Chapter
2 – More Vigilante than Criminal
One of the first things Cesare and
I learn how to be true friends of the family. First, they tell us to dress
better.
“You both look like your mother
never taught you how to dress properly, and I know that she taught you well,”
Russell says as he hits Cesare and me upside the head.
We both take better care of our
outfits, make sure our hair is properly cut, and we don’t always smell like we
just got out of the mechanic shop. It’s made me look at myself and others
differently. I’ve noticed that, despite looking like a typical old, yet strong
Mediterranean man, Russell always looks like he could change into a suit and
appear ready for mass or a proper dinner, and Angelo looks like a man in his
prime with slick grey and black hair and not a wrinkle or imperfection in his
outfit or shoes, as if they were tailor made to stay in brand new condition.
“Men who care about others and
themselves have to care about their bodies as well. It is one of the things God
has entrusted to you that you have the easiest access to fix and clean up,
second only to the care of your soul,” Russell says.
I do as the old man says and make
sure that my black jacket, white shirt, black pants, and black boots are all in
good condition. My black hat with a gold ribbon around it that I wear outside
the mechanic shop is also well cared for, as is my black hair. I make sure that
my face is well-shaven since I don’t want any facial hair. With my face cleaner
than usual, my parents say it makes me shine, and my blue eyes stand out more.
As for Cesare, everyone jokes that he looks like a different person now that he
is cleaning himself up. His blond hair is straight and no longer a mess. His
green eyes stand out more now that his face is completely clean, and his green
hat, shoes, and clothes are all clean.
“If you want to be a friend of the
family, then you need to prove yourselves. Yes, Cesare. I know you do a lot and
have proved yourself so far, but never ask how far you need to go for a loved
one. You always go beyond because love has no limits,” Russell says.
“We’ll give you a rough area of the
neighborhood where you need to be, but it must be you who steps up and helps
out where people need it. Remember, you are to ask for nothing in return for
your work. You’re doing this only to help others,” Angelo adds.
“Don’t think that you can get out
of work easily because of your new responsibilities. You only get out of work
when you change your job.”
This is what Cesare and I do for
the next couple of months. We go to work at the mechanics shop and walk the
neighborhood in search of people to help. From helping people carry their
groceries into their house, cleaning people’s front porch, to helping people
with their cars, Cesare and I become known as the Good Neighbor Boys through
our many works. We help the Knights at the church to gain new members and help
the parish priests and nuns clean the church and gather funds for the poor.
Additionally, we help the Knights make food for the poor of the community and
deliver clothes and food to families in need.
Russell and Angelo are pleased with
what we’ve done, and yet, it’s not enough to join the family yet, since we’ve
already done much of this for our entire lives, so we continue to do more and
look out for more opportunities we may be missing. We hear rumors of people
wanting to go after cops and officials, saying that anyone involved in politics
and the government is less than scum.
“The new cops and officials are the
veterans who helped free us from our previous corrupt rulers and have the
neighborhood’s best interests in mind,” I say to the people from whom we hear
the rumors.
“I agree with you, but we’ve heard
others say otherwise,” a neighbor says.
Our neighbors tell us where and who
they heard these rumors from, and we track down these people just as they’re
about to beat up some local cops while wearing masks and using bats, knives,
crowbars, and brass knuckles.
“Hey! Stop!” Cesare says as he runs
ahead and tackles the group head-on.
I run to protect my brother as he
starts to get beaten up. Thankfully, the cops help us, and because the thugs
aren’t hiding their intentions, they try to attack the cops as well, so it’s
obvious we’re trying to protect those who are supposed to protect us. People
from the neighborhood see what is happening and come to the aid of the cops and
us, and the thugs are soon detained and taken away. The cops thank us for
saving them, but at the same time, say it was stupid for us to just throw
ourselves at them.
“What did you want us to do?
Convince you beforehand? We were going to after we talked with those thugs, but
we were too late,” Cesare says before I can say pretty much the same thing.
“There might be others who will go
after you, officers. You better watch your back,” I add.
