Chapter 19

My initiation lasted longer than anyone else’s. After the crisis my grandfather went through, a Capo should always be ready to face an uprising. The family that held power before the Vitales suffered one and lost power. Before my father, Giuseppe did too, but with iron fists he showed himself to the world and applied the empire of intolerance, until peace came. My father suffered an uprising, in which Pietro De Luca was lost, but he acted as if he expected another one and always made sure I would be fit to take my rightful place. He did that from my initiation onward, in which I experienced hell far from home, with the Chicago Outfit, the Italian-American mafia. I was around twelve years old, but I returned home a made man, whose childhood was irrelevant when the law of the underworld already weighed on my shoulders. Every boy is initiated here, in Sicily, but Salvatore sent me to our allies, because they would treat me like anyone else. A doctor followed me only to keep me alive for the next day. During that period, I killed more than many of my most experienced soldiers. I was tortured. That part was poetry for my tormentors. I saw a kind of fulfillment in them, in being able to do to me what my father did to others, because it was the moment they could feel powerful. I came back stronger, better trained. Less merciful. I would never have left a De Luca or a Sartori alive. He knows I disagree with his position and, in his place, I would have done as Giuseppe Vitale did, who eliminated women, teenagers, children, servants, and soldiers—everyone who once belonged to the Amaro family, “traitors for breaking the code of silence.” Cruel, I thought when the story was told, but after my stay in Chicago, I also thought it was essential. Poisoned trees should be cut from the root, but here I am, taking one of them as my wife. I would never have limited myself to Mia Sartori and Pietro De Luca. I would never have based my power only on the woman who will give birth to the future Vitales and, because of that, at thirty-six years old, I carried out more operations, executed more enemies, and placed more eyes over all Sicily than any older and more experienced Capodecina. If De Luca fell, I would remain standing—it would be enough to get rid of his daughter, and that would be it. If he did not fall, lucky for him, as long as he did not get in my way. The man knew that, with my father’s retirement and my rise, I would have Arturo and Francesco, my brothers, as Underboss and Consigliere. Aligned minds would execute their functions better. Arturo had surpassed himself in managing arms trafficking, and Francesco had an increasingly greater specialty in infiltrating politics, information trafficking, and corruption. I specialized in smuggling and money laundering. The first, to have control over the ports and access to the drug and arms businesses; and the second, to understand the functioning of fraud and corruption in general. I used the broadest activities so as not to allow the Capodecinas to know more than the Vitales. Even so, De Luca was one step ahead by hiding the nature of the activity he carried out in secret. My father leaves, and I remain there, in the office, staring at the last report I received about Valentina De Luca before her return. The image of her very young face stands out, the childish expression long abandoned. On the contrary: now she displays the profile of an adult and desirable woman. Docile and obedient. “You need to go North this week.” The Don answers someone on the phone and sends something to my email, pulling me from my thoughts. Someone invaded our territory in northern Italy. “It seems like a way to draw attention.” “I think so too, but do not let this spread, because it will cause panic. They set fire to one of the clubs managed by the Ferro family and, along with it, eliminated an entire batch of heroin that was to be distributed across Europe.” “I was going to make that transport through Parola Rosso,” I say, referring to the export company, the largest in the country and the one we command, both for legal and illegal business. “Luckily, the shipment had not yet been fully stored, otherwise the financial loss would have been abysmal,” I say, but our concern is obvious, because if someone wants to divert attention, what are we not seeing? I finish my coffee and get up to arrive early in downtown Palermo, heading for the airport. But before I can escape and free myself from the intense interrogations of an excited Fiamma, about to gain her first daughter-in-law, she arrives and blocks my exit. “Tomorrow she will come here for lunch!” “Anyone seeing you this jumpy would doubt what you are capable of.” “It is already time for her to interact with the family once and for all. She has been away from here for too long. I hope Dante raised her properly, because you do not need a problem, but a wife.” “Well, I will be far away from here, since I have business to handle. Enjoy!” “What do you mean, you will not be here?” My mother bursts into the room, offended by my absence the next day. My father may seem like a piece of s**t, but I know he loves my mother and gives her freedom to act however she wants when we are alone. In front of others, he is indifferent like most men are. We never know which marriages actually worked inside this mess, because they are all the same perfect shell in front of others. Between my parents? There is affection. A lot of affection and respect are earned with difficulty over time. Father almost lost my mother years ago to a rare illness and, after that, discovered he could not live without her. They fight, of course. Like the day I returned from my initiation many years ago. I was a living corpse, and Donna Fiamma almost killed the one responsible for that. I do not see myself in a relationship like that with the girl. Some fathers are stricter, like De Luca, and I know they shape their daughters like little dolls, but they do not seem to realize that the strength of the Capo is the woman by his side, who always finds her own way to have her own rules in our world. As my mother always says: “I am a woman here, but do not forget that I am the queen.”