"U.S. District Judge Willis W. Ritter Monday ended the crime-studded careers of Clyde and Eugene Smaldone. He sentenced each to 60 years in federal prison, the equivalent of a life sentence for the middle-aged brothers. . . . His words ended once and for all the myth of Smaldone invincibility."

- Rocky Mountain News reporter Bill Miller, 1953

One of Denver's most colorful crime families, the brothers Smaldone - Eugene, Chauncey and Clyde, all of whom have died - fattened their wallets by bookmaking, bootlegging, gambling, evading their income taxes and operating Gaetano's, a popular North Denver Italian restaurant, opened in 1947, that was the cornerstone of the family's business and social gatherings.

My parents, romanticized by the mystery shrouding the Smaldones (and the Mafia in general), patronized the joint weekly in the early '80s, often dragging me and my stepsister with them. My stepfather would even dress the part, cloaking himself in a wide-brimmed hat tipped toward the floor and a long, black wool coat draped over his shoulders.

Obscured by darkness, we'd huddle in one of the tattered booths and whisper about the inner circle, those brooding men always assembled in the back of the bar, smoking cigarettes and stogies, their eyes never wavering from the bulletproof front door that still stands.

And then one night, my much younger stepsister marched up to the bartender on our way out the door and asked, "Is this place really run by the Mafia?"

The bartender gasped, the barflies choked and I nearly peed my pants.

It would be more than 25 years later before I set foot inside Gaetano's again.

Owned by the Wynkoop Brewing family since 2005, Gaetano's long ago ceased to be a hangout for Denver's Mafiosi, although remnants of its dubious past - the blood-red gangster swivel chairs, a wooden straight edge used to ensure the wine bottles and glasses behind the bar were perfectly aligned, the life-size painting of a baroque nude frolicking with doves, the crooning soundtracks of Sinatra and Martin - remain.

But the new Gaetano's has shed most of the godfather's old clothes, and the mood is certainly lighter, looser and friendlier.

The menu, a catchall of red-sauce Italian dishes and pizzas, however, hasn't shifted much since the joint's heyday. At its best, Gaetano's delivers honest food that favors old-fashioned simplicity over revelatory adventurism.

There are major clunkers, like the calamari ($7.75), which suffered from too many overbattered and overfried tough squid that clung to each other like monkeys on a tree, or the rib-eye ($19.95), so obliterated by a soulless sauce of cream and scant blots of Gorgonzola that I had to ask myself: "Where's the beef buried?" As it turned out, it was no treasure chest.

Perseverance paid off, however, in the sausage and peppers pasta ($11.95), assertively spiced sausage coins and roasted green peppers slicked with an herb-laden, deeply crimson tomato sauce that was neither too thick nor too thin.

While not made in-house, the pastas are reliably good, whether it's the spaghetti ($8.95) bolstered by portly and juicy meatballs the size of baseballs, the white clam linguine ($14.95) tossed with fresh clams in the shell, garlic, cream and Parmesan, or the ravioli ($9.95) puffed with ricotta.

My favorite pasta dish was the fra diavolo ($14.95), robust, satisfying and classically matched with pudgy shrimp that had been perfectly sauteed. It wasn't as spicy as I would have hoped or expected, but I didn't make a lunge for the crushed red pepper, either.

Although it required an extra lash of lemon, a plate of veal scaloppine ($18.95) tussling with mushrooms, crisp specks of pancetta and artichoke hearts was substantially better than average, and while the old-fashioned pizza ($8.50 small; $11.95 large) could have spent another few minutes in the oven to golden the crust, its toppings - garlic, tomatoes, julienned basil and Romano - were nostalgically genuine.

Pastas and main dishes are served with a decent house salad ($2.75) heaped with chopped lettuce, rings of pepperoni, cherry tomatoes and shredded mozzarella or the housemade minestrone ($2.50, cup; $3.50 bowl), well-seasoned and buoyant with green beans, carrots, onions and acini di pepe, little beads of pasta shaped like peppercorns.

For all of Gaetano's past brushes with corruption, this remains a restaurant intent on preserving its Italian roots. Although it's still an odd sort of joint, the idiosyncrasies are hard to resist.

Gaetano's

* Grade: B

* Address: 3760 Tejon St.

* Hours: 11 a.m.-close Mon.-Sat.; noon-9 p.m. Sun.

* Food: Southern Italian

* How much: $2.75-$10.50 starters; $6.25-$19.95 main dishes; $7.25-$16.95 pizza

* Reservations: Recommended on weekends

* Noise: Clamorous

* Information: 303-455-9852 or gaetanositalian.com

* Parking: Complimentary parking lot across the street

Deadly serious about drinks

While crime stories about the Smaldone brothers always included rumors of murder, none of the brothers was ever convicted of the dastardly deed.

The rumors have died down (no pun intended) since the mobsters' regime, and instead, Gaetano's killer cocktail list - a cluster of classics - has become the topic of banter by the barflies who sit side-by-side on the chrome-and-black soda stools.

The 'tenders (Gaetano's calls them "mixologists," which might be a stretch) working behind the Formica- slicked bar highlighted by stained glass and a wall of mirrors are conversational and charismatic - and they know how to concoct a lethal cocktail worthy of the Rat Pack.

Jonesing for a Moscow mule or a whiskey sour? A Harvey Wallbanger or a tall Tom Collins? How about an Amaretto sour or an Old-Fashioned? They pour them all with potency, the prices are cheap, and the liquor is top-shelf - Maker's Mark bourbon, Bombay Sapphire gin, Stolichnaya vodka and Dewar's White Label scotch.

If that doesn't make you keel over, the bracing limoncello and orangecello, made in the basement, undoubtedly will.

Just don't hit the front door on your way out: That bulletproof glass isn't particularly kind to your head.

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