in Santo Domingo where many Italians live who are like him who have more or less illegal activities he is not an individual who goes unnoticed his reputation is that of a wealthy entrepreneur who has invested his capital in this island and as such he is regularly invited to the parties at the embassies and at the homes of the most prominent and wealthy citizens and so over the course of a few years we see someone who was once a penniless bricklayer the son of a farmhand a day laborer we see him transformed into a wealthy and respected businessman who even starts a second family in Santo Domingo the men in the clans always have a family they all have a wife and children either because they actually want a family or else because they want to broadcast the image of a good father and husband and Antonio Bardellino has not one but two families one back home in our town and the other in Santo Domingo where he chooses a woman who has the same first name as the wife he has back home they have children and he gives those children the same names as his children back in Italy and he shuttles back and forth between the two countries because even though he is looking after the clan’s business from Santo Domingo he still has to go back to Italy every so often to maintain his contacts with the made men and look after the family that he has here

but the immense flood of wealth that had swept over the town began to create problems and threatened to become a sort of collective tumor with toxic consequences the transition was too sharp too sudden too violent and unexpected and everybody lost their sense of perspective the town went from one day to the next from a Fiat to a Mercedes it went from summer vacations on Ischitella if there was enough money to trips to Brazil and in the unassuming homes of peasants and farmers in the town you began to see open armed statues of Jesus commanding pride of place and on the base was carved Rio de Janeiro these were people who had traveled with a clan member or else who had gone on their own so people who had never traveled were going around the world or suddenly owned a villa on Capri or on the Côte d’Azur as a result it had become practically impossible here in town to be opposed to the clan the only ones who weren’t taking advantage resisted on principle or else because they already had jobs that paid pretty well or they had other sources of income

because this is what the people in my town are like if you destroy the house of my next door neighbors with whom I have been friends for fifty years I won’t lift a finger I won’t say a thing and even if you destroy my house little by little even then I won’t lift a finger I’ll only react when you are actually trying to murder me and this is because there is no social fabric not even a minimal network of social ties that is if your neighbor is murdered harmed badly whatever they do to him you naturally assume that he must have done something wrong you think that he should have stayed in line all you can think of to say the only thing that everyone says is that he should have kept his head down stayed in line there’s not even the slightest hint of rebellion against this state of affairs not a word not a note of indignation of rejection there is only a passive acceptance and in some cases people are even enthusiastic because along with the money comes a reputation for the town so now outside the town you are feared and respected