Rain never thought that she would be doing this type of clean up job.  Bentley went to pick up her mother’s body.  He wouldn’t dare let her go.  He took her mother straight to the Holmes Funeral Home.   By the time Rain got to see her she looked as if she was sleeping. 

Rain knew there is no way to grieve without pain.  Doing what her mother would want her to do would be a healthy way to grieve and allow her to constructively move forward. 

She and Bentley finally rounded up enough people to handle the heavy task ahead of them.  It was hard because so many of the cleaners were taken out.  

I stayed in the car as Bentley and the crew went inside of the Mangana's Headquarters. I waited and watched as the first few bodies in body bags were taken out and placed in the van.  The orders for them was to deliver all bodies to Holmes Funeral Home and word got out quickly as to where the next of kin could go locate their loved ones.  I was able to identify a few once I arrived.  We had to send out separate crews to clean and pick up members who were killed in their homes. A minister was present and I could hear his pray "Oh God, forgive and have mercy on him (or her). Grant him ease and respite. Make his resting place a noble one, and facilitate his entry."

We handled everything.  We took the burdens of losing someone so suddenly off the next of kin.   They were given the option of burial or cremation and everything was arranged.  They could have a service right at the chapel in the funeral home or a church or funeral home of their choice.  The Funeral Director would make sure the body delivered to the correct place.   We also left it up to the funeral director to provide the best caskets, headstones and any transportation the families needed.    We order the most beautiful casket sprays and flowers from the florist they recommended.

We made sure every member that was killed be blessed with an honorable homegoing celebration.

Don NicodemoMangana was buried in a Louis XIV Fruitwood Casket, Blublank a Domed Chagrin Casket and my mother a Solid Mahogany casket, her favorite wood.  Each placed in a carriage drawn by four white horses.  Some of the others members like Britches, GarrusSykes, MojoRisin, Kingston and sweet Tianna_blackheart,  were placed in beautiful caskets,  some custom made from reclaimed antique materials, some of the silver and some of the glass. The funeral director had a request from a wife that her husband is buried in a pine box, something he wanted.

Even those whose next of kin that couldn’t be contacted were treated with the utmost respect with highly distinctively marked headstones; just in case a loved one came looking.

  The crew that handled the clean up substituted as pallbearers and flower bearers for the fallen member’s family when needed.   Each homegoing service was based on death being a time of rejoicing and celebrating the life each lived.

Loyal to a fault, faithful to the end.

It was one of the saddest times in my life as I made it to many funerals paying last respects for my mother.

Farewell to the fallen of the Mangana Crime Family. Gone but never forgotten.

Now it’s time to move on.

Too often, we carry around things from our past that hurt us; holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.