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“Dealt with”? Canidy thought, looking at the emotionless eyes. As in, made to go away?
Lanza went on, his manner conversational: “Let’s get back to why we’re here. You came to us because of our mutual friend. We have an understanding—an honorable one—with our friend, as you clearly do. That makes you gli amici, friend of friend. Capiche?”
He paused, glanced at his coffee, looking bored.
“So,” he went on, “tell us what it is that you need.”
Canidy raised his eyebrows.
“Yessir, Colonel Donovan, mission accomplished. I secured an ‘honorable understanding’ with the murderous mob!”
Jesus, this is incredibly surreal.
But, okay…
“Okay,” he said. “I need to speak with Charlie about getting some help like our friend got.”
Lanza looked at him with renewed interest. “‘Charlie’?”
Canidy nodded.
“And what more could you want?” Lanza said. “We are already giving every kind of help possible. Here, and all up and down the coast.”
Canidy leaned forward and quietly said, “Charlie’s home.”
“We got Brooklyn covered,” Lanza said.
Canidy shook his head. “His real home.”
“Yeah, and we got it—” he said, then stopped, and his right eyebrow went up. “You mean…?”
“Yeah,” Canidy said.
Lanza’s eyes darted to Guerin, who looked back and shrugged.
“What would you be needing in his…home?” Lanza said to Canidy.
“Contacts,” Canidy said. “Locals with connections, with information, who would be willing to build an underground resistance against”—he put his right index finger on Mussolini’s photograph on the front page of Il Nuovo Mondo—“certain individuals.”
Lanza, showing no emotion, considered that. He said, “Why didn’t you go straight to him with your request? Why me?”
Canidy nodded; he had expected Lanza might ask that.
“Respect,” Canidy said.
When he said it, he saw Lanza’s eyes light up a little.
> Murray Gurfein, the onetime New York assistant district attorney, had explained to Canidy that, despite the general perception of the underworld as ruthless and cold-blooded, the mafia prided itself on respect—or at least the appearance of respect. They considered it a vital component in keeping their social order intact. Without respect for the bosses, respect for the organizations, their society would devolve into nothing more than bitter bloody turf battles—conflicts no one would ultimately win.
“When I discussed it with our friend,” Canidy went on, “I said I wanted first to develop a relationship with those who I’d be working with, then with their blessing take it higher.”
Lanza studied Canidy without saying anything.
“We could have just as easily called Mr. Polakoff as Mr. Guerin here,” Canidy said, mentioning Luciano’s attorney as a matter of fact. “But it would not have been respectful to the people I also would be asking for help.”
Lanza did not respond to that. He said, “And what would Charlie be getting in return?”
Canidy thought of Murray Gurfein being defensive at dinner, and grinned.
