Page 303 of Niccolo

Dante and I both turned to see Fausto walking towards us.

Dante turned much faster than I did – like a guilty man might.

Fausto walked up to us, his eyes narrowing. “What are you two talking about?”

I could almost feel Dante’s body tense up beside me –

Until I said, “How much of a fucking asshole Massimo was for what he did to your son.”

Fausto looked at his foot soldier suspiciously… then nodded his approval.

Dante relaxed.

“What did you need?” I asked.

“Pack for a couple of nights away,” Fausto said, then glanced at Dante. “You, too – and choose your 20 best men.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Because we’ve been summoned to Rome. We’re going before the Council.”

PART III

127

Niccolo

Rome –

The Eternal City.

The ancient Roman poet Ovid first bestowed that name eight years before Christ was born.

Eighteen hundred years later, the English poets Byron and Shelley called it the same.

Rome had been the beating heart of arguably the greatest empire in human history…

And though now only a shadow of its former glory, its magnificence still inspired.

The same held true for the mafiafamily that controlled Rome from the shadows.

Sicily was thepatria,the original homeland of theCosa Nostra.

Venice was the richest territory, and the Widow the wealthiest leader…

But the Severinos embodied the grandeur of the Eternal City.

Like my grandfather when he first came to Tuscany, they had focused on political corruption…

But unlike my grandfather, political corruption was merely a means to an end for the Severinos. Their primary goal was to own property.

In decades past, the Severinos had snapped up ruined palaces and ancient buildings for a pittance. Then, using their connections and leverage with politicians, they applied for tens of millions of dollars in grants to renovate the properties.

Forty years later, the Severinos owned some of the most beautiful buildings in the city – mostly paid for on the taxpayers’ dime.

A more famous story will illustrate how they did it.

Many people outside Italy don’t know it, but the Colosseum used to be just another ruin. As recently as the 1980s, it sat in an abandoned field.

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