Italians of Oz
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On the prison drama Oz, the Italian inmates are Mafia members of Sicilian origin imprisoned for a variety of crimes who run almost everything illegal in Oz. Despite being a small percent of the prison population, they have connections to several Italian-American staff members such as Lenny Burrano who is in fact more loyal to mafiosos than to the warden. With control of the illegal businesses such as drugs and gambling, they also have several correctional officers of various ethnicities on payroll and are often able to get the task at hand accomplished flawlessly. Throughout the series they tend to work in and run the cafeteria even though it is sometimes run by the leaders of the Homeboys.
The Italian inmates' biggest threat throughout the series are the Homeboys, the majority of Oz's African American prisoners, who try to take over the drug trade throughout the series. The Italians join forces with the Latino inmates under the rule of Enrique Morales and become enemies with the Aryan Brotherhood over a hit of the son of Aryan brotherhood's leader Vernon Schillinger.
The Italians had 4 leaders throughout the series:
- Nino Schibetta - First leader of the Italians. Murdered early in the series by Simon Adebisi and Ryan O'Reilly who decided they'd like a bigger cut of the drug business.
- Peter Schibetta - Nino's son. Came to Oz after Nino's death and tried to avenge Nino's murder. He and Chucky Pancamo tried to murder Adebisi in the Kitchen, but Adebisi won the fight, sending them both to the Hospital and raping Peter, who was later sent to the psych ward. Later, when he returned to Oz in the last season, Pancamo was manipulated by Ryan O'Reilly into murdering him.
- Antonio Nappa - Came to Oz shortly after the failed attempt on Adebisi, and tried to take revenge on Adebisi in a more subtle way than Schibetta did. Nappa tried to drive Adebisi crazy by taking his drugs away from him. Adebisi discovered it, however, and got Nappa infected with AIDS, sending him to the AIDS ward and making it impossible for him to operate. While in there, Nappa decided to write a book about his life in the mafia. This scared the Mafia on the outside, who ordered Pancamo to have him murdered and make sure the book won't get published.
- Chucky Pancamo - Last leader of the Italians. Became leader after Nappa had been sent to the AIDS ward. Remained the Italians' leader until the end of the series.
Contents |
[edit] Episodes Pretaining to The Italians
Episodes that center around the Italian Inmates of Oz include the following:
[edit] Season 1
 Nino Schibetta |
 Dino Ortolani |
 Joey D'Angelo |
- Episode 1.1 "The Routine" - Dino Ortolani’s hotheaded behavior makes him a target of the Homeboys and Irish inmates ultimately resulting in his death
- Episode 1.2 "Visits, Conjugals and Otherwise" – Investigation by Staff Member Lenny Burrano convinces Ryan O'Reilly to tell Nino Schibetta that Johnny Post murdered Ortolani. Post is killed, the war between the Homeboys and Italians then escalates.
- Episode 1.4 “Capital P” – Admist the drug dealing war, Irish inmate Ryan O'Reilly manages to play for both the Homeboys and Italians at the same time resulting in the death of Joey D'Angelo at the hands of Simon Adebisi and new inmate Kenny Wangler.
- Episode 1.5 “Straight Life” – With a threat from Warden Glynn to stop dealing drugs, Nino Schibetta arranges to find the “bug” in the drug operation within Oz discovering Paul Markstrom’s identity as a Narcotics Detective. With Markstrom and Keane gone in addition to the transfer of several Italian inmates out of Em City, Schibetta becomes more allied with Ryan O'Reilly and Simon Adebisi whom he views as the best Black inmate to do drug business with.
- Episode 1.7 "Plan B" – To get Schibetta out of the drug business, O’Reilly and Adebisi grind ground glass into his food over a period of months resulting in his death in a very unnoticeable fashion.
[edit] Season 2
 Peter Schibetta |
 Antonio Nappa |
- Episode 2.2 "Ancient Tribes" – Peter Schibetta, Nino’s Son and Chucky Pancamo run the Italians now and blackmail Warden Glynn for control of the kitchen. To stay in the Italians’ good graces, O’Reilly informs Schibetta that Adebisi killed Nino.
