Soldiers were pawns. Our capos gave us our marching orders, and that was generally as far up the chain as we had contact. When I stepped into the Manhattan conference room at a building I’d never been to before, I was stunned to find myself in a room full of capos along with Enzo Genovese himself. I only knew two men in the room by sight—my capo, Gabe, and a longtime friend, Tony Pellegrini, who was already seated on the opposite side of the room. He gave me a lopsided smile and a chin lift but stayed seated. I didn’t know any of the other men, but judging by their age and expensive clothes, I was likely the only soldier in the room.

I tried to keep the tension from coiling in my shoulders—guys like these could smell unease—but it was hard when I had no fucking clue what I was doing there. Gabe had greeted me when I entered the room, but I hadn’t been given any other information or instruction. Resorting to my normal MO, I took a seat in one of the chairs along the wall of the room and sat back to observe.

My dad was a degenerate gambler, and his worthlessness had colored my perceptions of the outfit when I discovered he was a member. It didn’t take me long once I’d been taken into the fold to realize there was a lot more to the life than my father. Every corner of the Earth had its share of addicts and miscreants. But in the family, those guys never made it past the bottom rung—soldiers, if they were lucky, but many were only ever associates. The room was full of successful businessmen, powerful and well-established in the organization, and I had no idea what the fuck I was doing there.

“Alright fellas, let’s get started.” Enzo didn’t have to holler over the murmur of voices to seize the attention of everyone in the room. At his simple command, the room went silent as a mortuary, and all eyes turned to where Enzo stood at the head of the table. “As everyone here has heard, we recently suffered an unforgiveable betrayal. My trusted underboss, Sal Amato, set my daughter and me up to be killed and has been sullying the family name, angling for a war. He attempted to use my anonymity to usurp my role as boss. Everyone here knows that we prize secrecy above all else to protect ourselves and our families, but my removed presence left us vulnerable from within. I say ‘us’ because this wasn’t just an attack on me. Sal’s actions have affected us all.” His searing gaze swept the room as he addressed the group, his voice resounding with certainty. “We don’t call meetings like this anymore because it’s not safe to have us all in one place, but this needed to happen, if only for a few minutes. Things are going to change. I want every one of you to hear it straight from my mouth. I’m taking this outfit back.”