So I just gave her the notebook, and figured I’d deal with the fallout from Blackwood when he found out.
Up until tonight, that was my worst infraction as an FBI agent. Interestingly, he’s never said anything about it.
What I’m unable to piece together is Dom’s assertion that Ernie Abruzzo killed Mrs. Ferraza and how that links to the FBI?
Is he saying Ernie killed her because the FBI asked him to? That’s ludicrous.
I put my tablet aside deciding to get some sleep. My dreams are filled with swirling facts and colliding conjecture.
By the time I wake up, I have a sense that everything is somehow connected, although I can’t articulate why.
The next morning, I head to my desk, but instead of the Vitale case, I decide I want to delve deeper into Rocco’s kidnapping and Mrs. Ferraza’s murder.
I open my notebook of private notes, and flip to the pages about Rocco's kidnapping.
December 18th, last year. A cold night when my phone rang at 4:43 AM.
A voice clearly masked to hide their identity gave me an address and told me the missing boy was there.
At the time, I didn’t know who the boy was. A quick search in the missing child database didn’t indicate a child missing in the last few hours.
But when I tried to get more information, the line went dead.
When I arrived, the place was empty except for a terrified six-year-old boy zip-tied to a bed.
No perpetrators, no evidence, just a traumatized child calling for his mother.
When he told me his name, Rocco Vitale, I knew who he was, and understood why there were no reports of a child abduction.
Mafia families rarely called law enforcement.
I flip through more pages, stopping at my notes on Elena Vitale and her family history. Her father, Umberto Vitale, was arrested on RICO charges eight years ago.
He was convicted and later killed in prison.
All that was before my time, but when I’d been given the Vitale case and did my research into the family, I had questions.
It was clear from the notes that the agents had expected to arrest Luca Monti, Don Antonio Monti’s son the day they caught Umberto, but he wasn’t there. Still, getting Umberto Vitale, second in command to the Vitale family was a big win for the FBI.
It was Umberto’s murder that had me wondering about the case. If anyone was worried about Umberto sharing secrets, he’d have been killed before the trial.
Sure, we do our best to protect witnesses, but he was in jail, easy to get to. So why kill him after he was convicted?
Revenge is one theory, but I couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t a greater conspiracy at work.
The arrest was a little too clean.
The Monti family whisked Luca out of the country immediately after Umberto’s arrest.
Why? The only reason would be he knew something and was in danger. Was that from the FBI or the Vitale family?
And did any of it have to do with the murder of my father, who was killed around this same time?
I’ve never been able to let go of the idea that perhaps Umberto’s brother, Don Aldo Vitale was behind it all, wanting to get rid ofhis brother who was more respected and gaining power in the family.
I remember Elena's face when I mentioned this. She'd been angry that Aldo wasn't accused at the time.
That I hadn't cleared Luca Monti's name as apparently the families believed he was behind betraying Umberto Vitale.
