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“Walk away,” Dario said softly, “and I’ll tell you everything. If you want to turn me in after that, I’ll abide by your choice. But right now, I have to take care of business.”
I stared at him…
Nodded once…
And walked away.
Behind me, I heard wet gurgling and choking sounds…
That were quickly drowned out by the thunderous roar of the riot.
In hell, all the screams of the damned bleed into one.
And I was most definitely in hell.
100
The riot was eventually put down.
Guards stormed the cellblocks with shields and nightsticks. Anyone foolish enough to stand up to them got their brains bashed in.
By that point, I was already back in my cell. I listened to the shrieks of pain out in the prison –
And then Dario walked in.
He calmly sat down on the chair opposite me as though he hadn’t just cut three men’s throats in cold blood.
As screams echoed all around us, I asked, “Is it done?”
“There will be no reprisals,” he answered.
We looked at each other in silence until he finally sighed. “I said I would give you an explanation for what just happened. I owe you that much.
“As I’m sure you’ve guessed all along, I’m not just a business associate of the Cosa Nostra; I belong to it. My father rules Tuscany, and we share control of Florence with another family. I’m in San Vittore because our main source of income is political influence. We control hundreds of politicians and even more judges and cops.
“Recently, a bunch of police detectives not on our payroll came after us for bribing judges. The cops weren’t going to be satisfied with a bunch of lower-level go-betweens. They were out for blood, so someone in the family had to take the fall. As the oldest son and the heir apparent, it was my duty to protect my father and my brothers – so I volunteered.”
I stared at Dario as I remembered something my lawyer had said.
There was recently a scandal where a member of the Cosa Nostra pled guilty to bribing judges…
“It was you,” I said, stunned.
“What was me?”
“My lawyer said somebody in the Cosa Nostra was bribing judges. Was that you?”
“Yes,” Dario said with an amused smile.
“So you bribed a judge?”
“No.”
I frowned. “But – ”
“One of our employees did. He was following orders that went through a chain of command originating with my father and uncle. When the police caught one of the judges in a sting operation, he gave up the man who had given him the money – our employee. The cops basically tortured him into confessing.
“We have protections in place to prevent our people from ratting us out, but it became clear the police were going to rip through all of that and take down our entire operation if the damage was not contained. So I stepped forward and agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence.