“We will, boys. Thanks again,” one
of the cops says.
During the next day, we hear about
a drive-by that takes out a few cops and the friends they were hanging out
with. Not wanting to let the murderers get away with it, we ask everyone who
saw what happened to give us the details about the car that drove by, who was
in it, and where it went. Cesare and I get details on the car and the direction
it drove off in, but no one got a good look at the perpetrators. Using the
information we have, we go further into the city. It turns out that the car is
common in this part of the city, so it’ll be hard to pin down.
I then suggest to Cesare, “It would
be stupid for them to keep the car without changing its appearance or at least
get rid of it so that no one traces it down to its owner.”
“Ack. You’re probably right,”
Cesare says. “Still, we can’t just wait around for them to strike again.”
“You’re right, but it’s all we can
do.”
Cesare and I wait and keep our ears
to the ground for any more news of the cop and politician haters, and can only
manage to hear rumors of something going on, but no names or faces to connect
it to, so we tell Russell and Angelo about it.
“This is a bigger problem than what
both of you can handle. We’ll take it from here,” Russell says.
“You did well, investigating and
putting your life on the line for those cops the other day. I think they’re
ready, Russell. What do you think?”
“Of course they’re ready. I raised
them to be.”
Russell and Angelo lead us to the
basement beneath our parish church. In the dark basement, we see many of the
people we’ve worked with in the neighborhood and the mechanic shop, including
four other people who sit in the shadows, whom Angelo joins, while Russell
stands off to the side. Cesare and I are given photos of ourselves that we are
told to write our faults on. We do as we’re told, our fingers are cut to spill
blood on the photos, and we hold our photos as they’re lit on fire.
“These burning photos are the old
you,” Angelo says as he steps forward. “As a family member, you are to act as men
God made you to be as perfectly as possible for the people you love and
protect. If you are to fail, or worse, go back on your vows, then you will burn
like this photo of yourself. Despite the challenges ahead of you, will you take
this vow?”
“We do,” Cesare and I say.
“May God have mercy on your souls.
Welcome to the family. Welcome to the Casa Della Notte.”
As the last bit of our photos turns
to ash, everyone in the basement claps and congratulates us. Going further into
the basement, we have a little celebration. During the celebration, Angelo and
our friends explain to us the nuances of being a made man.
“We speak in code. Unfortunately,
we can’t write down all the code words and always tell you when they change, so
you’ll have to pick up on queues or arrange for us to speak in private to catch
you up on what you need to know,” Angelo explains. “For example, painters are
hitmen, a mechanic is a gunsmith or bomb maker, a butcher is a man who
organizes assassinations, a trucker transports our products or steals things, a
baker is a money maker, and a banker is a money holder or cleaner.”
Angelo and our friends tell us more
code words, and by the end of it, Cesare asks me, “Did you catch all that,
Vincenzo? I’m going to need you to remember it all.”
“Yes, I got it,” I say.
“What’s the need for all this
secrecy anyway? I thought we had people in power on our side?”
“Not all of them are on our side,”
Russell says. “They’ll indeed tell us when our gathering places and homes are
bugged, and have bugged the offices and stations of police, special agencies,
mayor and governor offices, but we can’t always rely on their experts to delete
or edit the audio so we can get away with everything, or always speak plainly.
That’s why violence and murder are a last resort since they’re the hardest to
cover up. As men of honor, men of the family, you are also never to involve
yourselves with drugs, prostitution, or unregulated gambling. Don’t fight back
against your parents, unless they tell you to do something sinful. Always have
legitimate jobs and give a cut of it to the family. If you think you’re going
to regret what you do, ask the family first before acting, or if you know it to
be a sin, then don’t do it.”
I take in as much information and
tips on family life as possible, while Cesare simply eats and parties. I’m sure
he was trying to listen, but he has difficulties doing so and knows that I’ll
keep him up to date on what he needs to know. The next day, Angelo takes Cesare
and me out to the tailor to get us our suits. I get a black suit with gold trim,
a red tie, and black shoes, and Cesare gets a grey suit with blue trim, a
grey-and-blue hat to match, and brown dress shoes. We also get fancy gloves to
keep our fingerprints off what we touch, which also don’t get dirty easily, as
Angelo puts it.
