8 months has passed since I last spoke of the whirlwind that has become my life. Since the murder of my father, and the revenge I extracted against my uncle Salvatore I returned home once. One more time than I thought I'd ever be able to after the deed I had done.

I spent a few days in a safehouse in the Bronx following the unfortunate events that lead to the deaths my family had to venture through. Don Genovese had to take care of some things dealing with the death of my uncle. The newspapers spun it as a robbery gone wrong when the news broke, my fathers death was never mentioned. Due to the circumstances surrounding my uncles death I wasn't able to attend my father nor his funeral. Not that I would have shown up at Salvatores funeral that piece of shit.

Once the funerals were over and the police and inquisitive minds were satisfied over my uncles murder I was retrieved from the safehouse by Little Johnnie, otherwise known as Little Johnnie Torrio. He had come to tell me what I had already known from reading the papers I'd take from the stoop every morning just before sunrise. Didn't matter who the paper belonged to, it was my only window to what was going on around me.

Little Johnnie told me upon his arrival that Don Genovese had requested my presence at his home. He had some things he needed done that he thought might help start to repay the favor he had done for me and help me adjust to the new life I had surrendered myself to.

Little Johnnie drove me to the Dons home in his Auburn Convertible Phaeton Sedan, a very expensive ride for someone from where we came from. On the way we discussed his vehicle, the type of things he had done to get said vehicle, and how I would surely fit in. I assure you I never thought I'd fit in with the same types my father had taught me to despise, but I had made my bed, I had no choice but to lay in it.

Upon arriving at Don Genoveses house little Johnnie and I exited the car while guards stood at every visible entrance to the home, two on the small driveway to the side little Johnnie had almost ran over when we pulled up, it was obvious he hadn't owned the car or been driving long.

I mentioned to little Johnnie as we made our way to the side door, as Don Genovese did not like comers and goers to use the front, that the house was a little guard heavy and asked if it was because of the fires and murders I had read about in the papers? I had assumed from my hiding place it was business as usual but I could tell from the look on little Johnnies face it was something more.

He stopped me just beyond the guards at the side door and spoke as quietly as a man his size with a voice as bellowing could. See little Johnnie wasn't exactly little, he is a rather large man to be exact. He stood over six foot and had to have been over 200 pounds. He assured me I would know everything I needed to know once we arrived inside. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, this was all new to me. I didn't know what I was about to walk into. Maybe I'd have been better off going to prison, well, actually that thought didn't linger long.

As we made our way inside I could tell everyone who stood amongst me had a solemn almost worried look about them. They didn't know me as one of them though I did recognize a few if them here and there from the neighborhood. Little Johnnie batted off questions like "who's ya friend" and "You can't" with the reply "The Don sent for him". My mind was swimming in circles as little Johnnie pushed me through the gathering of well dressed men. The few that knew who I was spouted off things like "Sorry about your uncle" and "He was a good man". Whether they were being smart asses or really meant it, it didn't matter, the only thought that came to my head as we made our way passed them was "He was a piece of shit" but I knew better than to address them like that.

Little Johnnie and I made our way back to the same room I had been taken to before, the same look of anger was upon Don Genoveses face, though this time it was midday and he wasn't wearing a robe but instead a nice tailor made charcoal suit. There were two other well dressed men sitting in the room I had only ever seen around the neighborhood collecting protection from a few shops I had worked at. Don Genovese dismissed little Johnnie once I was inside the room and he shut the door behind him.

I wanted to thank the Don for what he had done for me, show him my respect and gratitude. But as I approached him and started to utter "Don Genov.." he promptly told me to have a seat, there was no asking. He closed the drapes behind him that covered the window which viewed his backyard that he must have been looking out upon before my arrival. "I don't suppose you know" he started before explaining to me why he had me brought there. He told me of the street gang that had been terrorizing his businesses, taking away from his business, his meal ticket as he put it. He informed me that the Lucchesse family and The Black Hand had been working together recruiting these misfit wannabes to weaken his hold on Little Italy so that they might muscle in. It was very unheard of for two families to work together in such a way. But Don Genovese ran Little Italy, if you got anything he didn't it was merely crumbs compared to what he was getting. The Black Hand wanted the protection money and rackets. The Lucchesse family wanted to expand their territory and have their money and their whores in the makeshift casinos and whorehouses. They paid these street gangs and armed them so it was no longer small time baseball bat carrying punks with ambition, but now a real threat. They were setting fire to businesses controlled by Don Genovese and beating and sometimes killing shop owners and workers to show how weak the Genovese family was. The Black Hand would then come in and offer their protection to whoever or whatever was left and the street gangs would go away. It was smart, too smart. Don Genovese looked like a brilliant man until he explained how they had found out the plan.

Not long after the fires and brutality started one of the punk ass kids who had been a part of the chaos was captured by two members of the Genovese family. He was trying to set fire to a building the gang had failed to extort. Unfortunately for him the building which housed a casino upstairs was being visited by Tony Sparrazi and Bobby Black as they called him. The two men spotted him outside as they were walking up the alley, he was unloading molotov cocktails from a paper bag. They approached him from behind and he caught a the butt of a gun to the back of his head. Don Genovese explained to me that they took the boy down to the docks, to a storage building owned by the Dons construction company for interrogation. They beat and bloodied the boy with their hands, feet, chains, and pistols before tying him to a chair and torturing the unwilling boy for answers. They took a hammer to his fingers one by one breaking them, yet the boy still did not give. They then shattered the bones in his hand, still he did not give. Finally they began removing his toes one by one until with three toes left the boy apparently had enough. He spilled all of the details that he knew, he sang like a canary.

From what I heard later from little Johnnie was the boy after spilling his guts pleaded with the two for mercy which prompted Tony Sparrazi to say to him "We did show you mercy, we left you three toes". The boys body was found in an alley way on Lucchesse turf his tongue cut out. It used to be old school cosa nostra if you ratted on your family your own family cut off your balls and left them in your mouth so when you were found dead it was symbolic for not opening your mouth against the family. I guess this was supposed to be symbolic in sending the message that he let slip what was going on and we wont stand for it.

As Don Genovese told me of the acts transpiring I wondered what it meant for me. What I could possibly do to make this situation better. I had never fired a gun, I knew very little of business, the only thing I had done wrong in my life was seek revenge for the murder of my father by committing murder myself. As the thoughts raced through my head while the Don spoke he looked at me. "Tony, I brought you here today because it's time for you to repay your debt to me. It's time you give to me what you promised, your life".

What else could I say, what other choice did I have. I responded with only "Yes Don Genovese".

He began to tell me of the plan he had for me, how with Sonny Black, Tony Sparrazi, and little Johnnie we would be hitting these street gangs. Taking an active approach to hitting them before they have the opportunity to hit us. Through any means necessary we would bring death to them, and once we had them down, we'd turn our attentions to as Don Genovese put it "Those fucks" as he refered to the Lucchesse family and The Black Hand. The mission and objective were set, now it was time to carry it out.


To be continued....

.......To be continued