A Mafia Story

Chapter 1

Don Vincenzo Marretti sat at his office desk. The dim light of a small lamp to his left made the entire room many shades of brown and ornage, showing the many lines of his tired face. Enzo looked over at the picture of his famiglia, his wife, Alessandra, and children, Anthony and Aurelia, who was grown and married. Enzo had sworn never to let them get caught up in his buissness. He had made them the perfect life, and now, as he sat alone, he realized that he needed to let go of that buissness to be with them. He brought his mind back to the task at hand. Attillio De Luca had given him an offer to become a shareholder of the world's largest illegal smuggling buissness to date. The product, alcohol and lots of it. Attilio, old friend, we finnaly disagree. The contract that held all the information was taken up by Don Enzo and shredded. Then he took out a lighter and watched the document smoke and crumble, flames quickly consuming it, in front of him.

When Don Attillio De Luca realized that Enzo Marretti wouldn't take the deal, he couldn't have it. Once you know about the secret smuggling buissness, you either join or fall. Marretti, his old friend had chosen the latter. Now he knew to much. The two had been best friends since Aurelia Marretti and Vincent De Luca were married in 1999.

He called Basili Gallo to his side.

"Gallo, do this for me and you will be repaid. I need Don Vincenzo Marretti out of the picture. He knows about the next ship coming in from Sicily. He might let slip our plans."

"Sir, we have always been allies with the Marretti family, this might break that tie."

"I am aware of that risk. Go on now."

Anthony Merretti stood in the door of his house waiting for his father to get home. The two were going to the movies, and being fifteen, Tony couldn't wait very much longer. He rolled up his sleeve to check the watch he had gotten from his parents at Christmas. Then he ran his hand through his brown hair, feeling the gel product. It was almost 9:00. His father was supposed to be home twenty minutes ago. And if Vincenzo Merretti was ever late, it meant trouble. He grabbed his jacket from the hallway jacket and called out to his mother.

"Ma, I'm gonna find Pop! I think he's still at the office!"

"Hurry up then!" was the reply. His mother had always been at ease about when he came and went.

"Alright." Tony walked out from the porch into the overhang that separated the giant gravel loop that was the house's driveway. He walked down the rocks untill he reached the large black gates, and quickly passed through them.

The streets that Tony passed through were dark, to quiet and strangly empty for a Friday night. The office soon loomed over him, and he saw a light on in the west side of the building. He should have guessed, his father was still working. But something felt wrong. Eerie.

"Pop!? Hey Pop!" called Tony as he entered the large brick structure. The hallway was dark and Tony could make out a smell that was very familiar. Smoke, but not from a cigarette. Gun smoke. This sparked a trigger in Tony's head and he took off down the hallway screaming, "DAD?!" He had once been told by his father that he was in a family that had issues with others, and that being the head of that family, Enzo was more suseptable to danger than the others. Now this fact had taken hold of him. He had grown up knowing about the mafia, but know it fully took hold of him that he lived in a world where crime reigned and murder was life.

The funeral of Don Vincenzo Marretti was on a warm summer day. Tony had run in to find his father sitting in a corner covered in blood and bullet holes. Grief overcame him, and Tony fell to the floor awestruck. He had seen this in films, but never in real life, and to a loved one. The cool north breeze hit Anthony Marretti in the face and the green grass of the cemetary rustled as a single tear rolled down his clean face. His mother had cried for weeks and finally ran out of happieness. She had no tears, but the look of sadness covered her face. The priest finished the eulogy, and Tony and Alessandra both through flowers onto his coffin. Out of his jacket pocket, Tony produced the envelope that he had found on the floor next to father's body. It was adressed to him, and a bloody thumbprint was on the side, showing where Enzo had held it after the shooting. Tony opened the letter to see what was on it. It read:

Anthony, my son

Please do not worry about what you find. I never wanted my life for you. Please do not persist on finding my killers, and do not allow the family to let you carry on with the buissness. I loved you and your mother so much. My love to both of you, and I'm always watching you from heaven or hell, wherever I happen to travel.

-Vincenzo "Enzo" Marretti

I love you both.

This was to much for the son, and, without his face contorting, he let his tears run down his face. They slipped down his black tie and onto the coffin that held his father. The last words would always stick with him, no matter how hard he would ever try to forget. He turned to his uncle Gavino Marretti. Vino's hair was slicked back, but strands flew around in the wind. Tony looked into his red eyes and saw a great sadness at the loss of his brother. At that moment Tony realized what he was going to do.

Tony was an heir to the mafia. He had rights to the buissness. When a Don dies, his offspring takes control, and Tony was next in line to recieve that title. Whoever had done this wasgoing to pay for their transactions. He would get revenge for every last drop of his father's blood that was spilled.

"Anthony!" yelled a familiar voice. Tony turned around to see Don De Luca rushing up to him across the grounds from his black car. "Son, I'm so sorry about your father. I came as soon as I heard, only a few minutes ago. What happened?"

"He was killed, murdered by some other family. I don't know why, but I'm going to find out." Tony answered, growing angry ands crubling the letter in his hand.

The Marretti home attic was a place of banished past. Dust and cobwebs covered the boxes and the old family relics, mirrors, a dress manican. Tony walked up the stairway into the cold dark room, pulling the light switch down. Strong beams of yellow light flooded the small room. The first thing that Anthony noticed was his father's copy of The Godfather. The book had been his father's favorite thing on earth, he had read it over a hundred times. This was Tony's new instruction manuel. He would go by this book and all his father had ever taught him about the mafia. Which wasn't very much at all. He had a friend that could help him with the task at hand, but now, hew needed suplies.

Enzo Marretti had never believed in guns. So he had placed all of the weapons in the family's attic. That was what Anthony needed. Shotguns, pistols, ammunition. That was it. His father would be horrified at this, and he himself had never fired a weapon before. So he had to make the decision to take all of his father's fire power, or not. His sister would be arriving soo to.

Aurelia arived later that day, looking like she'd seen a ghost. She was pale and she looked very tired, her brown hair looked a shade lighter. "Mom?!"she called out as she rushed through the door. "Mom, where are you? Tony?"

"Yeah!" yelled Tony as he snapped his eyes open. He looked over at the alarm clock on top of his stereo. 5:15. Wow, I was out for a while. I got the box under my bed right? With that Tony picked up his bed sheet and swug himself to see what was under his bed. Sure enough, he had a large box of guns and ammunition.