Chapter 6: La Famiglia
The corridor that Enzo found himself in was dimly lit and almost every door either side of him and his compatriots was closed, save for one at the very end on the left. A smooth vein of light spilled out from within, signalling that the man they were here to see was present. Enzo tarried for a moment, glancing into the rooms he passed like a small child. He was a new recruit to La Famiglia, and all of this still amazed him. In some of the rooms, he saw nothing. In others, however, he spotted weapons, other mobsters, and strangers tied to chairs, bloody and beaten.
"Keep up, Enzo," one of the three other men snapped. He was tanned and clean-shaven, with a clean brown suit and a black shirt beneath. "You want to call yourself Camerino one day, right? The boss won't wait around forever."
"Of course," Enzo apologised, hurrying forward and joining the others once again.
The Camerino family were little known and had few connections outside of a trusted few individuals, but they were rising in the ranks quickly. The Italian-American mafia styled themselves on the crime families of old back home, even if they did not quite meet the same standard. But their leader was a hard man with no room for mistakes and Enzo's induction into the family and right to take on the Camerino name rested entirely upon how this meeting went tonight. The group made it to the end of the corridor and the man in the brown suit opened the door. The group stepped in, Enzo remaining at the back of the group until he was introduced. There were several other members of La Famiglia in here, but it was the man in the red velvet armchair that Enzo spotted first. He was sitting back in a relaxed position when the men entered and he wore a beautiful white suit over a striking red silk shirt. His thick black hair was slick and swept back behind his ears and a bushy moustache almost enveloped his top lip. He did not move upon seeing the new arrivals, nor did he seem particularly interested in what they had to say.
"Don Amerigo," the man in brown greeted the head of La Famiglia. He then gestured to Enzo with his hand. "This is the man I told you about. Enzo De Clemente." Enzo took that as his cue to come forward. He took a few steps ahead of the group and stopped in front of Don Amerigo, adjusting himself as he did. He currently wore a plain grey waistcoat over a black shirt and matching grey slacks. All eyes were on him, most of them bearing incredible judgement as they looked him up and down. He suddenly felt overdressed. Don Amerigo eyed him for a few moments. As he did so, he also reached into his coat and removed both a cigar and a flip lighter, beginning to smoke and blowing a cloud directly into Enzo's face.
"You look like you're going to the fucking prom, boy," he said, his voice deep and uneven, cracking every so often with certain words he said. The others in the room laughed audibly. Enzo, unsure how to respond, smiled politely. "Antonio tells me you want to be able to take my name as your own. Become a true member of La Famiglia. Is that true?" Enzo swallowed.
"It is," he answered shortly.
"It's not easy, boy. Only the most loyal and useful of our ranks get to take the Camerino name. The rest don't even get to speak with me. Consider yourself honoured Antonio brought you along tonight."
"It is an honour, Don Amerigo," Enzo concurred. "I've happily served La Famiglia for six months and I will always do what is expected of me. I-"
"Too much, boy," Don Amerigo snapped. "Easy, now. Don't overdo it, you hear? Antonio tells me you're to thank for putting him in touch with this…individual we've been employing."
"That's right. Antonio came to me with your proposal. I thought Fritz would be a perfect fit for the job." Amerigo fidgeted with the golden ring on his right hand for a few seconds, glaring at Enzo unmoving for what felt like an age. Surprisingly, a smile spread across his face and he rose, stretching his arms out theatrically and laughing.
"And that he was," the Don agreed. "You did well, boy. From what I hear, Fritz has been making members of Hotel Moscow drop like flies for the last week. Damn fine job." Enzo smiled and nodded mannerly.
"He took out two more of them last night," Antonio informed the room. "Caught them walking by an alley and managed to slaughter them without anyone seeing. The man is an artist."
