PROLOGUE
Four Years Ago
Naples, Italy
Cesare Caproni
Iremember the exact moment I decided to kill Dario Rosolini.
My father, Aristide Caproni, was aCamorraboss. There are dozens ofCamorraclans in Naples and the surrounding towns, and we control everything: drugs, extortion, money laundering, prostitution, counterfeiting. You name it, we fuck with it.
Our clan was one of the smallest in Naples. Papa had been the number two man ever since I was a kid, until the main guy had a heart attack and croaked.
Once Papa took over, we started coming up in the world –
Until he got sent off to San Vittore, a fuckin’ hellhole of a prison in Milan.
I couldn’t prove it, but I think he got sent down the river because of aCosa Nostrapiece of shit named Amato.
The Amato family slithered into Naples decades ago and had been trying to take over the city ever since.
Papa told me all about theCosa Nostra.They used to only be in Sicily, but 40 years ago, a bunch of Sicilian judges went after them with a vengeance and locked most of them up.
Before shit went down, some of the bigger families saw the writing on the wall and spread like cancer to the mainland.
They took over Rome… Venice… Milan…
Florence and Tuscany…
And theytriedto take over Naples.
Good fuckin’ luck with that, assholes.
TheCamorramight not be as organized as theCosa Nostra,but we’re a hell of a lot tougher in a fight. Or at least someof us are.
TheCamorraand theCosa Nostrafuckin’ hateeach other. Always have, always will.
So when those Sicilian fucks sent one of their families to Naples, we weren’t about to take that shit lying down.
It wasn’t out-and-out warfare, exactly. More like a long, grinding battle where nobody ever got the upper hand.
Like the rest of theCosa Nostra,the Amatos worked from the shadows. They were fucking pussies who’d stab you in the back instead of fight you face-to-face like a man.
Anyways, I’m pretty sure Amato bribed the police chief to arrest Papa. A dozen cops with shotguns got him at the restaurant where he ate every Friday night with whatever chick he was banging at the time.
It wasn’t a secret. Papa had been going to the same joint every Friday since I was a kid. If the cops wanted to pick him up, they could’ve done it anytime they wanted.
That fuckin’ police chieffinocchiowouldn’t havedaredcross my father unless he was paid off… and Amato was the only asshole stupid enough to do it.
Amato must’ve bribed the judge, too, because Papa got 13 years in San Vittore.
And since I was his only son and our clan’s Enforcer, I took over while he was gone.
Now, don’t get me wrong:
I fuckin’hatemy father.
He was an asshole.
