Page 53 of Niccolo

“No. A hitman is anyone who kills for money. The Enforcer is the most feared instrument of a mafia don – the one who strikes fear into his enemies’ hearts, the one entrusted with the most dangerous missions. If theconsigliereis the don’s right-hand man, then the Enforcer is his left hand.”

AnotherGodfatherreference surfaced in my memory.

“Like Luca Brasi,” I said.

That was the name of the gigantic thug who had been Marlon Brando’s Enforcer – and who met an unfortunate end with a garrote around his neck.

“Exactly.”

I sat back and thought for a second. Then I said, “Tell me how you had your brother killed.”

“Through contacts of mine, I found an old Sicilian woman with a grudge against our family. It was actuallymewho ordered the deaths of her husband and son 20 years ago, but I told her it was solely my brother’s decision and that I had argued against it tooth and nail.

“Once I’d convinced her, I had her apply to be a servant in the household. Through ordinary channels so she couldn’t be traced back to me, of course. But I made sure she was hired.

“Five months ago, I slipped her a vial of sodium nitrate. When my brother was dozing after a couple drinks, she injected it into him, giving him a fatal heart attack. I paid the coroner not to ‘notice’ the pinprick in the autopsy.”

Fausto’s cold-blooded manner as he told the story gave me serious pause.

This was a man willing to kill his own brother.

Mylife would be worth far, far less.

I would have to watch my back around him every second.

“Why did you kill them?” I asked.

He frowned. “Who?”

“The old woman’s husband and son.”

Fausto shrugged like it was no big deal. “They were interfering with our business. I think. I can’t recall, exactly.”

His casual indifference chilled me to the bone.

“Where is the Sicilian woman now?” I asked.

“Still in the house. My nephews have no idea what she did.”

Interesting…

A pawn can become a queen if it advances to the opposite end of the board.

Thisparticular pawn had already killed a king.

There was no telling how useful she might eventually be.

“I’ve considered having her try to kill the others,” Fausto said, “but it would have to be the ideal moment.”

“Hold off on that,” I advised him, “and tell me about anything else that might be of use to us.”

During the drive back to Tuscany, I learned a great many other things.

Fausto’s family had a partnership in Florence with a mafia family named the Agrellas. The Rosolinis handled judicial and political corruption, while the Agrellas handled street-level crime.

On the surface, the partnership had flourished for 20 years without incident – but Fausto had secretly struck a deal on his own with the Agrellas, giving them a piece of the corruption business.

As a result, the Agrellas had groomed their own stable of corrupt judges and politicians. They controlled a mere fraction of what the Rosolinis did, but it was a lucrative side business – and it put the Agrellas in Fausto’s debt.

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