You can take the man out of (the Other) Malta, but you can’t take (the Other) Malta out of the man

Published: July 5, 2014 at 11:23am

Great immigrants we’ve got there, and we have the nerve to criticise others. The thing with Maltese names is that they stick out a mile and you can’t help but recognise them – if you’re Maltese.

And the problem with the fact that there are such a few of us in world terms is that losers like this give us a reputation that sticks. Of course, all we needed was Dalli John.

Look at this man: a lifetime in Toronto and he’s still adhering to the principles he was raised with and that he thinks are normal. You work for a company, and you rip it off (ghax jaffordjaw hi), spending its money on tools for your own personal use and for resale to others. Why does it sound so very familiar.

Maltese village




21 Comments Comment

    • Optimist says:

      His son was one of the others arrested. Prior to retiring (at age 55 a month before the arrest) the father had made over 100k a year in income as disclosed publicly for all government workers making more than 100k a year.

  1. observer says:

    Obviously, the greatest blemish on Malta’s name was brought about by the ‘Maltin ta’ Londra’ who worked ‘assiduously’ for decades, in Soho and its environs, as pimps, bouncers, fraudsters and who knows what else.

    Unfortunately, some of these (or their descendants) on returning to Malta have brought with them the mind-set, customs, and criminal outlook they worked in and practised during their Londra years – particularly in operating bars, pubs and guest-houses.

    I, and my neighbours, know what I’m talking about – coming across a particularly hateful specimen every single day.

  2. Joe Fenech says:

    Maltese embassies’ are partially to blame for the preservation of national mediocrity abroad. They firmly believe that the entirety of the Maltese people scattered round world are interested in attending parties to binge on pastizzi and Malta chinotto, going to mass to celebrate Marija Bambina and all that nonsense.

    They probably also view the Maltese immigrant as a consumer of thick chokers, cheap polyester T-shirts, ‘ghana’ crap and so forth.

    • David says:

      Maltese embassies should keep contact and organise activites for Maltese. Pastizzi, chinotti and Mass should not make anyone a criminal.

    • Tabatha White says:

      Entirely with you.

      When they’re also not busy serving Middle Eastern dishes giving the totally wrong impression of what Malta’s flavour is all about.

  3. GiovDeMartino says:

    “You work for a company and you rip it off…..etc.”

    Am I to understand that only Maltese do that?

  4. orapronobis says:

    At least, metronews spared us the blushes, for nowhere is it mentioned that he is Maltese, like the Maltese media does with Libyans, Somalis, Syrians, Eritreans, etc

    • GiovDeMartino says:

      Spared us the blushes because one single person out of thousands of upright citizens committed some form of crime? I think that there are thousands of Maltese, living in different countries, who give us a good name. Don’t you think so?

      • Optimist says:

        He was not arrested alone. His son works there as well and he too was arrested for theft.

      • GiovDeMartino says:

        Mela skuzani. I should have said: ……because just two persons out of thousands….

  5. Wilson says:

    It is very familiar.

  6. Sister Ray says:

    From the colonial times: it’s OK to screw the Queen (or King) ’cause there’s plenty where it came from.

  7. bob-a-job says:

    There is a growing belief that there is a genetic basis for crime.

    Forensic DNA researchers estimate that at least 100 studies have shown that genes play a role in crimes. “Very good methodological advances have meant that a wide range of genetic work is being done,” said John H. Laub, the director of the justice institute, who won the Stockholm Prize in Criminology.

    Kevin Beaver, an associate professor at Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, said genetics may account for, say, half of a person’s aggressive behavior, but that 50 percent comprises hundreds or thousands of genes that express themselves differently depending on the environment.

    In findings from a long-term study of 1,000 babies born in 1972 in a New Zealand town, Ms. Moffitt and her colleagues recently reported that the less self-control a child displayed at 3 years of age, the more likely he or she was to commit a crime more than 30 years later.

    What these people are saying is that if one’s brother or sister is a criminal, the likelyhood of more brothers or sisters being criminal is much heightened.

    A few celebrated cases involving Maltese siblings include Carmelo and Gino Abela and the Messina brothers in the U.K., the Karmnu and Guzeppi Zammit brothers in Malta and more recently the Calleja brother and sister drug related crime and the Said brothers rape case have shown this to exist.

    One will now await and see if the Dalli brothers too are victims of their DNA.

  8. I am afraid that I cannot join the chorus of depicting Maltese persons as mostly uneducated with criminal tendencies, to an extent that is uncommon in the rest of the human race. I can reel off any number of daily examples of similar uneducated or criminal behaviour from persons of other nationalities, including Europe and North America, which seem to be held as the paragons that we should emulate. At the same time I do not claim that we are any better than the rest of humanity, and I do not hesitate to criticise faults when I see them.

  9. David says:

    Its unfair to depict Maltese abroad as criminals. Such crimes are committed by people of all nationalities in all countries. Besides many prisoners in our prison, I think around half of them, are foreigners.

  10. David says:

    This sounds similar to those who say all Italians are Mafiosi.

  11. Butterfly says:

    You find bad apples all over the place in Toronto and elsewhere.

    So this guy happened to be Maltese – so what, if found guilty he will be fired and possibly face jail time unlike murderers in Malta who get bail etc etc.

    We have over 300,000 Maltese who live in Canada and you hardly hear about any big issues in the papers with regards to them.

    I guess you needed to fill up your page with an article that tickles a little bit. A sort of a little filler on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

    • Optimist says:

      Both he and his son were arrested. I know of many other cases as well that I would gladly post if need be.

      And no there is not 300,000 Maltese in Canada.

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