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“If not, I’m fucked,” he said, and reached for the gas can on the back of the truck.
While Black went to get the car that they had left there, Angelo began dousing the truck with gas. When the gas can was empty, Angelo took out a lighter and tossed it on the back of the truck. As he drove away with Black, the Dodge burst into flames.
Chapter Three
Luciano Trentini was born in Naples, Italy, and his parents immigrated to the United States alongside three other siblings. He and his older brother Michael Trentini were close associates of Big Tony. He and his brother would later join The Curcio Family, but not before they were both arrested and sentenced to five years on a conspiracy to sell crystallized methamphetamine. He served his time at the Atlanta federal prison and when he got out, he became a soldier in The Curcio Family shortly after his brother was murdered. Trentini became a high-level earner for his family and began operating several illegal gambling operations and ran a crew that specialized in burglary.
When Thomas Saracino, the boss of the family, was murdered in prison by members of an unhappy faction within The Curcio Family, Dino Persico was promoted to boss as a peace gesture. The situation changed when he was sentenced to prison in Florida on a gun possession charge. Afraid that Alfredo Marchesi would seize control of the family in Persico’s absence, Carmine Abandonato decided to murder Marchesi.
He was summoned to a meeting at a dry-cleaning store for what he thought was a sit-down with Armando Lastra and Lucca Pugliesi, two members of the Commission in New York. After Marchesi arrived at the dry cleaners, Big Tony and Trentini transported him to the basement of Trentini’s house, where they murdered him, and the body was buried at an industrial park in Farmingdale.
The day after the murder, Big Tony and Trentini ransacked Marchesi’s home and office, looking for his loan-sharking records and a half-million dollars in cash that Marchesi was rumored to have stashed somewhere in his house. They found the money and the records hidden in a stove vent. After that, Carmine Abandonato became the new underboss, and he stood as acting boss of The Curcio Family until Dino Persico got out of prison.
The doors of the Cattaneo Family Italian Restaurant swung open, and in walked Angelo Collette. His overconfident swagger made Trentini sick to his stomach. Angelo was the man who a lot of the younger members and associates of The Curcio Family thought should succeed his uncle as boss. But there were a few things that stood in his way and The Commission agreed with him.
Now there was only one.
“How’s everybody doing tonight?” Angelo asked with his arms extended; his booming voice filling the room.
From his table near the back of the small restaurant, Trentini watched as his bodyguards, Arturo Bergamaschi and Emilio Locatello, searched Angelo for weapons. He was surprised that he came alone, but after all, all this was supposed to be was a friendly conversation among family to sort things out. It was also to give Trentini a sense of where Angelo’s head was after his uncle’s death. Like Fiorentino and Calabresi, he had heard the talk. And he didn’t like what he was hearing.
“The heir apparent. That’s what they call him, the fuckin’ prick,” he mumbled to himself as he watched Angelo make his way around the restaurant, shaking hands and talking with the few patrons that were at Cattaneo’s that night. The anger and hate he felt welled up inside him. “If that little piss-ant—cocksucker thinks he’s gonna muscle me out, he won’t leave here alive.”
“Hey, Vinnie!”
“What’s up, Angelo?”
“Throw a pie in the oven for me, Vinnie.”
“Got one just the way you like it coming out in a few.”
“You’re the fuckin’ prince of pizza, Vinnie. I fuckin’ mean that,” Angelo said as he passed the counter on his way to the table.
“Trentini,” he said with his hand extended.
“Angelo. Thank you for coming,” he said, standing up to shake his hand. “Have a seat.”
“Thank you,” he said, and sat down as Seraphina, the waitress, sat a glass of single malt scotch in front of him before quickly disappearing in the kitchen.
“I wanted to tell you again how sorry I am about your uncle; may he rest in peace.” He crossed himself. “God broke the mold when he made that one; that’s for sure,” Trentini said, and both men raised a glass and drank to the memory of Big Tony.
“He was larger than life,” Angelo said, and then he laughed. “And I’m not just talking about his gut. The big guy meant everything to me,” he dropped his head and stayed quiet for a second or two before he looked up. “I know this gotta be hard on you too. You and the big guy came up together.”
Trentini nodded his head solemnly, and then he laughed as he remembered the good times. “We did a few things in our day.”
“But hey, let’s cut the shit. This ain’t no fuckin’ wake. We’re here to talk about the way forward.”
“Right.”
“I just want to assure you that if things go your way, and they should, you have my support and my loyalty. Like I said, you and the big guy, the two of you go back. It’s your time now.”
“That’s good to hear you say,” Trentini said, sitting back and taking a sip of his drink. “I’ve been hearing a lot of talk to the contrary. The word on the street is that you think it’s your time, and you’re planning to make a move on me.”
“And I’m here to tell you that all that talk that’s going around is nothing but bullshit. Bunch of deadenders feeling left out of the money and think I’m some type of fuckin’ savior or some shit like that. If you’re a loser now, me coming up ain’t gonna change that.” Angelo pointed in Trentini’s face and he was taken aback. “There’s a lot of dead weight on the ship. I’m hoping that you’re planning on doing something about that. If things go your way, of course.”
“You know,” said a now relaxed Trentini. He shot his drink and slammed the glass down on the table. “Fuckin’ right, I am. I hate to speak ill of the dead,” he crossed himself, “but your uncle was letting things get a little lax. God rest his soul. I’m talking about changing course and getting the deadweight off the ship. You could be a big help with that.”
“Whatever you need,” Angelo said, and stood up with his hand extended.