- Episode 2.5 “Family Bizness" – Schibetta continues to blackmail Glynn over his brother’s debt to the mob until Leo’s brother Mark turns himself in for a murder that he committed for the mob. Out of Schibetta’s debt, Glynn gives Adebisi control of the cafeteria again transferring all the Italians into the dress factory. Peter is also given rat poison by Adebisi and ends up in the hospital.
- Episode 2.6 “Strange Bedfellows” – Italian Staff member Lenny Burrano informs Peter of two things- First Glynn and McManus are not pressing an investigation as to who poisoned Schibetta without hard evidence which there is not, Second the “Family” is disappointed with Peter’s leadership and will send someone else to run operations in Oz if Adebisi does not die. Pancamo and Schibetta then rent out the kitchen as a means of murdering Adebisi. The attempt on Adebisi backfires though as Pancamo is beaten unconscious and Schibetta is brutally sodomized by Adebisi. Being the victim of rape, Peter is told by Burrano that someone else is coming into Oz to run operations.
- Episode 2.7 “Strange Bedfellows” – Knocked in disarray by Adebisi, the Homeboys insult Pancamo and the Italians on a daily basis. This is until new leader Antonio Nappa shows up and takes charge of the Italians. To make Adebisi suffer for raping Peter, he asks Burrano what Simon values most which Burrano claims is heroin and Nappa than asks him to convince Glynn to conduct a random drug test depriving Adebisi of heroin. Schibetta meanwhile is in the psychiatric ward.
- Episode 2.8 “Escape From Oz” – Off of heroin and under the guidance of an African inmate named Jara, Adebisi is no longer a threat to the Italians who seek a partnership with Kenny Wangler. The condition of the alliance is for Wangler to kill Jara so that the Italians still have Adebisi under control. Wangler and Pierce then kill Jara.
[edit] Season 3
|
Antonio Nappa |
 Chucky Pancamo |
Peter Schibetta |
- Episode 3.1 “The Truth and Nothing But..." – Released from the psych ward, Adebisi appears non-threatening and Nappa says he could be of use to the Italians after all. Nappa then has Wangler test out new inmate Malcolm Coyle who wants into the Homeboys.
- Episode 3.2 “Napoleon’s Boney Parts” – Adebisi leaves the kitchen to volunteer for the AIDs ward as a means of getting revenge on Nappa whom he infects with an HIV positive needle. In the meantime, Nappa fires Coyle to Wangler’s objection as he does not trust him.
- Episode 3.3 "Legs" – Pancamo represents the Italians in the boxing tournament and Nappa enthusiastically agrees to help Kareem Said protect Black inmate Augustus Hill from the Homeboys through killing Malcolm Coyle. Nappa learns he is HIV positive and is transferred to the AIDs ward giving Pancamo control of the Italian inmates.
- Episode 3.5 "U.S. Male" – In previous episode, Pancamo talks with Adebisi about becoming partners in drug trade, Adebisi then brings in the Latinos led by El Cid after injuring Wangler’s key bodyguards Poet and Pierce, In following episode, Pancamo loses boxing match (due to a spiked water) and orders Nappa to be killed when Mob memoirs are being published.
- Episode 3.8 "Out o' Time" - As the racial tension builds, Schillinger asks all the other Whites including to stick together amongst the racial tension, Pancamo and Hernandez then unsuccessfully tell Adebisi to cool the Blacks down as a means of making the drug trade possible.
[edit] Season 4
|
Chucky Pancamo |
- Episode 4.3 "The Bill of Wrongs" – Running the drug trade, Pancamo determines that Raoul "El Cid" Hernandez is on the verge of a mental break down and someone else needs to represent the Latino’s third, control is given to inmate Enrique Morales at Pancamo’s suggestion. The three gangster groups then begin to test new inmate Desmond Mobay who wants into the drug trade.
