It was a dark and stormy night.

It really was. Not that it is that extraordinary for a night to be dark, or for that matter, in Napa lately, stormy.

But it’s necessary to set the scene for the dark and stormy events that transpired this night at Ruby’s speakeasy, also known, sometimes, as the back room at the Goodwin Library.

There a somber but splendidly attired crowd had gathered to mark the passing of the late, lamented (more or less) Vito “The Gut” Marzetti, who’d been gunned down while eating moo goo gai pan.

All that was left of Vito was his ashes, interred in a spittoon and on display along with his spat, an object which periodically sent his widow, Lena, into spasms of hysterics.

Also on hand were Vito’s sullen daughter, Ruby “Fingers” Marzetti and his two sons, the sadly dim-witted son, Joey “the Lump” and Frankie “Marbles” Marzetti. One had to assume that Frankie got his nickname from his state of mind, which caused him in the course of one memorial service to appear in several of his alter egos, including Father Francis, Colonel F.P. Beauregard IV, Lord Franklin of Dudley-Crotch and an unnamed Italian opera singer.

  While Vito’s family revered his memory and sparred about where his money would go, the guests dined on lasagna and salad. Just when the festivities had reached its most contentious, and dessert was about to be served, the FBI stormed into the room. Moments later, a shot rang out, and Lena, Vito’s bride of three weeks, crumpled to the ground.

And then dessert, chocolate cake, was served.

Gibson House at Goodwin

The murder was provided courtesy of the Gibson House Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre, a troupe, based in Benicia that has been providing grisly entertainment to dine by for nearly two decades. The spirited troupe included Greg Davis as the man of many personalities, Tina Luisen as the widow in black fishnet, Alex Torres as the Lump and Jesika Salt as Ruby. Napa’s own former Police Chief Dan Monez joined the group as the growling G-man, who uttered what might have been the best line of the evening, “It ain’t nice to mess with the FBI. This ain’t the Napa PD.”

The actors, however, were nearly outshown by the guests, all supporters of the Napa Historical Society at this fundraiser for the group. Appropriately the dinner took place in a room that housed records of Napa’s criminal past, including a portion of the noose that was used at the last hanging in Napa, and a record book of arrests, which noted one man’s crime was “possession of alcohol.”

Feathers, fringe and fedoras were in abundance among guests, who dressed for this historical excursion into the 1920s. Many were wearing outfits that had been devised by Kim Northrup, owner of Betty’s Girl Boutique, and who was wearing an sequin and pearl-studded outfit from her collection of vintage treasures. Wendy Ward, however, was wearing an authentic 1920s flapper’s dress, borrowed, she said, from a friend “who collects old trunks.”

A scar-faced ( “you should see the other guy”) Glen Duncan,  who described himself as “a well-known hood” had brought along his bottle of bathtub gin, appropriately labeled so there could be no doubt as to the contents. Noting, “I’m a hood, but I’m a gentleman too,” he was escorting Nancy Brennan, who summed up the tributes to Vito: “He was called ‘The Gut’ but he was all heart.”



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