The Great Caruso Crowther says, "All of the silliest, sappiest clichés of musical biography have been written by Sonya Levien and William Ludwig into the script. And Richard Thorpe has directed in a comparably mawkish, bathetic style." Nearly 40 years after its release, Caruso's son, Enrico, Jr., reminisced that, "Vocally and musically "The Great Caruso" ...has helped many young people discover opera, and even become singers themselves."He added that, "I can think of no other tenor, before or since Mario Lanza, who could have risen with comparable success to the challenge of playing Caruso in a screen biography." The film has also been
Frank T. Caruso least 13 arrests on charges including grand larceny, illegal gambling and conspiracy. In 1956, on the death of his father-in-law, Bruno Roti, Caruso became the owner of several South Side, Chicago casinos and became the head of the 26th Street/Chinatown "crew". Caruso now became involved in illegal gambling in Chicago's First Ward. On the side, Caruso operated a legitimate business, Caruso Plumbing, in the Chicago suburb of Hillside, Illinois. In 1983, Caruso died of natural causes. Frank T. Caruso Frank T. "Skids" Caruso (December 26, 1911 – December 31, 1983) was a Chicago mobster involved in illegal gambling and racketeering