Pee-ShyIn his stunningly honest and poignant memoir, Frank Spinelli recounts a childhood marked by trauma and finding the courage that ultimately transformed his life. . . Frank Spinelli grew up on Staten Island in the 1970s to Italian born parents who viewed cops and priests as second only to the Pope in infallibility. His mother, concerned that her son was being bullied at school for being "different," signed Frank up for Boy Scouts when he turned eleven.