Philip Piccigallo is not a big fan of Tony Soprano, head of the fictional mob family on HBO's hit series, The Sopranos. As national executive director of the Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA), commonly known as The Sons of Italy, Piccigallo strives to combat such stereotypes.

"We are constantly educating and reminding smarter people that most Italian Americans are not criminals," says Piccigallo. "We have a broad anti-defamation and social justice component."

But, Hollywood's view of Italian-American culture gets little attention during a typical day for the Washington, D.C.-based membership group--the longest-established and largest organization representing Italian Americans in the world. As head of both OSIA and its fundraising arm, the Sons of Italy Foundation, Piccigallo is too busy focusing on a broader agenda that includes fundraising for philanthropic initiatives, expanding cultural ties to the rich heritage of Italy and supporting causes that are important to all Americans.

"With 24 million Italian Americans in the United States, part of what we do is to support national campaigns and efforts as Americans," Piccigallo explains. "We just recently returned from Rome, where we met with the president of Italy and other major leaders. Our primary conversation was how grateful we are for the support of Italy in our war on terrorism, and how grateful they are."

Founded in 1905, OSIA has 600,000 members and 750 chapters throughout the 50 states. Organizational goals are established through dialog and interactive communication with members, including regular conferences and discussions with state chapter presidents.

One of the organization's top priorities today is promoting the expansion of Italian language studies in the United States. Through OSIA's efforts, Italian will be offered as an advanced placement course by 2005. This initiative will give Italian language programs a competitive edge.

"For an organization steeped in culture, this is vitally significant. My own children have taken Spanish, because Italian wasn't offered. That's a mistake," Piccigallo says. "The promising sign is that Italian is now the fastest-growing language studied in the United States, and we are pushing for it in a much more formal way."

Philanthropy also plays a major role in OSIA's mission. Through its Sons of Italy Foundation (SIF), the organization has donated more than $83 million since 1959. Funds support education and scholarships, cultural preservation and advancement, medical research and health care, disaster relief and special projects. SIF has contributed close to $2 million since 1989 to the Cooley's Anemia Foundation, which serves persons with a genetic blood disease most often found in individuals of Mediterranean descent. It is also the largest nonpolice/noncorporate contributor to the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C., has given millions to earthquake relief around the world and made a large contribution to the World War II Memorial on Nov. 11.

"We support charities that affect us all, such as those targeting Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and birth defects," Piccigallo explains.

With women comprising 50 percent of its membership, the organization is frequently asked why the name is not "Sons and Daughters of Italy." Piccigallo says that the Italian origin of its name "L'Ordine Figli D'Italia" is literally translated as "The Order of Children of Italy." It was converted in America to its current masculine form and has been preserved for name recognition and legacy purposes.

Piccigallo says he believes Italian-American culture is a strong, uplifting and major contributor to American culture. "Italian Americans are proud of and excellent representatives of their culture, which is broad and rooted in history, art and language," he says.

With Italy as the sixth largest economic power in the world, and the United States as the first, he says he sees future OSIA efforts focusing on interaction between the two countries. "Immigration from Italy to the U.S. is pretty much over," Piccigallo explains. "We are designing new ways to collaborate and build on that relationship."

For more information about The Sons of Italy, visit their web site [www.OSIA.org]. 

Philip and Rose Piccigallo live in Oakton, Va., with son Paul. Daughter Jacqueline is a University of Delaware freshman majoring in business and finance.