“The suits have a thin layer of
protection for you to lessen the blow of gunfire, heavy objects, and sharp
knives, but they won’t save you from explosives or high-caliber bullets, so
please be careful,” the tailor says.
All of these fancy things, we get
for free, since we’ve done so much for the family, but in the future, we’ll
have to pay for any new suits or repairs to them ourselves. We walk out of the
tailor's feeling like new men, ready to take on the world and all the
challenges ahead. Still, we go about our daily business: wear our normal
clothes for our day job, go home to get cleaned up, put on our suits, and patrol
the neighborhood for trouble. As men of the family, we are also given concealed
pistols to use as a last resort and a pair of brass knuckles to wear to give us
an edge in normal fights. I must admit that it’s pretty nice to get more
respect from the neighbors, and even hear that our parents and related family
that they’re proud to see what we’ve become.
“Maybe you can finally give up on
those stupid dreams of being in politics, Vincenzo,” my family jokes.
I laugh with them, but don’t say
anything. A part of me still wants to help run the country from within rather
than trying to affect it as a normal person. I look over to my brother, who
isn’t laughing. He knows more than anyone my thoughts and dreams, and tells me
later that, “Don’t let our family get you down. If you want to be a mayor,
governor, or even the president of the country, then do it, and I’ll support
you through it all.”
“I know, Cesare. Thank you,” I say
as I hug him, and he hugs me back.
Some time passes, and not much
changes. We don’t even hear much about thugs who are against the cops and
officials, so we don’t expect much to happen when Angelo tells us to be guards
at the Mediterranean rally. People think that people like us are nothing but
outlaws because of what we did to ensure the right people entered office and
justice was served. That’s what this rally is for, and its two speakers, Frank
Ministro and his brother, John Ministro, are trying to convince the wider
country that we’re good people who got pushed to taking the law into our own
hands. Frank Ministro is like Angelo in that he’s a leading member of Casa
Della Notte, while his brother is a member of Casa Della Luce, the official
branch of our family that operates in public office.
As the two brothers are about to
take the stage, some men near it put on masks, pull out their guns, and are
about to fire them at them, but we stop them by throwing ourselves at them,
since firing our guns may hit people in the crowd. Other members of the family
and friends of the family bring down the gunmen, and yet, more fire at the
brothers from windows that overlook the stage. The brothers take cover as the
cops run up to protect them and are also targets of the gunmen. Meanwhile, the
crowds run for cover, and chaos ensues. Both brothers are hit, taken to the
nearby ambulance, and driven to the nearest hospital. With the crowds clear,
the gunmen fire more wildly at the police and their supporters, so we do the
same when we draw our pistols.
It’s a strange thing. Cesare and I
shoot and kill our attackers, and don’t feel anything until after the dust
settles. We watch as the ambulances and police take away the dead and wounded,
and only feel pity for their stupidity.
“Is it wrong for us to feel this
way?” Cesare asks.
“No. These people got what they
deserved. Pity is the least we can feel about them,” I say as I cross myself.
Cesare also crosses himself. Angelo
walks up to us and lets us know that there’s an emergency family meeting, and
we already know what it’s about. The bosses tell us about how this incident was
a travesty, and the government is going to be targeting any group or
organization that looks shady, including our own. We’re given the task of
investigating who started this mess so we can bring them to justice and get the
authorities off our backs, which Cesare and I readily stand up in support of,
and ask where we’re supposed to start our investigation.
“We helped the veterans while they
were helping us overthrow the corrupt election, and we discovered the plot
against them, so we should be the ones to handle this,” I say.
The bosses agree and give us and
everyone else in the room a place to start. Now, all that’s left to do is put
an end to the plot against the cops and officials before any more damage is
done. I can only hope and pray that we’re fast enough to do so and that it will
get rid of the heat on us.
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