- Episode 4.5 "Gray Matter" – To resolve Adebisi’s issues about Mobay joining their crew, the three groups agree to have him kill someone for membership making it look like an accident. New unit manager Martin Querns then names three trustees- Pancamo, Morales, and Adebisi who may deal all the drugs they wish in exchange for maintaining order in Emerald City.
- Episode 4.7 “A Town Without Pity” – Angered by Hank Schillinger being freed from kidnapping and murder charges on a legal technicality, Tobias Beecher pays Chucky Pancamo to order the murdering of Hank. More Black inmates come into Emerald City courtesy of Querns and Adebisi, the Italian and Latino inmates are cheated in the drug trade then transferred to Unit B, where Vern Schillinger suggests that an all White unit be created.
- Episode 4.10 “Conversions” – The Italian and Latino inmates are back in full swing in the drug trade until the Homeboys get a new leader in Burr Redding who threatens their chances for control. Through Morales, Redding is framed for murder unsuccessfully and Pancamo then fears for Redding’s retaliation.
- Episode 4.13 “The Blizzard of ‘01” – Redding devises a plan to eliminate all the Latino and Italian inmates in addition to Supreme Allah who Pancamo and Morales offered a third in the drug trade. As the Homeboys make their move, the SORT team on a tip from Augustus Hill break them up and put Oz in lockdown until Tim McManus forces a truce between the three groups.
[edit] Season 5
|
Chucky Pancamo |
Peter Schibetta |
 Salvatore DeSanto |
|
- Episode 5.2 "Laws of Gravity" – Peter Schibetta comes out of the psych ward and then Pancamo is called into interrogation over evidence implicating him in Hank Schillinger’s death. Hank’s father Vern, the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood rallies the Aryans against Pancamo hospitalizing him with a stab wound.
- Episode 5.3 “Dream a Little Dream of Me” – With Pancamo hospitalized, Morales accepts Redding’s offer to be partners in the drug trade. Attempting to pull the Italians back in control and regain his honor, Schibetta goes after the Aryans alone being gang-raped a second time this time led by Schillinger.
- Episode 5.4 "Next Stop: Valhalla" – The war between the Aryans and Italians brews with Peter Schibetta undergoing psychiatric therapy from a raping in the previous episode. An associate of Beecher, Adam Guenzel is saved from James Robson by new inmate Frank Urbano at the request of Chucky Pancamo. The Italians then lose control of the cafeteria to Burr Redding
- Episode 5.6 “Variety” – Out of the drug trade, Pancamo’s health deteriorates, Schibetta is still in therapy and Frank Urbano runs the Italians. At dinner when discussing how to get back into the drug trade, Urbano suggests killing Redding and as he does, Salvatore DeSanto begins to overdose on LSD. DeSanto has been framed by Poet for drugging Redding’s stepson Augustus Hill as a means of drawing suspicion away from himself.
- Episode 5.8 “Impotence” – Pancamo nearly dies in the hospital but is saved by Dr. Nathan, the Latinos renew their alliance with the Italians and Frank Urbano then makes an attempt on Burr Redding that ends up killing Augustus Hill.
[edit] Season 6
|
Chucky Pancamo |
Peter Schibetta |
- Episode 6.2 “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Smell No Evil” – Pancamo is back from the hospital and drugs smoothly as Redding is out of the business due to Augustus’ death. Schibetta is then killed by the Italians when Ryan O'Reilly convinces Pancamo that he is traitorous. James Robson who injured Pancamo is ousted from the Aryans and goes to an extreme form of protection to stay alive.
- Episode 6.4 “A Failure to Communicate” – In the previous episode, the Italians are given control of the kitchen again and then from there tell Robson they will call a truce if he kills Wolfgang Cutler, In the following episode, Redding asks the Italians to stop his men from selling drugs by any means possible..
- Episode 6.7 "Junkyard Dawgs" – New inmate Stanley Bukowski cuts into the Italians’ business selling Marijuana flavored Brownies and is then killed.
As the Italians are a main group, they are featured prominently in many more episodes as well.