"Well, let's not get on his bad side, then," Amerigo joked. "La Famiglia is grateful to you, Enzo. I'll organise Fritz's payment and keep tabs on him. As soon as he finishes up with the job we gave him, you will have earned the right to call yourself Camerino." Enzo could barely contain his excitement. La Famiglia employed almost a hundred and fifty able-bodied men, but only twelve of them had the right to take the surname Camerino, and all twelve of them stood in this room right now. If this worked, Enzo would no longer be an enforcer and would instead be a member of the family. There was a slow knock on the door to the room and they all turned to see who it was.
"Speak of the devil," Antonio said aloud, going to open the door for the mystery arrival.
"Literally, from what I hear," Don Amerigo said quietly. The door was opened and they all spotted the man there, standing with his arms behind his back formally. He was bald and clean shaven, with small blue eyes and a button nose. In actual fact, he had no body hair that they could see at all, not even eyebrows. His black turtleneck sweater was accompanied by a brown and green tweed blazer and he wore light khaki trousers. As far as they could see, he carried no weapons.
"Pardon the interruption," he said in his high, feminine voice.
"You must be Fritz," Amerigo deduced.
"Friedrich, please," the man insisted.
"We haven't formally met. Don Amerigo. I'm the man paying your salary for as long as you can kill Russians for me."
"Charmed," Fritz said with genuine sentiment.
The assassin was very off-putting, to say the least. There were moments where he stood on one spot and stared into space, with no attention on anything. Other times, his eyes would linger, unsettling whoever it was he was looking at.
"Tell me, Don Amerigo," he said finally. It was as if the entire room was overcome with relief. "You're not from this city originally, I can tell. What is it that brings you here?"
"A fair question," Amerigo answered. "But not one I expected to hear from a bought and paid for manslayer." Fritz nodded his head in respect.
"Forgive me," he said. "I did not intend to pry." Amerigo rolled his eyes.
"Suffice it to say," he began, relenting to the strange man, "business could be good here. We have some…contacts here that go back a long time. That's not to say we haven't tried to establish ourselves here in the past, but certain…complications arose each time we made to assert ourselves. Hopefully now that things have calmed down, and with your help, we can make a name for ourselves. In a few months, this city will be run by La Famiglia and these old decaying mafias and cartels will waste away into nothing."
"Marvellous!" Fritz exclaimed, energised by the Don's words. It was if he took physical pleasure from the idea of the ruling factions being destroyed. Although, it was far more likely that the reason he was so exhilarated was that he knew it would be at his hand that these criminal organisations would fall. Enzo could see it in his eyes. He was not enticed or encouraged by the promise of money, he enjoyed what he did and he would take any excuse to kill. Enzo just hoped that he would not be hired by their enemies in the future. "It has been a pleasure, Don Amerigo. I can continue my work as discussed for now?"
"For now," Amerigo echoed. "Antonio will be in touch in the near future with a slight change of plans. If your work goes well, I may have something different lined up for you." Fritz's eyes widened imperceptibly.
"I look forward to it." With that, he left them alone and returned to the darkness of the night, surely with the intention of eradicating more members of Hotel Moscow.
Don Amerigo placed both hands on Enzo's face, kissing both cheeks twice and beaming at his subordinate.
"He really is something," he said excitedly. "I must apologise for not having faith in you, boy. That man is truly something to behold. Don't get me wrong, he's downright insane to a frightening degree, but he's insane in all the right ways. And he's just right for our purposes." Antonio, who had looked a tad confused ever since Fritz left, piped up.
"Don Amerigo…what did you mean just now? A change of plans?"
"What, you were expecting us to stay the course?" he asked, his hands still on Enzo's face. "In time, I will have that killing machine turn his sights on the Triad to throw the Russians off the scent. We can use him, Antonio. Eventually, not one of these fuckers in our way will still be standing. And you can all thank Enzo Camerino for this." Enzo smiled wide, overcome with emotion. He had finally been accepted into La Famiglia proper. Together, they would carve out a life for themselves in this godforsaken city. Together, La Famiglia would burn the ruling factions to the ground.