“I was just doing my job.”
“Nevertheless, I owe you a debt I can never repay.Mille grazie.”
Niccolo continued. “Giorgio also shot and subdued a third man, the getaway driver. We took him to the warehouse in Scandicci and… thanks to some creative interrogation, courtesy of Mei-ling… we now know who we’re up against.”
Everyone whohadn’tbeen at the warehouse glanced at Mei-ling. She just smiled enigmatically.
Niccolo turned on the television, which he was using as a large display for his laptop.
On the TV was a police mugshot of a guy in his late 20s, clean-shaven, with a close-cropped buzzcut rather than a fully shaved head.
He wasn’t ugly – certainly not like the three thugs who had attacked Bianca’s dress shop – but he was far from attractive.
He wore a wifebeater that showed off his thick neck and muscular shoulders.
There were lots of gang tattoos on his exposed skin – ugly designs that looked like a back-alley shop run by ex-cons had done them.
He was a scary-looking bastard. It wasn’t the tattoos; it was the cold, dead look in his eyes as he stared straight at the camera. No fear, no anger, no emotion whatsoever.
It was the gaze of a stone-cold psychopath.
“This is the only known picture of the man behind today’s attack,” Niccolo said. “Our contacts in the Florence police department were able to get me his mugshot from Naples. He was picked up six years ago on a minor assault charge that was later dropped because the victim refused to testify.
“Based on secondhand information from the Neapolitan underworld, police believe that he has committed well over two dozen murders, but the cops haven’t been able to pinanyof them on him.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you… Cesare Caproni.”
Don Rosolini didn’t react, which let me know that Niccolo had already told him –
But Lars stood up straight, his face alarmed. “Wait –Caproni?!”
“Yes,” Niccolo said with a grim smile. “Son of Aristide Caproni, the gangster you and Dario killed in prison.”
Don Rosolini glanced over at Alessandra.
She was staring at the floor, refusing to look at the screen.
Niccolo continued. “The Capronis areCamorra. Out of dozens of clans in Naples, theirs is one of the smaller groups.
“Unlike theCosa Nostra, Camorraclans are rarely run by blood-related families. The Capronis are an exception – or at least have been since Aristide’s former boss had a heart attack six years ago.
“Cesare was the clan’s Enforcer by the time he was 22, which is when this photograph was taken. After his father’s death, Cesare took over as clan co-leader with his sister, Lucrezia Caproni.”
Niccolo tapped a key on the laptop, and the television screen switched to a police surveillance photograph of a woman in her twenties. She was attractive – tall and lithe with long brown hair – and wore designer clothes. A Birkin handbag hung over her shoulder.
She also had on oversized Chanel sunglasses with side flaps that completely hid her eyes.
“Lucrezia is Cesare’s younger sister and the reputed brains of the operation. Apparently, Aristide had delusions of grandeur when he named his children.”
“Uh… I don’t get it,” Valentino spoke up. I was glad he said something, becauseIdidn’t get it, either. “Why delusions of grandeur?”
“Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia were the two most famous offspring of an incredibly powerful and wealthy family in the 15thand 16thcenturies,” Niccolo explained. “Originally from Spain, the Borgias settled in Rome and produced two popes. Cesare was the illegitimate son of the second pontiff, Alexander VI.
“Cesare Borgia became the leader of his own mercenary army for hire, through which he achieved significant power in Renaissance Italy. He was renowned for his cunning, ruthlessness, and cruelty. Interesting fact: Cesare served as the inspiration for Niccolo Machiavelli – ”
Niccolo paused, smiled, and gestured to himself.
“ – my namesake – when Machiavelli wroteThe Prince.Cesare’s tactics were brutal but enormously effective, and Machiavelli used them as guiding principles while writing his masterpiece.
