Italian no....Sicilian yes!

Actually thats a great question, and it goes to the whole "nature vs. nurture" issue. Tom was sout in the streets as a kid, and you would think that would have made him a bit more cunning, and then he was raised by Vito, who had to have taught him a thing or two.

I think his legal education and the fact that the German temperament obviously trumped the Irish, made Tom someone who was always looking for ways to mediate disputes. He never understood that in some instances among the mob there is no such thing as a "compromise."