A Man of Honor Ch. 02

"Judges, lawyers, and politicians have a license to steal. We don't need one." ~ Carlo Gambino

As the limousine rolled silently down the road, Vitto was in deep thought. Looking out the passenger window he smiled to himself. That Anthony kid had caught him by surprise. That rarely ever happened. Of course, it's not every day a father learns there is a young man in his daughter's life who thinks he wants to marry her. Where had the time all gone?

A guy grows up, dreams of the future and what will be. He meets a woman, they get serious, they get married, have children, live a life, until one day those children of theirs suddenly are adults and have dreams of their own. Even if he is in the mob.

Vitto Salerno was caught completely off guard and for some reason found this amusing. His lovely little girl was now a grown beautiful woman. And this Anthony character wants to marry her. What could she see in a little coward who would text a girl he was breaking up with her? Maybe that's the way young people do those things now.

Turning to the front, "Christopher, did you take care of that thing we discussed regarding Tony Gallo?"

Christopher looked over his shoulder, "Sure thing Boss, I stuck the drill in his chest and his legs a couple of times but then the bit broke. Hammer to the head a few times. Got what was ours and left."

"What about Tony Gallo?"

Christopher shrugged, "He's gone."

Nothing left to say. Gone meant, 'forever'. Wrap the body up, throw in the trunk, and make it disappear.

In the order of things, both Christopher and Angelo were Caporegimes (Captains) or Capos of the Salerno crime family. Both managed their own crews within the family, they had designated neighborhoods to operate with particular rackets to run. Both of their 'careers' relied heavily on how much money they could bring to the family.

This is one of the reasons Christopher preferred a hands-on approach when dealing with family problems. He had a dozen soldiers under his command to call upon and setting an example now and then kept his crew in line.

These soldiers were street-level enforcers who essentially were no more than your average criminals who were expected to stick their necks on the line. The end. Most of them didn't last long.

Nothing else was said. Vito returned to the view outside of his passenger window. What to do about this kid Anthony? And this was his daughters' choice? Jesus. She could do so much better than marry a guy that would break up with a girl by texting it in. For some reason that really bothered Vitto.

On the plus side, the kid was Italian. He had that going for him. And a lawyer. Studying to be a lawyer. That was good. Solid occupation. Vitto would never allow his daughter to see anyone in the business. So yes, a lawyer was a good thing. Legitimate.

Nice looking kid too. Clean cut. Angelina liked what she saw of him. His wife was pretty good at sizing people up. But if Anthony had any serious intentions about marrying his daughter, he would need to grow a pair.

Another thought crossed his mind, "Angelo, I called Joey Mangano 5 times yesterday and he never returned my calls. Do we have a problem here?"

Angelo looked over a Christopher, then looked in the review mirror. "Vito, I haven't heard a thing. What's up?"

"What's up? I left 5 messages asking Joey Mangano to return my calls and he didn't, that's what's up Angelo."

Returning his to the review mirror, "Boss, as soon I drop you home, I'll take some of my crew and go visit him. Is there something you want me to tell him."

"Yeah Angelo, you can tell him from me, "I am greatly disappointed he did not return any of my 5 calls. Because of the time-sensitive nature of our agreement, other arrangements had to be made. Those other arrangements included an increased cost I cannot accept. You tell that piece of shit that I want 80 large by 6:00 tonight and the next time I call, I want him to return the damn thing! You tell Joey, the next time something like this happens, he'll have a reason for not returning my calls. I'll have someone come by with a knife, cut out his tongue and we'll send it to that big titty, bleached blond, polish comáre* of his!" (mistress)

Nodding his head slowly in agreement, Angelo's eyes returned to the rearview mirror, "Sure thing. Consider it done. I'll leave a few crew members with Joey until he comes through."

Christopher turned over his shoulder to speak, "Vitto, Joey may not like it, but he will be reasonable...just saying."

Seeing an understanding had taken place, Vitto simply commented, "Okay, you two need anything?... No?... Fine, just do what needs to be done to put this bit of business behind us.

Vitto returned to look out his window to watch pedestrians walking on the sidewalk.

He'd have to keep an eye out for Joey Mangano. Fucking kid.

Joey Mangano was the nephew of the "Boss", Paul (Big Paulie) Mangano.

As always one of the sharpest dress men in a room, Paulie Mangano was feared for his ruthlessness and willingness to take lives in order to exert his influence. Nothing was off the table when it came to profits from any 'business' endeavors belonging to his organization. And not only was Vitto Salerno was Big Paulie's, "Under-Boss". They were cousins through their mothers' side of the family. As they say, "Blood made them relatives, loyalty made them Family".

Vitto's position as underboss gave him charge of all of the capos and would be first in line to become acting boss if Big Paulie was imprisoned or died. Vitto's role was to look after the regular day-to-day affairs of the Family business and to settle disputes that did not need to be escalated up to the Big Paulie. The payoff was cash. And lots of it. When a Capo passed an envelope to Vitto, he would take his cut and pass it up to the boss. It was a good place to be in the Family.

The problem was in this line of work, power grabs happened. Vitto had his suspicions about Joey Mangano. Family or not, this kid was trouble waiting to happen.

