Page 7 of Niccolo

“Machiavelli’s trying to help the Prince be a good ruler. But to be a good ruler, sometimes you have to do bad things. Or, at least, thingsotherpeople think are bad.”

“From what you’ve read so far, would you want to be a ruler one day, like the Prince?”

“Not really.”

“Why not?”

“It seems like a really hard job. Plus everybody’s always trying to kill you.”

Papa chuckled, though I didn’t understand why.

“What would you rather do, then, if you weren’t the Prince?” Uncle Fausto asked.

“I think I’d like to be like Machiavelli.”

“And why is that?”

“Because he’s good at getting people to do what he wants. Fooling them. I think I’d like that, too.”

Uncle Fausto smiled proudly, then turned to my father. “I think it’s time I took an apprentice.”

4

Fausto’s nickname for me – Machiavelli – spread like wildfire through the rest of my family, especially when I became aconsigliere-in-training starting at age 13.

I was Uncle Fausto’s shadow, following him everywhere. I listened to almost every conversation he had with my father, and often his talks with outside parties.

Papa and Fausto kept the rougher stuff from me until I was older, telling me they had to talk in private ‘for this next part’ –

But I gradually came to understand the workings of our family business.

How we paid off politicians, judges, and cops in Florence…

And then sold that influence to businessmen, as well as to members of theCosa Nostra.

If someone needed a government contract…

Or a law struck down…

Or a legal case to be bungled…

They came to us – and paid handsomely for what they wanted.

There were other parts of the business, too. For instance, we controlled the dock workers on a portion of the west coastof Italy. Importers and exporters had to pay a ‘tax’ on every shipping container to ensure that items didn’t go ‘missing.’

Additionally, we had a partnership with the Agrellas. We controlled the halls of power in Florence; they oversaw the streets – drugs, gambling, and prostitution.

I came to realize that Papa and Faustoalsooversaw drugs, gambling, and prostitution in our rural territories outside of Florence… just in far smaller numbers than the Agrellas handled.

Dario always hated that part of the business – drugs and prostitution in particular. From an early age, he thought that we shouldn’t get our hands dirty in businesses that created addicts or preyed upon women.

“Well, whenyourun things,youcan change them,” Papa would reply curtly. “But for now,Irun things.”

It was understood that Dariowouldrun things one day, albeit far in the future.

Even before I became Fausto’s apprentice, Dario had begun shadowing Papa, learning how to be an effective don.

The mantle of leadership fell on his shoulders at an early age, just as the mantle ofconsiglierefell on mine.

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