Own the rights?
It's called 'Ghirlandeina, veta mia', and Googling it will bring up the lyrics and a little background.
Miller's Crossing was loosely inspired by the Dashiell Hammett novel The Glass Key (which has been filmed twice under that title), but the screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen largely departs from the actual events of the book, taking the majority of its inspiration from the relationships between the principal characters. For example, the character of Bernie, a major player in the film (and the only character to retain his name from the novel) vanishes after only the second chapter of the novel.The film also incorporates themes from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, where the story concerns one man setting the various warring factions in the town against each other.
Throughout the film, Casper refers to Bernie as "the schmatte." The term is a Yiddish word for an old rag, or, colloquially, anything worthless. Casper's use of the term is derogatory both in its dismissal of Bernie as a man of no worth and as a Jew.
r73731