the play.
Anthony Scariano, lawyer for the Batavia, Ill., schools, argued that the play was not offensive.
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"The only two clowns in the play are the American FBI agents who can't get a body recording right," Scariano said.
The plaintiff's attorney, Joseph Rago, told reporters, "Basically, we're talking about a situation where very impressionable young children are going to be exposed to this material. It's our position that it's harmful and it's offensive, and it's harmful and offensive to everybody."
The uproar over the play began when the plaintiff's mother, Marina Amoroso-Levato, read the "Fuggedaboudit" script and contacted the Sons of Italy, the nation's oldest and largest Italian heritage organization.
Three legal actions were filed Tuesday by groups opposed to the comedy on the grounds that it uses taxpayer money to cast Italian-Americans in a racially insensitive light.
The coalition also alleged that what it calls the play's offensive stereotypes are particularly harmful to impressionable middle-school pupils.
School officials have defended the play, saying it sends a positive message of racial tolerance.
