“Marchello. Buongiorno.”
“Yeah, for you it is, not for me. I’m the one who works all night.”
“Sorry for that, little brother. I need you to take care of something. Swing by the coroner and find out the cause of death listed for Argon. I spoke to our source in Milan, and he says the man died of a heart attack, so I need you to check with our coroner when the body arrives in Florence today and find out what the official ruling is.”
“I’m on it.”
“Great, keep me posted.” Dante is always calm. It’s his superpower and serves him well as the Don. He’s in charge of managing the numerous families spread all over Tuscany and some even overseas. He’s at the top of the food chain and I don’t envy him being the don. I like being responsible for me and only me.
Everyone who has ever watchedThe Godfathermovie knows you need to know your enemy and have patience, which makes Dante the perfect man for the job.
“I hear Argon’s daughter is asking questions and I need you to take care of it. You remember our friend in the coroner’s office, right?”
“Sure thing. I’ll be there this afternoon.” I can’t imagine the body getting here any sooner than that, although the report would be electronic.
“Great, get on it. And you haven’t told us if you’re bringing a date to the wedding.”
“Don’t know. Jury is still out on that. Oops. Sorry, bad choice of words.” I chuckle.
With the advanced technology available to our government, we assume all our calls are monitored and recorded, so we try to be careful.
“Funny. Look, just get the situation under control and we’re good. How was last night?”
“Great. Normal. Nothing to report.”
All code for business as usual.
“Good. Well, if nothing else needs my attention, I’ll see you Sunday.”
“Ciao.”
I still have time to sleep, but the magic is gone and I’m wide awake.
I knew Sal had issues with Argon and his minions in the clubs and on the streets, but I didn’t think much about it. If I worried about the lives we impact with the things we do, I’d never get any sleep. By turning a blind eye, I can remain sane in a world that is, at best, unpredictable and dark.
Life is short for a normal person but can be even shorter for someone like me who was raised in organized crime. Things were just getting back to normal after the don, Gio Conti, died a few months ago.
We were working with the local task force on organized crime at the time, but when things went south on the roof of our luxury hotel, not all the video evidence was taped. As a result, we were under surveillance and suspicion for a few months.
I don’t know what Commissioner Manara is looking for, other than a huge drug bust or something to boost his career. But as far as I’m concerned, we did everyone a huge favor by eliminating another lowlife from the planet.
We’re pretty good at whacking people and disposing of the bodies so nothing leads back to us. It’s a way to keep order and balance in our dark world because even thieves are organized, and we have codes. Look at any prison and you will see a hierarchy and rules.
Gio Conti had to go, otherwise Juliet and Dante would spend their lives looking over their shoulders. Conti was into human trafficking and when Francesca helped us wrap that up by storming the walls of her family’s fortress near Rome, she was out for revenge. Her brothers had set her up and she was tired of her psychotic brothers following in their father’s footsteps.
Coincidentally, we discovered Conti was in business with the Albanians who had too much cocaine to sell and not enough outlets to move it. That would explain why they moved into our territory and infiltrated our clubs with their drugs. Conti’s replacement, Calabrese, was trying to keep things going when we saved his ass and Francesca took over the seat at the table but she has him help her run it as she’s up here a lot with Sal.
It was fun delivering Francesca’s brothers to the Albanians whom he ‘stiffed’ on their drug delivery. We helped with that too. We were busy hijacking his trucks carrying the drugs that night and delivered the two men gift wrapped. It was a sweet deal.
I marvel at the resurgence of cocaine in the clubs and on the streets. We haven’t seen this much demand for nose candy since the 1980s.
The problem? It’s expensive and laborious to import but once we do, the return on investment is well over 500 percent. It’s our most lucrative business unless shit goes sideways. No one predicted cocaine would surpass its previous popularity but I hear it helps people cope with life.
As for Argon, I don’t know what his problem was, maybe he ran out of resources, maybe he just wanted to fuck with us, maybe he was following someone’s orders to be in Sal’s face and infringe on our territory. For awhile we looked the other way to keep peace, but at some point, the scales tip. When he started hitting our other clubs, it wasn’t an accident and a message had to be sent.
Sal and Francesca are back from their ski trip up north. If I know Sal, he was fed up with Argon not knowing his place and did what anyone else would have done, only with finesse. We’re not in this for notoriety, to make the news, or to make more trouble.
No.