Always, Mastro

This story is not based on a true story. This is a true story. In fact, in some ways, this isn’t a “story" at all. “Story" implies fictionalization, and this story will have none of that.  This is a true love story.

Always, Mastro is the true love story of Tony Mastro, the youngest of eleven children born to Nicolena and Marcelino Mastroianni. Sometime after his birth in 1931 his Italian immigrant family moved to the Bronx, and that is where most of this story takes place. Mastro never traveled the world on a quest for treasure. He didn’t have dozens of whirlwind romances with starlets and socialites. He didn’t cure a disease, or amass a large fortune. Still, his life's story needs no embellishment.

It wasn’t his accomplishments that made him special. It was his drive, his passion, his narrow focus on one simple thing: providing for his friends and loved ones, always.

Always there. Always trying. Always helping. Always loving. Always with a smile and an encouraging word. Always making you feel that anything is possible.

This is the story of Tony Mastro, a man who affected so many lives in so many ways. Not a character in a novel, but a real man of flesh and blood. A man who made mistakes but never faltered, never waivered. In times of trouble everyone knew who to call, who to rely on to be there.

This is a true love story. This is Always, Mastro.