As I remember him from my youth, he had a similar jewish flair of other successful comedians of that day. I thought he was a jew, especially with that notorious schnoz, sense of humor and accent. I saw a picture of him yesterday and though he had to be jewish, so I checked it out ... they claimed he wasn't a jew. Posted because I thought that was noteworthy. Point wise, it appears later generations aren't familiar with him and his career.
The jews were the original gangsters from what I have read. "Non-jew" Italians supposedly learned from them. I don't know exactly how correct that is, just something I read long ago.