Sometimes a capo or an ambitious relative may try to make a power move. Joey Mangano was both. Feelings of envy for power and admiration that come with the position of under-boss can drive a man's ego. Vitto decided to pay special attention to Joey Mangano. To make sure that kid, who just a couple years older than his daughter, stayed in line. If he had too, with a baseball bat to his head...

A slight bump in the road reminded him, of that other thing.

What was that other thing?

Oh yeah...that kid Anthony. That kid needed to wise-up. He needed to man up. Vitto wasn't angry. But the kids' behavior offended his sensibilities as a man. It was irritating and disappointing to live in a world knowing how far down mankind had fallen. It was the way society was now. That and the internet. The whole world seemed like it was going to hell in a handbag at times.

Vitto shook his head slightly and pondered, "How can be people be so cruel?".

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Anthony stood outside Nina's home in his best suit, tie, and flowers in hand right on time. He paused remembering his call to Nina that afternoon. Nina, she gave it to him good. After reminding him only a rude, disgusting, inconsiderate individual would do what he did to her, she was short and to the point, "Your invited to dinner. Dinner is at 6:30. Be here at 6:00. Don't make my family wait for you. Do you have anything else to say?"

"Nina, I'm sorr..."

She hung up on that. Looking down at his phone, he let out a deep breath. "Well, that went better than expected." Now that he was here, he didn't want to be. Taking a deep breath before letting it out, he rang the doorbell at 6:00 pm sharp. The door opened immediately and there stood lovely Nina Salerno. Anthony wanted to touch her, to pull her close and kiss her. He was so happy inside just being near her, a smile involuntarily came to his face.

Speaking in a lower tone so her mother, standing by the staircase, would not be able to hear, "Anthony, I want to talk to you alone. Quit smiling like a jackass, hand me those flowers (and thank you), let's go make nice with my mother, then you and I are going to the living room, alone, and to have a little talk."

We had been seeing each other for almost 3 months and I had never seen her like this. We had never fought over anything. That was part of the reason why I thought we were a good fit. Nina was the first girl I met where the relationship was easy. Nina was not going to make this easy.

When I entered their home, her beautiful, charming mother came over to greet me, "Anthony, we are so happy you could join us for dinner tonight. Mr. Salerno is in his study now but will join us later for the meal."

"That sounds great..."

Before I could get another word out, Nina cut me off and was speaking to her mother, "Mother, I need to speak to Anthony alone in the living room before dinner, is that alright?"

Of course, it was. This was a setup. Mrs. Salerno gently replied, "Of course Nina, give me those lovely flowers Anthony gave you and I'll put them in water for you. You two run along and I'll call you both when dinner is served. " With that Nina's mother left and we were alone.

Nina looked up to my face with a stern expression, "Follow me into the living room". And I did. The living room was huge. I didn't know where she would want to sit so I remained standing and waited. Nina closed the living room doors and locked them. Her father was going to kill me.

Turning back around and while walking toward me, she extended her right hand, motioning me to sit on a couch next to a large window that gave view to the beautiful green forest valley below.

She looked me in the eyes with firm determination, extended her right hand to hold mine. Nina moved closer until we sat almost touching.

"How could you do that to me, Anthony. How? I love you. Doesn't that mean anything to you? Don't you know women have feeling and emotions? I have those same feelings. You hurt me, Anthony. You hurt me really bad not returning my calls. I trusted you. "

"Nina, I am sorry ...I.."

"I don't want to hear sorry! I want to know why?!"

"Because you can do better than me..."

"You're a liar. You know I don't care what you have. I love you. I cried for 2 days because of you. Now, tell me the truth. Why? "

So I told her.

"Nina, I love you. But what we are doing now, is the reason I thought it was better we didn't see each other. Honestly, I don't want my ass kicked by your father's 'friends' every little time you go running to him because we disagree about something."

"What are you talking about. My father never hurt anyone in his life. Why would say that?"

Oh shit, was she kidding me?

"Okay, bottom line. It's not you, it's me. I'm a coward Nina. That's it. That's all. Why would you want a man like that?"

"Where is this coming from Anthony? You're not a coward. You're a good man. You have a good heart. You're almost finished with law school. Help me understand. We have something very good and I want us to be together always. Think about it. I would make you a nice home, Anthony."

If there was a place in time I could point to and say, "Ah-hah... that's the point...right, where the love of my life captured my heart completely. It was with that one line. "I would make you a nice home, Anthony." The sincerity of her words left me speechless.

There was a knock on the door which drew both our attention. Nina looked back at me a second, sort of frowned then quickly gave me a small kiss on the lips. She grabbed my arm and pulled slightly for me up to follow her to the door.

Before she unlocked the doors, she turned and faced Anthony, "Don't ever do that again to me." And quickly she unlocked and opened both doors. Her graceful mother was standing there almost posed, "Dinner is served." Then she laughed. It was charming, "I always love saying that when we have a guest. Come this way Anthony and we'll find your seat."

And so they did. The meal was terrific. And Anthony survived the night. And continued seeing Nina. Then Graduated Law. And Married Nina. Then joined the Mafia learning the rules and understanding the consequences.