Chapter 2:Victoria City is adopted by new "Godfathers"
Many of Don Cosimo's rackets remained untouched if only disturbed a little bit.The old man had a very powerful sense of loyalty and despised betrayal.But his son Anthony DiCaprio who was underboss to his criminal empire was all too eager as to take over.
By 1928 the young and very loyal Salvatore Fiorentino had joined the DiCaprio Crime family as an associate under orders from Scipione.He did personal jobs for the Don's son Anthony DiCaprio and gained so much respect within the DiCaprio family that by 1930 he was already a fully fledged made member of the mafia which made him the perfect spy for Scipione to keep taps on the old man and his business because he worked for the family underboss Anthony,but Scipione knew all too well as to try anything so he continued to bide his time.
You see it wasn't all cookies and milk,happiness and laughter in the DiCaprio household.Ever since Anthony's mother i.e Cosimo's wife died,Anthony had grown increasingly cold and more devoted into family business than needed.So in many meetings where the Don was present he'd(Don Cosimo)always shut him up and put him in his place when talking to associates and business partners,this frequently humiliated Anthony and fueled him with rage and although it was 1930 and his old man was 62 and getting old very fast,Cosimo was still very much a cunning Mafia chief and a force to be reckoned with.
Unfortunately by 1931 the FBI caught onto the old man after private documents linking him to tax fraud and corruption got leaked to the hands of FBI agents.You see Scipione "The Ringo Joe" Maranzano who had gotten that nickname due to his love for playing drums back in Sicily had ordered Salvatore to encourage Anthony DiCaprio to sell out his own father.Salvatore promised Anthony the absolute world and with the old man out of the picture he would become Don for sure,and since Anthony was already growing indifferent of his own father this didn't make things any better,so with Salvatore's handy work the documents got leaked and although Cosimo was highly connected,the case was too high profile and he was found guilty and through using his political power he managed to narrow down the sentence to a minimum of 9 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
Scipione and Dante were overjoyed with this information.Although the Capos of the DiCaprio family were all too reluctant as to allow Anthony to take the strings,they had no choice,he was Underboss after all,so in 1931 the same year his father went to jail Anthony took the seat of Don without his father catching wind of his betrayal and since Salvatore assisted in his rise to power,was promoted to Capó with Cosimo's lawyer remaining as Consigliére and a hardcore associate of Anthony's known as Joey Di'Siciliã being made underboss.
Unfortunately things didn't go as planned,you see in the underworld people didn't respect and fear Anthony as much as they did Cosimo,so by 1932 most of the political power his father had gained jumped out of the window and confusion ruled within the family ranks,and with Anthony's temper and Salvatore's exacerbation of it this didn't make things any better.So by 1932 the Mafia had lost half of its strength because of this and it was time for Dante and Scipione to make their move.By 1932 Scipione and Dante just like Salvatore had grown a reputation as hardcore mobsters thus in the same year they began recruiting men and establishing rackets which slowly grew the same year.In competition to the DiCaprio Family they established Gambling rackets,alcohol smuggling and distribution rackets as in 1932 the prohibition era was at its peak,as well as a prostitution and a protection ring around Victoria City Mainland districts like Sunset Heights,Bronze Heights,Bowman's Hill(DiCaprio territory),Ellorwood among a few and business was booming.This was all too convenient because by this time "their" uncle who disliked their way of life Paulo Verratti had just died from heart arrest.To Dante's surprise Salvatore Fiorentino inherited the restaurant instead of him since he was the only Verratti by blood apart from Paulo himself in Victoria City. Salvatore would rename the restaurant Fiorentino's Bowman Bistro,the Bistro gained popularity city wide with mafia funds backing it up.
By 1933 business was so successful for Verratti and Maranzano that they were an established mafiosi family in their own right.Dante opened his own club in Stanford Island called Dante's Gentlemen's Club which was like Scipione's Oil Company called Maranzano Shale Industries and that is they were both used to launder the dirty cash and as Headquarters for family operations.Their power grew very quickly and Dante can be credited for that due to his vicious ways of dealing with business.You see brutality was always a necessity for this kind of business,which is why he handled most of the security for his syndicate with Scipione.
By 1933,the same year that Dante and Scipione were rising to power,Anthony was getting worried,and with constant sabotage of his operations by rivaling small time punks including Scipione's foot soldiers to DiCaprio Gambling Parlours getting raided by police frequently,Anthony was getting paranoid that someone was stabbing him in the back.He was itching to go to war with Scipione's syndicate which was growing in power but was always kept at bay by his Capóregime Salvatore Fiorentino.He kept him at bay for over two years,buying Scipione and Dante enough time to grow and consolidate their power,because in Dante's eyes,war with the DiCaprios was eminent and by 1934 Anthony was growing suspicious of Salvatore,so he sent underboss Joey Di'Sicilíã after Salvatore to keep an eye on Fiorentino.By March 1934 a DiCaprio made man working for Joey informed him that Salvatore was selling family secrets to the Scipione Syndicate. Anthony couldn't believe it,his long time friend was stabbing him in the back,so Salvatore was brought to the DiCaprio Mansion in South Side Victoria(Victoria City Suburbs).Anthony questioned his loyalty and held a gun to his head,Salvatore retained his innocence,so Anthony gave him a chance "to prove" that he wasn't lying.He ordered him to go and take out Scipione and Dante or he himself was gonna get killed.
The hit never came through and Salvatore put four bullets into the skull of the DiCaprio Wiseguy(Made Man)who was assigned to accompany him to the hit.Anthony was furious,but now Salvatore had the protection of Dante and Scipione and was given a high ranking position in their syndicate for all his work,by this time most of Anthony's rackets were falling apart(largely due to sabotage from Salvatore)and Dante and Scipione were picking up the pieces,they had compiled enough power to take on the DiCaprio family.
Anthony instantly ordered a hit squad of 12 DiCaprio made-men to go to the Fiorentino Bistro in Bowman's hill(Salvatore's territory)and kill Salvatore for his treachery.Non of them came back with a report, only the suit of the Capó who led these men delivered to Anthony's door rapped around in a fish as a Sicilian message that the DiCaprio Capó was now "sleeping with the fishes".Anthony was humiliated and outraged,but it also was now sinking in that these three new "Godfathers" were here to stay.It became all too apparent that his DiCaprio family wasn't strong enough to take on Scipione's syndicate and with advice from his Consigliére Anthony reluctantly agreed to not pursue war against Scipione just yet and only focus on re-establishing and re-strengthening their rackets so they can start doing business and money can come in.
So Anthony,as an act of apology to Scipione's shock sent Cosimo's lawyer and DiCaprio Consigliére Logan Bratzi to Maranzano Shale Industries HQ were he met Chairman Scipione and handed him 500 000$ in cash from Anthony which was an act of apology for the Bistro incident.Scipione accepted the chunk of cash,I mean why not,and he knew that although now he had the capacity to take on the DiCaprio family,he didn't have the capacity to defeat the DiCaprios and had to grow the strength of his own organization to ensure that if war does break out he would win indefinitely,so the half a million meant there would be no war between DiCaprio and Maranzano,for now...
To be continued...